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This paper is a work-in-progress, focused on the utilization of the Rising Scholars Program to introduce minority students to experiential engineering projects within Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Traditional admissions processes at top institutions predominately utilize standardized test scores when comparing student applications. The equity of these high-stakes tests most severely affects students of low socioeconomic status (SES). The NSF-sponsored program, Rising Scholars: Web of Support used as an Indicator of Success in Engineering, was created to investigate whether alternative admission criteria could be used to identify low-SES applicants who would excel within STEM fields in higher education, even if they did not have the superior standardized testing metrics preferred by current admissions processes. The students underwent a pre-selection process to determine their eligibility. The overall experience was designed to enhance student connectivity within the collegiate environment. The Gallup-Purdue Index (2014) found that feeling supported and having learning experiences that illustrated learned principles produced a graduate who would be engaged in their work. The Rising Scholar (RS) program utilized a prescribed path through college designed to enhance these features. These positive experiences are exemplified by the Purdue Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) department and how they approach the overall educational process. Faculty are motivated in their teaching, research, and extension efforts by a focus on meeting the world’s grand challenges, in which most college students are also highly interested. The Rising Scholars Program utilized the Vertically Integrated Projects model to introduce their students to real-life projects at the freshman and sophomore level, which could potentially be continued on into graduate school. Several of the RS students have worked with the Purdue ABE Hog Cooling Pad Project and these students have conducted research, prototyping, and design modifications on the pad. They have participated in five experimental bench tests of the design and four consecutive live animal studies related to the pad performance. Within these experiments, Rising Scholars students were able to work on real-life projects, with real-world impact. The preliminary hypothesis question is: Are future graduates of the Rising Scholars Program more likely to thrive in all areas of well-being due to their collegiate experiences?
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“We Make Our Community”: Youth Forging Environmental Identities in Urban Landscapes
Insofar as race, class, and gender have profound effects on people’s environmental experiences, and consequently their activism, the environmental field needs more work on the environmental experiences and insights of groups whose voices have been missing, including youth of color who live in urban areas in the U.S. In this paper, we focus on African American and Latinx students engaged in environmental projects in their urban communities and the impact of such projects on promoting pro-environmental leadership, agency, and behavior. We draw from written reflections and focus group interviews of several hundred 4th–12th graders (majority middle- and high-school students) who participated in place-based civic science projects. Thematic analyses of student responses found that students engaged in work on local environmental issues cultivated an appreciation for the natural world and an understanding of human-nature interdependence and the ties between the local environment and their communities’ health. Through taking action with others in their communities, students viewed themselves as contributors to their communities and started to form environmental identities in ways that are not traditionally measured. Findings point to the need for forms of environmental education that are contextually grounded and centered on environmental justice in urban areas.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1759291
- PAR ID:
- 10331156
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 14
- ISSN:
- 2071-1050
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 7736
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147736
