HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Strengthening Teaching and Advancing Research Partnerships to Reinforce the STEM Workforce

HSI 实施和评估项目：加强教学和推进研究合作，以增强 STEM 劳动力

• 批准号: 2122203
• 负责人: Miguel Méndez-González
• 金额: $ 80万
• 依托单位: University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-04-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122203&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: HSI; Implementation; Evaluation; Project; Strengthening

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project from the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla aims to understand factors that improve STEM undergraduate education and help Hispanic students of Puerto Rico succeed in their STEM courses of study. It will do so by helping faculty members develop and implement evidence-based teaching practices to improve student learning and by providing opportunities for students to engage in the high impact practices of undergraduate research experiences and internships. Innovative aspects of this project are the collaborations with other federal agencies (e.g. the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration) and Pennsylvania State University, a major research-intensive university. The project will answer the research questions: (i) What evidence-based active learning strategies and interventions are successful at HSIs? (ii) What institutional programs lead to increased retention and graduation rates for students majoring in STEM fields?Two goals guide the Strengthening Teaching and Advancing Research Partnerships(STARp) project. First is to implement new active learning pedagogies in gatekeeper STEM courses to increase the retention of students in STEM majors. Second is to involve students in undergraduate research and citizen science projects to increase their persistence in STEM education and pursuit of STEM career paths. The STARp project will use evidence-based approaches that have been shown to improve student success of traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM. This project will improve undergraduate education by using the flipped classroom approach where the professor delivers course content outside the classroom and then engages students in live problem-solving during class time. In addition, the STARp project will provide experiential opportunities for research and internships to improve students’ transition to graduate programs and the STEM workforce. It will also target the critical second-to-third year transition through citizen science projects in which undergraduate students train and lead high school students in their creation of a community-based research project. The five-year project will identify factors that develop student interest to continue postgraduate studies and/or integration into the STEM workforce. A mixed methods research approach will be used to assess the impact of each intervention. The strategies employed by the STARp project are aimed to broaden representation in the STEM fields. The results are expected to be used as models for other Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) seeking to overcome obstacles to undergraduate student success in STEM. The project’s best strategies, activities, and success will be shared in publications, web pages, and social media. The knowledge generated by the STARp project has the potential to contribute to a diversified STEM Workforce. 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 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. 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.

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，波多黎各大学阿瓜迪拉分校的这个项目旨在了解改善STEM本科教育的因素，并帮助波多黎各的西班牙裔学生在STEM教育中取得成功学习课程。它将通过帮助教师开发和实施以证据为基础的教学实践来改善学生的学习，并为学生提供参与本科研究经验和实习的高影响力实践的机会。该项目的创新之处在于与其他联邦机构（如美国农业部和食品药品管理局）以及宾夕法尼亚州立大学（一所主要的研究密集型大学）的合作。该项目将回答的研究问题：（一）什么样的循证主动学习策略和干预措施是成功的，在HSIs？(ii)什么样的机构计划可以提高STEM专业学生的保留率和毕业率？两个目标指导加强教学和推进研究伙伴关系（STARp）项目。首先是在看门人STEM课程中实施新的主动学习方法，以提高STEM专业学生的保留率。其次是让学生参与本科研究和公民科学项目，以提高他们对STEM教育的坚持和对STEM职业道路的追求。STARp项目将使用基于证据的方法，这些方法已被证明可以提高传统上代表性不足的STEM群体的学生成功率。该项目将通过使用翻转课堂方法来改善本科教育，教授在课堂外提供课程内容，然后在课堂上让学生参与解决问题。此外，STARp项目将为研究和实习提供经验机会，以改善学生向研究生课程和STEM劳动力的过渡。它还将通过公民科学项目瞄准关键的第二年到第三年的过渡，在这些项目中，本科生培训和领导高中生创建基于社区的研究项目。这个为期五年的项目将确定培养学生继续研究生学习和/或融入STEM劳动力的兴趣的因素。将采用混合方法研究方法来评估每项干预措施的影响。STARp项目采用的策略旨在扩大STEM领域的代表性。这些结果预计将被用作其他西班牙裔服务机构（HSI）的模型，以克服本科生在STEM中取得成功的障碍。该项目的最佳战略、活动和成功将在出版物、网页和社交媒体上分享。STARp项目产生的知识有可能为多元化的STEM劳动力做出贡献。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建立HSI的能力。实现这些目标，考虑到HSI的多样性和背景，需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，促进基础研究（i）参与学生学习，（ii）关于如何有效地多样化和增加STEM的参与，以及（iii）提高我们对如何建立机构能力的理解。 HSI计划所支持的项目也将从这些方法中汲取经验，以产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF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。