CONNECTING WITH UNDERSERVED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH A DUAL-CREDIT GEOLOGY CLASS EMPHASIZING OUTDOOR EDUCATION

For the past eight years, Ridgeview High School (RHS) in Bakersfield, California has offered a dual-credit Honors Geology class in collaboration with California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB). Through professional development activities, the course has been introduced into four other Kern High School District schools and two other districts throughout the state. The year-long class covers the curriculum for CSUB’s Geol 2010 - Physical Geology class and is enriched with projects and numerous field trips. Over 2,000 Ridgeview High School students have earned both college credit and High School Honors A-G science credit. Student pre- and post-surveys indicate that a positive perception of geology, the likelihood of students to pursue 4-year degrees in geology and other STEM disciplines, and student understanding of natural resource management and geologic hazards all increase significantly. In addition, pre-requisites for the popular class are contributing to the overall academic rigor of the high school campus, including significant enrollment increases in upper-division science and math classes.

Ridgeview High School is one of 18 campuses of the Kern High School District which serves over 38,000 students, many from groups underrepresented in the geosciences. To increase the impact of the class across the district, RHS offered the course as a summer school class open to all students in the district for the last two years. The summer class is offered over a four-week period with 11 days of classroom activities and 9 days of field activities including visits to three universities. Integrity and rigor of the course are preserved by extended daily classroom time, reinforced with hands-on exercises in the field. The field segment of the class is divided into two trips. A coastal trip focuses on beach processes, mass wasting, water and natural resources, structural geology, and earthquakes. A second trip along the Eastern Sierra Nevada covers volcanism, glaciation, water resources, and structural geology. Course content, field trips, college visits, college and honors credit make the class extremely popular. Analysis of student data strongly suggests the classroom/field model utilized in this class is an excellent way to reach out to underserved high school students, increasing their interest in the geologic sciences.