HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE LAB: CREATING PARTNERSHIPS TO ENRICH STUDENTS AND GET LAB ASSISTANCE ALL AT THE SAME TIME

In the State of Kansas students in the public-school system are exposed to physical science in middle school. This class is essentially an introduction to physical geology, and for many K-12 students, this is their only exposure to geology as a discipline. While some high schools do offer geology electives, these courses tend to draw few students. Chemistry, on the other hand, is taken by a significant number of students at the high school level. Thus chemistry, a familiar subject to many high school students, can be used to reintroduce them to geology.

In late 2018 a collaboration was initiated between the Department of Geology at Wichita State University and Derby High School, Derby KS. As part of this initiative, high school science teachers recruited students with an interest in chemistry and a desire to participate in a research project at Wichita State. The collaboration was envisioned to be an ongoing effort, with a new group of students, along with some returning students, working in the lab every year. This experience provided students with an opportunity to conduct research in a university laboratory while highlighting how the chemistry they had learned in high school, applied to geologic sciences. In addition to training in basic lab practices, students were also introduced to analytical instruments such as UV-VIS, XRD, and ICP-OES. A total of four students participated in 2019, these students, dubbed the Derby Geochem Crew aided with geochemical experiments over the course of several weekends that spring. Results from this research were presented at the GSA 2019 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ. In 2020, the second year of the collaboration, the Derby Geochem Crew consisted of three new students, and one 2019 returning student. The research goal was to expand the previous work in preparation for submission of a journal article. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus pandemic has currently paused this research collaboration for the time being.