Actualizing STEM Potential in the Mississippi Delta

实现密西西比三角洲 STEM 潜力

• 批准号: 1511792
• 负责人: Brenda Brand
• 金额: $ 164.13万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 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: 2015-07-15 至 2022-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1511792&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Actualizing; STEM; Potential; Mississippi; Delta

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by investigating the effectiveness of an existing collaborative robotics program. The program will positively influence the engineering self-efficacy and orientation to STEM majors with African American students living in an underserved region of the United States, the Mississippi Delta. Students in this program are immersed in engineering design activities requiring the application of science and mathematics principles. The program model includes pre-engineering courses in computer science, computer aided drafting, and electronics. These are designed and facilitated by university faculty. Undergraduate seniors are trained by faculty and then serve as mentors. Engineering design activities, career orientation activities and robotics summer camps for elementary and middle school students are facilitated by high school faculty. At the beginning of the spring semester, students participate in an international robotics competition. This robotics program is year-long and occurs after school, and halfway through the year students enter their designs in a robotics competition. Beginning in the freshmen year, students are allowed to remain in the program throughout their years in high school. An understanding of the components that positively influence the African American students' beliefs about their abilities in STEM disciplines and their perceptions of their identification with STEM could be useful for understanding and decreasing the gap in STEM majors that exists with students from underserved populations in the United States. This longitudinal mixed methods research study is designed to investigate the influence of engineering design and career orientation activities implemented in a collaborative robotics/pre-engineering program on African American students' self-efficacy, and scientific identity, to better understand factors influencing their achievement in STEM disciplines and orientation to STEM majors. This is a four year study, allowing the researchers to follow a group of students from freshman to the end of their senior year, so that key factors influencing the students' learning and achievement in the engineering course activities can be observed and documented during the peak years of decision making for college majors and careers. This study is unique in terms of its location and population of students, and because it is longitudinal and utilizes a mixed methods approach. While this study investigates the effectiveness of the program on the engineering self-efficacy, scientific identity and achievement of program objectives for students in this program, the findings of the study could also be valuable for informing initiatives devoted to increasing the numbers of students from other marginalized groups majoring in STEM fields. Quantitatively, this research employs pre and post measures to determine changes in students engineering self-efficacy and scientific identities. Qualitatively, field notes from classroom observations and interviews with the high school students provide data on specific program elements determined to be effective in positively influencing the African American students' achievement of program objectives and decisions to pursue STEM careers.

该项目将推进学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，以更好地理解和促进实践，通过调查现有协作机器人计划的有效性，提高学生在科学，技术，工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力。该计划将积极影响工程自我效能和定向STEM专业与非洲裔美国学生生活在美国的一个服务不足的地区，密西西比三角洲。 该计划的学生沉浸在需要应用科学和数学原理的工程设计活动中。 该计划模式包括计算机科学，计算机辅助绘图和电子学的工程预科课程。这些都是由大学教师设计和推动的。大四学生由教师培训，然后担任导师。工程设计活动，职业指导活动和机器人夏令营的小学和中学生是由高中教师促进。 在春季学期开始时，学生参加国际机器人比赛。 这个机器人程序是一年之久，发生在放学后，并通过一年中的学生进入他们的设计在机器人比赛。 从大一开始，学生可以在高中的整个学年中继续参加这个项目。了解积极影响非洲裔美国学生对他们在STEM学科能力的信念以及他们对STEM认同的看法的组成部分，可能有助于理解和减少STEM专业与美国服务不足人口的学生之间存在的差距。 这种纵向混合方法研究的目的是调查工程设计和职业导向活动的影响，在一个协作机器人/预工程计划对非洲裔美国学生的自我效能和科学身份，以更好地了解影响他们的成就的因素在干学科和方向干专业。 这是一项为期四年的研究，允许研究人员从大一到大四结束时跟踪一组学生，以便在大学专业和职业决策的高峰期观察和记录影响学生在工程课程活动中学习和成就的关键因素。 这项研究是独特的，在其位置和学生的人口，因为它是纵向的，并利用混合方法的方法。 虽然本研究调查了该计划对工程自我效能，科学身份和实现该计划学生的计划目标的有效性，但研究结果也可能有助于为致力于增加其他边缘化群体学生数量的举措提供信息STEM领域的专业领域。本研究采用定量的前后测方法，探讨学生工程自我效能感和科学认同感的变化。 定性，从课堂观察和采访高中学生的现场笔记提供数据的具体程序元素确定是有效的积极影响非洲裔美国学生的实现方案目标和决定追求干事业。