HSI Pilot Project: College of Alameda Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Connect

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，该项目旨在增加阿拉米达学院（CoA） STEM项目中拉丁裔学生的入学率，并提高STEM门户课程的成功率和保留率。数学工程科学成就（MESA）连接计划将激发学生对应用STEM学习的兴趣，并通过基于课程的本科研究经验（CUREs）教授他们STEM探究和研究的基础知识，这些基础知识将融入他们的秋季学期课程。该项目有四个目标：(1)通过试点和评估暑期STEM发现研究所和实习，扩大STEM学位课程的参与；(2)通过设计一个第一年的学习社区来改善STEM的教学和学习，该社区将CUREs纳入入门生物学，化学，CIS和数学课程；(3)提供全面的学生支持服务，包括学业辅导、专业和近同龄人指导、教师咨询、转学支持服务、校园卫生资源和经济援助；(4)与CSUEB合作，建立机构能力，以提供和分析具有文化背景的STEM教学。对MESA Connect的评估将有助于增加关于CURE及其对拉丁裔社区大学生重要性的知识体系，特别是当CURE设计具有文化相关性和重要性时。形成性评估将考虑项目是否按照计划进行，是否具有文化能力和对基于证据的实践的忠诚的既定意图。总结性评估将考察项目参与者是否达到了预期的试点成果，包括定性学术（课程完成情况）和定性stem相关（职业兴趣，对核心概念的理解）成果，以及项目是否对学位获得和转学产生了预期的长期影响。定量分析将比较参与的拉丁裔学生的成绩与整体大学成绩，定性分析将以学生的文化背景为基础，在项目和学生体验的背景下衡量试点干预措施的有效性。对这一主题的文献的贡献将回答研究问题：参与由文化知情的CUREs丰富的STEM学习社区对拉丁裔社区大学生追求STEM教育和职业的意识和决定的影响是什么？在转学途径的背景下，加深对文化上合适的治疗方法的理解，将有利于来自STEM中代表性不足的背景，在社区学院开始高等教育的学生。传播计划将包括在国家网络上的演讲，例如社区大学本科生研究计划。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并在HSI进行能力建设。考虑到hsi的多样性和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，并促进基础研究(1)关于参与式学生学习，(2)关于如何有效地使STEM多样化和增加参与，以及(3)提高我们对如何在hsi建立机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将借鉴这些方法，为如何实现这些目标提供新的知识。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 Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to increase the enrollment of Latinx students in College of Alameda (CoA) STEM programs and impact rates of success and retention in gateway STEM courses. The Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Connect program will excite students about applied STEM learning and teach them the fundamentals of STEM inquiry and research through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) that will be woven into their fall semester courses. The project has four objectives: (1) broaden participation in STEM degree programs by piloting and evaluating a summer STEM Discovery Institute and internships; (2) improve STEM teaching and learning by designing a first-year learning community that incorporates CUREs in introductory Biology, Chemistry, CIS and Math courses; (3) deliver comprehensive student support services, including academic tutoring, professional and near peer mentoring, faculty advising, transfer support services, campus health resources and financial aid; and (4) in collaboration with CSUEB, build institutional capacity to both deliver and analyze culturally informed STEM instruction.The evaluation of MESA Connect will contribute to a growing body of knowledge about CUREs and their importance to Latinx community college students, particularly when CURE design is culturally relevant and significant. The formative evaluation will consider whether the project is being conducted as planned and with the stated intentions of cultural competency and fidelity to evidence-based practices. The summative evaluation will look at whether project participants achieved the intended pilot outcomes, including qualitative academic (course completion) and qualitative STEM-related (career interest, understanding of core concepts) outcomes, and whether the project contributed toward its intended long- term impact on degree attainment and transfer. Quantitative analysis will compare participating Latinx student outcomes with overall college outcomes, and qualitative analysis will be grounded in students’ cultural backgrounds, measuring the effectiveness of the pilot interventions within the context of the project and the student experience. Contributions to the literature on this topic will answer the research question: What is the impact of participation in a STEM learning community enriched by culturally informed CUREs on Latinx community college students’ awareness of and decision to pursue STEM education and careers? Deepening understanding of culturally appropriate CUREs in the context of a transfer pathway will benefit students from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM who begin their post-secondary education in the community college. The dissemination plan will include presentations at national networks, such as the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to 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.