Building Capacity: Addressing Critical Transitions of First-Year STEM Students

能力建设：解决一年级 STEM 学生的关键转变

• 批准号: 1832421
• 负责人: Kenneth Voglesonger
• 金额: $ 150万
• 依托单位: Northeastern Illinois University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2023-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1832421&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Building; Capacity; Addressing; Critical; Transitions

The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at Northeastern Illinois University, an HSI, aims to increase retention of students by engaging them in a supportive, research-based learning community. This learning community will be called Agua en Comunidades Experimentales (ACE), which means Water in Research Communities. The ACE learning community will include social supports, scientific training, and research experiences related to water science. The project will evaluate the impact of the ACE learning community on student success in introductory STEM courses as well as student retention in STEM degree programs. By enhancing the preparation of students, the project seeks to increase the number of STEM-interested students who declare a STEM major and earn a baccalaureate degree in STEM.The ACE learning community will create a longitudinal, four-year "home base" for students who enter college at the developmental level. This approach differs from the typical learning community model, which places student cohorts in the same set of courses offered during the first semester or first year of college. Other important aspects of the ACE learning community include its focus on research that has a societal and community benefit, and its embedding of academic supports within the curriculum. Northeastern Illinois University will work with other institutions to develop internship positions for ACE students and to create faculty development workshops to prepare faculty to mentor ACE students. The project seeks to develop a model that can be disseminated and adopted by multiple departments at Northeastern Illinois University, as well as by other institutions. The outcomes of the ACE learning community model will add to the evidence base about strategies and interventions to support the success of students, including low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority students. Quantitative and qualitative assessments will be conducted to identify best practices in building students' identities as scientists, and how their self-efficacy or confidence in STEM studies correlate with success rates in STEM courses. This information is important for producing a national STEM workforce that is highly capable and diverse.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

改善本科生STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构计划(HSI计划)旨在加强本科生STEM教育，并在HSIS建设能力。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。东北伊利诺伊大学的这个项目是一项HSI，旨在通过让学生参与支持性的、基于研究的学习社区来提高他们的留存率。这个学习社区将被称为Agua en Comunidade Experientales(ACE)，意思是研究社区中的水。ACE学习社区将包括与水科学有关的社会支持、科学培训和研究经验。该项目将评估ACE学习社区对学生在STEM入门课程中的成功以及学生在STEM学位课程中的留存的影响。通过加强学生的准备，该项目旨在增加对STEM感兴趣的学生的数量，他们宣布STEM专业并获得STEM学士学位。ACE学习社区将为进入大学的发展水平的学生建立一个纵向的、为期四年的“家庭基地”。这种方法与典型的学习社区模式不同，后者将学生分组在大学第一学期或第一年提供的同一套课程中。ACE学习社区的其他重要方面包括注重对社会和社区有益的研究，以及将学术支持纳入课程。东北伊利诺伊大学将与其他机构合作，为ACE学生开发实习职位，并创建教师发展研讨会，为指导ACE学生做好教师准备。该项目寻求开发一种模式，可供东北伊利诺伊大学的多个系以及其他机构传播和采用。ACE学习社区模式的结果将增加关于支持学生成功的战略和干预措施的证据基础，包括低收入、第一代和代表性不足的少数族裔学生。将进行定量和定性评估，以确定建立学生作为科学家身份的最佳实践，以及他们在STEM研究中的自我效能或信心如何与STEM课程的成功率相关联。这些信息对于培养一支高能力和多元化的国家STEM劳动力队伍非常重要。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。