NSF Award
1914946
This project aims to serve the national interest in high-quality undergraduate STEM education by improving student access to cutting-edge geodesy methods in Earth Science field courses. Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth?s geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field, and how these properties change over time. Geodetic technologies can be applied to societally critical geoscience topics such as hazard assessment and response, as well as to topics with commercial or governmental value. As a result, geodetic technologies are driving changes in workforce demands and increasing the need for including geodetic field methods and related quantitative skills in undergraduate education. To meet these needs, the project plans to: train instructors how to incorporate geodetic field methods into their college courses; develop a loan program to provide educators access to geodetic equipment; and increase the availability of technical support for instructors.<br/><br/>This project specifically aims to broaden access of undergraduate students to the geodetic technologies of GPS, Structure from Motion (SfM), and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). To increase student engagement and learning in geodetics, the project will create short courses for instructors. These short courses will help instructors identify societally-relevant geoscience research questions that will provide relevance and context for students to learn and apply geodetic technologies. More than 100 instructors will participate in these short courses, resulting in more than 1500 students who will learn to use geodetic field methods over the course of the grant. The project aims to develop sustainable changes in college instruction that could reach even more students in the future. The project will examine the efficacy and adoption of teaching materials produced through 1-day and 2.5-day short courses, as well as more intensive, smaller cohort groups. These data will contribute to the body of educational research, particularly the impact of faculty professional development in improving field education. The teaching materials developed by the project participants will continue to be evaluated by and disseminated through the website of the Science Education Resource Center (SERC), which has 5 million visitors per year (serc.carleton.edu/getsi). This project responds to community needs and has the potential to contribute to the critical need of a diverse, Earth Science-ready STEM workforce. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This project is in the Engaged Student Learning track and Development and Implementation tier; it builds on work of an earlier IUSE-funded Exploration and Design tier project. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.<br/><br/>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.
