Promoting Student Persistence, Learning, and Understanding Through an Expanded MESA Program

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划），这个轨道1项目旨在扩大贝克斯菲尔德学院的数学工程科学成就（梅萨）计划，并研究其各个方面对学生成功的影响。贝克斯菲尔德学院的梅萨参与者提高了课程完成率和其他成果，并有望获得STEM学科的副学士学位和/或转入四年制院校。该项目有三个主要目标：（1）将梅萨计划的学生参与人数从每学期107名增加到200名，为未来的研究建立一个基线，并对进一步扩大可能存在的挑战提供初步的见解;（2）确定梅萨计划的一般组成部分对学生的成功影响最大;以及（3）建立意识，并探讨如何更好地将梅萨融入贝克斯菲尔德学院的引导路径组织。将探讨的梅萨计划的主要组成部分包括研讨会，非正式和同行指导，在社区志愿服务，本科研究，参加会议的机会，行业和实验室实地考察，以及工作阴影。了解如何在保持积极成果的同时发展该项目将提供重要的见解，特别是对于为农村人口服务的社区学院，因为他们希望实施成功的战略，弥合服务不足群体进入STEM专业的差距。通常在社区学院，STEM专业的转学需要两年以上的时间，成功转学的学生人数可能很低。该项目将通过研究贝克斯菲尔德学院梅萨计划的关键组成部分，为STEM教育的知识基础做出贡献，该计划占STEM途径学位的48%，而仅参与STEM途径学生的6%，可以在不减少成果的情况下扩大规模。主要数据来源包括当前梅萨计划参与者的焦点小组，梅萨毕业生的调查，以及一项调查，以衡量整个提议机构对梅萨计划的认识。预期的结果是确定增加参与者人数和保持其有效性所需的方案的关键要素。研究结果将在类似机构中传播，特别是那些为大量少数民族人口服务的机构，并可能正在寻找可扩展的战略来支持STEM学位的完成。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建立HSI的能力。实现这些目标，鉴于HSIs的多样性和背景，需要创新的方法，激励机构和社区转型，促进基础研究（i）参与学生学习，（ii）关于如何有效地使STEM多样化和增加参与，以及（iii）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to expand Bakersfield College’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program and study the impact of its various aspects on student success. MESA participants at Bakersfield College have improved course completion rates and other outcomes, and are on a path to graduate with an associate degree in a STEM discipline and/or transfer to four-year institutions. The project has three main goals: (1) expand the number of MESA program student participants from 107 to 200 students per semester to establish a baseline for future study and give preliminary insight to challenges that might exist for further expansion; (2) determine which of the general MESA program components have the greatest impact on student success; and (3) build awareness and explore how to better integrate MESA into the Guided Pathway organization of Bakersfield College. Major components of the MESA program that will be explored include workshops, informal and peer mentoring, volunteering in the community, undergraduate research, opportunities to attend conferences, industry and laboratory field trips, and job shadowing. Understanding how to grow the program while maintaining positive outcomes will provide important insights, particularly for community colleges that serve rural populations as they look to implement successful strategies for bridging the gap for underserved groups to access the STEM professions.Often at community colleges, the path to transfer in STEM takes longer than two years and the number of students who successfully transfer can be low. This project will contribute to the knowledge base in STEM education by studying how key components of Bakersfield College’s MESA program, which accounts for 48% of STEM pathway degrees while only engaging 6% of STEM pathway students, can be scaled up without diminishing outcomes. Major data sources include focus groups of current MESA program participants, a survey of MESA graduates, and a survey to gauge awareness of the MESA program across the proposing institution. The expected results are to identify the critical elements of the program needed to increase the number of participants and maintain its level of effectiveness. The results of the research study will be disseminated amongst similar institutions, particularly those that serve large minority populations and may be looking for scalable strategies to support STEM degree completion. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.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.