Exploring the Impact of Cultural Wealth and Scholarships on Community College Student Success in STEM

美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）项目将支持伊利诺伊州芝加哥市哈罗德华盛顿学院（HWC）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业。该项目旨在在五年内向47名独特的STEM学生颁发94份奖学金，帮助他们完成副学士学位的学术要求，并转到四年制大学攻读STEM专业的学士学位。由于城市社区学院是许多在STEM职业中代表性不足的低收入和人口群体接受高等教育的切入点，通过提高这些学生的成功率和转学率，并确定最能影响和促进学生坚持的做法，该项目可以为其他社区学院提供一个模型。该项目将采取文化财富的方法，重点关注如何培养文化资本以促进学生的成功。这种方法将重点从假设学生处于不利地位的缺陷模型转移到假设学生拥有未被承认和未被认可的文化知识以促进他们的学习的位置。该项目将让学生参与以学生为导向的创造性探索和基于项目的学习，并以正式的指导和以技能为重点的指导为基础。这个项目将包括队伍建设、网络和教师发展活动。队列活动包括一个共同的课程序列。网络活动包括面向所有学生的专业发展、社交和社区参与活动，将由S-STEM学者和现有的HWC STEM俱乐部共同组织。教师的发展将侧重于创建一个专业的学习社区。一项广泛的研究计划，以帮助确定如何重新设计课堂活动，课程和课程，以最大限度地提高学生的成功，文化财富的焦点将提供洞察社区学院系统如何改变，以满足学生的期望和需求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program will support the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Harold Washington College (HWC) in Chicago, Illinois. This project aims to award 94 scholarships over five years to 47 unique STEM students as they progress through academic requirements for an associate degree and transfer to a four-year institution for a baccalaureate degree in a STEM major. Because urban community colleges are the entry point to higher education for many low income and demographic groups that are underrepresented in STEM careers, by increasing the success and transfer rates of these students and identifying practices that most impact and promote student persistence, this project can provide a model for other community colleges. The project will take a cultural wealth approach, which focuses on how cultural capital can be nurtured to promote student success. This approach results in a shift in focus from a deficit model, which assumes students are working from a position of disadvantage, to a position that students possess unacknowledged and unrecognized cultural knowledge that enhances their learning. The project will engage students in student-driven creative exploration and project-based learning, scaffolded by formal mentoring and skills-focused instruction. This project will involve cohort building, networking, and faculty development activities. Cohort activities include a common course sequence. Networking activities include professional development, social, and community engagement events for all students and will be co-organized by the S-STEM Scholars and existing the HWC STEM Club. Faculty development will focus on the creation of a professional learning community. An extensive research study is planned to help determine how to redesign classroom activities, courses, and curricula to maximize the success of students, and the cultural wealth focus will provide insights into how community college systems can change to meet the expectations and needs of their students.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.