GP-IN: Getting your feet wet: Advancing geoscience education using water-based field experiences

地球科学家是美国劳动力的重要组成部分，他们帮助美国应对水安全和气候变化等社会挑战。预计27%的现有地球科学工作人员将在未来十年内退休，这将在劳动力需求和可供就业的地球科学家之间造成差距。一个挑战是，大多数高中教师和他们的学生在很大程度上没有意识到地球科学是一个潜在的职业道路。因此，本项目旨在通过培训高中教师如何将基于地点的地球科学实地活动融入课堂，增加对这一重要领域的学生招募，并克服认识差距。该项目将以水为主题，展示地球科学如何融入水资源和管理活动。密苏里理工大学的地球科学教师将与教师和4H领导者合作，开发实地活动和配套的课程模块。这些活动将以实地为基础，围绕当地有溪流、湖泊、洞穴和/或泉水的实地地点进行。通过为教师提供向高中学生传授令人兴奋的地球科学内容的能力，该项目最终将增加从事地球科学职业的学生人数。这一结果将有利于社会，因为训练有素的地球科学工作人员对美国当前和新兴环境领域的需求至关重要。该项目的目标是增加地球科学和地球科学相关学科的大学生入学率，从而增加可供就业的地球科学家的数量。该方法是培训高中教师如何利用当地水资源的动态概念作为地球科学的切入点，在课堂外吸引学生。通过这种方式，该项目将让学生在非地球科学教室学习地球科学概念，并使用正式和非正式的教育途径来测试这两种场所的有效性。通过与密苏里大学地球科学学院的合作，该项目的重点将是为密苏里州农村社区的教师和高中生提供研究和培训经验。目标是：(1)为高中生开展基于实地和实践的活动，在建立跨学科兴趣的同时，向他们介绍地球科学的职业生涯；(2)为密苏里州的教师做好准备，领导这些活动并将其融入课堂讨论；(3)评估这些活动在增加应用地球科学内容知识和对地球科学职业道路的热情方面的效果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Geoscientists are a crucial part of the U.S. workforce and help the nation address societal challenges such as water security and climate change. Twenty-seven percent of the existing geoscience workforce is predicted to retire over the next decade, creating a gap between workforce needs and the availability of career-ready geoscientists. A challenge is that most high school teachers and their students are largely unaware of the geosciences as a potential career pathway. Therefore, this project aims to increase recruitment of students into this important field and overcome the awareness gap by training high-school teachers on how to integrate place-based geoscience field activities into the classroom. Using water as a theme, the project will show how the geosciences are integrated into water resources and management activities. Geoscience faculty at Missouri S&T will work with teachers and 4H leaders to develop field activities and accompanying curriculum modules. The activities will be field-based and revolve around local field sites with streams, lakes, caves, and/or springs. By providing teachers with the ability to deliver exciting geoscience content to their high-school students, the project will ultimately increase the number of students who pursue geoscience careers. This outcome will benefit society, as a highly trained geoscience workforce is central to the needs of current and emerging environmental fields in the United States. The goal of the project is to increase the college enrollment of students in the geosciences and geoscience-related disciplines, thereby increasing the pool of career-ready geoscientists. The approach is to train high-school teachers how to engage students outside the classroom using the dynamic concept of local water resources as the geoscience entry point. In this way the project will engage students in non-geoscience classrooms to learn geoscience concepts, and use both formal and informal educational avenues to test the efficacy of both venues. Through collaboration with Geoscience faculty at Missouri S&T, the project's focus will be on providing research and training experiences for teachers and high school students in rural communities in Missouri. Objectives are to: (1) Develop field-based and hands-on activities for high school students that introduce them to careers in the geosciences while building on interdisciplinary interests, (2) Prepare teachers in Missouri to lead these activities and integrate them into classroom discussions, and (3) Assess the efficacy of the activities for increasing applied geoscience content knowledge and enthusiasm for geosciences career paths.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.