Engaging, Mentoring, Retaining, and Graduating STEM Scholars

在国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金(S-STEM)计划的资助下，该项目将支持科尔比-索耶学院32名有经济需求的优秀学生的成功。在整个项目的五年中，该项目将为两组七名正在攻读生物学学士学位的学生提供奖学金。新罕布夏州正在经历STEM就业岗位的快速增长。因此，完成STEM学位的学生数量的增长至关重要。该项目将提供财政、学术和社会支持，帮助学者完成STEM学位，使他们能够利用这些就业机会。来自不同STEM学科的教师将在整个项目期间指导学者，从学生进入该项目到毕业。教师导师将协调暑期量化技能培养和学者迎新活动，以加强对大学教育的期望和价值。然后，教职员工将每周举办一次学习研讨会，并在学生的整个大学生涯中定期提供建议。在早期阶段，支持活动将向学者们介绍STEM的广泛职业和研究生机会。随着学生的进步，支持活动将转向实习、研究、简历撰写和面试策略，以支持职业准备和研究生录取或就业安置。该项目的预期成果包括评估特定学习策略和学习干预措施对STEM学生的效用，以及在学生完成大学学位后将其安置到STEM劳动力或研究生院。该项目将支持14名学业成绩优异、收入较低的学生在科尔比-索耶学院攻读生物学学士学位。到2020年，预计新罕布夏州将有14%的就业机会从事与STEM相关的职业。然而，在STEM学科授予的学士学位数量上，新罕布夏州在各州中排名最后。此外，众所周知，来自低收入地区的学生更难留住，尤其是在大学第一年。该项目将在该人群中招收学业成绩优异的学生，并帮助学生坚持到毕业并在STEM就业或研究生院工作。该项目将为学者提供奖学金、定向和社区建设活动、量化技能培养和学习技能培训。教师导师将领导学习技能培训，指导学生连续重新学习，这是一种将分布式练习和练习测试相结合的策略。连续再学习被证明是一种有效的学习策略，与传统的学习策略相比，它显示出更大的学习收益。该项目将衡量其在提高低收入地区学生在生物学专业的成功和留住学业天赋学生方面的成效，从而为支持STEM学生成功的知识做出贡献。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。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will support the success of 32 high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need at Colby-Sawyer College. Throughout its five years, this project will fund scholarships to two groups of seven students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in biology. The State of New Hampshire is experiencing rapid growth in STEM jobs. Therefore, growth in the number of students who complete STEM degrees is critical. This project will provide financial, academic, and social support to help Scholars complete STEM degrees so that they can take advantage of these job opportunities. Faculty from different STEM disciplines will mentor the Scholars throughout the program, from students' acceptance into the program through graduation. The faculty mentors will coordinate summer quantitative skill building and orientation activities for the Scholars, to reinforce the expectations and value of college education. Then, faculty will conduct weekly study seminars and provide regular advising throughout the students' college career. At early stages, the support activities will introduce the Scholars to a wide range of career and post-graduate opportunities in STEM. As the students advance, the support activities will shift to internships, research, resume writing, and interview strategies, to support career preparation and graduate school acceptance or job placement. The expected outcomes of the project include an assessment of the utility of specific study strategies and learning interventions for STEM students and placement of students into the STEM workforce or graduate school upon completion of their college degree. The project will support 14 academically high-achieving, lower-income students as they pursue B.S. degrees in Biology at Colby-Sawyer College. By 2020, it is expected that 14% of employment in New Hampshire will be in STEM-related occupations. Yet, New Hampshire ranks last among states in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in the STEM disciplines. Additionally, students from lower-income areas are known to be more challenging to retain, particularly during the first year of college. This project will recruit academically high-achieving students within that population and help students persist through graduation and on to careers or graduate school in STEM. The project will provide Scholars with scholarships, orientation and community-building activities, quantitative skill building, and study skills training. Faculty mentors will lead the study skills training, instructing students in Successive Relearning, a strategy that combines Distributed Practice and Practice Testing. Successive relearning has been shown to be an effective study strategy, showing larger learning gains than traditional study strategies. The project will measure its efficacy for improving success and retention of academically-talented students from lower-income areas in a Biology major, thus contributing to knowledge about supporting STEM student success.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.