GSE/RES Retaining Women in STEM: The Contributions of Different Types of Living-Learning Programs

马里兰大学园区学院将继续并纵向扩大全国生活学习方案研究(NSLLP)，以更好地了解生活学习方案在促进大学女性在STEM专业的坚持和成功方面的作用。相关研究问题包括对与女性在STEM专业的坚持和成功最密切相关的特定L/L环境的调查，以及L/L参与对女性在大学和STEM学科中的长期影响的考察。生活学习(L/L)项目是高等教育中最有前途的干预措施之一，旨在促进女性在STEM专业的成功。通过指导、支持和合作，L/L项目是以宿舍为基础的努力，将课程活动和联合课程活动结合起来，促进学生更好地融入社会、取得成就和留住学生。在全国生活学习项目研究发展之前，对L/L项目有效性的研究在很大程度上局限于单个大学校园的单一项目评估。2004年的NSLLP包括了代表全美34所大学的近24,000名学生的回复。超过1,650名女性STEM专业学生参加了NSLLP，其中约一半参与了L/L针对STEM女性的41个不同项目之一，这些项目要么是单性(如女性科学与工程项目)，要么是男女同校(如科学、技术与社会之家)。然而，由于大多数被调查者是一年级学生(这在L/L参与者中很常见)，现在评估L/L参与对毅力、学业成绩和学生学习等结果的持久影响还为时过早。拟议的研究设计采用混合方法：对2004年回应NSLLP的女性进行纵向跟踪调查；根据2004年NSLLP的数据，对三到五个为女性提供与STEM相关的高到中等水平的L/L选项的校园进行实地访问；并与新的参与机构一起扩大数据收集，以创建STEM女性的持续趋势数据。拟议活动的智力优点：这项研究将通过确定促进STEM学科女性学术成就、坚持性和学习成果的具体大学环境因素来推动高等教育研究。鉴于以前的研究侧重于坚持STEM的妇女的个人素质(例如，自我效能)，本研究将通过阐明机构干预如何也促进妇女在STEM中的成功来为文献做出贡献。最重要的是，这项研究的结果将基于多机构样本，可以提供L/L在不同校园背景下的影响结果，因此可以推广到不同类型的大学环境中，并在不同类型的大学环境中复制。研究团队进行了最初的NSLLP研究。拟议活动的广泛影响：在实践层面上，这项研究将帮助校园官员优先考虑有限的战略资源，用于那些对STEM中的女性有记录的好处的项目。此外，对于那些有兴趣为STEM中的女性开发有效的L/L项目的校园来说，本研究的发现可以作为最佳模式和实践的蓝图。最后，从社会的角度来看，这项研究将帮助各机构了解如何留住STEM专业中代表性不足的群体并使其毕业。

University of Maryland College Park will continue and expand the National Study of Living-Learning Programs (NSLLP) longitudinally to understand better the role of living learning programs in facilitating the persistence and success of college women in STEM majors. Related research questions include an investigation of the specific L/L environments most strongly related to persistence and success for women in STEM, and the examination of the long-term impact of L/L participation on women's persistence in college and in STEM disciplines.Living-learning (L/L) programs are one of the most promising interventions in higher education designed to foster success for women in STEM majors. Through mentoring, support, and collaboration, L/L programs are residence hall-based efforts that blend curricular and co-curricular activities that facilitate greater student integration, achievement, and retention.Until the development of the National Study of Living-Learning Programs (NSLLP), research on L/L program effectiveness was largely limited to single-program assessments on individual college campuses. The 2004 NSLLP includes the responses of nearly 24,000 students representing 34 universities across the United States. Over 1,650 female STEM majors participated in the NSLLP, about half of whom were involved with one of 41 different L/L programs that cater to women in STEM in either single-sex (e.g., the Women in Science & Engineering Program) or co-educational (e.g., the Science, Technology, & Society House) settings. However, because the majority of the NSLLP respondents were first-year students (which is common for L/L participants), it is premature to evaluate the enduring effects of L/L participation on outcomes such as persistence, academic achievement, and student learning.The proposed research design uses a mixed methods approach: a longitudinal follow-up survey of the women who responded to the NSLLP in 2004; site visits at three to five campuses that are providing high-to-modestly performing STEM related L/L options for women based on data from the 2004 NSLLP; and an expanded data collection with new participating institutions in order to create ongoing trend data on women in STEM.Intellectual Merits of the Proposed Activity: This study will advance higher education research by identifying the specific college environment factors that facilitate the academic achievement, persistence, and learning outcomes for women in STEM disciplines. In light of prior research focused on personal qualities (e.g., self-efficacy) of women who persist in STEM, this study will contribute to the literature by illuminating how institutional interventions may also facilitate women's success in STEM. Most importantly, the study's findings will be based on a multi-institutional sample, which can provide results of L/L impact across campus contexts that can therefore be generalizable to and replicable at different types of university settings. The research team conducted the initial NSLLP study.Broader Impacts of the Proposed Activity: On a practical level, this study will help campus officials prioritize limited and strategic resources to those programs with documented benefits for women in STEM. In addition, for those campuses interested in developing effective L/L programs for women in STEM, this study's findings can serve as a blueprint for best models and practices. Finally, from a societal standpoint, this research will help institutions understand how to retain and graduate underrepresented groups in STEM majors.