Broadening Participation Research Project: Genre Theory as a Catalyst for Broadening Underserved Students’ Participation in STEM Discourse Communities

通过扩大参与研究（BPR）在STEM教育项目中的历史黑人学院和大学本科生计划（HBCU-UP）支持开发，实施和研究与STEM本科教育中代表性不足的群体的参与和成功相关的新理论驱动的模型和创新。预计该奖项将进一步提高教师的研究能力，并改善STEM教育和劳动力中代表性不足的群体的招聘，保留和成功。奥尔巴尼州立大学的这个项目旨在研究体裁理论，在话语社区的背景下具有特定交际目的的口语和书面文本，以加深STEM教师的语言知识和信心，为语言和文化多样的学生设计有效的教学。预计参加多年计划的学生将表现出对科学素养的掌握程度提高，并在生物科学中建立归属感，从而有可能增加奥尔巴尼州立大学生物学毕业生的数量。该项目的目的是开发一个过程，通过教学干预，研究指导和实践经验的组合应用体裁理论，让学生破译STEM中的学术语言代码，并将其应用于个人研究项目。重点是设计和试点一个系统的程序，使用教学和学习周期（TLC）在特定的生物学课程，以提供获得学术素养的话语社区，使服务不足的学生将有更多的机会在干领域的职业生涯。该项目旨在使奥尔巴尼州立大学生物专业的学生沉浸在一系列脚手架式的课程和体验活动中，这些活动旨在使学生接触到其核心，即“研究途径”。 虽然在这条途径注册，学生将严格的辅导和指导，在各种设置，包括教室，实验室，现场和其他专业干环境，从而确保科学素养的发展以及实践科学家所需的知识和技能。 话语社区将允许教师应用TLC作为学生研究人员从建模研究活动中学习，练习STEM话语，并将他们获得的知识和技能应用于个性化的长期研究项目。 该设计和开发研究涉及为奥尔巴尼州立大学生物专业学生创建和测试一个复杂的高影响力实践网络。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响力审查标准进行评估来支持。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Broadening Participation Research (BPR) in STEM Education projects supports the development, implementation, and study of new theory-driven models and innovations related to the participation and success of underrepresented groups in STEM undergraduate education. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, as well as improve the recruitment, retention, and success of underrepresented groups in STEM education and the workforce. This project at Albany State University seeks to examine genre theory, the spoken and written text with specific communicative purposes in the context of a discourse community, to deepen STEM teachers’ knowledge of language and confidence to design effective instruction for linguistically and culturally diverse students. It is anticipated that students who participate in a multi-year program will demonstrate increased mastery of scientific literacy and develop a sense of belonging within the biological sciences, thereby having the potential to increase the number of biology graduates at Albany State University. The aim of this project is to develop a process which applies the genre theory through a combination of instructional interventions, research mentorship and hands-on experiences, allowing students to decipher the academic language code in STEM and apply it to individual research projects. The focus is to design and pilot a systematic procedure using the teaching and learning cycle (TLC) across specific biology courses to provide access to academic literacy in discourse communities so that underserved students will have greater access to careers in STEM fields. This project intends to immerse Albany State University biology majors in a scaffolded series of curricular and experiential activities which are expressly designed to expose majors to what will be at its core, a “Research Pathway.” While enrolled in this pathway, the students will be rigorously mentored and guided in a variety of settings including the classroom, laboratory, field, and other professional STEM environments thereby ensuring the development of scientific literacy as well as the knowledge and skills required by practicing scientists. The discourse community will allow the faculty to apply the TLC as the student researchers learn from modeling research activities, practicing STEM discourse, and applying the knowledge and skills they acquire to individualized long term research projects. This design and development study involves the creation and testing of an intricate web of high impact practices for Albany State University biology majors.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.