STEM Scholars: Persistence and Achievement in STEM for Community College transfer students

STEM 学者：社区学院转学生在 STEM 方面的坚持和成就

• 批准号: 1458811
• 负责人: Elizabeth Dobbins
• 金额: $ 62.05万
• 依托单位: Samford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-02-15 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1458811&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STEM; Scholars; Persistence; Achievement; Community

Scholarships for academically strong STEM students, who may not otherwise be able to afford college, have an impact on the number of STEM graduates prepared to help regional and local companies compete and innovate in the global economy. This project will increase the number of academically talented, economically disadvantaged STEM transfer students who complete baccalaureate degrees in biology and chemistry at Samford University in order to develop the STEM workforce in Central Alabama. Approximately 40 scholars will participate in a two-year program, designed to maximize academic success, social support, and career development. The project will build on partnerships that were initiated with two nearby 2-year colleges (Lawson and Jefferson State Community Colleges) during a prior NSF-REU award. The institutions will conduct joint research symposia, seminars, professional society meetings, and STEM recruitment events and establish faculty exchanges. Recognizing that providing transitional support structures is critical in promoting academic success and retaining transfer students, the project team will utilize a variety of high- impact practices including learning communities, academic tracking, and close advising. Moreover, the scholars will participate in a four-day Transfer Success Seminar to orient them to academic life at a 4-year institution and cultivate a group identity within the cohort. The findings from the project evaluation will help to contribute evidence that will improve our understanding of best practices for supporting STEM community college transfer students through to graduation. Formative evaluation will address the student's satisfaction and identification as scientists (SALG) and faculty assessment of the students' progress (rubrics). Summative evaluation will consist of an analysis of how well the project components align with successful attainment of the retention targets. In addition, internship employers will be surveyed. Dissemination of the results of evaluation will be done through websites, national meetings (the University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Mentoring Conference, the Ecological Society of America, the American Chemical Society and the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, and relevant journals (the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and the Journal of Chemical Education).

为学业优秀的STEM学生提供奖学金，否则他们可能无法负担大学费用，这对准备帮助区域和当地公司在全球经济中竞争和创新的STEM毕业生的数量产生了影响。 该项目将增加在桑福德大学完成生物学和化学学士学位的学术人才，经济上处于不利地位的STEM转学生的数量，以发展亚拉巴马中部的STEM劳动力。 大约40名学者将参加一个为期两年的计划，旨在最大限度地提高学术成功，社会支持和职业发展。 该项目将建立在与附近的两所两年制学院（劳森和杰斐逊州立社区学院）在之前的NSF-REU奖期间发起的伙伴关系的基础上。 这些机构将举办联合研究研讨会，研讨会，专业协会会议和STEM招聘活动，并建立教师交流。 认识到提供过渡性支持结构对促进学业成功和留住转学生至关重要，项目团队将利用各种高影响力的做法，包括学习社区，学术跟踪和密切咨询。 此外，学者们将参加为期四天的转移成功研讨会，使他们适应4年制大学的学术生活，并在队列中培养群体身份。 项目评估的结果将有助于提供证据，提高我们对支持STEM社区学院转学学生毕业的最佳实践的理解。 形成性评价将解决学生的满意度和识别为科学家（SALG）和教师评估学生的进步（rubrics）。 总结性评估将包括分析项目组件与成功实现保留目标的一致性。 此外，还将对实习雇主进行调查。将通过网站、国家会议（新墨西哥州大学指导研究所指导会议、美国生态学会、美国化学学会和化学教育两年期会议）以及相关期刊（《科学教学研究期刊》和《化学教育期刊》）传播评价结果。