This project will establish a geosciences learning community in Puerto Rico comprised of 6 inner city public schools (2 elementary, 2 middle, and 2 high schools), 2 universities (Universidad Metropolitana (UMET) and Universidad del Turabo (UT)), and two non-governmental organizations (Puerto Rico Wetland Foundation (PRWF) and Corredor del Yaguazo) which focus on public education about wetlands. The goal of the program is to increase understanding about the geosciences in Puerto Rico and encourage participation of Hispanic students in geoscience education and research. There are three main project activities, tied together with a thematic focus on climate change and environmental responses, and guided by best practices for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students in STEM disciplines. The Geosciences Classrooms component (Grades K-12) will use undergraduate-graduate student-teacher teams to lead a combination of classroom activities, field experiences, science fair support, and weather data collection and analysis, in order to provide basic content knowledge in the geosciences. Summer training will be provided to participating in-service teachers. Over the proposed project lifetime, the Geosciences Classroom component will serve approximately 900 K-12 students and 30 teachers. The Saturday Geoacademy component will competitively recruit 10 students (Grades 9-12) each year to work with 1 graduate student and 1 undergraduate student to carry out wetlands research over a 10-week period each semester. Beginning in Year 2, the Summer Geofield Training component will identify 10 students in Grades 10-12 to work with 2 undergraduate students and 2 graduate students as part of a 4-week research training program in wetlands research. Together, these activities will help to establish a seamless pipeline for geosciences education and recruitment from underrepresented Hispanic populations.
Beginning in June 2007, the School of Environmental Affairs (SEA) at Universidad Metropolitana (UMET), as lead institution, established a geosciences learning community comprised of six (6) inner city public schools, two (2) universities (UMET and Universidad del Turabo (UT), and three (3) non-governmental organizations (Corredor del Yaguazo, Comunidades Unidas Contra la Contaminacion, and the Puerto Rico Wetland Foundation) to enhance geosciences education in Puerto Rico. From 2007 to 2013, the project impacted approximately 808 students from elementary, junior high, and high school levels at the selected schools in the cities of Cataño and Caguas. One day a week, under the project’s Geoclassrooms component, the students welcomed teaching teams that included their science teacher, one graduate student from the environmental science programs of the School of Environmental Affairs and one undergraduate science major from UMET or UT. These teams developed hands-on activities, outdoors activities (such as using the project’s weather stations and equipment right at the schools), and also field trips to motivate the students to learn about the geosciences and improve the teaching/learning process. The teaching teams also provided support to the schools to engage in school-wide science-oriented activities such as participation in the annual science fair. Science Days were successfully celebrated annually at the elementary schools to promote a culture of appreciation for science. All of the participating schools at junior high and high school level established their science fairs although some schools had not participated in thirty years. Several of the schools had students that won awards at these fairs, including the awards that took several of the project’s students to be participants in the International Science Fair and Engineering (Intel ISEF) held in San Francisco in 2009 and Los Angeles, California in 2010. The project implemented two (2) Saturday Geoacademies every semester, with each university hosting one group. The setting at both universities was to provide the students with laboratory experiences in a university setting to enhance science skills, but also to encourage forward thinking of the science pipeline as a career choice. The students engaged in activities that taught them about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and conducted field research at Las Cucharillas March and other ecosystems on the island. During the summer, the project provided a Geofield Intensive Summer Training, with teams of high school students (grades 10-12), undergraduates and graduate students conducting research at the Marsh, as well. In December 2013, the research of one of the student groups, Heavy metals in urban areas around Las Cucharillas Marsh Natural Reserve, was published in the second edition of Perspectivas en Asuntos Ambientales, a scientific journal of the School of Environmental Affairs at UMET. This journal publishes high quality original articles, research and reviews of evidence-based literature as a dissemination tool and forum for discussion among academic and professional groups. In sum, a total of 170 students from 9th to 12th grades participated in the summer and Saturday academies. Both teachers and parents/caregivers reported attitude changes toward the sciences after these experiences. A total of 30 graduate and undergraduate students participated in the project. By the end of the project, 65% of the graduate students had finished their master’s degree and two of them went on to a doctoral program. By 2013, 45% of the undergraduates had finished their degree in environmental sciences, and 25% went on graduate programs in the sciences. The project also provided a program for the teachers during the summer to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the year’s activities but also to provide professional development. Eleven teachers participated in the Geosciences classrooms and as a result of the summer program, they prepared a series of classroom lesson plans for activities on climate change which were included in the teacher’s guide Learning Activities on Climate Change. This guide, and an educational video produced by the project, Climate Change and its Effects in Puerto Rico, were distributed among teachers at the project activities and other educational activities and at present both are being used by the Puerto Rico Department of Environmental and Natural Resources improve teaching skills on climate change among K-12 science teachers currently participating under the Coastal Zone Division Training Program. As a closing activity, the project celebrated a Geosummit in 2013 to present the project outcomes and disseminate both the best practices and lessons learned during the project period. Over 400 students from grades 10 – 12 from different schools across the Greater San Juan Metropolitan Area participated in this activity, as well as their parents or caregivers. Also the attendance was composed of the students’ teachers, school principals and representatives from the Puerto Rico Department of Education.
