ENGAGING TEACHERS IN EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
In June, 2010, eighteen EES teachers from southeastern North Carolina met with earth scientists from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Fayetteville State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The goal of the workshop was the development of a program to bolster participation in the Earth sciences, increase the number of minority students participating in the Earth sciences and effectively use cutting edge research as a tool for recruitment and retention. The workshop was supported by a grant from the NSF Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences program.
In the first part of the workshop, teachers were introduced to the research conducted at the three participating institutions, and toured the laboratories and facilities, including electron microprobe and FTIR laboratories. In the second part, teachers and scientists began a dialog to address problems in teaching EES and design a research program incorporating teachers.
The teachers titled their program TREES- Teachers Researching Earth and Environmental Science. The program would involve a one week, intensive (hiking) boot camp to ensure an adequate level of baseline knowledge, followed by two to three weeks research. Some were interested in longer research projects, but all placed a premium on flexibility. A one to two year commitment was agreed upon. In terms of compensation, teachers wanted graduate school and/or continuing education credit. They expected fair compensation, and room and board if long commutes were involved. They were adamant about t-shirts for participants. Application criteria were suggested as automatic acceptance for the workshop participants, one or more teachers per school, and a pairing of novice and experienced teachers as the program progresses.
This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant EAR-0939709.