Washington State Earth Sciences Summit: Pathways for Undergraduates

华盛顿州本科生地球科学峰会将汇集来自社区和技术学院(CTC)和全州授予学士学位的大学的地球科学教职员工。峰会的目标是制定一项计划，让地球科学专业的学生能够获得在该州成功转学的畅通途径。两年制大学有可能成为全州日益多样化的地球科学专业的来源。然而，如果转学过程不清楚或不一致，或者没有有效地为学生做好准备，可能会出现瓶颈，导致学士学位获得者的数量和多样性减少。PIS预计，峰会将产生的伙伴关系和结构将改善地球科学项目中成功学生的数量和多样性。这次峰会有可能开发出一种模式，可用于其他地球科学项目，包括环境科学、气象学、海洋学、农业和土壤科学，所有这些项目通常是在学生进入大学后发现的。这次峰会旨在找出可能阻碍华盛顿州系统转移路径的独特障碍，以及减少或消除这些障碍的解决方案，这些障碍可以在全国范围内推断和适应。华盛顿州本科生地球科学峰会将组织和召开一次本科生教职员工和顾问的聚会，他们将寻求改善华盛顿州的转移路径。峰会寻求在该州建立一个地球科学教师社区，并发展所有本科生机构之间的关系，以促进思想交流和项目改进。峰会的目标包括：(1)主要利益攸关方的参与，通过引导路径和公平的视角促进关于地球科学机会的讨论；(2)确定导致成功转移的门槛概念(S)、能力和自我调节战略；(3)定义成功转移的定义和确定阻碍学生在地球科学方面进步的障碍；(4)探索和启动未来在学院和机构之间的合作，以及(5)确定下一步在机构层面、机构之间和整个华盛顿州改善转移过程的步骤。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Washington State Undergraduate Earth Sciences Summit will bring together geoscience faculty and staff from community and technical colleges (CTCs) and bachelors-granting universities across the state. The goal of the Summit is to develop a plan where Earth science majors have access to clear pathways that result in successful transfer within the state. Two-year colleges have the potential to be a source of increasing diversity of Earth science majors across the state. However, if the transfer process is unclear or inconsistent or does not effectively prepare students, there could be a bottleneck resulting in a decreasing number and diversity of bachelor's degree recipients. PIs anticipate that the partnerships and structures that will emerge from the Summit will improve both the number and diversity of successful students in geoscience programs. This Summit has the potential to develop a model that could be useful for other geoscience programs, including environmental science, meteorology, oceanography, agricultural and soil sciences, all programs which are generally discovered after students enter college. The Summit seeks to identify the unique barriers that may block transfer pathways in the Washington state system, and the solutions that reduce or remove these barriers that could be extrapolated and adapted nationally.The Washington State Undergraduate Earth Sciences Summit will organize and convene a gathering of undergraduate faculty and advisors who will seek to improve transfer pathways in Washington state. The Summit seeks to build a community of Earth science faculty in the State, and develop relationships between all undergraduate institutions that will facilitate the sharing of ideas and improvement of programs. Summit goals include (1) engagement of key stakeholders to foster discussions about Earth science opportunities through a lens of guided pathways and equity; (2) identification of threshold concept(s), competencies, and self-regulatory strategies that lead to successful transfer; (3) definition of successful transfer and identification of obstacles that impede students' progress in the Earth sciences; (4) exploration and initiation of future collaborations across colleges and institutions, and (5) identification of next steps for improvement of transfer processes at both the institutional level, between institutions, and in Washington state overall.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.