Engaging secondary students in geoscience investigations through the use of low-cost instrumentation

Many of the future challenges facing the United States, such as climate change, securing energy resources, soil degradation, water resources, and atmospheric pollution, are part of the domain of geosciences. Currently, our colleges and universities are not graduating enough geoscience majors to meet this demand, with only 0.27% of all bachelor's degrees granted in geoscience fields in 2006, the fewest in any scientific field (NSF 2008). Moreover, undergraduate recruitment in geosciences from traditionally underrepresented groups is significantly poorer than other STEM fields, with underrepresented groups comprising just 5% of total geoscience bachelor’s degrees awarded (Czujko 2004). Undergraduate geoscience programs therefore have a critical need to not just grow in size, but to expand the spectrum of students within their programs to better reflect the country’s diversity. In 2009, Worcester State College (WSC) initiated an effort as part of NSF's Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences Program to address this problem on a local scale. Through this program, we are creating a pipeline for diversity in the geosciences through a multi-faceted approach involving teacher training, high school internships, and a co-enrollment and scholarship program between Worcester Public Schools and WSC. Worcester, Massachusetts has a median household income of 43,779, 13,902 below the median household income for Massachusetts, and 24% of the city’s children live below the poverty line. Worcester is a diverse city: 19% of the population is Latino, 9% African-American, and 7% Asian-American, with over 18% foreign-born residents. This diversity is reflected in the city’s school system, where over 80 languages are spoken. In July 2010, the program was initiated with a week-long teacher training workshop. The participants were middle and high school science teachers from Worcester and the surrounding area. The workshop focused on issues of sustainability related to the geosciences, such as solar and wind power, water and soil quality, and assessing land-use change through remote sensing and geospatial tools. The goal of the workshop was to give the teachers tools to engage students in investigating these concepts in the classroom, thereby stimulating an interest in geosciences that would carry over into undergraduate education. As part of the workshop, we provided a low-cost set of tools to give to the teachers for hands-on use in the classroom. We developed a compact, rugged system for measuring solar insolation and temperature, and combined it with a datalogger to collect a continuous timeseries of data. We also built a standalone anemometer for measuring wind speed. These instruments offer entry points for multiple types of classroom investigations into weather, climate, and renewable energy potential. They also provide a platform for practicing mathematical and computer skills such as timeseries graphing, data analysis, spreadsheet use, etc. The cost of the pyranometer, datalogger, and anemometer setup was $229 per user. Feedback from workshop participants was very positive, and the teachers were confident that the instrumentation would give them a new way to engage students in geoscience topics.