Broadening the Participation and Persistence of Women in STEM Through Virtual Peer Mentoring

通过虚拟同伴指导扩大女性对 STEM 的参与和坚持

• 批准号: 2215084
• 负责人: Amanda Rockinson
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Memphis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215084&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Broadening; Participation; Persistence; Women; STEM

This project aims to serve the national interest by broadening participation and persistence of women in STEM, especially women from diverse racial populations. The project plans to develop and assess a virtual peer mentoring model. This model is unique both in being virtual and in engaging women in peer mentoring outside the context of STEM research laboratories. Peer mentoring activities will address social, affective, cognitive, and persistence-related challenges experienced by women in STEM. Little is known about the impact of virtual peer mentoring approaches in STEM, and results from the model could be widely relevant and adapted in a variety of institution types and professional settings. This project at the University of Memphis aims to develop and assess the efficacy of a virtual peer mentoring model with women in residential and online STEM programs. Situated in this urban, public institution, the project plans to to develop and test this mentoring intervention among women students from diverse racial and personal backgrounds. The project will adapt an existing peer mentoring program for women in STEM that has only previously been tested in limited contexts. The current effort should generate knowledge about the efficacy of the model with a more diverse participant population. Additionally, this virtual peer mentoring model will be assessed in two phases. During the first phase, a mixed-methods study using survey and interview methods will guide program content and virtual interface development. During the second phase, a rigorous, randomized controlled trial approach will be used to examine the efficacy of the implementation of the virtual peer mentoring model with BIPOC and White women. Specifically, social, affective, cognitive, and persistence-related outcomes will be compared between virtual peer mentoring participants and a matched control group. Further, the project will use a case study approach to identify differential participant outcomes and to determine how the components of the model facilitated these outcomes. Evaluation of the project will be conducted by the campus’s Center for Research in Educational Policy. Dissemination of developed mentoring materials and research results will be accomplished through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and content sharing via the project’s website and video channel. 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 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.

该项目旨在通过扩大女性，特别是来自不同种族的女性在STEM中的参与和坚持，为国家利益服务。该项目计划开发和评估一种虚拟同伴指导模式。这种模式的独特之处在于，它是虚拟的，而且在STEM研究实验室之外，它让女性参与到同伴指导中来。同侪辅导活动将解决女性在STEM中遇到的社会、情感、认知和持久性相关挑战。关于虚拟同伴指导方法在STEM中的影响知之甚少，该模型的结果可能广泛相关，并适用于各种机构类型和专业环境。孟菲斯大学（University of Memphis）的这个项目旨在开发和评估一种虚拟同伴指导模式的有效性，该模式适用于女性在住校和在线STEM项目中的学习。该项目位于这个城市公共机构，计划在来自不同种族和个人背景的女学生中开发和测试这种指导干预。该项目将调整现有的针对STEM女性的同伴指导计划，该计划此前仅在有限的环境中进行了测试。目前的努力应该与更多样化的参与者群体产生关于该模型有效性的知识。此外，这个虚拟同伴指导模型将分为两个阶段进行评估。在第一阶段，使用调查和访谈方法的混合方法研究将指导程序内容和虚拟界面的开发。在第二阶段，将采用严格的随机对照试验方法来检验在BIPOC和白人女性中实施虚拟同伴指导模型的效果。具体而言，将比较虚拟同伴指导参与者与匹配对照组之间的社会、情感、认知和持久性相关结果。此外，该项目将使用案例研究方法来确定不同参与者的结果，并确定模型的组成部分如何促进这些结果。该项目的评估将由学校的教育政策研究中心进行。开发的指导材料和研究成果的传播将通过会议演讲、同行评审的出版物以及通过项目网站和视频频道分享内容来完成。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，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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。