An Introduction to Careers in Polar Sciences for Young Women

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

The Principal Investigator proposes a series of field courses for teenage young women with the theme of Glaciers, Climate, and the Alpine Landscape to provide them with an immersion-science experience that has four goals for students: ?to increase young women?s interest in pursuing science as a career ?to create life-long advocates for the scientific process ?to teach critical thinking skills ?to enhance their leadership self-confidence so that they have a higher likelihood of becoming community leaders in the future. This series of courses will build on a highly successful program, Girls on Ice (http://girlsonice.org), which the PI has been leading for nearly 10 years and which provides young women with strong, female role models; with an opportunity to see what a career in the Earth sciences is like; with one-on-one interactions with scientists; with facilitated discussions on the value of Earth science in societal issues; and with challenges that will build their self-confidence in multiple ways. To ensure that the young women who experience Girls on Ice maintain their new self-confidence and inspiration, the PI will create a peer-mentoring program (primarily through on-line methods) such that older Girls on Ice participants can mentor younger ones through their last years of high school and entering college. Participants will also be required to give a presentation and lead a discussion with young women at their high school after they return. Furthermore, the PI will lead two graduate student workshops to provide training and experience in field teaching. The graduate students who participate will not only have opportunities to lead Girls on Ice and Alaska Summer Research Academy courses, but also will give them valuable skills for their future academic career. This proposal includes a formal program evaluation and assessment that includes a four-year longitudinal study of one cohort of Girls on Ice participants as they go through the transitional period at the end of high school.