Amplifying Strategies for Enabling the Success of Penn State Science 2+2 Students

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。宾夕法尼亚州立大学（Penn State）的S-STEM项目旨在提高从19个联邦校区之一转学到大学公园校区的理科生的成功率。在五年的时间里，该项目将为180名攻读理学学士学位的转校生提供奖学金；奖学金将分五批发放，每批36名学生。该项目建立在两个目前成功的项目基础上，旨在提高科学学习和成功，目标是在宾夕法尼亚州立大学的所有20个校区推广有效的方法。目前，宾夕法尼亚州立大学公园校区埃伯利理学院超过20%的学生都是宾夕法尼亚州立大学2+2计划的一部分。2+2计划的学生在宾夕法尼亚州立大学联邦分校的19个校区之一开始学习，并打算在大学公园的旗舰校区完成他们的科学学位。宾夕法尼亚州立大学2+2计划中的理科生更有可能来自低收入家庭，他们的毕业率几乎是在大学公园校区开始学术生涯的理科生的三倍。该项目旨在确保理工科学生的毕业率相同，无论他们来自哪个校园。此外，它还旨在扩大参与课程改革的数学家群体，以改善宾夕法尼亚州立大学所有校区的大学数学教学方式。宾夕法尼亚州立大学有一个独特的制度结构：它不是一个大学系统，而是一个地理分布的单一大学。这种结构提供了一个学习和改善2+2项目学生路径的机会，并为努力留住从两年制大学过渡到四年制大学的理科生提供了一个国家模式。该项目旨在扩展和结合两种不同的策略，这两种策略已被证明有效地提高了宾夕法尼亚州立大学理科学生的学习、保留率和成功率。第一个策略是科学院长学者计划，该计划为宾夕法尼亚州立大学2+2计划中的理科生提供专门的学术顾问、同行导师、年度奖学金、编程和专业发展指导。科学院长学者计划的参与学者毕业率达到95%。第二种策略是在生物学和生命科学的背景下教授两个学期的微积分序列，采用基于研究的教学方法，并在教学团队中包括本科生学习助理。这些变化使学生的成功率（C或C以上）从55%提高到85%。该项目将支持更多的2+2学生作为科学院长学者或学习助理学习基于生物的微积分课程，并将基于生物的微积分课程扩展到宾夕法尼亚州立大学联邦校区，目标是将该课程的学生人数增加两倍。对结果的详细评估将允许对科学院长学者计划和微积分转换的影响进行系统的调查，并检查这两种干预措施如何相互作用以支持学生的学习和坚持。关键问题将集中在每个项目组成部分的有效性，微积分课程变化的结果，以及在所有校园采用经过验证的主动学习方法。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. This S-STEM project at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) aims to increase the success of science students who transfer to the University Park campus from one of its 19 Commonwealth Campuses. Over a five-year period, this project will provide scholarships to 180 transfer students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in science; the scholarships will be given in five annual cohorts of 36 students. This project builds upon two currently successful programs to improve science learning and success, with the goal of amplifying effective approaches across all 20 campuses of Pennsylvania State University. Currently, over 20% of the Eberly College of Science students at the Penn State-University Park campus are part of the Penn State 2+2 plan. Students in the 2+2 plan begin their studies at one of the 19 Penn State Commonwealth campuses with the intention of completing their science degree at the flagship campus at University Park. Science students in the Penn State 2+2 plan are more likely to come from lower-income families, and they graduate at a rate almost three times lower than science students who begin their academic careers at the University Park campus. This project aims to ensure that science students have equivalent graduation rates regardless of their campus of origin. In addition, it aims to enlarge the community of mathematicians participating in curricular reform, to improve the ways that college mathematics is taught across all Penn State campuses. Penn State has a unique institutional structure: it is not a university system, but a single university that is geographically distributed. This structure provides an opportunity to study and improve student pathways in 2+2 programs, and to provide a national model for efforts to retain science students who transition from two-year colleges to four-year institutions.This project seeks to extend and combine two distinct strategies that have proven effective in increasing the learning, retention, and success rate of science students at Penn State. The first strategy is the Science Dean's Scholars Program, which provides science students in the Penn State 2+2 Plan with a dedicated academic adviser, peer mentors, an annual scholarship, programming, and guidance on professional development. The Science Dean's Scholars Program has achieved a 95% graduation rate for the participating Scholars. The second strategy is a two-semester calculus sequence taught in the context of biology and the life sciences, using research-based pedagogical approaches and involving undergraduate Learning Assistants in the instructional team. These changes have increased student success (a grade of C or better) from 55% to 85%. This project will support more 2+2 students as Science Dean's Scholars or as Learning Assistants in the biology-based calculus course, and expand the biology-based calculus course to the Penn State Commonwealth campuses, with a goal of tripling the number of students in that course sequence. A detailed evaluation of outcomes will allow the methodical investigation of the impact of the Science Dean's Scholars Program and the calculus transformation, and examine how the two interventions may interact to support student learning and persistence. Key questions will focus on the effectiveness of each program component, outcomes of changes in the calculus curriculum, and the adoption of proven active learning approaches across all campuses.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.