Virtual Geospatial Skills Camp for Rural Montana Youth
Abstract
Montana is one of the most rural states in the U.S., with 75percent of school districts considered rural-the highest proportion of any state. Consequently, not just many but mostMontana young people grow up with few or no STEM opportunities beyond school-basedclasses, which also can be quite limited due to small school sizes and STEM teacher shortages.We will create a STEM summer camp experience to reach Montana students who are typically excluded from STEM opportunities due to geographic location, socioeconomics orother barriers. The camp will use a hybrid format- synchronous and asynchronous remotelydelivered content coupled with in-person guidance from trained educators in five rural communities. Though Montana State University educators, researchers and students will be intimately involved in design and delivery, the camp will not take place at Montana State University, but rather in five remote and geographically dispersed regions of the state.Participating students, thus, will also be from rural-reservation communities. We will use existing partnerships with groups such as Montana GEAR UP, tribal colleges and Montana Afterschool Alliance to select camp locations and community-based educators, who will thenrecruit local students, prioritizing those from under-served populations, such as girls, underrepresented minorities, military connected youth and first-generation college students. The target age is early high schoolers (rising 9th and 10th graders).The camp theme is geospatial skills, which reinforces AFOSR STEM topic areas ofPhysical Sciences; Engineering and Complex Systems; and Information and Networks. Campactivities will include maps for analysis and navigation; collecting, analyzing and disseminatingimagery from terrestrial, satellite and other sources; skills and required credentials for piloting UAVs; remote sensing; basic electronics and circuitry related to sensor development and use; and geospatial analysis tools. Students will learn about potential career pathways and fields ofstudy related to geospatial science and engineering, particularly those connected to the Air Forceand other organizations that offer employment in rural areas. Students will be encouraged torelate camp skills and experiences to their individual interests such as robotics, humanperformance or aviation; community needs, such as natural resources management, precisionagriculture or meteorological forecasting; and national topics of interest such as security, energyor climate change.The camp is designed to benefit not just the participating students, but also the community educators, who will receive professional training in a growing field, a stipend fortraining and camp delivery, support for travel and meals, and (depending on their professional status), continuing education credits or certificate of participation. Community educators will be trained as a cohort to build a network of support among colleagues that will last beyond the timeframe of the camp.Students and mentors who complete the camp will be invited to the Montana State University campus in Bozeman for a new event entitled MSU GIS Day, another opportunity forstudents and educators to build further connections and view college-level labs and research.All materials created for the camp - though Montana-specific and locally-culturallyrelevant - will be available to the larger region and nation and could serve as a testbed forserving youth and their adult educators from and in remote, rural and underserved areas.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 07, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310563
Entities
People
- Suzanne Taylor
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Montana State University
- United States Air Force