Enhancing STEM Identity through E-Mentoring Experiences

该项目将推进“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目的努力，更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业的动机和能力的实践，让成绩优秀的中学生准备好高中的高等数学课程，并最终进入工程职业生涯。该项目是北卡罗来纳州立大学教育学院、数学、科学和教育网络大学预科项目、少数民族工程项目、技术和工程教育以及北卡罗来纳州高度贫困农村地区的四个学区之间的合作项目。该项目解决了加强和多样化科学劳动力这一国家关注的重要问题。该项目可能具有重要意义，因为它提供了一种变革性的模式，可以潜在地增强生活在美国农村地区代表性不足的学生的STEM学习和参与，从而大大提高他们向上流动的机会。本项目研究e-mentoring （online mentoring）对未被充分代表的学生导师和未被充分代表的农村高中生的影响。指导模式和开发的工具有可能影响所有学生，进一步促进未来STEM专业人员的能力和多样性。该项目的目标是为居住在北卡罗来纳州农村的代表性不足的高中生开发和迭代测试一个电子指导计划，该计划将通过与具有相似背景、种族、性别和经历的导师建立近同伴关系来支持他们参与与工程相关的体验，以改善学生对STEM的态度和参与。该项目将采用基于研究的指导模式，利用移动和基于网络的软件技术提供便利。这个为期三年的项目将反复设计、实施和研究电子指导计划，将100名代表性不足的农村学生与北卡罗来纳州立大学少数民族工程项目和技术与工程教育的大学工程专业学生配对。参与该项目的高中生和学生导师都将受益于与更广泛的STEM社区的联系，这将使他们能够设想通往STEM职业的道路。本项目将报告促进成功实施电子辅导体验的因素，检查参与学生的电子辅导体验的潜在承诺，并确定可能调节电子辅导计划潜力的因素。通过将代表性不足的学生与具有相似背景、经验和兴趣的导师配对，预计学员将提高他们的自我效能感和STEM价值，以及他们的STEM意图、入学率和持久性。成功的师徒计划策略的应用方法和方法将利用数字工具和倒置的教室来增强STEM学习和师徒体验。该项目有可能扩大传统指导的能力，并开发新的途径，通过这些途径提高STEM的身份、教育和劳动力。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。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by preparing and interesting high achieving middle school students for advanced math courses in high school and eventually in engineering careers. This project is a partnership between the College of Education, the Math, Science and Education Network Pre-College Program, the Minority Engineering Program, and Technology and Engineering Education, all at NC State University, as well as four school districts in high poverty rural areas of North Carolina. This project addresses an important national concern of strengthening and diversifying the scientific workforce. This project could have significance by providing a transformative model that can potentially enhance STEM learning and engagement for underrepresented students living in rural areas of the U.S., thus greatly improving their chances for upward mobility. The project studies the effects of e-mentoring (online mentoring) on underrepresented student mentors and underrepresented high school students living in rural areas. The mentoring model and tools developed have the potential to impact all students, further contributing to the capability and diversity of future STEM professionals. The goal of the project is to develop and iteratively test an e-mentoring program for underrepresented high school students living in rural North Carolina that will engage them in engineering-related experiences supported by near-peer relationships with mentors of similar background, race, gender, and experiences, to improve students' attitudes about and participation in STEM. This project will employ a research-based mentoring model facilitated using mobile and web-based software technology. This three-year project will iteratively design, implement, and study the e-mentoring program by matching 100 underrepresented rural students with college engineering majors from the Minority Engineering Program and Technology and Engineering Education at NC State. Both high school students and student mentors participating in the program will benefit from a connection to the broader STEM community that will allow them to envision pathways to STEM careers. This project will report on factors that facilitate successful implementation of the e-mentoring experience, examine the potential promise of the e-mentoring experience for participating students, and determine factors that may moderate the potential of the e-mentoring program. By matching underrepresented students with near-peer mentors of similar background, experience, and interests, it is expected that mentees will improve in their self-efficacy and value for STEM, and their STEM intentions, enrollment, and persistence. The methods and approaches used for applying strategies of successful mentorship programs will leverage digital tools and an inverted classroom to enhance STEM learning and the mentoring experience. The project has the potential to expand upon the capacity of traditional mentoring and develop new avenues through which to enhance STEM identity, education, and the workforce.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.