Connecting Science Identity to STEM Success at a Rural Primarily Undergraduate Institution Propelled by an Evidence-Based First Year Experience

该项目将通过支持印第安纳卫斯理大学（Indiana Wesleyan University）表现出经济需求的高成就、低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，为全国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。在为期7年的时间里，该项目将为24名攻读生物化学、生物学、化学或物理学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。第一年的学生将获得四年的奖学金。学生将被有意地支持以stem为导向的最佳实践，以提高第一年的学生保留率和学位完成率。该项目支持从为期两个学期的第一年体验课程（FYE）开始，通过同侪指导、建立愿景的行业实地考察、高年级同学的研究讲座，以及基于情境的课程，有意培养一年级学生的科学身份，这些课程与所有STEM专业的学生都参加的具有挑战性的第一年课程中常见的概念难点平行，即普通化学。学生将被介绍到本科研究，并参加会议，展示他们的工作，并参与更大的研究社区四年。绘制这些最佳实践（如指导、研究和基于情境的学习）对农村主要本科院校科学身份发展的影响，有可能为未来提高学生保留率、毕业率和进入STEM劳动力市场的愿望提供信息。更好地理解脚手架可以在一年级及以后的学生中培养科学身份，可以作为所有本科STEM项目的可扩展STEM FYE途径来实施。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。IWU S-STEM项目将招收和支持24名生物化学、生物学、化学或物理专业的一年级学生，形成三个STEM学者群体。将实施最佳实践学生支持，以提高学生在第一年完成学位的保留率和成功率。转读本科STEM专业的结果是，大一是STEM专业学生流失率最高的时候。学生的科学认同感和自我效能感被理解为预测学生的保留和成功，但干预措施对这些措施的影响值得进一步研究。本项目将研究学生干预对科学认同和自我效能感发展的有效性，并将促进对这些措施与STEM专业学生保留率和成功之间关系的理解。该项目的成果将与更广泛的STEM教育界分享。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, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Indiana Wesleyan University. Over its seven-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 24 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, or physics. First year students will receive four-year scholarships. Students will be intentionally supported with STEM-oriented best practices to increase first year student retention and degree completion. The program support begins with a two semester first year experience (FYE) course to intentionally develop science identity in first year students through peer mentorship, vision-building industry field trips, research talks from upperclassmen peers and context-based curriculum paralleling common conceptual sticking points in a challenging first year course taken by all STEM majors, General Chemistry. Students will be introduced to undergraduate research and attend conferences to present their work and engage the greater research community over four years. Mapping the impact of these best practices such as mentorship, research, and context-based learning on the development of science identity at a rural primarily undergraduate institution has potential to inform future efforts to increase student retention, graduation, and desire to enter the STEM workforce. Better understanding of scaffolding that grows science identity in first year students and beyond can be implemented as a scalable STEM FYE pathway for all undergraduate STEM programs.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The IWU S-STEM program will recruit and support 24 first year students majoring in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, or physics to form three STEM scholar cohorts. Best practice student supports will be implemented to increase student retention and success during the first year on to degree completion. Transitioning to an undergraduate STEM major results in the freshman year being the point of highest attrition for STEM majors. A student’s sense of science identity and feelings of self-efficacy are understood to predict student retention and success, however the impact of interventions on these measures merits further study. This project will study the effectiveness of student interventions on the development of science identity and feelings of self-efficacy and will advance the understanding of how these measures correlate with student retention and success in STEM majors. The results of this project will be shared with the broader STEM education community. 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.