Collaborative Research: NSF INCLUDES - Changing the Face of STEM in the U.S. Virgin Islands through Targeted Interventions to Expand Opportunities and Broaden Participation

本项目的目的是帮助学生更容易地确定自己是科学或工程专业人员，并增加当地人口（主要是少数民族）从事科学和技术职业的比例。经验表明，当学生能够积极参与、动手学习并将问题应用于当地社区时，他们最热衷于技术领域。这项工作的重点是海洋科学，它与美属维尔京群岛的环境和经济都有当地的相关性。该项目将在三个关键阶段使用干预措施：中学，高中-大学过渡和硕士-博士过渡，让学生参与具体的主动学习和研究型课程。社区合作伙伴包括一个广泛的地方组织，利用其他成功合作的资源。该项目的技术说明该项目将创建一个可转移的模式，利用大学，政府和非政府组织，专业协会和企业之间的创新伙伴关系，创建一个具有共同变革愿景和共同成功指标的本地骨干组织，扩大科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的参与。该项目解决了建立科学身份的关键挑战，以增加在美属维尔京群岛STEM领域代表性不足的少数民族的兴趣和参与。该计划包括有针对性的干预措施，在三个重要的时间在学生的职业道路（初中/高中，早期大学和研究生院），其中包括：（1）在海洋科学的初中/高中学生的实地经验，（2）大学新生和大二学生的早期实地研究经验，（3）桥梁编程博士学位。与宾夕法尼亚州立大学的伙伴关系，以及（4）强化辅导计划。该模式以社会创新理论为基础，通过一个框架，满足集体影响的五个条件：共同议程，共享数据和结果的测量，相互加强的活动，持续的沟通和骨干支持。

ABSTRACTA non-technical description of the project test explains its significance and importance.The goal of this project is to help students easily identify themselves as science or engineering professionals and increase the proportion of the local population, dominantly minorities, who pursue science and technology careers. Experience has demonstrated that students are most engaged in technical fields when they can participate in active, hands-on learning around problems with application to their local community. The focus of the effort is in marine science, which has local relevance to both the environment and the economy of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The project will use interventions at three crucial stages: middle school, high-school-college transition, and master-PhD transition, to engage students with specific active-learning and research-oriented programs. Community partners comprise a wide-ranging local organization that leverages the resources of other successful collaborations.A technical description of the projectThis project will create a transferable model that uses innovative partnerships among universities, governmental and non-governmental organizations, a professional society, and businesses, to create a local backbone organization with a shared vision for change and common success metrics broaden participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This project addresses the critical challenge of building scientific identity to increase interest and engagement of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The plan includes targeted interventions at three significant times in the student career pathway (middle/high school, early college, and graduate school) that comprise: (1) field experiences in the marine sciences for middle/high school students, (2) early field research experiences for college freshmen and sophomore students, (3) bridge programming to a Ph.D. partnership with Pennsylvania State University, and (4) an intensive mentoring program. The model is grounded in social innovation theory through a framework that meets the five conditions for collective impact: common agenda, shared measurement of data and results, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and backbone support.