Building a sense of belonging in STEM students through research, networking, and community engagement

通过研究、网络和社区参与建立 STEM 学生的归属感

• 批准号: 2130151
• 负责人: Kelly Grussendorf
• 金额: $ 74.85万
• 依托单位: University of Dubuque
• 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: 2022-03-01 至 2028-02-29
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2130151&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Building; sense; belonging; STEM; students

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 the University of Dubuque. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships (through 4 cohorts of 6 students each) to twenty-four (24) unique high-achieving, low-income undergraduate majors in biology, chemistry, and environmental science at the University. The project will support students through a combination of financial assistance and curricular and co-curricular support. Scholars will be selected during their first academic year and will be financially supported throughout the three remaining years of their undergraduate education. Additional support will include opportunities for students to carry out team-based, student-driven research projects under the mentorship of faculty. The students also will participate in direct workforce experiences by engaging in the planning and execution of a service-learning project. The combination of these components will enable students to build self-efficacy in the STEM arena and to develop meaningful relationships and networks among peers, faculty, the community, and industry. To increase retention, STEM degree completion, and workforce placement of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to implement evidence-based, high impact pedagogical techniques and innovative vocational components for supporting student personal growth, synergistic team building, and academic and career pathways to success. Second is to study through mixed-methods project evaluation the effectiveness of the combination of strategies. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base to help guide other colleges to implement similar programs successfully. Fourth is to integrate student research, service learning, and community partnerships to improve career preparation and job placement, directly filling needs in the region. To reach project goals, the investigators will embrace the theoretical basis that, regardless of race, gender, or income status, students need to feel a sense of belonging to have academic and career success within the STEM arena. In connection to this, the project will provide a supportive environment for scholarly growth and sense of belonging in the sciences to prepare students for success in their STEM careers. The intellectual merit of this unique combination of research and vocational skill development within a collaborative community in the sciences will provide a stronger STEM population and workforce, and will further increase STEM-based relationships throughout the broader community. This project will be evaluated through multiple mixed-methods measures that will be integrated at different points during the duration of this project. Student’s research and service-learning projects will be disseminated at various conferences and through publications. Insights and outcomes from emanating from project evaluation will generate new knowledge on which aspects of the project's support interventions, or combination of interventions, are most effective for retention, engagement, academic performance, and overall success of students. The lines of investigation will address gaps in the literature and inform other higher-education professionals seeking to support students with a combination of curricular and co-curricular interventions. 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.

该项目将通过支持迪比克大学表现出经济需求的高成就、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、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。在其六年的时间里，该项目将资助奖学金（通过4个队列，每个队列6名学生），以二十四（24）个独特的高成就，低收入的本科生在生物学，化学和环境科学在大学的专业。该项目将通过财政援助和课程及课外支持相结合的方式支持学生。学者将在他们的第一学年被选中，并将在他们的本科教育的其余三年的财政支持。额外的支持将包括学生有机会在教师的指导下开展以团队为基础的，学生驱动的研究项目。学生还将通过参与服务学习项目的规划和执行来参与直接的劳动力体验。这些组件的组合将使学生能够在STEM竞技场建立自我效能，并在同行，教师，社区和行业之间建立有意义的关系和网络。为了提高保留率，STEM学位完成率，以及低收入，高成就的本科生的劳动力安置，该项目将追求几个目标。首先是实施以证据为基础的，高影响力的教学技术和创新的职业组成部分，以支持学生的个人成长，协同团队建设，以及学术和职业道路的成功。二是研究通过混合方法进行项目评价的有效性组合策略。第三是有助于知识基础，以帮助指导其他学院成功实施类似的计划。第四是整合学生研究，服务学习和社区合作伙伴关系，以改善职业准备和就业安置，直接满足该地区的需求。为了实现项目目标，研究人员将接受的理论基础，无论种族，性别或收入状况，学生需要感到归属感有学术和职业成功的干竞技场。与此相关，该项目将为学术成长和科学归属感提供支持性环境，为学生在STEM职业生涯中取得成功做好准备。在科学合作社区内，这种独特的研究和职业技能发展相结合的智力优势将提供更强大的STEM人口和劳动力，并将进一步增加整个更广泛的社区中基于STEM的关系。本项目将通过多种混合方法进行评估，这些方法将在本项目持续期间的不同时间点进行整合。学生的研究和服务学习项目将在各种会议和出版物中传播。从项目评估中得出的见解和结果将产生新的知识，即项目的支持干预措施或干预措施的组合的哪些方面对学生的保留，参与，学习成绩和整体成功最有效。调查线将解决文献中的差距，并告知其他高等教育专业人士寻求支持学生与课程和课外干预相结合。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。