Examining the Persistance and Motivation of STEM Pre-Service Teachers of Color in the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program

该项目将支持基础STEM教育研究，研究如何扩大STEM教师队伍的参与。通过调查影响本科生坚持STEM和教师教育的因素，它有可能为招聘和保留代表性不足的少数族裔职前STEM教师提供新的知识。研究人员已经设计了一个专业发展计划，以支持建立他进行解释顺序混合方法研究设计和高级推论统计分析的能力。专业发展活动包括参加混合方法讲习班和定量研究方法论课程。研究者将由STEM教育方法和定量分析方面的专家团队指导。将研究试点项目与STEM教育研究的专业发展相结合，将使研究者能够贡献研究成果，为提高STEM教师队伍中少数民族的代表性提供信息。该研究项目的目标是了解巴尔的摩马里兰大学谢尔曼STEM教师学者计划的组成部分，这些组成部分影响STEM教师教育中代表性不足的少数民族学生的招聘和保留。在社会认知理论的指导下，本研究将解决与研究变量相关的三个问题：(1)哪些主要影响和相互作用显著影响未被充分代表的少数民族学生从事教学职业？(2)是什么因素促使学生坚持学习STEM课程？(3)哪些因素有助于完成学位和追求教师职业？研究设计采用解释顺序混合方法，包括收集和分析定量和定性数据。预期的影响包括告知最佳实践，通过这些实践，职前STEM教师培训项目可以增加少数族裔的代表性。该项目可以为其他机构创建一个可复制的STEM教师教育模式。该项目得到了EHR核心研究：STEM教育研究能力建设（ECR: BCSER）竞赛的支持，该竞赛旨在培养个人在STEM学习和学习环境中开展高质量基础STEM教育研究的能力，扩大STEM领域的参与，以及STEM劳动力的发展。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 support fundamental STEM education research that examines broadening participation within the STEM teacher workforce. By investigating the factors that influence undergraduate student persistence in STEM and teacher education, it has the potential to contribute new knowledge about the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority pre-service STEM teachers. The investigator has designed a professional development plan that will support building his capacity to do explanatory sequential mixed methods research design and advanced inferential statistical analysis. Professional development activities include participating in mixed method workshops and quantitative research methodology courses. The investigator will be mentored by a team of experts in STEM education methodology and quantitative analysis. Aligning a research pilot project with professional development in STEM education research will position the investigator to contribute research findings that can inform efforts to increase representation of minorities in the STEM teacher workforce. The goal of the research project is to understand components of the Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, that affect recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM teacher education. Guided by social cognitive theory, the study will address three questions relevant to the study variables: (1) What major effects and interactions significantly influence underrepresented minority students to pursue teaching careers? (2) What factors propel students to persist in their STEM courses? and (3) What factors contribute to degree completion and pursuit of teaching careers? The research design employs an explanatory sequential mixed method approach that includes the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. The expected impacts include informing best practices through which pre-service STEM teacher preparation programs can increase minority representation. The project could lead to the creation of a replicable STEM teacher education model for other institutions.This project is supported through the EHR Core Research: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) competition that is designed to build individuals' capacity to carry out high quality fundamental STEM education research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.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.