Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges (TLC3): Advancing Strategies for Success in STEM

提高社区大学数学课程的学生成绩对于满足国家对STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）大学毕业生的需求非常重要。该项目名为“让社区学院的学习者向微积分过渡”（TLC3），将召集一个由高等教育研究人员、数学家和数学教育工作者组成的团队，改变制度方法，以识别和纠正阻碍学生在社区学院学习和通过微积分II的障碍。TLC3的一个重要影响将包括支持教学改进，旨在提高历史上不受重视的学生，特别是代表性不足的少数民族（URM）学生的成功，从而最终促进国家STEM劳动力的多样性。TLC3更广泛的目标是建立和测试理论模型，预测STEM URM学生在发展到微积分预科到微积分II （DPC2）序列中的成功，基于成功项目的项目、结构和教学策略。该项目采用混合方法，包括对948所社区学院进行人口普查调查，以及以少数族裔服务机构为重点的案例研究。这些模型将为变革工具（即机构自我评估）的开发提供信息，该工具将检查机构是否准备就绪，以促进URM学生在DPC2序列中取得成功。从TLC3网络社区中选出的5个机构（至少50个机构）将测试这些模型和自我评估工具。机构自我评估工具将有助于确定专业发展方法，部门和机构可以使用该方法来纠正阻碍学生在DPC2序列中取得成功的障碍。本项目由美国国家科学基金会改善本科STEM教育计划（IUSE）和EHR核心研究（ECR）计划支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。

Improving student outcomes in mathematics courses in community colleges is important in meeting the nation's demand for college graduates in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Entitled "Transitioning Learners to Calculus in Community Colleges" (TLC3), the project will gather a team of higher education researchers, mathematicians, and mathematics educators to transform institutional approaches to identifying and remedying barriers that impede student progress to and through Calculus II in community colleges. A significant impact of TLC3 will involve supporting instructional improvements aimed at increasing the success of historically undeserved students, particularly underrepresented racial minority (URM) students, thus contributing ultimately to the diversity of the nation's STEM workforce. The broader goal of TLC3 is to build and test theoretical models that predict STEM URM student success in the Developmental to Pre-calculus to Calculus II (DPC2) sequence, based on programs, structures, and instructional strategies in successful programs. The project uses a mixed-methods approach, including a census survey of 948 community colleges and case studies focused on minority-serving institutions. The models will inform the development of a change tool (i.e., the institutional self-assessment), that examines institutional readiness to facilitate successful outcomes for URM students in the DPC2 sequence. Five institutions selected from a TLC3 networked community (with a minimum of 50 institutions) will test the models and self-assessment tool. The institutional self-assessment tool will help identify a professional development approach that departments and institutions can use to remedy barriers that inhibit student success in the DPC2 sequence. This project is supported by NSF's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program (IUSE) and the EHR Core Research (ECR) Program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.