Improving student success in completing science degrees and entry into the science workforce through collaborative student peer-teaching and improving science identity

该项目将为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献，方法是支持在伊利诺伊州河弗福里斯特的多米尼加大学留住并毕业有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生。多米尼加大学是一所文科和理科大学，也是一所为拉美裔服务的机构(HSI)。在为期6年的时间里，该项目将为16名正在攻读生物、生物化学和化学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得为期四年的奖学金。该项目将包括通过合作的师生教学提供的学术支持，称为同行领导的团队学习支持，通过公共课程的队列体验，为期四年的学习社区式课程，教师指导，以及支持的研究经验。该项目的一个独特之处将是学术和社会文化支持的结合，例如旨在改善科学认同感以及在科学领域建立联系和融入的感觉的活动。多米尼加大学有大量来自低收入家庭的女性、西班牙裔/拉丁裔学生，支持这些学生将使科学劳动力多样化。这一项目的发现将会引起学生群体相似的不同大学的兴趣。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。除了支持一批学生成功获得STEM学位外，第二个项目目标是支持即将毕业的学生进入STEM劳动力大军或研究生/专业课程。其他项目目标包括增加关于干预措施如何通过学业支持提高学生坚持性的知识，改善科学认同感，提高科学效能，以及提高支持有经济需要的学生的机构能力。虽然越来越多的证据表明，某些形式的学术支持可以提高毅力和学生的成功，但关于学术支持与心理社会干预相结合如何提高科学认同感、科学效能，进而提高学位完成和进入科学职业生涯的情况，人们知之甚少。本项目的研究、设计和实施以建构主义学习理论和社会文化学习理论为基础。根据理论和之前的经验结果，预期结果是，基于课程的干预、训练有素的教师指导以及通过同行领导的团队学习提供的学术支持将通过提高学生的科学认同感来提高学生的坚持性。该项目将通过几种形式的证据进行评估，包括对学生成绩单、学生职业选择、教师数据和学生面试数据的分析。项目成果将在芝加哥数学与科学研讨会系列和生物教育研究促进会年会等地区和国家学术会议上发表。此外，项目成果将发表在以科学学科为基础的教育研究期刊上，如《CBE-生命科学教育》杂志和《微生物学和生物学教育杂志》。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. Dominican University is a liberal arts and sciences university which is also a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 16 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Biology-Chemistry, and Chemistry. First-year students will receive four-year scholarships. The project will include academic support with collaborative faculty-student teaching, known as Peer-led team learning support, a cohort experience through common courses, a four-year learning community-style course, faculty mentoring, and supported research experiences. A unique feature of this project will be a combination of academic and sociocultural supports, such as activities designed to improve science identity and feelings of connection and inclusion in the field of science. Dominican University has a large population of students who are female, Hispanic/Latinx, and are from low-income families, and supporting these students will diversify the science workforce. The findings of this project will be of interest to universities with similarly diverse student populations.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. In addition to supporting a cohort of students in successfully earning STEM degrees, a second project goal is to support entry of graduating students into the STEM workforce or graduate/professional programs. Other project goals include increasing knowledge of how interventions can increase student persistence through academic support, improved science identity, and improved science efficacy as well as increased institutional capacity in supporting students with financial need. While there is growing evidence that certain forms of academic support can improve persistence and student success, less is known about how academic support combined with psychosocial interventions can improve science identity, science efficacy, which in turn can improve degree completion and entry into scientific careers. The research design and implementation of this project is grounded in constructivist and sociocultural theories of learning. The expected outcomes, based on theory and previous empirical results, are that course-based interventions, trained faculty mentoring, and academic support through Peer-led Team Learning will improve student persistence by improving those students’ science identity. The project will be evaluated through several forms of evidence, including analysis of student transcripts, student career choices, faculty data, and student interview data. The project results will be disseminated by presentation at regional and national academic conferences such as the Chicago Math and Science Symposium series and the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research Annual Conference. Additionally, project results will be published in science discipline-based education research journals, such as the journal CBE – Life Sciences Education and The Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. 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.