EHR-Polar DCL: Authentic Research through Collaborative Learning (ARC-Learn): Undergraduate Research Experiences in Data Rich Arctic Science

The ARC-Learn project is a partnership between the Oregon State University STEM Research Center and the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Polar Research programs. Access to quality research experience opportunities is a high impact educational practice that supports undergraduates to successfully continue their education in STEM fields.

Many of these programs include intensive experiences that occur over the summer months, often requiring students to travel to distant or remote locations to participate. This common structure limits access for many students, especially those who have extended or delayed educational paths as they balance work, family, and dependent care obligations. ARC-Learn will provide a more flexible lower-intensity model to eliminate common barriers to participation.

Over the course of two years ARC-Learn students, working within an affirmative science community, will be exposed to the full “arc” of research from understanding scientific challenges to sharing the results of research with the public. The unique design of this program will have three major benefits. First, it will provide critical training to develop the next generation of scientists, who will be charged with solving globally relevant environmental challenges for which the Arctic is ground-zero.

For example, students will work in teams to better understand the ways in which continuing loss of Arctic sea ice impacts heat exchange between the ocean and atmosphere, intensifies coastal erosion, and alters the food web and food security. Second, ARC-Learn will leverage the vast data resources already available by focusing on developing critical science skills such as data literacy and visualization.

Third, the project will increase access to undergraduate research for students who are underrepresented in the Polar sciences, transferring from two-year colleges, and those who are unable to be away from home and family obligations for extended periods of time. Success among these groups can broaden participation in science and lead to a more diverse future Polar science workforce.

To support students’ success, ARC-Learn will employ inclusive and culturally responsive mentoring practices, a flexible and modular schedule, and the option for students to engage both in person and online.

This project directly responds to the research and programmatic recommendations in the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine consensus studies on Undergraduate Research Experiences (2017) and Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM (2019). The overarching goals of ARC-Learn are to: 1) develop and diversify the next generation of Polar scientists; 2) expand knowledge about design and implementation of undergraduate research experiences; and 3) build understanding about how mentors can develop inclusive mentoring competencies and efficacy.

The project research objectives are to understand the specific mechanisms and program design elements that contribute to: 1) achievement of learning outcomes; 2) cultivation of STEM identity and STEM persistence; and 3) mentor development of team science and inclusive mentoring practices and mindsets. Research methods will focus on using empirical data (collected through observations, surveys, interviews and reflective journals) to explain the program processes that enable (or inhibit) student progress and mentor development.

The researchers will investigate students’ (self-efficacy, STEM identity and STEM trajectories) and mentors’ (self-concepts, perceptions of students, and inclusive mentoring and collaborative competencies) experiences. The team will seek to uncover how ARC-Learn program elements (formal collaborative and problem-based learning, inclusive mentoring, community, science lifecycle, and long-duration and low intensity schedule) contribute to student success and development of STEM identity and persistence.

Additionally, the team will interrogate how external factors and institutional contexts impact student and mentor development and success. The project team will broaden the impact of this research through direct support and development of 50 participating underrepresented and non-traditional students and mentors, as well as development and broad dissemination of an empirically-based framework and programmatic lessons learned to support propagation and scaling of promising elements of this novel program design to support a richly diverse workforce.

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.