Geotimes
Feature
Connecting With
the River
Suzanne O’Connell, Joseph Ortiz and Janet Morrison
Sidebars:
Shaking up diversity
The lack of ethnic diversity in the geosciences is obvious at almost any geoscience
conference, but the actual numbers of minorities in the geosciences — less
than 5 percent of the Ph.D.s — brings the observation starkly home. Such
a low representation creates a problem for the geosciences because our profession
lacks input and contributions from this growing community. Although the problem
is evident, the reasons for low minority participation are not so clear.
One way we
can approach the issue is to identify what attracts a student to the geosciences
in the first place, to see if we can make the entry route at the undergraduate
level more inviting to minorities. Many undergrads enter the geosciences almost
by accident: They simply need a course to fulfill a science requirement. Once
inside the earth science department, however, they find the material exciting
and the welcoming atmosphere much to their liking. Other students are attracted
because they like to spend time outdoors: They are the typical rock climbers,
campers and hikers. Often a combination of these factors draws young people into
the field.
A student in Hartford, Conn., connects with
her local watershed as part of hands-on program to enhance minority participation
in the geosciences. Photo courtesy of Suzanne O’Connell.
These potential entry paths do not serve minority students well. One reason is
the fact that many of them have no opportunities to study earth science during
their undergraduate years. Most historically black colleges, for example, which
serve as an important conduit for minority professionals, do not offer any geoscience
courses. In the University of Puerto Rico system, only the Mayaguez campus offers
a geology degree. The second traditional pipeline — love of the outdoors
— also does not apply to many Hispanic- and African-American students, who
come from primarily urban environments, with little exposure to fields, wetlands
and waterways.
Introducing
a watershed
In Hartford,
Conn., we decided to address the latter issue by designing a two-year program
for local high school students that introduces them to their other “neighborhood,”
the Connecticut River watershed. Through a series of outdoor excursions and
activities, these students gain exposure to earth science as a problem-solving
discipline in a challenging and supportive atmosphere that focuses on watersheds
and water quality.
Deirdre Brickhouse of Hartford, Conn.,
and Sarah Basiaga of Rocky Hill, Conn., sit by the side of the Hockanum River
in East Hartford, just upstream from its confluence with the Connecticut River.
They are preparing to test water samples for dissolved oxygen.
“Where do the fish live?” “Can we eat the fish?” “Is
it safe to swim in the water?” Through the “Connecting With the River”
program, one of our goals was to enable the students to answer their most basic
questions. We took samples from the Connecticut River, its two Hartford area
tributaries (the Hockanum and Park rivers), and coves and ponds adjacent to
or feeding into these rivers. We plotted sample locations on U.S. Geological
Survey topographic maps. Water-quality data was collected using chemical techniques
(titration and colorimetric analysis with Hach and Lamotte kits) and Vernier
probes interfaced to TI-83 calculators.
Recruitment
Funded by the National Science Foundation, “Connecting with the River,”
initially targeted students attending the Greater Hartford Academy of Math and
Science (GHAMAS), a magnet high school. GHAMAS, in its second year of operation
in the academic year 2001-2002, is a relatively small high school with a combined
enrollment of approximately 120 students in the 9th and 10th grades. Students
attend the school for half a day, taking only math and science classes; other
courses are taken at their home high schools. Half of the students live in Hartford
and the other half come from 11 other participating towns, primarily suburban.
Participating school districts are also eligible for outreach programs coordinated
through GHAMAS. The advantage of working with GHAMAS students is that they or
their parents have already expressed an interest in science and math and have
more extensive backgrounds in these fields.
The program originally planned for two groups of about 15 students to participate
in a two-week summer program in 2002, continue with meetings and field trips
during the academic year, and complete their activities this summer. We initially
planned to recruit students who would be entering the 10th grade because they
would already have had a year of high school earth science. Because these students
were also too young to qualify for part-time salaried employment, they would
likely be more receptive to an unpaid academic summer program.
Our first obstacle was student recruitment. Despite attending all six 9th- and
10th-grade classes and parent meetings to describe the program, despite sending
program brochures to science teachers and guidance counselors in participating
school districts and to families at these schools who had previously shown interest
in enrichment programs, and despite expanding the applicant range to students
in grades 8 through 11, we received just nine applications (five from GHAMAS,
three from non-Hartford public schools and one from a Hartford Catholic school).
Eight young people enrolled in summer 2002 and seven completed the first two-week
program. Four were minorities; the three non-minority students were female.
While developing the program, we had forged a relationship with Riverfront Recapture,
an urban revitalization organization with a focus on the Connecticut River.
They had organized summer programs for students in previous years. Through them,
we met with administrators from the Hartford public schools and were able to
organize a second “Connecting With the River” program at Bulkeley
High School in southeast Hartford for students who came from a wide variety
of academic backgrounds. Students received one high school science credit from
the state of Connecticut and a stipend of $20 per day. This second program ran
for six weeks (the longer session was necessary to receive the science credit).
During the first four weeks, the program was based at Bulkeley High School and
was organized by their science faculty, with guidance from us. For the last
two weeks, the Bulkeley students attended GHAMAS, where we taught the classes
in conjunction with the high school teachers. Sixteen students who were entering
grades 10 through 12 participated. Fourteen were ethnic minorities, and the
two non-minority participants were females. Fourteen students completed the
program.
Collecting
and analyzing data
Although the students had not yet taken chemistry, we gave them the scientific
basis for understanding the testing procedures. We used the Water
Quality Index (WQI) to determine which measurements to make. This index,
developed in 1970 through the National Sanitation Foundation, is based on measurements
of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, phosphate, turbidity, coliform
and biological oxygen demand. The values are scaled and different weights are
given to various measurements depending on their importance; for example, dissolved
oxygen receives more weight than turbidity. This constitutes the WQI, a number
with no unit, ranging from 1 to 100. Higher numbers indicate better water quality.
We only measured the first five parameters and rescaled the values to generate
our own WQI.
Prior to going into the field, students learned the importance of each type
of measurement and practiced measuring techniques. The laboratory work was particularly
important because most of the students had spent very little time outside and
were not comfortable being outdoors. One student, for example, was terrified
of a butterfly that landed on him.
Students compiled collected data into a spreadsheet. At the end of the first
week, we divided the students into small groups of one to three; each group
selected one of the water-quality parameters to focus upon. We challenged them
to become “experts,” to learn more about the measurement process,
interpret the data and prepare to present their findings. During the second
week, we continued to collect samples and visit new sampling locations. Our
activities included a boat trip on the Connecticut River.
The last afternoon was devoted to a formal presentation of student results,
followed by a reception. We invited parents, though few attended, and each student
received a certificate and a copy of The River Book by James G. MacBroom.
A detailed assessment of the program’s first-year activities is under review
for the Journal of Geoscience Education, but our initial evaluation indicates
it was a success. We were particularly encouraged by the responses from the
students, who told us that they had developed a greater appreciation for science,
the rivers around Hartford, and the issue of pollution and how it impacts them.
The majority of the students also indicated that the program would help them
in subsequent science classes and that they would like to continue. All would
recommend the program to another student interested in science.
Field trips
and mentoring
Five field trips during the 2002-2003 academic year helped the students stay
in touch with each other and strengthened the connections that had been forged
during the previous summer. They toured the Boston Museum of Science and watched
an IMAX movie; visited the Norwalk Maritime Center, where they visited Long
Island Sound to sample four different marine environments; took a coastal environment
walk along the mouth of the Connecticut River; visited an aquarium; and spent
an evening at Wesleyan University that included dinner in the student cafeteria
and a presentation about astronomy and star gazing. About eight students attended
each trip.
From the original two groups, nine students took part in the second summer program,
which ended just weeks ago. This summer’s focus was twofold: increasing
the sophistication of data collection and analysis, and teaching the continuing
participants how to mentor the middle-school students just entering the program.
Joining the program were approximately 80 students entering the 7th and 8th
grades at the Two Rivers Middle Magnet School in East Hartford, located at the
confluence of the Hockanum and Connecticut rivers.
During the first week, the high school students reviewed measurement parameters
and learned new techniques for some of the parameters because we no longer had
access to the Vernier probes and TI-83 calculators. Over a two-day period, the
high-school students showed the middle-school students how to take each measurement.
They established an immediate rapport with the younger students and found their
own confidence and authority growing in their new teaching roles.
In the second week, all the participants went out on the Connecticut River in
boats to collect samples and perform WQI analyses. The high school students
also gathered samples from the mouth of the Connecticut River and observed river
flow and salt wedge dynamics. The program ended with another tour of Wesleyan
University — this time to learn about the college application process,
check out financial aid, and explore the world of opportunities that await them
if they choose earth science for a career.
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Shaking
up diversity
The populations of Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California
are among the fastest-growing in the United States. Supporting both a
diverse mix of ethnicities and a unique geological setting, the region
is an ideal place to reach out to underrepresented minority groups and
show them what geology is all about. For the past two years, Sally McGill,
a geology professor, and her colleagues at Cal State, San Bernardino (CSUSB),
have been doing just that. Working with a three-year grant from the National
Science Foundation (NSF), they have been involving minority students from
middle school through graduate school in hands-on research and activities
focused on understanding the region’s geology.
“At almost all the schools around Cal State, San Bernardino, the
majority of students are from underrepresented groups — Hispanic
and some African American,” McGill says. So, when she and other professors
visit local schools to engage students in geology to talk about related
careers, they know they are reaching kids who don’t usually think
about geology as a potential life path. Nationwide, only a handful of
minority students choose to major in the geosciences once they get to
college (see Geotimes,
this issue; see story online later this month). Local school visits are
just one part of an outreach program designed to attract students to geology
at all educational levels.
 Sometimes
the students come directly to campus, where they can take a hike to the
San Andreas fault, just three-quarters of a mile away. “It’s
a nice feature we can show them, and they can say they’re standing
on part of the plate boundary,” McGill says. CSUSB also conducts
week-long summer geology workshops for local middle and high school teachers.
Students from Etiwanda High School
on a field trip to Pisgah crater in Southern California in June 2002.
The trip is part of a three-year grant at Cal State, San Bernardino, to
involve minority students from middle school through graduate school in
hands-on research and activities to understand the region’s geology.
Courtesy of Sally McGill.
But, the grant project is not just for young students; a key component
of the program involves undergraduate students in scientific research.
“We try to get them interested in geology and once they’re interested,
we try to hook them and keep them interested by giving them an experience
where they can feel they’re actually doing something worthwhile and
contributing to the growth of knowledge in the field,” McGill says.
The main research project uses GPS (global positioning system) to monitor
the bending of the tectonic plates near the CSUSB campus, which is also
close to the San Jacinto fault. “We’ve picked a line of benchmarks
that have been surveyed previously, and we’re occupying those every
six months with GPS receivers and then seeing how fast the plates are
moving and how fast the strain is accumulating on the two faults,”
McGill says. Working with the Southern California Earthquake Center, McGill,
Joan Fryxell (also at CSUSB) and their student team hope their data will
add finer spatial resolution to the already large database of GPS data
in Southern California. They plan to analyze the data and eventually publish
it. This summer, the CSUSB program had 31 participants, including 10 teachers
and 21 college students. Most of the students came from underrepresented
minority groups.
While it’s tough to measure the success of the program only two years
in, McGill says that they have already seen several participating undergraduate
students choose geology as their minor. The number of Hispanic students
in the CSUSB geology department rose from two to seven from spring 2001
to spring 2002, with those students now comprising 25 percent of the department
— more than eight times higher than the national average. While that
might not be due to the NSF grant, it’s a good sign, McGill says.
With the younger students, it could be up to six years before they see
any results.
A key to reaching minority students is creating role models, McGill says.
She thinks, for example, that the large number of women geology majors
at CSUSB may relate to the fact that half of the geology faculty is female.
“I suspect that something similar may happen with underrepresented
ethnic minorities — that if they saw more people who look like them
being geologists and being geology teachers, then that might give them
the idea that this is something they can do,” she says. For that
reason, the project also tries to hire students from underrepresented
groups to be outreach assistants for the middle school and high school
programs. “So that when I give talks at schools, they’re not
just looking at a white woman talking about geology,” McGill says.
Now that the second year of the project is coming to a close, the CSUSB
geology department is already looking to the future, hoping to collaborate
with Jackie Hams, a geology professor, who is African-American and teaches
at Los Angeles Valley College, a community college in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
The GPS research would then expand into the San Fernando Valley. Eventually,
McGill adds, NSF would like to see all its grants become mere seeds of
a long-term, self-sustaining commitment to minority representation in
the geosciences.
Lisa M. Pinsker
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O’Connell is an associate
professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Conn. E-mail: soconnell@wesleyan.edu.
Ortiz is an assistant professor in the Department of Geology at Kent State University,
Kent, Ohio. E-mail: jortiz@kent.edu. Morrison
is a visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry at Trinity College, Hartford,
Conn. E-mail: janet.morrison@trincoll.edu.
Reference:
Holmes, M.A., Frey, C., O'Connell, S. (in press), "What Makes a Geoscience
Major? What Makes a Geoscientist? Results from Focus Groups of Geoscientists,"
2003 GSA abstracts with programs.
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