Developing Reliable Educational Avenues to STEM Careers

在“改善本科STEM教育：为西班牙裔服务的机构”（HSI计划）的支持下，这个第一轨道项目旨在建设STEM的机构能力，特别是海洋科学和技术。为了实现这一目标，该项目旨在提高学生对STEM的认识，并增加进入STEM项目和从事STEM职业的学生人数。项目活动包括实施创新教学策略，使用和研究虚拟现实等技术的有效性，以及开发通往STEM职业的有效途径。通过制定STEM大使计划，该项目将为本科生提供机会，参与到K-12学生的STEM外展活动中。大学生STEM大使将分享他们的经验，并提供现实生活中的例子，说明是什么让STEM有趣，以及如何在STEM中取得成功。该项目还将让学生参与本科研究和专业实习，以帮助他们培养工作场所所需的技能。项目团队将调查虚拟现实等创新技术的有效性，以积极吸引学生，提高他们对STEM和STEM职业的兴趣。该项目的预期成果包括增加STEM项目的学生招聘和保留，从而有助于增加STEM劳动力的多样性。该项目旨在：(1)提高学生对STEM职业的兴趣；(2)与非参与者相比，参与项目活动的学生的保留率和完成度更高；(3)增加本科生向STEM劳动力的成功过渡。该项目旨在产生以下知识：(1)虚拟现实如何成为提高学生对STEM项目兴趣的工具；(2)参与项目活动如何影响学生在STEM项目中的保留和完成；(3)带薪专业实习如何影响学生进入STEM劳动力的准备。该项目将分析来自调查、学生跟踪系统和机构来源的数据，以完成项目参与者与非参与者的结果比较研究。该项目旨在开发一个可复制的模型，以创建从K-12到学术界再到STEM劳动力的可靠和现实的教育途径。项目成果将通过网页和社交媒体、会议演讲、学术和专业出版物以及社区大学本科生研究倡议（CCURI）网络进行共享。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 aims to build institutional capacity in STEM, particularly marine science and technology. To achieve this goal, the project seeks to improve student perceptions of STEM and to increase the number of students who enter STEM programs and pursue STEM careers. Project activities include implementation of innovative teaching strategies, use of and research about the effectiveness of technologies such as virtual reality, and development of effective pathways to STEM careers. By developing a STEM Ambassador program, the project will provide opportunities for undergraduates to participate in STEM outreach to K-12 students. The undergraduate STEM Ambassadors will share their experiences and provide real-life examples about what makes STEM interesting and how to be successful in STEM. The project will also engage students in undergraduate research and professional internships to help them develop skills needed in the workplace. The project team will investigate the effectiveness of innovative technologies, such as virtual reality, to actively engage students and elevate their interest in STEM and STEM careers. Expected outcomes of the project include increased recruitment and retention of students in STEM programs, thus contributing to increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. The project aims to: (1) increase student interest in STEM careers; (2) increase retention and completion of students who participate in the project activities relative to non-participants; and (3) increase the successful transition of undergraduates into the STEM workforce. The project seeks to generate knowledge about: (1) how virtual reality can be a tool for increasing student interest in STEM programs; (2) how participation in the project activities affects student retention and completion in STEM programs; and (3) how paid professional internships affect student preparation to enter the STEM workforce. The project will analyze data from surveys, student tracking systems, and institutional sources to complete a comparative study of outcomes of project participants versus non-participants. The project intends to develop a reproducible model for creating reliable and realistic educational pathways from K-12, through academia and into the STEM workforce. Project results will be shared through webpages and social media, conference presentations, scholarly and professional publications, and through the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI) network. 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 aims.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.