Access to Innovative Education: Providing Learning Opportunities and Scholarships for Neurodivergent Students in STEM

该项目将通过支持在Landmark College有经济需要的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对受过良好教育的科学家和计算机科学家的需求做出贡献。这所大学是美国仅有的两所专门为有学习差异的学生提供服务的大学之一，包括学习障碍，如阅读障碍，注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）和/或自闭症，统称为神经多样性（ND）学生。该计划为期六年，将为36名攻读生命科学及/或计算机科学副学士或学士学位的本科生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得最多四年的奖学金支持，转学和副学士学位学生将获得最多两年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动（包括指导、本科研究经历、实习、职业准备和参与强大的队列活动）联系起来，提高学生在STEM领域的坚持度。在导师和群体活动的帮助下，学者们将概述他们的职业目标和实现这些目标的步骤。学者将从Landmark College的学生群体中抽取，该群体由100%的ND学生组成，因此该项目有可能使STEM领域的参与多样化，并了解指导和个人发展计划如何支持这一学生群体的保留和毕业。该项目侧重于有效的指导如何为ND学生在STEM领域带来更好的结果，以及如何形成更强的STEM身份，从而在实习和本科研究中获得积极的经历。该项目提出了具体的战略，以增加ND学生的数量，使他们为今天的劳动力机会做好stem准备。该项目的总体目标是增加STEM领域ND本科生的多样性和学位完成度。该项目建立在地标学院目前的机构学生支持基础上。社会心理、非认知因素，如学习毅力、社交技能、学习策略和学习心态，通常被证明会影响学生在STEM中的坚持。然而，对于这些因素如何影响授予学士和副学士学位的文理学院的神经多样性学生，人们知之甚少。该项目将调查心理社会因素对自闭症学生在STEM中的坚持性的影响，更具体地说，将探索队列支持组件如何支持自闭症学生。本项目探讨同伴支持班促进学生责任感和群体凝聚力的可能性。本项目还将探讨由于参与项目的辅导活动，学者在坚持其专业的同时，发展健康的残疾身份和STEM研究领域身份的可能性。该项目有可能促进对ND学生坚持STEM和早期职业机会的心理社会因素的理解。该项目将通过混合方法评估，使用来自队列活动和指导活动的信息。结果将在地标学院网站上公布，并通过区域和国家会议和出版物公布。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists and computer scientists by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Landmark College. This institution is one of just two colleges in the U.S. that focuses exclusively on serving students who have a learning difference, including learning disabilities such as dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and/or autism, collectively referred to as neurodiverse (ND) students. Over its six-year duration, this project will provide scholarships to 36 undergraduate students who are pursuing either an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree in life sciences and/or computer science. First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support, and transfer and associate degree students will receive up to two years of scholarship support. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities, including mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, internships, career preparation, and participation in robust cohort activities. With the help of mentors and cohort activities, the scholars will outline their career goals and steps toward achieving those goals. Scholars will be drawn from the Landmark College student body, which consists of 100% ND students, so this project has the potential to diversify participation in STEM fields and to learn how mentoring and individual development plans support retention and graduation of this student population. The project focuses on how effective mentoring leads to better outcomes for ND students in STEM fields and how to form a stronger STEM identity leading to positive experiences in internships and undergraduate research. The project proposes concrete strategies for increasing the number of ND students who are STEM-ready for the opportunities in today’s workforce. The overall goal of the project is to increase diversity and degree completion of ND undergraduates in STEM fields. This project builds on Landmark College’s current institutional student supports. Psychosocial, non-cognitive factors, such as academic perseverance, social skills, learning strategies, and academic mindsets, have generally been demonstrated to influence student persistence in STEM. However, little is known about how these factors affect neurodiverse students at bachelor’s and associate degree-granting liberal arts colleges. This project will investigate the effects of psychosocial factors on ND student persistence in STEM and, more specifically, will explore how cohort support components support autistic students. This project investigates the possibility that the peer support class promotes increased student responsibility and cohort cohesion. This project will also investigate the possibility that the scholars develop a healthy disability identity and an identity in a STEM field of study while persevering in their major because of participating in the mentoring activities of the project. This project has the potential to advance understanding of psychosocial factors on ND student persistence in STEM and early career access. This project will be evaluated via a mixed method approach using information from the cohort activities and mentoring activities. Results will be made available on the Landmark College website, as well as through regional and national conferences and publications. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.