Using a Scientific Literacy Approach to Increase Retention and Graduation of Undergraduates in Biology, Biochemistry, and Chemistry

美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）计划支持有经济需要的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业。在五年的时间里，圣文森特山学院的S-STEM项目将为22名攻读生物学、生物化学或化学学士学位的学生提供88个年度奖学金，最高可达7000美元。该项目旨在培养科学素养，定义为学生成为成功的STEM专业和专业人士所需的科学阅读、理解、写作和表达技能。为了实现这一目标，该计划将提供一个以科学素养为重点的新生研讨会，以及贯穿第三年学习的同行领导的研讨会。此外，它还将通过让学生参与职业发展和丰富活动，如科学会议、职业小组、博物馆和学术中心的实地考察，促进学术和毕业后的成功。参与的学生也将有机会参与教师指导的科学研究。S-STEM项目的主要目标是提高低收入家庭学生的学习成绩、留校率、毕业率和毕业后的机会。项目活动的成功模式是支持少数族裔和其他在STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生，这两个群体都占学院学生人数的很大一部分。该项目将调查提高科学素养对这些衡量学生学业成功的指标的影响。该项目将收集有关学生表现的数据，以回答研究问题：以同伴和教师指导为特色的联合项目以何种方式影响科学素养的发展？整个项目的有效性将采用一种混合方法进行形式化和总结性评估，以促进项目改进并衡量项目成果、成就和经验教训。该项目有可能增加有经济需求的学生获得STEM学位并进入STEM劳动力，从而加强STEM劳动力并促进其多样性。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 supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. Over a five-year period, this S-STEM project at the College of Mount Saint Vincent will fund 88 annual scholarships of up to $7,000 for 22 students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in biology, biochemistry, or chemistry. The project aims to build scientific literacy, defined as the scientific reading, comprehension, writing, and presentation skills students need to be successful STEM majors and professionals. To achieve this aim, the program will offer a Freshman Seminar with a focus on scientific literacy, and peer-led workshops that extend through the third year of study. Additionally, it will promote academic and post-baccalaureate success by engaging students in career development and enrichment activities such as scientific conferences, career panels, and field excursions to museums and academic centers. Participating students will also have the opportunity to engage in faculty-mentored scientific research. The primary goals of this S-STEM project are to improve academic performance, retention, graduation, and post-baccalaureate opportunities for participating low-income students. The project activities have been shaped by successful models for supporting students from minority and other populations that are underrepresented in STEM, both of whom comprise a significant portion of the College's student population. The project will investigate the effects of improved scientific literacy on these measures of student academic success. The project will gather data about student performance to answer the research question: In what ways does a combined program that features peer and faculty mentoring affect development of scientific literacy? The effectiveness of the overall project will be evaluated both formatively and summatively using a mixed methods approach, to promote project improvement and measure project outcomes, accomplishments, and lessons learned. This project has the potential to increase the number of students with financial need who earn STEM degrees and enter the STEM workforce, thus strengthening the STEM workforce and contributing to its diversity.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.