Polar Education Conference: Improving JEDI for students interested in Polar STEM Careers

Polar 教育会议：为对 Polar STEM 职业感兴趣的学生改进 JEDI

• 批准号: 2114395
• 负责人: Seth Campbell
• 金额: $ 4.98万
• 依托单位: University of Maine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-01 至 2023-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114395&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Polar; Education; Conference; Improving; JEDI

Although most environmental challenges disproportionately impact underrepresented communities, few nation-wide environmental programs effectively support or mentor students from these populations. This is particularly true of programs that train students in polar and climate sciences. The geosciences have long lacked diversity and are hampered by many barriers to entry for underrepresented students. The field environment associated with polar and climate research can be a barrier to students who have limited access to required equipment, supplies, or pre-field training. Under-represented students also often have limited exposure to related content in school and are confronting intrinsic cultural concerns about a career in these fields. To address these issues, the University of Maine will organize and support a conference where participants will focus on 1) developing new strategies for engaging under-represented students in polar sciences, both in the field and in the classroom; 2) developing relationships and collaborations between high school educators, informal educators who are part of the Upward Bound (UB) program and professional polar scientists; and 3) establishing a dialogue towards long-term engagement between educators and the Polar STEM community. Conference attendees will also have an opportunity to interact with students in the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) program. Positive undergraduate experiences and outdoor interest are two factors that have been attributed to attracting undergraduate students into geosciences, and a strong connection with mentors as well as summer research experiences are dominant factors in retention. Therefore, development of programs that provide opportunities for long term mentoring from faculty and inspiring summer field or non-field research experiences for students within target demographics is an important goal. This conference focuses on developing these opportunities for students in the Polar community by leveraging existing research and education resources. This conference will support the development of new long-term collaborations focused on supporting the engagement of under-represented students in Polar STEM fields. The participants will strategize on how to improve polar STEM education through field experiences and through the development of data-centric, problem-based educational resources for the traditional classroom. These opportunities will not only benefit the attendees, but also the students whom they teach. Providing opportunities for students to learn about a career in Polar science is the first step in increasing a more diverse workforce within the field. The conference will be open to earth science educators and polar scientists from across the nation and to UB faculty and educators in Alaska, Washington, Maine, Florida and other UB programs.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.

尽管大多数环境挑战都会影响不成比例的社区，但在全国范围内，几乎没有有效的环境计划有效地支持或指导来自这些人群的学生。培训学生和气候科学的学生的计划尤其如此。地球科学长期以来一直缺乏多样性，并受到代表性不足的学生进入的许多障碍。与极地和气候研究相关的现场环境可能是对所需设备，供应或现场培训访问权限有限的学生的障碍。代表性不足的学生在学校对相关内容的影响通常也有限，并且正在面对有关这些领域职业的内在文化问题。为了解决这些问题，缅因大学将组织和支持一个会议，参与者将重点关注1）制定新的策略，以吸引代表性不足的学生参与野外和课堂上的极性科学； 2）建立高中教育者，非正式教育者之间的关系和合作，这些教育者是向上界（UB）计划和专业极地科学家的一部分； 3）建立与教育者与极地STEM社区之间长期参与的对话。会议与会者还将有机会与Juneau Icefield研究计划（JIRP）计划中的学生互动。积极的本科经验和户外兴趣是两个因素，这是由于吸引本科生进入地球科学而归因于地球科学，与导师的牢固联系以及夏季研究经验是保留的主要因素。因此，开发计划为目标人口统计学中的学生提供长期指导和鼓舞人心的夏季研究经验的长期指导的计划是一个重要目标。这次会议的重点是利用现有的研究和教育资源来为极地社区的学生开发这些机会。这次会议将支持开发新的长期合作，致力于支持在极性STEM领域中代表性不足的学生的参与。参与者将通过现场体验以及为传统教室开发以数据为中心的，基于问题的教育资源来改善极地STEM教育的策略。这些机会不仅将使与会者，而且会使他们教授的学生受益。为学生提供学习极地科学职业的机会是增加该领域中更多样化的劳动力的第一步。该会议将向全国各地的地球科学教育者和极地科学家开放，并向阿拉斯加，华盛顿，缅因州，佛罗里达州和其他UB计划的UB教师和教育工作者开放。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来通过评估来支持的。