Central Valley Region Interdisciplinary Science Education Research Symposium

在不断改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，本次会议旨在通过将整个加州中央山谷的研究人员、教育工作者、学生和领导人聚集在一起，为满足本科生群体需求的重大跨学科和跨校园合作提供机会，以服务于国家利益。在这个地区，有25所以上的高等教育机构，从社区学院到研究型大学，规模从不到3000人到超过25000名本科生不等。所有这些机构都服务于高度多样化、历史上服务不足的学生群体，并代表着美国当前和未来的人口结构。这次研讨会的发展将是中央山谷五所机构(弗雷斯诺城市学院、默塞德学院、加州州立大学斯坦尼斯劳斯分校、弗雷斯诺分校和加州大学默塞德分校)之间的合作努力。其中三所院校(CSU Stanislaus、CSU Fresno和UC Merced)获得了NSF改善本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(IUSE-HSI)Track 3的资助。不幸的是，由于新冠肺炎大流行，这些赠款的研究人员几乎没有机会分享他们在这些项目上所完成的重要工作。因此，研讨会的目标是：(1)传播来自中央山谷社区的教育研究成果，调查教育研究的趋势，并确定教育研究和实践的未来方向；(2)鼓励和促进来自中央山谷两年制和四年制院校的教职员工和学生之间的网络和新的跨学科研究合作，以产生针对我国一些最紧迫的教育需求的严谨研究；以及(3)为本科生和研究生提供一个空间，以发现和更好地了解教育研究领域和潜在的职业道路。鉴于我们希望这次专题讨论会成为一年一度的活动，重要的是评估专题讨论会在多大程度上满足上述成果以及满足与会者的需要和期望。为了评估研讨会的成效，我们计划收集与会者的人口统计数据、与会者预期的前后调查，并跟踪长期影响指标和传播记录。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建设HSIS的能力。考虑到HSIS的不同性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区的变革，并促进基础研究(I)关于参与式学生学习，(Ii)关于如何有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)提高我们对如何在HSI建设机构能力的理解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 conference seeks to serve the national interest by bringing together researchers, educators, students, and leaders throughout California’s Central Valley to offer an opportunity for significant interdisciplinary and cross-campus collaborations that will meet the needs of the undergraduate student population. Within this region there are more than 25 institutions of higher education, from community colleges to research universities, ranging in size from under 3,000 to more than 25,000 undergraduate students. All these institutions serve a student population that is highly diverse, historically underserved, and representative of America’s current and future demographics. The development of this symposium will be a cooperative effort between five of these Central Valley institutions (Fresno City College, Merced College, California State University (CSU) Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and University of California (UC) Merced). Three of these institutions (CSU Stanislaus, CSU Fresno, and UC Merced) have received NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (IUSE-HSI) Track 3 grants. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from these grants have had few opportunities to share the important work that they have accomplished on these projects. Therefore, the goals of the symposium are to: (1) disseminate education research findings from the Central Valley community, investigate trends in education research, and identify future directions for education research and practice; (2) encourage and facilitate networking and new interdisciplinary research collaborations among faculty, staff, and students from Central Valley two-year and four-year institutions that results in rigorous research that addresses some of our nation’s most pressing education needs; and (3) provide a space for undergraduate and graduate students to discover and better understand the field of educational research and potential career pathways. Given our desire for this symposium to become an annual event, it will be important to assess how well the symposium meets both the outcomes listed above and meets the needs and expectations of the participants. To assess the effectiveness of the symposium, we plan to collect participant demographics, pre- and post-surveys of participants’ expectations, and track long- term impact metrics and dissemination records. 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.