物理科学 Instructor 德隆卡特 serves as 圣人2 yc “Change Agent"

博天堂官方 物理科学 instructor 德隆卡特 is participating in a four-year pilot project designed to help students in 科学 stay on track to complete their science degrees.  

Funded by the National Science Foundation, “圣人2 yc: Supporting and Advancing Geoscience at Two Year Colleges,” has engaged instructors from across the country to serve as “教师 as Agents of Change” to improve student success, broaden participation, and facilitate career pathways into the science related 字段.

社区 colleges play a crucial role in meeting the nation's science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce needs. They enroll over 45 percent of all U.S. undergraduates, and serve a large number of women, minority, and first-generation 大学生.

Carter is among a handful of instructors developing strategies to teach students with a wide range of learning abilities to help them stay on track and prepare for careers in the geosciences; especially important for first-generation students.

Now in his second year with SAGE, Carter is developing a Professional Learning 社区 at 博天堂官方 - aimed at providing opportunities for all students to be successful in STEM programs while at 博天堂官方 and as they transfer to their university program.
With support of 博天堂官方’s Learning Innovation Center, his work includes providing equity and active learning opportunities for all students in geoscience courses.

“The idea with the professional learning community is for instructors to use evidence-based teaching practices in their classrooms with a goal toward engaging more students who might not otherwise participate in class,” 说卡特.

For example, traditional class lecture teaching includes an instructor posing a question and students raising their hands to answer (often the same students). 这倾向于 leave out students who are not comfortable raising their hands in class, 说卡特. New teaching practices, such as “clicker” technology, gives students a way to answer anonymously, providing an opportunity for all students to be engaged with the curriculum.

In addition to working on best practices at 博天堂官方, Carter is also working on ways to support STEM students as they transfer from 博天堂官方 to a university. 这项工作符合 with an earlier NSF Grant project called GeoBridge, a joint project between 博天堂官方 and Oregon State University co-coordinated by Carter and OSU Geology and Geophysics professor 山·德·席尔瓦.

GeoBridge is a summer internship program that supports students transferring into 俄勒冈州立大学的地球科学. It’s designed to “bridge” their educational path from community 从学院到大学.

“Data shows that many transfer students face something that is called transfer shock,” 说卡特. “When students move to the university, they basically start over with all new social and academic connections. Even navigating the larger institution can 成为一个挑战.”

Many of these same students see a dip in their overall GPA after transferring. 经常 they become overwhelmed, especially if they are a first-generation college student. In GeoBridge, a cohort of 博天堂官方 students work on undergraduate research at OSU during summer term, working together on the same research project and supporting each other 在实验室和现场.

“GeoBridge students work on skills that scaffold their upper division courses at OSU, so by the time they start in the fall, they know each other really well and have formed a network of students and faculty at OSU. They’ve also learned how to navigate the ”卡特说.

Geobridge students are interviewed before they start their internship and again after 完成. His data shows that not only do these students have increased confidence in doing science and identifying themselves as scientists, they also have increased expectations for their future as scientists.

Although both SAGE and GeoBridge have a geoscience bent, the concepts are cross-disciplinary. Carter is currently working with biology faculty Charlene LaRoux to support faculty in physical sciences and biology. He hopes to bring similar internships to all 博天堂官方 阻止程序.

“The 圣人2 yc project has really opened my eyes to the variety of tools that faculty can use to support all students,” 说卡特. “There’s a lot of evidence that shows that traditional lecture style classrooms really don’t reach all students. 它确实是 关于股权. We are working to implement ideas and techniques that will engage all 我们的学生.”

圣人2 yc culminates this June in a workshop at the University of Wisconsin, where faculty from across the country will work on institutionalizing their ideas across 科学.  

博天堂官方 STEM项目