HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: FIELDGeo - Field Investigations and Education Leading to Degrees in Geoscience

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will take 200 undergraduate and community college students on an annual winter-break field trip outside the formal curriculum. The project will have the goal of increasing interest in geoscience degrees, retention of geoscience majors, and graduation rates among students underrepresented in this field. The project also seeks to expose pre-service math and science teachers to geoscience with the goal of including geoscience in their future lesson plans. The project team will recruit four types of students: community college students, undergraduates new to geoscience, pre-service secondary math and science teachers from the teachHOUSTON program, and advanced geoscience undergraduate students. Key project components will include a pre-field trip seminar for all participants; ongoing vertical mentoring that will bring together geoscience faculty, advanced undergraduate students, and new-to-geoscience students; the six-day field trip to New Mexico and West Texas; and post-field trip geoscience research for the advanced undergraduate students. The research questions that will guide this mixed-methods longitudinal study are:1) How and for whom does participation in a field trip fulfill students’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness? 2)To what extent and for whom does participation in a field trip enhance geoscience identity? 3) How and for whom does participation in a field trip comprise a transformative learning experience? Which program component is most meaningful to students and why? 4) What role do students perceive the field trip has for their decision to enter, persist in, or leave geology? 5) To what extent and how does participating on the field trip shape teachHOUSTON students’ beliefs about science education and affect their career plans? 6) To what extent and how do teachHOUSTON teachers who participate in the field trip integrate geology into the classes they teach? The project will explore differences not only among traditional undergraduate students but also among community college students and pre-service secondary math and science teachers, where there is substantially less research on field trips. The project draws on three frameworks to guide the research: self-determination theory, identity theory and intersectionality, and transformative experiences. A mixed methods approach will be employed to address research questions and evaluate the implementation and effects of the enhanced field trip model. Through the research and evaluation components advancements will be made in how HSIs can improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education by leveraging existing effective practices to make field trips more inclusive and responsive to diverse students’ needs and identities. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. 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.