Establishing Roots to Grow STEMs: Affirming STEM identity, building community, and improving graduation rates through a multidisciplinary lower division curriculum

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With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase retention and graduation rates of underrepresented STEM majors through a novel multidisciplinary, multi-departmental, lower division curriculum and faculty training plan that includes current and future STEM educators at HSI-serving, four- and two-year institutions. Research shows that interventions that “root” students in a community and “grow” their self-perception as STEM scholars positively impact retention and graduation rates. Working at scale, this project will build interventions into the first-year curriculum for all freshmen natural sciences and mathematics (NSM) majors at a large comprehensive university (estimated impact: 500-600 students per year). All NSM freshmen will enroll in a unique, multidisciplinary course that blends instruction in critical thinking/scientific reasoning with course-based interventions to enhance traits of self-efficacy, identity, and belonging, and a seminar course highlighting undergraduate research opportunities and STEM career exploration; all variables associated with long-term student success. Student transitions to STEM careers will be facilitated through a new collaboration between the NSM departments and the campus office for internship. The capacity of faculty from NSM and local two-year institutions to support underrepresented STEM majors will be enhanced through training in inclusive teaching and reinforced by a training colloquium for STEM educators from partner institutions. This research-based project will involve five NSM departments and will impact all NSM majors. The proposed research will add to the current knowledge base through an investigation of three hypotheses: retention and graduation rates for STEM majors are enhanced by multidisciplinary, course-based experiences that combine academic content with psychosocial and NSM community-building activities; STEM-related internships contribute to retention and graduation goals; and faculty training improves retention by enhancing the STEM learning environment while creating opportunities for STEM education scholarship. Assessment of critical thinking skills and psychosocial traits will be achieved using validated survey instruments. Retention and graduation data will be collected from the campus office of institutional research. Expected outcomes from this project will include validation of a course-based early intervention with documentation of a 2% annual increase in retention of STEM majors; increased awareness of STEM career options, internships, and research opportunities as measured by student engagement with campus resources and alumni employment data; increased participation of faculty from four- and two-year institutions in training in inclusive teaching in STEM; and increased faculty and student education research productivity based on attendance in training workshops and evidence of presentations and publications related to STEM education. Project dissemination will be achieved through publication, presentation at national conferences, and a training colloquium. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs.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.