Makerspace-Guided Equitable Student Success in Developmental Mathematics

该项目旨在通过研究大学创客空间如何提高学生在发展性数学课程中的保留率和成功率，为国家利益服务。该项目将与社区团体Wind & Oar Boat School合作，开展与文化相关、自主的活动，并将学生置于合作小组学习的中心。学院和社区合作伙伴将在大学创客空间中共同设计、实施和测试一个36小时的基于探究的课外课程。本课程将把发展性数学课程中所教授的基本数学原理与建造木船的具体活动结合起来。在全国范围内，60%的社区大学生需要发展数学，这表明许多人没有为STEM学位课程所需的大学水平数学做好准备。此外，只有三分之一学习发展型数学课程的学生在六年内升入大学水平的课程，许多人最终完全从大学退学。预计项目活动将吸引所有学生，包括来自STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生。预计这些活动还将提高学生的数学成绩和大学留级率。该项目旨在产生关于创客空间如何增加STEM教育公平机会的新知识。它还将探讨让学生参与这些空间是否能提高他们的STEM身份和自我效能感。项目设计旨在培养批判性思维、失败是通往成功的自然步骤的观点以及学术能力可以提高的理解等能力。预计这种方法可以被其他两年制学院和其他打算向所有学生开放的创客空间所采用。该项目将开发新的干预措施和方法，改变不同学生群体的学习方式，特别是发展数学课程。8个36小时的创客空间课外活动将与代数入门II一起开发和实施。八项活动中的四项将跨越两年。项目团队将采用“成功维度观察工具”来衡量学生的整体成功，并检查项目活动是否改善了在创客空间环境中工作的代表性不足的学生的特定障碍。本文将探讨三个研究问题：1)将基本数学原理与创客空间能力结合起来的活动在多大程度上促进了学生的数学学习？2)项目活动在多大程度上促进了学生的学习？3)创客空间的使用是否会吸引其他数学教育者改革他们的教学实践？混合方法研究设计将评估项目在实现其目标方面的有效性，并确定意想不到的结果。要收集的学生水平数据包括人口统计数据、课程成功指标、未来STEM课程入学的实例，以及关于学生干预经历的调查，对STEM身份的看法，以及关于URM定义的自我报告身份。调查将分发给干预参与者和对照组。外部评估人员将在活动期间观察学生，了解他们对活动的参与情况，并在活动结束后进行访谈，以捕捉学生对整体体验的反思。本项目由美国国家科学基金会改善本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源项目支持，该项目支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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 aims to serve the national interest by studying how college makerspaces might increase student retention and success in developmental mathematics courses. The project will partner with a community group, the Wind & Oar Boat School, to develop activities that are culturally relevant, self-directed, and put students at the center of cooperative group-based learning. The College and community partners will work together to design, implement, and test a 36-hour inquiry-based co-curricular course in a college makerspace. The course will align basic mathematics principles that are taught in a developmental mathematics course with specific activities related to building a wooden boat. Nationwide, 60% of community college students require developmental mathematics, suggesting that many are not prepared for the college-level mathematics required for STEM degree programs. Furthermore, only one-third of students in developmental mathematics courses move on to college-level courses within six years and many end up dropping out of college completely. Project activities are expected to engage all students, including students from groups that are underrepresented in STEM. It is also expected that the activities will increase student success in math and retention in college. This project is designed to generate new knowledge about how makerspaces can increase equitable access to STEM education. It will also explore whether engaging students in these spaces improves their STEM identity and self-efficacy. The project design is intended to build competencies such as critical thinking, the view that failure is a natural step toward success, and the understanding that academic ability can be improved. It is expected that this approach can be adopted by other two-year colleges and other makerspaces that intend to expand access to all students.The project will develop new interventions and approaches that transform learning for diverse student groups, particularly those in developmental mathematics courses. Eight 36-hour makerspace co-curricular activities will be developed and implemented in conjunction with Introductory Algebra II. Four of the eight activities will span two years. The project team will adapt the Dimensions of Success Observation Tool to measure overall student success and examine whether the project activities ameliorate specific barriers for underrepresented students working in makerspace environments. Three research questions will be examined: 1) To what extent do activities that align fundamental mathematics principles with makerspace competencies increase student learning in mathematics? 2) To what extent do project activities increase student learning? 3) Does the use of makerspaces attract other mathematics educators to reform their teaching practice? A mixed-methods research design will assess the effectiveness of the project in achieving its goals and identify unexpected outcomes. Student-level data to be collected includes demographics, course success metrics, instances of future STEM course enrollments, and surveys regarding students' experiences with the intervention, perceptions of STEM identity, and self-reported identities regarding URM definitions. Surveys will be distributed to both the intervention participants and a control group. External evaluators will observe students during the activities to understand their engagement with activities and will do exit interviews to capture students' reflection on the overall experience. This project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.