Increasing Participation and Persistence in STEM by Incorporating Field-Based Experiences in an Urban Environment

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，该实施和评估项目(Track 2)旨在让本科生参与两所城市机构的实地活动：加州州立大学洛杉矶分校和Mt.圣安东尼奥学院。这些机构位于大洛杉矶地区，服务于通勤学生群体。财政和后勤方面的挑战使得很难用实地活动来加强科学课程，尽管它们有记录在案的好处。实地活动将在较低级别的生物、化学和地球科学课程中进行，预计将增加这些学科的小规模学生的参与率和留存率。该项目的成果应通过培训教员安全的实地做法和降低与外地活动相关的费用来减少参与实地活动的障碍。这套拟议的活动将提高这两个机构四个专业(生物科学、化学、地质学和自然科学)的持久率，因为引入了实地课程体验，使学生能够在小组环境中工作，并与当地社区的环境问题建立联系。这项工作还将提高选定专业的实地考察参与率，这些专业目前在两个校区的小规模学生数量较少。这对于增加环境劳动力中的代表性，特别是拉丁裔学生至关重要。将通过实施新的实地活动的课程前和课程后调查来跟踪方案的成功情况。此外，学生和教师焦点小组将被用来评估不同级别的结果，以及跟踪任何相关的机构变化。在两个参与校区的学生中，拉丁裔学生的比例很高，其他学生在STEM学习领域的参与率同样较低，这应该会扩大这些专业的入门课程的参与度。该项目旨在提高总部外学科中少数族裔学生的参与率和持久率，因为他们在这些学科中的任职人数严重不足，这将导致工作队伍更加多样化，并增加未来学生的少数群体榜样。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HSIS建设机构能力的理解。该奖项反映了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 Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to engage undergraduate students in field-based activities at two urban institutions: California State University Los Angeles and Mt. San Antonio College. These institutions are located in the greater Los Angeles area, and they serve a commuter-student population. Financial and logistical challenges have made it difficult to augment science courses with field-based activities, despite their documented benefits. The field-based activities will take place in lower-division biology, chemistry and earth science courses and are expected to increase participation and retention of minoritized students in these disciplines. Outcomes from this project should reduce barriers to participation in field-based activities by training instructors in safe field-based practices, and lowering costs associated with field activities. The set of proposed activities will increase persistence rates across the four majors (Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geology and Natural Sciences) at the two institutions due to the introduction of engaging field-course experiences that allow students to work in a group setting and connect to environmental issues in their local communities. This work will also increase fieldwork participation rates in the selected majors, which currently have low numbers of minoritized students at both campuses. This is critical to increasing representation, especially Latinx students, in the environmental workforce. Program success will be tracked through pre- and post-course surveys where new field-based activities are implemented. In addition, student and faculty focus groups will be used to assess outcomes at various levels as well as track any related institutional changes. The student population at both participating campuses includes a high proportion of Latinx and other students similarly underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study, which should broaden participation in the introductory courses of these majors. This project seeks to increase participation and persistence rates among minoritized students in field-based disciplines in which they are highly underrepresented, which should result in a more diverse workforce and an increase in minority role models for future students. 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.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.