Increasing Undergraduate Success in Science through Learning Cohorts Focused on Career Readiness

通过专注于职业准备的学习群体提高本科生在科学方面的成功

• 批准号: 2221262
• 负责人: Astrid Rosario
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 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: 2022-10-15 至 2028-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221262&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Increasing; Undergraduate; Success; Science; through

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of South Carolina Upstate, a regional comprehensive university. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 14 unique students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistry. First-year students will receive 4-year scholarships. The project is centered on the theme of career readiness, emphasizing the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ career management competencies. Students will enter a learning cohort of fellow biology and chemistry majors; be co-enrolled in the same sections of introductory courses; and participate in a five-day pre-college summer orientation, a course on how to build social, cultural, and psychological capital relevant to STEM careers, and a career readiness workshop series. Students will also receive multi-level mentoring by faculty and industry mentors, as well as facilitation of research and internship experiences. The project will customize and integrate the existing array of evidence-based high impact practices at the university into the activities for the scholar cohorts. The broader significance of the project will be felt across Upstate South Carolina, where biologists and chemists are needed by the many life sciences, advanced materials, and chemical companies in the region. The project will positively affect the students’ lives by increasing their social mobility and confidence in STEM careers. Successful elements of the project will be incorporated into the general curriculum after project completion to maintain gains in student career preparedness, retention, and workforce placement for STEM students. The project will advance knowledge of the impact of a STEM learning cohort focused on career preparedness in four key areas: STEM motivation, academic experience, graduation rate, and workforce preparation.The overall goal of this project is to recruit, retain, and graduate academically talented and low-income students who are interested in biology and chemistry. The project will introduce the undergraduate scholars to STEM career options, facilitate development of career management skills, and address attrition of biology and chemistry major from the university. The scope of the project’s aims are to recruit seven scholars during each of the first two years of the project, increase the retention and graduation rates of biology and chemistry majors, and ensure that scholars have the necessary career skills to make valuable contributions to the STEM workforce. A research question will examine to what extent do career-relevant, high-impact activities contribute to student retention, gains in STEM motivation, social, cultural, and psychological capital development, and workforce preparedness for low-income, academically talented students. New knowledge will be generated that describes the role of program components and a concerted focus on career readiness on success in STEM retention, degree completion, and career readiness. Evaluation will be based on mixed methods, including tallies of touchpoints with programming and interactions with mentors; participant surveys measuring engagement, program satisfaction and career readiness; and qualitative data, including responses to open ended survey questions and interviews. Project results will be disseminated at interdisciplinary meetings at the university, across the University of South Carolina system, and through other regional and national conferences. Dissemination will highlight the program’s strategies, effectiveness of program elements, progress achieved with modified and new interventions, and how evaluation and research findings could be applied to other STEM majors. Findings will be disseminated through articles in peer-reviewed journals and in scholarly educational media. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of academically talented low-income students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.

该项目将通过支持南卡罗莱纳大学北州分校（一所地区性综合性大学）中表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为满足全国对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。在为期5年的时间里，该项目将为14名攻读生物和化学学士学位的独特学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得四年奖学金。该项目以职业准备为主题，强调全国大学和雇主协会的职业管理能力。学生将进入一个由生物和化学专业同学组成的学习队列；同时参加同一部分的入门课程；并参加为期五天的大学前暑期培训，这是一门关于如何建立与STEM职业相关的社会、文化和心理资本的课程，以及职业准备系列研讨会。学生还将获得教师和行业导师的多层次指导，并获得研究和实习经验的便利。该项目将定制并整合大学现有的一系列基于证据的高影响力实践，并将其纳入学者群体的活动中。该项目的广泛意义将遍及南卡罗莱纳北部，该地区的许多生命科学、先进材料和化学公司都需要生物学家和化学家。该项目将通过增加学生的社会流动性和对STEM职业的信心，对学生的生活产生积极影响。项目完成后，项目的成功元素将被纳入普通课程，以保持STEM学生的职业准备，保留和劳动力安置方面的收益。该项目将促进对STEM学习队列的影响的认识，重点关注四个关键领域的职业准备：STEM动机、学术经验、毕业率和劳动力准备。该项目的总体目标是招收、留住对生物和化学感兴趣的有学术天赋和低收入家庭的学生并使其毕业。该项目将向本科生介绍STEM职业选择，促进职业管理技能的发展，并解决大学生物和化学专业的人员流失问题。该项目的目标是在项目的前两年每年招收7名学者，提高生物和化学专业的保留率和毕业率，并确保学者拥有必要的职业技能，为STEM劳动力做出有价值的贡献。一个研究问题将考察与职业相关的、高影响力的活动在多大程度上有助于学生保留率、STEM动机的获得、社会、文化和心理资本的发展，以及为低收入、学术有天赋的学生做好劳动力准备。将产生新的知识，描述项目组成部分的作用，并协调一致地关注STEM保留、学位完成和职业准备方面的职业准备。评估将基于混合方法，包括计算与编程的接触点和与导师的互动；参与者调查衡量参与度、项目满意度和职业准备；以及定性数据，包括对开放式调查问题和访谈的回答。项目结果将在该大学的跨学科会议上、在南卡罗来纳大学系统内以及通过其他区域和国家会议传播。宣传将重点介绍该项目的战略、项目要素的有效性、经过修改和新的干预措施取得的进展，以及如何将评估和研究成果应用于其他STEM专业。研究结果将通过同行评议期刊和学术教育媒体的文章传播。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有学术天赋、有经济需求的低收入家庭学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留用、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。