Teach the Earth: Making the connection between research and practice in broadening participation

Abstract

In the decade since the 2007 JGE special issue on broadening participation, much work has been done to draw new voices into the geosciences, and the number of students from underrepresented groups graduating with geoscience degrees has grown. However, the rate of increase is not yet large enough that geoscience demographics represent the broader society. Accelerating the rate of increase requires widespread adoption of research-based educational practices across three areas: attracting a diverse group of students to the geosciences, supporting them through graduation, and preparing them for career success. This attract-support-prepare framework builds on previous work that examined programs that have been successful in increasing the numbers of students from underrepresented groups persisting in the geosciences, as well as the experiences of faculty from a number of contexts. The Teach the Earth web portal makes adoption of impactful practices easier by providing access to extensive resources, models, and strategies to attract, support, and prepare students. The website also allows faculty, programs, departments, and the education community to move forward together on issues surrounding broadening participation by enabling individuals to build on the work of others instead of starting from scratch. By providing a feedback loop in which new contributions of education research and faculty experience are added to the community knowledge base, the website creates a link between education research and practice.

Keywords:

• Diversity
• inclusive practice

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by a National Science Foundation collaboration between the Directorates for Education and Human Resources and Geociences under Grant DUE-1125331. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.