Engaging and Retaining Low-Income and First-Generation Community College Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

吸引和留住低收入和第一代社区学院学生学习科学、技术、工程和数学

• 批准号: 1431264
• 负责人: Elizabeth Cox
• 金额: $ 51.6万
• 依托单位: Red Rocks Community College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1431264&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Engaging; Retaining; Low; Income; First

Improving the retention and success of low-income and first-generation (LIFG) students, overwhelmingly enrolled in community colleges, is critical for increasing the number of STEM graduates nationwide. Red Rocks Community College, Lakewood, Colorado in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines will develop new approaches and models that better engage and support LIFG students in pre-engineering programs in order to provide deeper and more integrated learning experiences. This will lead to improved success, retention, and transfer to four-year institutions for LIFG students in engineering.Four types of interrelated activities are proposed for the LIFG engineering students and STEM faculty at Red Rocks Community College. First, faculty workshops, conferences, and discussions will be used to develop shared understandings of the challenges facing LIFG students. STEM faculty will serve as transforming agents by developing new pedagogies and meaningful mentorships that enrich teaching and learning in the STEM disciplines. Second, nontraditional mentoring strategies and a STEM 101 course will be developed to address how social and cultural capital contribute to self-efficacy and academic success for LIFG students. Students completing STEM 101 will participate in activities leading to authentic research opportunities in engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. These undergraduate research experiences will draw on and reinforce students' STEM knowledge and build expertise in engineering. Third, students will be provided with opportunities for experiential learning on engineering projects directly relevant to their lives and their communities. These will be based on an Introduction to Design and Engineering Applications (IDEA) program already developed by Red Rocks Community College in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines and the Engineering by Doing (EbD) program developed by the Humanitarian Engineering program at the Colorado School of Mines. Fourth, the partnership between Red Rocks Community College and the Colorado School of Mines will be developed as a model for building community college-university collaborations that provide LIFG students with stronger academic preparation and more accessible pathways for transfer to 4-year institutions and for developing careers in engineering.The project will investigate how these activities contribute to STEM learning and retention through a pre/post design that will compare a set of metrics that establish baseline measures of retention, success in gatekeeper courses, number of STEM students who reach second tier STEM courses, and success in these courses. Information also will be collected through student and faculty surveys, inventories, questionnaires, direct observations, and academic capstone assessments of integrated learning. The goals are to generate models and evidence on these approaches and provide materials that will be useful for other community colleges struggling to address the important issues of low enrollment, poor performance, weak retention, and lack of persistence among low-income and first-generation students in engineering and STEM.

提高绝大多数就读于社区大学的低收入和第一代 (LIFG) 学生的保留率和成功率，对于增加全国 STEM 毕业生的数量至关重要。 科罗拉多州莱克伍德红石社区学院将与科罗拉多矿业学院合作开发新的方法和模型，更好地吸引和支持 LIFG 学生参与工程预科项目，从而提供更深入、更综合的学习体验。 这将提高 LIFG 工程专业学生的成功率、保留率和转入四年制院校的机会。为 LIFG 工程专业学生和红石社区学院的 STEM 教师提出了四类相互关联的活动。 首先，教师研讨会、会议和讨论将用于形成对 LIFG 学生面临的挑战的共同理解。 STEM 教师将通过开发新的教学法和有意义的指导来丰富 STEM 学科的教学，从而成为变革的推动者。 其次，将开发非传统的指导策略和 STEM 101 课程，以解决社会和文化资本如何促进 LIFG 学生的自我效能和学业成功。 完成 STEM 101 的学生将参加科罗拉多矿业学院的活动，获得真正的工程研究机会。 这些本科生研究经验将利用和强化学生的 STEM 知识，并培养工程专业知识。 第三，将为学生提供与他们的生活和社区直接相关的工程项目的体验式学习机会。 这些将基于红石社区学院与科罗拉多矿业学院合作开发的设计和工程应用简介 (IDEA) 计划以及科罗拉多矿业学院人道主义工程项目开发的工程实践 (EbD) 计划。 第四，红石社区学院和科罗拉多矿业学院之间的合作伙伴关系将成为建立社区学院与大学合作的典范，为 LIFG 学生提供更强有力的学术准备和更容易转入四年制院校以及发展工程职业的途径。该项目将通过前/后设计研究这些活动如何促进 STEM 学习和保留，该设计将比较一组指标，这些指标建立了保留、成功的基线衡量标准。 看门人课程、进入第二级 STEM 课程的 STEM 学生数量以及这些课程的成功情况。 还将通过学生和教师调查、清单、问卷、直接观察和综合学习的学术顶点评估来收集信息。 目标是生成关于这些方法的模型和证据，并为其他社区大学提供有用的材料，以解决低收入和第一代工程和 STEM 学生入学率低、表现差、保留率低以及缺乏坚持等重要问题。