HSI Planning Project: CSUN START

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，这个Track 1项目旨在通过消除文化和制度障碍来提高STEM转学学生的第一年体验的质量。对于拉丁裔、低收入和第一代大学生等历史上代表性和服务不足的群体来说，两年制院校是接受高等教育的关键切入点，特别是在转到加州州立大学北岭分校(CSUN)等拉美裔服务机构(HSI)方面，那里超过一半的新生是首次转学。然而，大多数继续进入四年制院校的转学学生将经历“文化不匹配”或“转学冲击”，即与中产阶级背景相适应的文化规范和价值观的转变将导致学术归属感、表现和毅力的下降，特别是对STEM专业的学生来说。迫切需要确定哪些做法能够邀请、留住和支持正在经历机构和文化转型的STEM转学学生，这些学生历来人数不足、服务不足。如果得不到解决，本科生研究和STEM劳动力参与率将在具有代表性但又经常被忽视的STEM转学学生群体中保持较低水平。当前项目旨在(1)将现有的STEM工作坊重新发展为衔接暑期、一年级转学经验的实验室课程(396大学)和(2)测试与对照课程相比，针对文化响应实验室课程修改在提高学生科学成绩和坚持力方面的有效性。该项目的结果将有助于HSIS确定最适合帮助一年级转学学生过渡到大学的可定制课程要素。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育和HSI的能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。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 Track 1 project aims to enhance the quality of first-year experiences among STEM transfer students by removing cultural and institutional barriers. Two-year institutions are key entry points to higher education for historically underrepresented and underserved groups such as Latinx, low-income, and first-generation college students, particularly in transferring to Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) like California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where over half of incoming students are first-time transfers. However, the majority of transfer students who go on to a 4-year institution will experience “cultural mismatch” or “transfer shock” whereby a shift in cultural norms and values aligned with middle-class contexts will lead to reduced academic belonging, performance and persistence, particularly for students in STEM majors. There is an urgent need to identify practices that invite, retain, and support historically underrepresented and underserved STEM transfer students undergoing institutional and cultural transition. If unaddressed, undergraduate research and STEM workforce participation will remain low among the representative yet often overlooked historically underrepresented and underserved STEM transfer student population.The current project aims to (1) redevelop existing STEM workshops into bridging summer, first-year transfer experience lab courses (UNIV 396) and (2) test the effectiveness of culturally responsive lab course modifications relative to control courses in improving student science outcomes and persistence. Results of this project will aid HSIs in identifying customizable program elements best suited for aiding first-year transfer students in their transition to university. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.