EAGER: Implementing Active Learning Strategies in Two-Year Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Impacts on Faculty Change and Student Success in STEM Courses

我们生活中许多方面的进步都依赖于拥有一支高技能的专业STEM劳动力。 令人遗憾的是，大约40%的学生谁开始他们的本科学习打算追求STEM专业没有完成STEM学位。然而，STEM教育研究的最新发展令人信服地证明，通过利用积极吸引学生参与课程的教学方法，可以显着提高学生的成功率。由于国家人口结构的不断变化，STEM教育界还必须努力吸引来自不同背景和来源的学习者，以进一步确保为国内劳动力提供足够的STEM人才。 考虑到西班牙裔公民和永久居民的人口增长率超过所有其他种族和族裔群体，该项目将重点关注位于加州圣地亚哥县和帝国县的两年制西班牙裔服务机构（2Y-HSIs）的STEM教育问题。具体而言，本研究将调查影响2Y-HSI中STEM教师实施主动学习策略的因素，以及主动学习对学生在课堂上的影响。本项目将对参与2Y-HSI的20名STEM教师进行关于能力建设专业发展努力的STEM教育研究。研究重点将主要是双重的，探索影响教师改变教学方法的因素，并研究新建立的积极学习环境如何影响学生的成功。该项目将有助于在2Y-HSIs，这是越来越重要的国家机构的教学改革战略和主动学习的知识基础。在为期两年的项目的每一年中，来自2Y-HSIs的10名STEM讲师将参加由加州大学圣地亚哥分校的教学中心提供的为期三天的课程设计工作室。参与者将重新设计他们的STEM课程，并在首席研究员和加州大学圣地亚哥分校研究生项目团队的后续支持下，实施重新设计的课程并对其影响进行评估。研究生将完成一套教学和学习课程，并在3 - 4个本科课程的研究生教学实习。研究结果将通过当地研讨会传播，该研讨会召集2Y-HSI教师和管理员与UC San Diego和UT Austin合作者，沿着更广泛的会议，会议和有针对性的学术期刊。

Advances in many aspects of our lives rely on having a highly skilled, professional workforce in STEM. Regrettably, approximately 40% of students who begin their undergraduate studies intending to pursue a STEM major do not complete a STEM degree. However, recent developments in STEM education research have demonstrated convincingly that student success rates can be significantly improved by utilizing instructional methods that actively engage students in their courses. Due to evolving national demographics, the STEM education community must also strive to engage learners from diverse backgrounds and origins to further ensure a sufficient supply of STEM talent for the domestic workforce. Considering that the population growth rate of Hispanic citizens and permanent residents outpaces all other racial and ethnic groups, this project will focus on STEM education issues in two-year Hispanic-serving institutions (2Y-HSIs) located in California's San Diego and Imperial Counties. Specifically, this research will investigate factors that influence the implementation of active learning strategies by STEM instructors in 2Y-HSIs and how the active learning impacts the students in their classrooms.This project will conduct STEM education research on capacity-building professional development efforts for 20 STEM instructors from participating 2Y-HSIs. The research foci will be primarily two-fold, exploring factors that influence instructors to change their teaching methods, and examining how the newly-established active learning environments impact student success. This project will contribute to the knowledge base about instructional change strategies and active learning in 2Y-HSIs, which are institutions of increasing national importance. During each year of the two-year project, 10 STEM instructors from the 2Y-HSIs will participate in a three-day Course Design Studio offered by the Center for Engaged Teaching at UC San Diego. The participants will redesign their STEM courses and, with follow-up support from the project team of Principal Investigators and UC San Diego graduate students, implement the redesigned courses and conduct assessments of their impacts. The graduate students will have completed a set of courses in teaching and learning and graduate teaching apprenticeships in 3-4 undergraduate courses. Results from the research will be disseminated through local symposia that convene 2Y-HSI instructors and administrators with UC San Diego and UT Austin collaborators, along with broader-ranging meetings, conferences and targeted scholarly journals.