MAKING A BROADER IMPACT BY ENGAGING THE GEOSCIENCE IN GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION FOR REACHING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES

Considering that there has been little or no significant progress toward increasing diversity in the Earth Sciences over the past 40 years of effort, the need to examine the current state of the discipline and chart a different course is clear. This research team emerged from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Geosciences Working Group (HBCU GWG), which formed to create a network of HBCUs that have, or may be developing, Geoscience programming. The GP-IMPACT: Expanding HBCU Pathways for Geoscience Education (HBCU Pathways) project is formulating a Deep Dive Evaluation and Enhancement solution based in Grounded Theory. This multidimensional solution aims to (1) impact middle school teacher preparation curricula and professional development activities and (2) improve minority access to the Geosciences. By doing a deep dive into the practices, policies, successes, and challenges at five HBCUs that are providing or developing programming in both the Earth Sciences and Education, we determine emerging themes for success using both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data are the metric for assessing the breadth of the landscape of the diversity issue in the Geosciences and the qualitative data facilitate an examination of the depth of the issue. The mixed method experimental design enables cross-examination of the breath and the depth of the diversity problem in our nation. These data provide evidence for the evaluation component to be designed and improved upon over the course of the project. The deep dive instrument is scalable, allowing for implementation as an evaluation tool at multiple types of institutions. The results inform the enhancement elements that serve as prescriptive solutions for institutions to better equip pre-service teachers. Further, this team of experts will create a set of pilot enhancement tools to meet the most critical needs identified by the HBCU Pathways project. Collectively, this project forms the foundation upon which more effective practices and policies can be constructed for improving justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Geosciences.