Research-based Interventions for STEM Engagement

该项目将通过支持布莱克山州立大学（Black Hills State University）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为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。布莱克山州立大学是一所为农村服务的大学，有36%的本科生有资格获得佩尔助学金。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为24名攻读生物学、化学、环境物理科学、数学和物理科学学士学位的独特学生提供奖学金。参与者将获得奖学金作为进入一年级的学生，并获得四年的支持。除了奖学金，学生还将获得教师指导、学习社区（共同报名的课程和在宿舍的共同位置）、嵌入式辅导/同伴指导、本科研究经验，以及一个新的STEM衔接课程，重点是为研究生院和STEM职业做准备。BHSU的教师将参加由国家科学教学研究所主办的流动暑期学院，帮助他们将积极解决问题和高影响力的实践融入到他们的教学中。基于最佳实践，项目活动不仅将为学生提供相关技能和经验，还将培养自我效能感和STEM身份，这已被证明可以增加学生坚持、毕业并进入STEM劳动力市场的可能性。参与者应该从项目提供的支持中个人受益，他们也将为他们以后加入的研究团队的成功和弹性做出贡献。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。有五个具体目标：1)提高低收入家庭学生在STEM课程中的坚持度和毕业率；2)提高低收入家庭学生在STEM门户课程中的表现；3)提高低收入家庭学生的自我效能感、STEM认同感和STEM归属感；4)增加低收入学生在高要求的STEM职业中就业或进入研究生院的人数；5)评估干预措施的有效性，将那些成功的干预措施制度化，并将结果传播到更广泛的STEM社区。一名STEM教育研究人员将成为项目领导团队的一员，并将与项目负责人和外部评估人员合作，以确定拟议的干预措施对BHSU学生群体的影响，并着眼于制度化。教师指导和本科生研究等干预措施已被广泛研究。该团队预计这些将取得成功，尽管形成性和总结性评估仍将进行，以了解BHSU具体的细微差别。对新的干预措施，如STEM途径课程的考试，将提供一个机会来增加关于高等教育STEM教育的知识体系。该团队将通过出版物和演讲在STEM教育界广泛分享结果，以便其他小型、农村、主要是本科院校能够在自己的校园里适应和实施这些干预措施。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，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在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、留校、转学、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。

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 Black Hills State University. Black Hills State University is a rural-serving institution with 36% of undergraduates eligible for Pell grants. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 24 unique students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, environmental physical science, mathematics, and physical science. Participants will be awarded scholarships as entering first-year students and receive four years of support. In addition to scholarships, students will be provided with Faculty Mentoring, Learning Communities (co-enrolled courses and co-location in residence halls), Embedded Tutoring/Peer Instruction, Undergraduate Research Experiences, and a new STEM Pathways Course focused on preparing for graduate school and STEM careers. BHSU faculty will attend a Mobile Summer Institute facilitated by the National Institute on Scientific Teaching to help them integrate active problem solving and high-impact practices into their instruction. Rooted in best practices, project activities will not only prepare students with relevant skills and experiences, but will also foster self-efficacy and STEM identity, which have been shown to increase the likelihood that students will persist, graduate, and enter the STEM workforce. Participants should benefit personally from the support offered by the project, and they will also contribute to the success and resilience of research teams they join later in life.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are five specific objectives: 1) To increase the persistence and graduation rates among low-income students in STEM; 2) To increase low-income students’ performance in gateway courses in STEM; 3) To increase low-income students’ self-efficacy, STEM identity and sense of belonging in STEM; 4) To increase the number of low-income students who obtain employment in high-demand STEM careers or enroll in graduate school; 5) To evaluate interventions for efficacy, institutionalizing those that are successful and disseminating results to the wider STEM community. A STEM educational researcher will be part of the project leadership team and will work with the PI and external evaluator to determine impacts of the proposed interventions on the BHSU student population with an eye toward institutionalization. Interventions such as faculty mentoring and undergraduate research have been widely studied. The team anticipates these will meet with success, though formative and summative evaluation will still be conducted to understand nuances specific to BHSU. An examination of new interventions, such as the STEM Pathways course, will provide an opportunity to add to the body of knowledge about postsecondary STEM education. The team will share results broadly within the STEM education community through publications and presentations so that other small, rural, primarily undergraduate institutions can adapt and implement these interventions on their own campuses. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented 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, transfer, 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.