Developing and implementing an interdisciplinary air pollution workshop to reach and engage rural high school students in science

摘要

The low interest of the U.S. students in sciences is an ongoing issue. One approach to promote the sciences is outreach activities, often targeted at grades K-12. Yet, a limiting factor in these outreach initiatives is their long-term feasibility, especially from an economic perspective. Another challenge is how to introduce scientific information during brief periods of exposure. Furthermore, different problems may be encountered based on the geographic location of students. In populated urban communities, there are typically greater resources available than in low-density rural populations. With these challenges in mind, we describe an outreach initiative targeted to rural high school students. The workshop has been used for four years, and the network of participants is growing as interest spreads. This article can serve as a model for workshop development across various content areas. Such workshops can provide a useful recruiting tool while exposing students to the sciences.