Geological Fieldwork: A Developmental Rite of Passage With Implications for Diversity

• In Event: 34.051 - Collegiate Environments and Student Learning

Abstract

Geosciences is among the least racially/ethnically diverse fields. This ethnographic research examined how fieldwork, an activity core to geosciences, can inhibit full participation of minoritized students in the discipline. Our findings address learning in the transition from lab or class to geosciences fieldwork and how the dynamics of exclusion can affect such learning. To date, scholarship about geological fieldwork has primarily been located in the geosciences discipline itself. Yet, higher education scholarship on diversity and learning has considerable potential to expand the understanding about the extent to which fieldwork activities engage diverse populations in inclusive ways. In this paper, we apply established higher education lenses to explore relationships between cognitive development, social identities, and learning environments in fieldwork.

Authors

• Anne-Marie Nunez, The Ohio State University

• Julie Renee Posselt, University of Southern California

• Tyler Hallmark, The Ohio State University

• Jessica Rivera, The Ohio State University

• Deborah Elizabeth Southern, University of Southern California