IMPROVING SCIENCE IDENTITY THROUGH VIDEOS

Many students in introductory geoscience classes have the pre-conceived mindset that they ‘cannot do science’, predisposing them to a poor grade. This is especially true for underrepresented minorities and women, likely enhanced through stereotype threat and the fact that the geosciences are dominated by white males. As part of the SAGE 2YC program (Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education at Two-Year Colleges), an extra credit assignment was developed at Waubonsee Community College to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. For this assignment, students are asked to identify a geoscientist that is/was an URM or woman, and to develop, write and produce a 5 to 6-minute video on them. Eight videos were submitted by nine students in face-to-face and online sections of Earth Science, Environmental Geology and Astronomy. Interestingly, earth science and geology students tended to choose astronomers and the astronomy student choose a geoscientist. Instructions, rubric and lessons learned will be discussed. All videos were of a surprisingly high quality, and several informal conversations with the student videographers revealed a deeper understanding and appreciation of the geosciences. Videos were produced on Marie Tharp, Marguerite Thomas Williams, Florence Bascom, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jocelyn Bell, Maria Teresa Ruiz, Henrietta Levitt, and Vera Rubin. Samples of submitted videos will be presented.