Utilizing inquiry-driven science outreach to curate Natural Trap Cave fossils and inspire the pursuit of STEM careers

Despite the rising emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education in the last two decades, the United States has seen little change in student performance, based on international assessments. Transforming science education from the more traditional, lecture-format classes to inquiry-driven exercises is central for improving student’s STEM literacy and competency at all grade levels. This paper describes an outreach program that was developed for upper-level U.S. high school students (10th–12th grade) and centers around hands-on, inquiry-driven exercises using the large-bodied (> 3 kg) mammalian fossils from Natural Trap Cave (NTC). The objectives of this program were for the students to develop an understanding of the morphological adaptations of the vertebrate skeleton, preservational biases in the fossil record, and to participate in each of the curatorial steps used for the long-term preservation of fossils. Students from Des Moines Public School Central Campus came to Des Moines University 2 hours a week for a semester, receiving high school and community college credit for participating. The NTC outreach program has been offered for 11 semesters since the fall of 2014. Thirty-four high school students have participated, consisting of 24 women and 10 men, with 19 of the students belonging to African American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Hispanic ethnicities. The students helped to identify and curate 3,700 NTC fossil specimens. Several of the students presented posters on the work they did during this outreach program at the multiple district and state science fairs in Iowa and received accolades. Only the 2017–2019 students were surveyed, but all the students reported gaining a deeper understanding of the scientific process and the utility of paleontology. One student even reported changing their career goal from undecided to a STEM field. The framework developed for the NTC outreach program can be easily modified to fit the needs or structure of another research project, community partnership, science laboratory, or museum facility, with the target audience being students from middle school to undergraduate. This type of STEM outreach program can also help improve scientific literacy and generate much-needed excitement and interest in science, at a time when many students are exploring potential career paths.