The Lawrence Hall of Science, in partnership with the Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy, a public charter school in Oakland, California, is working to increase diversity in the geosciences through development of a model program for middle school students integrating marine geosciences and literacy. Lionel Wilson students are almost entirely Latino and African American. This project will provide a super-enriched, integrated geosciences and reading summer school program for middle school students. The summer school will double as a teacher professional development academy to increase middle school teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in geosciences, demonstrate how to effectively integrate reading and science instruction, and offer a practicum for teachers to try out new learnings with struggling students. Along with exposing students to more marine geosciences, the summer academy will increase teaching of geosciences at several Bay Area middle schools. Students participating in the academy and underrepresented students from around Oakland will be recruited into several other marine geosciences opportunities including mentoring by undergraduate and graduate students, stipended research and work internships, academic field trips, career opportunities workshops, and summer research camps. UC Berkeley student role models will assist in leading all experiences and will serve as mentors helping underrepresented students. By maintaining ties to middle school students over several years, it is expected that this project will have an impact on their academic achievement and career aspirations. Project activities are expected to serve 300 middle school students and 80 middle school science and language arts teachers, and develop, field test and document a replicable and flexible program integrating geosciences and literacy.
