Collaborative Research: GEOPaths: IN: DIG IT (Data in Geosciences in Teaching)

Atmospheric, climate, ocean, earth and environmental sciences (geosciences) are among the least diverse fields in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). A lack of diversity in STEM fields means decreased ability to identify and solve critical issues facing society such as climate change, which disproportionately affects the populations that are least represented in STEM. The Data in Geosciences in Teaching project aims to increase diversity in the geosciences by supporting high school teachers in school districts with diverse student populations to sustainably build their science programs to include the types of geoscience student learning experiences that increase the likelihood that these students will pursue STEM careers. Classroom and field-based geosciences lessons will be co-created by teachers and community geosciences partners (industry, government, and academic). This project aims to make real change in the district science programming by providing a long-term commitment of resources, supporting teachers using local geoscience experiences and expertise, and building sustainable partnerships. This project seeks to create a systematic approach to ensuring equitable access to geoscience learning experiences for local high school educators and professionals through creation of a geosciences learning ecosystem that will incorporate the assets and expertise of Community Geosciences Partners, professional learning experiences, their existing science curriculum, newly created geosciences learning experiences, and evidence of student impacts to support iterative design of the student learning experiences. The goals of this project are to: (1) design and implement a series of experiences for high school science teachers to engage with local Geoscience Community Partners and their data to foster learning and collaborations (Teacher Learning); (2) facilitate the co-creation of student learning experiences that increase the number of authentic, data-rich, and locally-and/or personally-relevant geoscience lessons taught in local high school science courses (Student Learning); and (3) create and implement a sustainability plan with the local high school science programming that includes continued collaborations between high school science teachers and local Community Geosciences Partners (System Level Change). 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.