The two-year Integrated Design for Geoscience Education (IDGE) project will implement an inquiry-based geoscience curriculum for Upward Bound (UB) students at West Virginia State University (WVSU), a historically black university. IDGE builds on the mission of UB by encouraging underprivileged students to investigate science and scientific careers. This project will provide high school students, who have academic aptitude but lack socio-economic opportunities, with a rigorous, six-week summer program designed to prepare them for postsecondary science education. The project will adapt scientific protocols and educational resources originally developed for the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program with NASA, NSF, and U.S. State Department funding and create new on-line learning modules that will involve UB students in the active collection and analysis of environmental data. An integrated geoscience course, Environmental Inquiry, will be developed for the UB students in West Virginia; an advanced International Environmental Inquiry course for second year students wishing to expand their geoscience knowledge through an international ecological comparison with GLOBE students in Costa Rica will also be developed. GLOBE teacher certification training will be provided for UB program facilitators and selected UB students and educators will have the opportunity to be selected to participate in an EcoTeach learning expedition in Costa Rica with other GLOBE students. By promoting a multi-disciplinary, integrated, inquiry-based approach to geoscience instruction, IDGE will encourage UB students to succeed in post-secondary laboratory sciences, increase the critical thinking skills of participating students, and promote positive attitudes towards careers in science.
