Development of an Earth and Space Science-Focused Education Program at Howard University

Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2006 by Misra, Prabhakar, Carruthers, George, Jenkins, Gregory S

In Fall 2004, 3 Howard University undergraduate students (2 Physics majors and 1 Electrical Engineering major) were registered for the PHYS 030 course, while a fourth student audited the course. In Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, we have had a total of 10 students registered for the two Earth and Science courses; 4 in Fall 2005 and 6 in Spring 2006. Of these registrants, there were 1 and 2 undergraduate students, enrolled in Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, respectively; the remainder were high school teachers from DC public schools (see below). VVe seek to increase our undergraduate enrollment 2-3 fold in these courses by improved advertising and by including these introductory and intermediate-level courses as electives for Physics majors as part of an existing Atmospheric Physics track under the Applied Physics area of concentration. In the long run, we are attempting to develop an Earth & Space Science minor (see Table 2, Box 2) option for Physics majors that will also include coursework in Computer Programming and Numerical Computation, Weather Forecasting and Atmospheric Physics, besides the Introductory- and Intermediatelevel Earth and Space Science courses. Such efforts will, in turn, improve our present enrollment of 2 students (out of a total of 23 in HUPAS) who received their undergraduate degrees from Howard University and gained entry into HUPAS for their graduate degrees. Our current efforts aimed at enhancing the Earth and space science instruction and including it in an Atmospheric Physics track is geared towards reaching out to more undergraduates in these fields and recruiting them to HUPAS. We anticipate that a sizeable number of students (goal of 6-8 per semester) enrolled at Howard University, not only from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, but other science and engineering departments as well, will become better educated in the subject of Earth System Science and Space Science. Further, we expect that some (about 50%) of these students will seek advanced degrees in the HUPAS program.

DC Public School teachers are being provided the opportunity to take one or more of these courses, either during the regular school year, or in special summer sessions. Indeed, in Fall 2005, we had 3 D.C. public school teachers registered for the Earth and Space Science I (PHYS 030) course, and 4 again in Spring 2006 for the sequel Earth and Space Science II (PHYS 031) course. These courses serve to satisfy the certification and continuing education requirements for the DC public school system. The teachers taking these Earth and Space Science courses have enthusiastically indicated that much of the material and handouts they received is being used by them in designing and teaching courses in their respective high schools (Owen et al., 2004). Our goal is to be able to attract 4-5 public school teachers per semester by getting the word out and being in regular communication with the Principals of the DC public schools.

The facilities of the Howard University Observatory and Planetarium, and of the Space Science Division of NRL (in summer internships), are being used for "hands-on" educational activities involving students (and high school teachers) taking the above courses, and by pre-college students (including those working on science fair projects). An added dimension to the course offering has been provided by eminent guest lecturers. For example, a lecture on the fascinating topic of Space Weather was given in Fall 2005 by James L. Green, Chief of the Space Sciences Data Operations Office, NASA Goddara Space Flight Center. Two other lectures related to Earth and Space Science were given to students through the Department of Physics and Astronomy Wednesday Colloquia series, namely Mesoscale Analysis Techniques (by Roger Wakimoto of the National Center for Atmospheric Research) and Measurements of Solar Actinic Flux and Atmospheric Photolysis Rates (by William Stockwell of Howard University's Chemistry Department). Such colloquia and seminars continue on a regular basis during the academic year and are listed on the web site: http://www.physicsl.howard.edu.