“What's A Geoscientist Do?”: A Student Recruitment And Education Tool

Abstract:

Student perception of science, particularly the earth sciences, is not based on actual science jobs. Students have difficulty envisioning themselves as scientists, or in understanding the role of science in their lives as a result. Not all students can envision themselves as scientists when first enrolling in college. While student recruitment into geoscience programs starts before college enrollment at many universities, general education science requirements can act as a gateway into these majors as well. By providing students in general education science classes with more accurate insights into the scientific process and what it means to be a scientist, these classes can help students envision themselves as scientists.

A short module, to be embedded within lectures, has been developed to improve recruitment from Clarion University's Introductory Earth Science classes entitled “What's A Geoscientist Do?”. As this module aims to help students visualize themselves as geoscientists through examples, diversity of the examples is critical to recruiting students from underrepresented groups. Images and subjects within these modules are carefully selected to emphasize the fact that the geosciences are not, and should not be, the exclusive province of the stereotypical older, white, male scientist. Noteworthy individuals (e.g. John Wesley Powell, Roger Arliner Young) may be highlighted, or the discussion may focus on a particular career path (e.g. hydrologist) relevant to that day's material. While some students are initially attracted to the geosciences due to a love of the outdoors, many students have never spent a night outdoors, and do not find this aspect of the geosciences particularly appealing. “What's A Geoscientist Do?” has been designed to expose these students to the breadth of the field, including a number of geoscience jobs focused on laboratory (e.g. geochemistry) or computer (e.g. GIS, remote sensing, scientific illustration) work instead of focusing exclusively on fieldwork. As Clarion University students tend to be very job-oriented, information on careers includes average starting salaries with the hope of improving student's opinions of the position as possible future employment – helping students (and their families) realize they can support themselves in a geoscience career.