Collaborative Research: Making to Advance Knowledge, Excellence, and Recognition in STEM (MAKERS)

在奥克兰大学的支持下，塔斯基吉大学领导着一个由阿拉巴马州的机构组成的团队，其中包括奥本大学、阿拉巴马州农工大学、奥本大学蒙哥马利分校、南联合州立初级学院和劳森州立社区学院，以实施一项名为“在STEM中推进知识、卓越和认可”（MAKERS）的合作S-STEM项目。MAKERS计划将为158名主修生物、物理、数学、地质、计算机和信息科学的学生提供奖学金；工程;以及相关的技术领域。MAKERS团队将实施和评估一份全面的分层、基于证据的干预措施清单，旨在促进转移、提高持久性和保留率，并为学者毕业和未来在STEM领域的职业生涯做好准备。MAKERS S-STEM模型旨在通过整合STEM丰富、研究和周边活动，降低低收入学生在STEM学位课程中持久性的潜在因素。MAKERS项目的许多组成部分的性质和广泛的机构背景表明，在利用现有资源的同时，有希望改善其他具有类似人口结构的机构的学生的成果。创客的标志性干预将是“通过制作来学习”，这将涉及跨学科的学者集群，识别和调查影响当地社区的问题，并应用他们的STEM知识来“制造”有可能解决这些问题的产品。MAKERS的主要目标是：(1)提高学生的保留率和毕业率；(2)为学生提供进入STEM劳动力或STEM学科研究生院所需的STEM学术基础、专业技能和经验；(3)研究MAKERS模型对目标人群和专业学生的招聘、保留、成功和毕业的影响。MAKERS项目的创新之处在于，它不是仅仅专注于发展学生的学术潜力或重组制度变量，而是通过在学生的专业和当地社区之间建立联系，使学生成为他们教育的积极主体，减轻学生社会环境中的潜在抑制因素。项目的三个独特之处——学者们沉浸在“通过制作学习”的过程中；强大的跨机构社会和专业网络；以及使用在线平台进行支持和协作——有可能改变这些学生的学习过程，帮助他们培养STEM身份，培养能动性，并坚持完成学位。一组评估专家将使用混合方法不断评估其干预措施，并向调查人员提供反馈，以确定新的最佳做法，这些做法将添加到现有的知识库中，以扩大低收入群体在STEM领域的参与。

Tuskegee University is leading a team of Alabama institutions, which includes Auburn University, Alabama A&M University, Auburn University Montgomery, Southern Union State Junior College, and Lawson State Community College, with support from Oakland University to implement a collaborative S-STEM project titled "Making to Advance Knowledge, Excellence, and Recognition in STEM" (MAKERS). The MAKERS project will provide scholarships to up to 158 students majoring in the biological, physical, mathematical, geological, and computer and information sciences; engineering; and associated technology areas. The MAKERS team will implement and assess a comprehensive list of hierarchical, evidence-based interventions designed to facilitate transfer, increase persistence and retention, and prepare Scholars for graduation and future careers in STEM fields. The MAKERS S-STEM model is designed to attenuate the potential factors that decrease persistence of low-income students in STEM degree programs by integrating STEM enrichment, research, and peripheral activities. The nature of many of the MAKERS project components and the wide range of institutional contexts show promise for improving outcomes for students at other institutions with similar demographics while capitalizing on their existing resources. MAKERS' hallmark intervention will be "Learning by Making," which will involve interdisciplinary Scholar clusters identifying and investigating problems affecting their local communities, and applying their STEM knowledge to "make" a product that has the potential to solve those problems.The major objectives of MAKERS are to: (1) increase student retention and graduation rates; (2) prepare students with the STEM academic foundation, professional skills and experiences needed to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school in STEM disciplines; and (3) investigate the MAKERS model's impact on recruitment, retention, success, and graduation of students in the target population and majors. The MAKERS project is innovative because, rather than focusing solely on developing the students' academic potential or restructuring institutional variables, it will empower students as active agents in their education by creating connections between their majors and the local community, mitigating potential inhibiting factors in the students' social context. Three unique aspects of the project - immersion of scholars in the "Learning by Making" process; strong cross-institutional social and professional networks; and the use of online platforms for support and collaboration - have the potential to transform the learning process for these students, helping them develop a STEM identity, fostering agency, and persisting to degree completion. A team of evaluation experts will continuously assess its interventions using mixed methods and provide feedback to the investigators to identify new best practices that will be added to the extant knowledge base on broadening participation of low-income groups in STEM fields.