Life STEM EAGER: Exploring the Relationship between High School Mathematics and Bioscience, Standardized Testing and College Performance in Biotechnology-related Fields

ECR计划强调基础STEM教育研究，将在该领域产生基础知识。该项目将侧重于对一个想法的早期探索性研究，该想法将揭示如何制定更有效的干预措施，以解决生物科学和生物工程管道中的学生保留问题。 因此，这项研究将有助于满足未来的劳动力需求，采取激进的方法，超越数学作为决定学生参与STEM领域的关键主要因素。为了更好地了解这些因素可能是什么，本研究将检查两所当地高中的高中成绩单。它还将审查350名本科生的记录，这些学生已经入学，目前正在入学，已经毕业，在同一机构转到另一个非STEM领域，或者离开生物技术相关领域的本科课程。数据来源将包括高中和大学所有数学、生物科学、生物技术相关课程的信息;大学入学考试成绩，以及学生在本科阶段生物工程方面的表现。本研究将从数学、生物科学、工程学、技术学的交叉领域，对学生的数据进行挖掘和分析，探索影响生物科学、生物工程学教育的因素，为发现影响学生参与这些领域的因素提供一种新的方法。虽然目前还不清楚这种方法是否会产生任何可能有益于社会的新见解，但知道这种想法是否可行将是对该领域的宝贵贡献。此外，这种方法不仅与生物科学和生物工程相关，而且对国家的努力也很重要，并将有助于NSF关于利用数据革命的大想法。然而，试图合并来自多个来源的数据集是有风险的，因为它可能不会揭示任何有用的信息，以解决学生保留。这种风险可能会进一步加剧的研究主要内容驱动因素，途径和课程的广泛变化，课程的可用性，学生发展的个人差异，以及在特定STEM科目的动机和兴趣的有限重点。由于这项工作的复杂性和重点主要是学生的表现和成功，在这些领域，风险很高。尽管存在这些风险，但这项研究的结果可能会发现数学以外的因素，这些因素可能会导致目前的自然减员率。因此，这项研究将为更有效的干预模式的发展提供信息，有助于优先考虑扩大参与的努力，并促进进一步的研究。仅这些项目就使该项目成为ECR项目组合中STEM教育基础知识的优先资助和贡献。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 ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. This project will focus on an early stage exploratory study of an idea that will reveal ways to develop more effective interventions to address student retention in bioscience and bioengineering pipelines. As such, this study will help meet future workforce needs by taking a radical approach and looking beyond mathematics as the key major factor that determines student participation in STEM fields. To better understand what these factors might be, this study will examine high school transcripts from two local high schools. It will also review records of 350 undergraduate students who have been enrolled, are currently enrolled, have graduated, switched to another non-STEM field at the same institution, or left undergraduate programs in biotechnology-related fields. Data sources will include information on all mathematics, bioscience, biotechnology-related courses taken in high school and in college; college entrance test scores, and students' performance in bioengineering at the undergraduate level. This study will attempt to initiate a new line of research in search of factors associated with bioscience and bioengineering education as a novel approach for uncovering factors that may negatively influence student participation in these fields.An interdisciplinary approach will be used to mine and analyze student data at the intersection of mathematics, biosciences, engineering, and technology. Although it is unclear if this approach will generate any new insights potentially beneficial to society, knowing whether the idea works or not will be a valuable contribution to the field. Additionally, this approach will not only be relevant to biosciences and bioengineering, but also important to national efforts, and will contribute to NSF's Big Idea on Harnessing the Data Revolution. However, attempting to merge data sets from multiple sources is risky since it may not reveal any meaningful information useful to addressing student retention. Such risks may be further compounded by the limited focus of the study on mostly content driven factors, a wide variation of pathways and classes, availability of courses, personal variation of student development, and motivation and interest in particular STEM subjects. Due to the complexity of this undertaking and the focus largely on student performance and success in these fields, the risk is high. These risks notwithstanding, outcomes from this study could potentially identify factors, other than mathematics, that might contribute to current attrition rates. Thus, this study will inform the development of more effective models of intervention, help prioritize broadening participation efforts, and promote further research. These items alone make this project a priority for funding and a contribution to foundational knowledge in STEM education in the ECR program portfolio.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.