IGE Track 1: Place-Based Experiential Learning to Support Interdisciplinary STEM Graduate Degrees

Preparing innovative and capable problem-solvers who understand the complexities of environmental challenges will greatly benefit our economic and environmental future. Many students envision themselves working in environmental careers without direct knowledge of what positions are available or what skills might be needed for those careers. Many land management positions have openings for skilled practitioners but difficulty staffing rural or remote offices. This project provides an innovative solution by matching these populations through a place-based experiential learning internship co-developed with community partners and led by the student themself. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to Boise State University will study the effectiveness of place-based education as a way to confront the challenges in contemporary environmental management. The goal of this program is to ultimately lead to a transformation in how environmental managers understand the communities they serve and how rural students find new pathways to rewarding careers. This project expands the knowledge of effective place-based instructional practices for preparing graduate students for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers related to environmental management, with potential application to non-environmental fields. The project will develop, implement, examine, and disseminate insights into place-based experiential learning curriculum gained by studying graduates from the Master of Environmental Management degree program at Boise State University. Through a mixed methods study including student journaling, online surveys, student records, and iterative qualitative data collection, this project will study the role of place-based field experiences in enhancing the persistence, satisfaction, and placement of graduate students in interdisciplinary STEM graduate degree programs and subsequent public lands and environmental management careers. Beyond demonstrating the value of place in STEM education, the value of experiential learning in career readiness, and the value of student agency in graduate education, this project addresses the need for deep interdisciplinary training to confront the increasingly complex environmental challenges of our time. This project meets the societal need for increased adaptive capacity in shared environments by providing critical interdisciplinary training that is, in part, co-developed with land managers and thus aligned with contemporary and changing needs while also providing the collaborative skillset that is increasingly recommended for effective management. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community. 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.