Collaborative Research: The Role of Co-curricular Service and Outreach Activities on Persistence and Success for Undergraduate Physics Students

该项目旨在通过研究本科生参与 K-12 学生的非正式物理推广项目如何影响他们在物理专业的成功来服务于国家利益。重要的研究工作集中在提高 STEM 在正规教育环境（如课堂或实验室）中的保留率，而学生参与非正式物理推广项目的影响仍不清楚。先前的研究表明，提高学生的归属感（即作为其所选择的科学学科的合法成员而受到重视和接受的感觉）可以降低流失率并提高适应能力，特别是对于来自代表性不足的群体的学生。参与外展活动可以培养超出正规教育重点的技能和能力，包括沟通、团队合作和创造力。美国物理学会和美国物理教师协会已将这些技能确定为物理课程的高度优先事项，以帮助学生为 21 世纪的职业做好准备。该项目打算对本科物理专业进行一项全国调查，以评估学生对非正式物理课程的参与度，并研究这种参与度与学生成功因素的关系。对调查结果的分析应该为物理系提供一套最佳实践建议，以改善外展项目和转变文化，以帮助学生取得成功。该项目计划研究非正式的、课外物理外展项目（通常由本科生设计和推动）对学生的物理认同、保留和坚持、归属感以及 21 世纪职业技能发展的影响。数据将通过分配给美国学院和大学物理项目的调查工具收集。该项目旨在创建和验证一种新的调查工具，其中包含封闭式和开放式问题，以探究学生对外展体验的感知价值及其对信心、社区意识、团队合作能力、科学传播能力、对问题创造性解决方案能力的看法以及体验式和协作学习对物理知识的感知影响。该调查将通过活跃的物理学生协会现有分会网络向美国各地的本科生进行，创建一个大型数据集，以便客观地检查外展计划如何支持本科生群体，包括传统上在 STEM 中代表性不足的本科生群体。对调查回复的分析将探讨外展活动与物理学身份的关系，包括作为物理学界成员的内部和外部认可、对物理学的兴趣和动机、与物理学表现和能力相关的信念、信心和物理学自我效能、坚持在该领域的愿望，以及对 21 世纪职业重要的职业技能的获取和发展。 NSF IUSE：EHR 计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生 STEM 教育的有效性。通过“参与学生学习”轨道，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该项目还得到 NSF IUSE:HSI 计划的支持，该计划的目标是提高本科 STEM 教育的质量，并提高攻读 STEM 副学士学位或学士学位的学生的招收率、保留率和毕业率。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by studying how undergraduate student participation in informal physics outreach programs for K-12 students affects their success as physics majors. Significant research efforts have focused on improving retention in STEM in formal educational settings, such as the classroom or laboratory, while the impact of student participation in informal physics outreach programs remains unclear. Prior work suggests that improving students' sense of belonging, defined by the feeling of being valued and accepted as a legitimate member of their chosen scientific discipline can reduce attrition rates and increase resilience, particularly among students from underrepresented populations. Participating in outreach experiences may develop skills and abilities beyond the focus of formal education, including communication, teamwork, and creativity. The American Physical Society and American Association of Physics Teachers have identified these skills as a high priority for physics programs to prepare students for 21st century careers. Thsi project intends to conduct a national survey of undergraduate physics majors to assess student engagement in informal physics programs and to study how the engagement is related to student success factors. The analysis of survey results should inform a set of best-practice recommendations for physics departments for improving outreach programs and transforming culture to help students succeed.This project plans to study the impact of informal, co-curricular physics outreach programs, which are often designed and facilitated by undergraduate students, on students’ physics identity, retention and persistence, sense of belonging, and the development of 21st century career skills. Data will be collected via a survey instrument distributed to physics programs at US colleges and universities. This project intends to create and validate a new survey instrument with closed and open-ended questions to probe students’ perceived value of the outreach experience and its impact on measures of confidence, sense of community, ability to work in teams, competence in communicating science, perceptions of ability to develop creative solutions to problems and perceived impact of experiential and collaborative learning on physics knowledge. The survey will be given to undergraduate students across the US through the existing network of active Society of Physics Students chapters, creating a large dataset that allows for an objective examination of how outreach programs support undergraduate student populations, including those traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Analysis of the survey responses will explore the relationship of outreach activities to physics identity including internal and external recognition as a member of the physics community, interest and motivation in physics, beliefs related to performance and competency within physics, confidence and physics self-efficacy, and desire to persist in the field, as well as acquisition and development of career skills important to 21st century careers. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.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.