GP EXTRA: Engaging Students in the Geosciences Using a Lake Watershed Geosystems Path

Plymouth State University, Plymouth NH

Investigators

Abstract

In response to national and state concerns, New Hampshire?s public systems of higher education set a goal of a 50% increase in STEM graduates by 2020 and to double that by 2025. Recruiting, retaining, and graduating undergraduate students in STEM disciplines, like geoscience, is a major challenge especially at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs). The Lake Watershed Geosystems Path (LWGP) directly responds to these local and regional mandates while helping meet national needs to augment the geoscience trained workforce. Students learn scientific concepts quicker and more permanently when the concepts are provided as relevant applications. This project uses this educational principle of a problem-based, field-intensive, applied interdisciplinary science approach and seamlessly scaffolds it into existing curriculum and research opportunities. It also includes faculty and peer mentoring and links participants to applied geoscience internships and career opportunities. The Lake Watershed Geosystems Path (LWGP) project seeks to increase STEM preparation and graduates in the following ways: 1) partnering with the Plymouth State University Admissions to recruit a diverse cohort of first-year students in STEM fields, 2) encouraging participating students to enroll in a newly created first-year seminar course that develops critical thinking through a geoscience lens, 3) engaging students in extracurricular field- and lab-based research as part of a new PSU Cluster project which spans the major hydrological components of watershed systems, including atmospheric deposition, land surface runoff, stream flow, and resulting effects on lake basins, and 4) assisting participating students in entering into pre-arranged internships and externships which leverage their newly acquired geoscience training. LWGP alumni will be recruited to help peer mentor and train subsequent participants via a 1-credit independent study elective. Ultimately, LWGP will blend field and laboratory student experiences oriented around hydrologic pathways in lake watersheds with community partnerships and faculty/peer mentoring to: 1) introduce geoscience principles, systems thinking and skill development at the onset of student university experiences; 2) increase student retention and success in non-geoscience degree programs that serve as pathways into geoscience fields; 3) foster strong cohort identification, and 4) apply knowledge and skills gained by students in this project to enhance their future work experiences, education goals, and career objectives. 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.