Supporting Persistence by Increasing the Relevance of Algebra to Learning: A Competency-based Curriculum for College Algebra

通过增加代数与学习的相关性来支持坚持：基于能力的大学代数课程

• 批准号: 2225207
• 负责人: Daniel Cheshire
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Our Lady of the Lake University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225207&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Supporting; Persistence; Increasing; Relevance; Algebra

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to develop an empirically defensible model for how HSIs and liberal arts institutions can empower students who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study, to succeed in their early STEM coursework and graduate in a timely manner. The project will improve STEM outcomes at Our Lady of the Lake University by establishing connections between students’ early coursework and future classes through the redesign of the first-year College Algebra course combined with the development of a robust learning support system. While it is required across a range of disciplines, the traditional College Algebra curriculum often lacks relevance to students' majors and cultural knowledge, or obvious connections to its applications in non-mathematical fields. By realigning the curriculum to reflect competencies required for students’ future studies, tapping into students’ cultural knowledge, and employing those students as learning assistants and tutors, this project will extend the research on the efficacy of high-impact pedagogical strategies, the importance of socio-cultural knowledge on learning, and the effects of both on student persistence. This project will benefit students by introducing major-specific course content early, thus improving math literacy and promoting a growth mindset.To examine the effects of increasing academic and cultural relevance in early STEM coursework, mathematics and non-mathematics faculty will collaborate to redesign a lab-supported College Algebra course into three discipline-specific course sections. Concurrently, the project will develop a two-tiered learning support system to aid students in developing and contextualizing their algebra skills. Undergraduate learning assistants will provide support in the classroom, while specialized peer tutors will assist students as they progress through their upper-level courses. The project will study the effects of these activities across demographic levels, in relation to students’ psycho-social characteristics (sense of belonging, mathematical self-efficacy, mindset, mathematical self-concept, and perceptions of relevance), faculty beliefs (about culturally responsive teaching and students’ prior knowledge and mindsets), and academic outcomes. In addition to significantly increasing completion rates for College Algebra and algebra-requisite courses, STEM retention rates, and STEM graduation rates among a predominantly Latinx and female student body, this project will contribute to knowledge about conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning. Results will be made available to institutions who wish to implement similar approaches through a dedicated website and relevant publications. 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) on diversifying and increasing participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) on understanding ways to improve 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.

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI)计划的支持下，这一实施和评估(Track 2)项目旨在开发一个经验性的模型，说明HSI和文科机构如何赋予在STEM学习领域中代表性不足的学生权力，使他们能够在STEM早期课程中取得成功并及时毕业。该项目将通过重新设计一年级的大学代数课程并开发强大的学习支持系统，在学生的早期课程和未来课程之间建立联系，从而改善圣母大学的STEM成果。虽然它是一系列学科的必修课，但传统的大学代数课程往往与学生的专业和文化知识缺乏相关性，或者与它在非数学领域的应用缺乏明显的联系。通过重新调整课程以反映学生未来学习所需的能力，利用学生的文化知识，并聘请这些学生作为学习助理和导师，该项目将扩大对高影响力教学策略的有效性、社会文化知识对学习的重要性以及两者对学生坚持不懈的影响的研究。该项目将通过尽早引入特定专业的课程内容使学生受益，从而提高数学素养并促进成长心态。为了检验在STEM早期课程工作中提高学术和文化相关性的影响，数学和非数学教师将合作将实验室支持的大学代数课程重新设计为三个特定学科的课程部分。同时，该项目将开发一个双层学习支持系统，以帮助学生发展他们的代数技能并将其与背景联系起来。本科生助教将在课堂上提供支持，而专门的同行导师将在学生完成高级课程时帮助他们。该项目将研究这些活动在人口统计层面上的影响，涉及学生的心理-社会特征(归属感、数学自我效能感、心态、数学自我概念和相关性感知)、教师信念(关于文化响应性教学和学生的先验知识和心态)以及学业成绩。除了在以拉丁裔和女性为主的学生群体中显著提高大学代数和代数必修课的完成率、STEM保留率和STEM毕业率外，该项目还将有助于了解有助于改善STEM教与学的条件。结果将通过专门的网站和相关出版物提供给希望采取类似办法的机构。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)参与学生的学习，(Ii)有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)了解如何提高HSIS的机构能力。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。