CAREER Exploring the Role of STEM Faculty Beliefs & Classroom Culture on Undergraduate Minoritized Students Experiences Achievement and Persistence in STEM

学院早期职业发展(Career)计划是国家科学基金会范围内的一项活动，旨在为有潜力在研究和教育中充当学术榜样的早期教师提供支持，在其部门或组织的使命中领导进步，并为终身领导教育和研究的整合奠定基础。这一职业项目旨在产生关于历史上黑人学院和大学(HBCU)的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教授的方法和策略的新知识，以及他们如何成功地培养学生所经历的成长心态课堂文化，为小规模学生创造更公平的学习环境。关于谁能和不能在STEM取得成功的负面刻板印象，对美国发展高素质、多样化的STEM劳动力这一目标的进展产生了不利影响。当学生遇到负面的成见和不公平的教育环境时，尤其是小学生(例如黑人、拉丁裔、美洲原住民)的STEM兴趣和坚持性要低得令人震惊。高等教育教师有权和自主地直接影响STEM学习环境，并带来必要的变化，以支持学生在STEM领域的参与和坚持不懈，但关于教授的信念是如何传达的，以及他们如何培养成长心态的课堂文化，人们知之甚少。此外，有必要探索黑人学生在STEM课堂上如何体验他们不是少数族裔的心态。成长心态是相信智力和能力的可塑性。这项职业调查使用顺序解释性混合方法来考察STEM教师信念、课堂文化和哈佛大学黑人学生的经历、成就和坚持性之间的关系。该项目研究了HBCU的STEM入门课程的教授和他们的学生，以调查信念和教学实践，对课堂文化的看法，以及STEM的参与度、坚持性和成就。课堂观察将有助于调查思维定势信息和气候的存在。这项工作将研究和教育结合起来，以产生关于如何培养成长心态的课堂文化以及对STEM小规模学生的相关影响的新知识和解释。调查结果将有助于为STEM教员举办讲习班，创建和实施研究生座谈会以支持和培养未来的STEM教员，并制定课程模块、案例研究和演讲，以产生广泛影响。该项目由历史黑人学院和大学-本科项目(HBCU-UP)资助，该项目致力于提高历史黑人学院和大学(HBCU)的本科STEM教育和研究质量，以扩大全国STEM劳动力的参与，并在一定程度上由EHR核心研究(ECR)计划资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境的基础研究、扩大STEM的参与和STEM劳动力发展的工作。该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。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。

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project seeks to generate new knowledge about the approaches and strategies of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and how they successfully cultivate growth mindset classroom cultures, as experienced by their students, to create more equitable learning environments for minoritized students. Negative stereotypes about who can and cannot succeed in STEM adversely affect progress toward the U.S. goal of developing a high quality, diverse STEM workforce. STEM interest and persistence amongst minoritized students (e.g., Black, Latinx, Native American), in particular, are alarmingly lower when students encounter negative stereotypes and inequitable educational environments. Higher education faculty have the power and autonomy to directly influence STEM learning environments and bring about the changes necessary to support students’ participation and persistence in STEM fields, but little is known about how professors’ beliefs are communicated and how they can cultivate a growth mindset classroom culture. Furthermore, there is a need for exploration of how Black students experience mindsets in STEM classrooms where they are not the racial minority. Growth mindset is belief in the malleability of intelligence and abilities. This CAREER inquiry uses a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach to examine the relationships between STEM faculty beliefs, classroom culture, and the experiences, achievement, and persistence of Black students at HBCUs. The project studies HBCU professors of STEM introductory courses and their students to investigate beliefs and pedagogical practices, perceptions of classroom culture, and STEM engagement, persistence, and achievement. Classroom observations will enable investigation of the presence of mindset messages and climate. This work integrates research and education to generate new knowledge and explanations about how to cultivate growth mindset classroom cultures and the associated impact on minoritized students in STEM. Findings will inform the development of a workshop for STEM faculty, the creation and implementation of a graduate colloquium to support and prepare future STEM faculty and the development of course modules, case studies and presentations for broad impact. This project is funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which is committed to enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education and research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in order to broaden participation in the nation's STEM workforce and in part by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).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.