COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: L.E.A.R.N.ing To Build STEM Research Communities- A Proposal to Strengthen, Expand, and Disseminate a Successful Retention Model

之前由美国国家科学基金会资助的一个项目为中佛罗里达大学STEM专业的学生带来了高保留率和更高的GPA。为了扩大这项工作，该机构与北卡罗来纳大学威尔明顿分校(主要是一所本科公立机构)和佛罗里达大西洋大学(一所研究-1公立机构)的研究人员合作，研究建立在学科研究基础上的社区将如何影响STEM一年级学生的留住。参与者将一起生活在一个学习社区中，一起学习课程，并在学院实验室作为研究学徒工作。这一模式已被证明对来自代表性不足群体和第一代专业的学生特别有效，将进行调整，以包括留住转学学生直到毕业的策略。UCF模式的核心要素是发展学术研究社区，为学生提供实践学习机会，接触教师和训练有素的研究生和同行研究导师，并通过各种学术、社交和服务活动融入学生生活。该项目将解决三个研究问题，这三个问题对于增加进入研究生院并进入劳动力大军的高质量STEM毕业生的国家目标至关重要：(A)能否成功地调整UCF研究社区模式，以适应转学人口？(B)STEM研究界内的哪些因素影响转学学生的成功和影响转学学生的留存？以及(C)目前模式的保留成功在多大程度上可在其他公共机构复制？形成性和终结性评估将侧重于该模式对不同学生群体(一年级和转学)以及不同机构在STEM中留住学生和取得成功的效果。该计划将使用混合方法，从教育者和参与者的角度评估拟议的教育工具和教育内容在实现预期学习成果方面的有效性。学生保留率和GPA将与匹配的队列进行比较。这个项目的发现将在州和国家会议上公布，如佛罗里达州全州本科生研究参与研讨会和本科生研究理事会两年一次的会议。研究结果也将提交给《大学科学教学杂志》。

A previous NSF-supported project has resulted in high retention and improved GPA for STEM majors at the University of Central Florida. In an effort to expand on this work the institution has partnered with investigators at the University of NC-Wilmington (a primarily undergraduate, public institution) and Florida Atlantic University (a research-1, public institution) to study the ways in which a community built on disciplinary research will affect the retention of first-year students in STEM. The participants will live together in a learning community, take courses together, and work as research apprentices in faculty laboratories. This model, which has been shown to be particularly effective with students from underrepresented groups and first generation majors, will be adapted to include strategies for retaining transfer students through to graduation as well.The core elements of the UCF model are the development of an academic research community that provides students with hands-on learning opportunities, access to faculty and trained graduate student and peer research mentors, and integration into student life through a wide variety of academic, social, and service activities. This project will address three research questions that are central to the national goal of increasing the number of high quality STEM graduates who go on to graduate school and into the workforce: (a) Can the UCF research community model be adapted successfully to accommodate a transfer student population? (b) What factors within a STEM research community influence transfer student success and impact transfer student retention? And (c) To what extent is the retention success of a current model replicable at other, public institutions? Formative and summative assessment will focus on the efficacy of the model on student retention and success in STEM for the different student populations (first-year and transfer) and at different institutions. The plan will use a mixed-method approach to assess the effectiveness of the proposed educational tools and educational content in fulfilling the desired learning outcomes, from both educators' and participants' perspectives. Student retention and GPA will be compared to matched cohorts. The findings from this project will be presented at state and national meetings such as the Florida Statewide Symposium on Engagement in Undergraduate Research and the Council on Undergraduate Research biennial conference. Results will also be submitted to the Journal of College Science Teaching.