GP:IN:Fostering STEM Education and Career Opportunities in a Diverse Wisconsin Community

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

Like many school districts in the United States, the School District of Beloit, Wisconsin struggles with pronounced racial and ethnic inequities and achievement gaps, particularly notable in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In order to confront these academic and societal challenges, the PIs propose to develop an informal network known as the Wisconsin Educational Leadership for Community Outreach and Mentoring for the Environment (WELCOME).

The School District of Beloit is an ideal setting for investigating the potential to enhance STEM literacy, self-confidence, and career interests among a diverse student population that has been largely excluded in the geosciences. The broad challenges to be tackled by the WELCOME initiative are the persistent diversity crisis in the geosciences; STEM barriers for youth with disabilities; insufficient nature-based and community-focused active learning opportunities; and deficient knowledge base and confidence among geoscience teachers.

The proposal aims to introduce youth to the field of geosciences and contact with geoscientists early on, during middle school, as early exposure is a known indicator for later interest in the field, and aims to foster a STEM-literate public.

PIs will develop an informal network, WELCOME, aimed at enhancing STEM education for historically marginalized youth. WELCOME combines collaborative learning and hands-on experiences among middle and high school students, pre-service undergraduate teachers, and in-service teachers that is focused on the coupled Earth climate system and benefits from the informal, community-based learning environment of the Welty Environmental Center.

The key partners will include the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Welty Center, School District of Beloit, Beloit College, Achieving Collaborative Treatment, Autism Society of South Central Wisconsin, and Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. The objectives are as follows: (1) Enhance the enthusiasm and perception of self-competency in STEM among youth across southern WI, while confronting barriers related to race, ethnicity, and disability status including stereotypes regarding geoscience professions. (2) Foster students’ skills in hypothesis building, scientific inquiry, instrument calibration and usage, and data collection and analysis, focused on Earth’s coupled system, through the implementation of GLOBE’s protocols, including special measurement protocols for student-designed local environmental investigations of high community relevance that effectively engage marginalized youth. (3) Broaden geoscience opportunities for youth on the autism spectrum through STEM summer camps that engage analytical inquisitiveness in a non-threatening, inclusive learning environment. (4) Support the professional development of pre- and in-service teachers through GLOBE training to meet the state teacher licensure requirements for proficiency in environmental education, and the development of active-learning units that engage all geoscience students.

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.