Workshops to Increase Capacity for Competitive S-STEM Proposals

许多低收入家庭的学生就读的高等教育机构没有基础设施来支持撰写和向联邦政府提交成功的提案。该项目将举办一系列研讨会和网络研讨会，帮助40所高等教育机构准备并向NSF STEM奖学金项目提交有效的提案。 拟议的研讨会解决需要支持STEM教师设计支持系统，以满足有才华的低收入学生的不同需求。 与学生直接接触的教师经常敏锐地意识到有才华的低收入学生在完成STEM学位时所面临的挑战。这种意识对于两年制学院、教学密集型机构和大学分支校园的教师来说尤其如此。尽管他们熟悉学生的需求，这些教师往往不熟悉目前有效的做法，在课程和课外活动，支持学生的成功。 这些做法包括：在网关课程的主动学习;辅导，学习小组，和补充指令程序;有效结合行业经验，实习机会，和研究参与;和社区建设和同行支持的作用，促进保留和学位完成。这些研讨会将帮助教师确定学生需要支持的关键领域，并制定一个项目计划，将当地机构的需求和机会结合起来。此外，研讨会将强调支持学生和产生知识的项目，以促进对影响低收入学生STEM成功，保留，转移和毕业的因素的理解。该项目将实施一个研讨会模型，使用基于资产的方法来实现STEM教师的专业发展。该研讨会的资产为基础的角度承认教师的认识和见解所面临的挑战，有才华的低收入学生在他们的机构。然后，研讨会活动将寻求将现有教师的见解与STEM教育中有效的循证实践和S-STEM资助计划的要求保持一致。这些研讨会还将为教师提供来自具有NSF S-STEM项目经验的教育工作者网络的指导，并支持有学术才能的低收入学生。讲习班将以区域为重点，通过减少运输时间和费用，帮助最大限度地扩大参与。这一系列研讨会和网络研讨会旨在提高提交给NSF S-STEM计划的学生支持结构的质量。 他们还旨在推进S-STEM计划的目标，即增加完成STEM学位并进入劳动力市场的学术人才的数量，并生成和传播有关STEM教育有效实践的新知识。 该项目由NSF科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，旨在增加低收入学业成绩优异的学生的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。它还旨在改善未来科学家、工程师和技术人员的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学术成功、保留、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many low-income students attend institutions of higher education that do not have the infrastructure to support writing and submitting successful proposals to the federal government. This project will conduct a series of workshops and webinars to help 40 institutions of higher education to prepare and submit effective proposals to the NSF Scholarships in STEM program. The proposed workshops address the need to support STEM faculty in designing support systems to meet the diverse needs of talented low-income students. Faculty members in direct contact with students frequently have keen awareness of the challenges faced by talented low-income students in completing STEM degrees. This awareness is especially true for faculty at two-year colleges, teaching intensive institutions, and university branch campuses. Despite their familiarity with student needs, these faculty are often unfamiliar with current effective practices in curricular and co-curricular activities that support student success. Such practices include: active learning in gateway courses; tutoring, study-groups, and supplemental instruction programs; effective incorporation of industry experiences, internship opportunities, and research participation; and the role community building and peer support in promoting retention and degree completion. The workshops will help faculty to identify critical areas in which their students need support and develop a project plan that unites local institutional needs and opportunities. In addition, the workshops will emphasize projects that both support students and generate knowledge to advance the understanding of factors that affect the success, retention, transfer, and graduation in STEM of low-income students.The project will implement a workshop model that uses an asset-based approach to the professional development of STEM faculty members. The workshop's asset-based perspective acknowledges the faculty's awareness and insights into the challenges faced by talented low-income students at their institutions. Workshop activities will then seek to align existing faculty insights with effective evidence-based practices in STEM education and the requirements of the S-STEM funding program. The workshops will also provide faculty with guidance from a network of educators with experience in the NSF S-STEM program and in supporting academically talented low-income students. The workshops will utilize a regional focus will help to maximize participation by reducing transportation time and costs. This series of workshops and webinars aims to improve the quality of student support structures in proposals submitted to the NSF S-STEM program. They also aim to advance the S-STEM program goals of increasing the number of academically talented low-income students who complete STEM degrees and enter the workforce, and to generate and disseminate new knowledge about effective practices in STEM education. This project is funded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future scientists, engineers, and technicians, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income 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.