Welcome to GeoEngage!
The GeoEngage program is a joint venture between faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Northwest Vista College (NVC), and Palo Alto College (PAC) which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In the Fall of 2022, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UTSA and NVC in San Antonio commenced a three-year program to broaden the recruitment of undergraduate students for the geoscience major. PAC joined the effort in the Fall of 2023.
Key components of the program include in-person and online intervention modules for introductory courses, opportunities for service-learning activities that benefit the San Antonio community, and peer and faculty mentoring. The course modules in introductory STEM courses (chemistry, physics, geosciences) are aimed at raising awareness of and interest in the geosciences as a subject, while the service-learning projects are intended to retain students in the geoscience major or minor. Undergraduate students benefit through improved academic preparedness and career awareness by participating in program activities.
Despite concerted effort over the last two decades, the size and diversity of the geoscience workforce has not significantly changed to meet the projected demand for geoscientists, which has major consequences for the sustainability of natural resources and overall environmental quality that supports a strong economy and ensures the health and welfare of all United States residents. This project aims to address this shortfall using an innovative curriculum program to recruit and retain more undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups; it will promote interest in geoscience within NVC and PAC, two-year institutions where geoscience courses are limited, and facilitate transfer pathways from NVC and PAC to UTSA, a four-year institution. All partnering colleges are Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Moreover, the program will improve retention to degree completion, so students earn the educational credential needed to enter the geoscience workforce. The new insights gained from the program will form a model of best practices that can be adapted and implemented at other universities to grow a larger, more diverse geoscience workforce.
Motivation
This project aims to broaden participation and enhance retention in geoscience by implementing and testing the effectiveness of a three-stage early intervention strategy within the undergraduate degree pipeline. Conducted at the Hispanic-Serving Institutions of NVC, PAC, and UTSA, the three-year program will generate greater awareness of and interest in geoscience in introductory STEM courses and promote retention through extracurricular service-learning projects.
In introductory geoscience, chemistry, and physics courses, four modules will test the effectiveness of a recruitment strategy that targets specific barriers and motivations to broaden and diversify the pool of geoscience majors and minors. A two-level sequence of team-based service-learning projects will be used to deepen geoscience knowledge, build project-based experience, and grow independence and responsibility in participants to increase disciplinary interest and motivation and develop geoscience identity and community. Participants will be supported by multi-level mentoring, advising, a transfer bridging event, and stipends; a program-specific interactive website will facilitate formal and informal learning and interactions between students, faculty, professionals, and community.
The project design permits a critical test of a recruitment approach that targets a wider pool of potential majors and the critical elements of service-learning projects that promote learning and retention. The new knowledge identified from formative and summative program assessments will be widely transferrable because it focuses on introductory courses that are generally offered at many institutions and experiential learning projects that can flourish independently from formal coursework. The best practices that result will be widely disseminated for broader adaptation in diverse institutional settings to help increase the number and diversity of students earning bachelor's degrees in geoscience.
Disclaimer
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2119446. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
