UTILIZING IN-DEPTH FIELD BASED PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING GROUPS WITHIN A STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM TO OVERCOME THE DIVERSITY GAP WITHIN THE GEOSCIENCES

In the summer of 2015, 10 geology students from Auburn University Department of Geosciences had the opportunity to participate in a study abroad program. The program’s itinerary covered two countries, Iceland and Scotland, for a duration of three weeks. The male to female ratio on this study abroad program to Iceland was 1 to 5 in favor of females. While in Scotland, the size of the group expanded to 4 males and 6 females. This study abroad program focused on in-depth field based exercises; however, this presented logistical issues due to the varying diversity of student abilities. Students participating in this trip spanned all levels of undergrad experience from freshman to seniors. In order to overcome the gap in abilities, the more advanced students acted as peer instructors during the field exercises. Throughout the program, three of the four peer leaders were female. I would like to discuss the interaction of female students in leadership roles, and how peer-to-peer mixed gender learning groups can help bridge the diversity gap in the field of geosciences. Team leaders engaged the introductory students in activities which taught them how to measure attitude, generate detailed field notes, create geologic maps, and produce cross sections from data collected in the field. Students participating in this peer learning technique successfully mastered the learning objectives within this gender diverse setting. The student demographic during this trip was weighted heavily in favor of the female participants. The abundant amount of female students engaging in leadership roles proved successful in bolstering the self-confidence of younger aspiring female geologists. By providing female students the opportunity to act as leaders in diverse groups, we will start to close the diversity gap within the geosciences.