PARENT SESSION
Oral Session # 30: Ecology Education II: College.
Presiding: K Klemow
Tuesday, August 5. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Meeting Room 104.
Yes, no, maybe, I don′t know: The decisions SEEDS students make about an ecology pathway.
Jurgensen-Armstrong, Melissa*,1, Berkowitz, Alan2, Taylor, Jason3, Gur-Edeman, Elvan4, 1 Diversity Initiatives in Science, Flagstaff, AZ2 Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY3 Ecological Society of America, Washington, DC4 United Negro College Fund, Fairfax, VA
ABSTRACT- Upon the completion of the first phase of SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology Education, Development and Sustainability), an initiative designed to promote ecology to undergraduate minority students, we conducted interviews of 39 students and alumni who had participated in the program. We were interested in discovering the initial influences that piqued student interest in ecology and the natural environment, the role of student undergraduate experience in helping them develop their ecology interest, and how the combination of initial interest and undergraduate influences interacted to affect student decisions about pursuing an ecology pathway. Initial findings indicate that nearly all interview participants had an early exposure to the natural environment through family outdoor activities, youth groups, their pre-college education, or a family member in the environmental field. Despite an early exposure to the natural environment, participants usually did not decide to explore an ecology pathway until their undergraduate career when many of them experienced multiple, positive influences that encouraged their ecology interest. Participants most often cited SEEDS, undergraduate professors, and ecology courses as influences that prompted them to take interest in ecology. A few participants, however, appeared to have a strong motivation toward a particular path regardless of what influences they experienced. Insights into the larger question of what students decided about an ecology pathway given this myriad of influences were gained from comparing students that are pursuing ecology (persisters), chose another path (leavers), are still unsure of their path (undecided), or have incorporated ecology into another career (modifiers).
Key words: minority, pathway, undergraduate, ecology