Fanning the Flames of Student Interest: Dual Credit Courses and Recruitment of Geoscience Majors James R. EBERT: SUNY Oneonta Nicole D. LADUE: Northern Illinois University Richard W. SCHMIDT: Upper Dublin High School Julie C. LIBARKIN: Michigan State University Todd D. ELLIS: SUNY Oneonta Steve KLUGE: New Milford, CT

States Requiring Specific Course or Content for Graduation Life Science Physical Science ESS Concepts ESS/ENVS Course Modified from AGI Center for Geoscience Education and Public Understanding, 2013, Earth and Space Sciences Education in U.S. Secondary Schools: Key Indicators and Trends

Why Do Students Choose to Major in the Geosciences? …there is a strong correlation between the number of people majoring … and the number of courses taken in each field at the high school level. (Holbrook, 1997)

Decision Points for Majoring in the Geosciences Wilson, C., 2013, Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates: AGI

SUNY Oneontas Earth Science Outreach Program (ESOP) Dual Credit Geosciences - response to no AP Geoscience : 2 Schools : 15 Schools in NY, PA and VA – Intro Geology: 163 students – Intro Oceanography: 41 students – Intro Meteorology: 36 students – Intro Astronomy: 3 students : 17 Schools in NY, PA, VA, NJ – 4 new schools; 4 schools inactive

Why Do Students Choose Dual Credit Courses? Most Important Factors Interest in Topic : 57% Interested in Studying Geoscience in College: 23% Peer Recommendation: 19% Reputation of ESOP Teacher: 9% Data from 2010 Survey N = 168

Post Course Survey Reasons for taking the ESOP course were not significantly different from the pre-course survey Dual Credit Geoscience Courses Preserve Student Interest in the Geosciences. Post Course Survey, 2011 N = 47

Pennsylvania Case Study Upper Dublin High School (Montgomery Co.) Advanced Geosciences courses since 2000 – Dual Credit in 2010 Study involved 89 students in 2 study groups – Adv. Geoscience (AGS) N=42 – AP science but no AGS N=47 Asked variety of questions about geoscience perception and academic science experience

Pennsylvania Case Study Findings No statistically significant differences in demographics including: – Grade point average – Post secondary plans – Parents in science fields – Interest in science field(s)

Pennsylvania Case Study Findings Statistically significant differences in several key geoscience perceptions: – AP students view geosciences as lower academic difficulty and reputation – AP students view geosciences as low paying and low prestige – AP students view job market as poor and report not understanding the career field

Pennsylvania Case Study Findings

PA Geoscience Inventory (2012) 572 public high schools 500 districts 548,000 students 33 schools with advanced courses (54 courses) Mostly suburban ~43,000 students had access (7.8%) Only 2 schools offered dual credit option (.005% of students) 548,000 43,000 3,000

Conclusions Students Choice of a Science Major Correlates with Exposure to that Science in High School. Most Students Choose a Major before Leaving High School.

Conclusions Most Potential Majors Self- Select out in High School – Impact on Recruiting from On-Campus Intro Courses Dual Credit Courses Increase the Likelihood that Students Will Choose a Geoscience Major in College. Dual Credit Geoscience Courses Preserve Student Interest

Conclusions Students in Dual Credit Geoscience Courses are Better Informed Regarding Careers Students Prefer Dual Credit to AP Courses Students Likely to Major in Geoscience: 23 % - 38% of Dual Credit vs. 2% of AP Students

Acknowledgements ESOP Teachers and Students SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski NSF – Award #