ENGAGING GEOSCIENCE MAJORS IN RESEARCH AND ENTICING UNDERGRADUATES INTO GEOSCIENCE DEGREE PROGRAMS BY INTEGRATING REAL ROCK ANALYSIS EXPERIENCES INTO GEOLOGY COURSES: SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

A key juncture in the education of undergraduates in STEM programs is the transition from directed learner to independent investigator. While more geoscience programs are now offering experiences to help students develop research skills (i.e., "new wave" field courses on hydrology, volcanology, etc.), these often don't include the kinds of data collection experiences that students will encounter professionally.

This NSF-CCLI project builds "real" research experiences into introductory and upper-level geology courses, making use of a remotely operable electron microprobe (EMP) and scanning electron microsocope (SEM) to support real-time student data collection as part of course-related research projects. The instrumentation (housed at FCAEM, at FIU in Miami, FL) is operable remotely using UNIX terminal emulator software. I have built intensive student use of EMP and/or SEM into introductory and Junior-level geoscience courses at the University of South Florida. Students in both courses can follow their in-class research activities with a focused lab course (GLY 4947L) where they learn to use these instruments in greater depth and pursue independent investigations, to the point of presenting their work at a sectional GSA meeting or like venue. In this project we are tracking gains in student learning and perceived empowerment as researchers, as well as trends in student course selections and post-graduation trajectories as a result of this experience.

In three years of the project 14 students (2 in Year 1, 6 in years 2 and 3; n_total=65) have taken our GLY 4947L course. Of these five have so far presented research results at professional meetings; five projects are still ongoing. Three students so far have gone onto graduate studies in geology. Measures of student interest indicate the hands-on experiences are both empowering and appreciated, and measures of student learning indicate greater retention of mineralogy/ petrology content in particular. The experiences increased student interest in science, though interestingly there was not a significant increase in interest in pursuing geoscience courses/degrees among students in the introductory class, although several students from these classes followed their experiences with upper level geology courses and/or post-course research.