Holyoke Community College STEM Scholars Program

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) project at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, Massachusetts will recruit, retain, and encourage academically talented, financially needy, students to complete their associate's degrees and continue their education. In order to address regional and national STEM workforce needs, as many as 20 scholars will be exposed to an academic climate meant to inspire them to become engineers, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists. The scholars will participate in a STEM 101 course, which includes a curriculum is based on Complete College America's model for developing "meta majors" to help students choose reasonable academic majors and reduce time to degree completion. Students will also have the option to attend seminar activities, which will include speakers and field trips to transfer universities and industry partners, college success workshops, and diversity training. Moreover, continuing scholars will be encouraged to act as ambassadors in college access activities, as well as champions for new scholars.Research shows that STEM majors must be exposed to a robust learning environment. Thus, the PI team has created a comprehensive plan for academic support services, mentoring, career counseling, and assistance for community college student transfer to four year schools. The STEM 101 course will offer students a positive first year STEM learning experience that introduces content, experiential learning, and STEM career exploration. Additionally, the seminar series will help integrate students into the life of the college. Formative evaluation will be used to address aspects of the project that need improvement, assess student engagement and support, and review academic challenges through a modified version of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. Summative evaluation will consist of an analysis of student attitudes and perceptions (surveys and interviews) regarding the active learning community, activities to improve STEM discipline awareness, and academic progress. Dissemination of the results of evaluation will be submitted to journals such as the Community College Journal, and the Community College Times, and, in so doing, help to expand the knowledge base regarding the circumstances under which scholarship awards of this type are successful.