GP-IN: Engaging High School STEM Educators and Special Education Teachers in Innovative Geoscience Teaching, Learning, and Research Environments

The objective of this project will be to increase exposure to geoscience literacy and education by providing high school educators with educational geoscience content, training, and research. This project will subsequently expose thousands of high school students to geoscience content and its applications in the real world, including students from historically excluded groups, students with disabilities, English learners, and first generation students.

The PIs will develop Integrative Project-Based Learning Content to facilitate STEM and Special Education teachers’ knowledge and application of acquired geoscience skills, as well as students’ exposure to geoscience content and its career opportunities in high school. Teachers and students will contribute to a geological database and virtual field guide of Georgia, which will be shared with other geoscientists in Georgia, facilitating a virtual dialogue.

The geodatabase and virtual field guide has the potential to be expanded with additional information, and can be used as a model for geodatabases and virtual field guides in other states and regions. By providing education in specific geological research technologies and facilitating field and lab research, students will acquire the knowledge, experience, and motivation to transition to geoscience programs when they enter college.

The goals of this project are to increase exposure of geoscience educational and career opportunities to at least 1,200 high school students, including students from historically excluded groups such as English learners, first generation students, and students with disabilities. By integrating geoscience content and techniques into already existing required high school science courses, the proposed work will bridge the gap between middle school, where students are initially exposed to Earth Science content, and college.

Proposed activities will foster workforce development, close interaction with mentors, creation of a seamless educational next step for high school level students, assessment of the impact of collective efforts on student learning, sharing and collaboration, and sustainability of products and services. The instructional content produced from this project can be used as a model for other institutions to engage students from diverse backgrounds in the geosciences.

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.