BREAKING THE BARRIERS OF TRADITIONAL EDUCATION: A CURRICULUM BRIDGE APPROACH TO STEM EDUCATION AT SHIPPENSBURG UNIVERSITY

This presentation highlights our so-called “Curriculum Bridge” project, an NSF-funded, innovative approach to integrating an otherwise specialized, cutting-edge technology, into an inter-disciplinary undergraduate program at Shippensburg University. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Geography and Earth Science department at Shippensburg University is currently implementing environmental geophysics into its geoenvironmental, interdisciplinary curriculum. Specific geophysical methods being implemented include; Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Electrical Resistivity (ER), and Electromagnetic Induction (EM). The uniqueness of the implementation approach (the so-called curriculum bridge) is that no new, specialized geophysics courses are introduced in the curriculum. Instead, geophysical concepts and technology are worked into the existing range of relevant courses (e.g. hydrogeology, physical geology, hydrology, etc.) to give students enough exposure that offers them sufficient background and expertise in environmental geophysics at the undergraduate level. Results to date indicate that the project has, indeed, provided opportunities for our students that are rare outside of specialized, stand-alone, physics or geology programs.