Increasing Student Success in STEM

在“改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）”的支持下，这个名为“提高学生在STEM方面的成功”的第一阶段项目由萨格拉多科拉松大学公司（萨格拉多）开展，旨在增加萨格拉多选择并继续学习STEM专业、完成STEM学位并在毕业后获得STEM就业的学生的数量和百分比。在波多黎各，在经历了十年的严重经济衰退和最近毁灭性的飓风之后，STEM工人的短缺非常严重。Sagrado旨在帮助STEM专业的一年级和二年级学生克服入门数学课程的障碍，这些障碍是全国公认的STEM成功的障碍。所有萨格拉多学生（100%）都是西班牙裔。“提高学生在STEM领域的成功”将重点关注同伴辅导和指导、研究和实习、职业咨询、行业指导和教师发展，从而导致关键门户数学课程的修订。这些改进旨在提高学期内保留率、秋季保留率、6年毕业率以及毕业后进入STEM就业岗位。该项目最终将有助于增加波多黎各当地培养的STEM人才，作为重建经济的关键机制。它还将提高萨格拉多与当地主要行业发展和保持合作伙伴关系的能力，这将为我们的学生带来新的研究和实习经历。这些合作伙伴关系将产生持久的影响，因为大学维持这种模式。除了研究这些活动如何影响结果外，该项目还将通过研究以下方面的影响来产生新的知识：(1)同侪辅导对STEM专业学生留任的影响；(2)学生在本科学习早期参与研究或实习经历对STEM专业的保留和毕业后的STEM就业的影响；(3)行业指导和职业咨询对STEM专业留任和STEM就业的影响；(4)教师培训和课程修订与发展，以保留STEM专业和STEM就业。评估机制将包括来自学生调查和访谈的反馈，以及研究教授和选定合作公司的评估。这将有助于评估学生对所选专业的信心和满意度，以及对学生坚持所学专业的影响。项目工作人员将通过全校会议和教员会议在当地传播结果，更一般地通过会议发言和在同行评议的期刊上发表出版物。教师发展和学生研究指导活动将包括兼职教师，他们将为兼职（非终身教职）STEM教师提供有关这些经验如何改善教学和学习的知识。HSI计划旨在加强HSI的本科STEM教育和能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project titled "Increasing Student Success in STEM" by Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, Inc. (Sagrado) aims to increase the number and percentage of students at Sagrado who select and remain in STEM majors, complete STEM degrees, and secure STEM employment after graduation. In Puerto Rico the shortage of STEM workers is severe after a decade of serious economic decline and recent devastating hurricanes. Sagrado seeks to help first- and second-year students in STEM majors overcome obstacles in gateway math courses, which are nationally acknowledged barriers to STEM success. All Sagrado students (100%) are Hispanic. "Increasing Student Success in STEM" will focus on peer tutoring and mentoring, research and internships, career counseling, industry mentoring, and faculty development, leading to key gateway math course revisions. These improvements aim to increase within-term retention, fall-to-fall retention, six-year graduation, and placement into STEM employment post-graduation. This project will ultimately contribute to increasing locally grown STEM talent in Puerto Rico as a key mechanism to rebuilding the economy. It will also increase Sagrado's capacity to develop and maintain partnerships with key local industries, which will lead to new research and internship experiences for our students. These partnerships will have a lasting impact as the university sustains this model. In addition to examining how the activities impact the outcomes, this project will generate new knowledge by examining the effect of: (1) peer mentoring on retention in STEM majors; (2) student participation in a research or internship experience early in their undergraduate studies on retention in STEM majors and STEM employment after graduation; (3) industry mentoring and career counseling on retention in STEM majors and STEM employment; and (4) faculty training and curricular revisions and development on retention in STEM majors and STEM employment. Assessment mechanisms will include feedback from student surveys and interviews, and evaluations from research professors and selected partner companies. These will help assess students' confidence and satisfaction in their chosen field, and the effect on students' persistence in the major. Project staff will disseminate the results locally through campus-wide and faculty meetings, and more generally through conference presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals. Faculty development and student research mentoring activities will include adjunct faculty, which will generate knowledge on how these experiences for part-time (non-tenure stream) STEM instructors improve teaching and learning. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.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.