Developing a Diversified STEM Education Trajectory: Community College STEM Participation via Conference Participation

早期接触研究已被证明有助于学生做出攻读STEM的决定，但社区大学的学生并不容易获得研究经验。社区大学生占美国本科生的三分之一，由代表不足的社区中的更大部分组成，这是STEM劳动力的潜在渠道，反映了当地社区的多样性。这个项目将开发共同课程规划，使社区学院的学生适应STEM和学术过程。每学期将招募一批一年级学生参加为期五年的系列研讨会，提供学术指导、导师指导、接触STEM研究、职业生涯和社区建设活动。在学期末表现出希望的学生将被邀请参加一个全国性的会议。该项目将招募社区大学一年级的学生参加STEM会议，以探索他们与科学界的互动如何影响学术轨迹。该项目将调查早期作为科学家的身份如何在STEM的学生坚持不懈和保持能力方面发挥作用。在社会认知职业理论的启发下，该项目将采取行动研究方法，使方案编制适应队列的需要，以考虑到由于大流行而在大学准备和教育损失方面的差异。学生的心态将通过调查和访谈来确定，因此，程序性评估将导致及时做出明智的决定。该计划的长期效果将根据学生的产出进行评估，如参与研究计划、课外工作、转到STEM学士学位计划、推荐信和其他学生发展轨迹的指标。这项拟议的研究将产生专门针对社区大学的基于学科的研究，为未被充分代表的学生如何找到进入STEM研究的途径提供洞察。这个项目旨在展示来自社区大学的未被充分代表的学生如何通过利用他们对学习的好奇心和热爱来开始认同科学家。研究结果将在研究会议和论文中传播。该项目具有利用会议参与促进公平的意义，并将推动STEM劳动力多样化。该项目由STEM教育活动中的种族平等(EDU RACE Equity)提供资金。该活动支持研究和实践项目，调查种族平等因素如何影响科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育和劳动力的改善。获奖项目寻求集中受STEM企业内部系统性不平等影响最大的个人、社区和机构的声音、知识和经验。这项活动符合NSF的核心价值，即支持来自全国不同人口群体、地区和组织类型的杰出研究人员和创新思想家。EDU各地的项目为种族平等活动提供资金，以表彰其项目与理事会四个部门的集体研究和开发努力的一致性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Early exposure to research has been shown to be formative to a student’s decision to pursue STEM, yet research experiences are not readily available to community college students. Community college students constitute one-third of U.S. undergraduates and consist of larger portions of underrepresented communities, a potential pipeline for a STEM workforce that reflects the diversity of the local community. This project will develop co-curricular programming that acclimates community college students to STEM and the academic process. A cohort of first year students will be recruited each semester, over five years, to a workshop series that provides academic guidance, mentorship, exposure to STEM research, careers, and community-building activities. Students who demonstrate promise at the end of the semester will be invited to attend a national conference. This project will recruit first-year community college students to attend STEM conferences to explore how their interactions with the scientific community at large impact academic trajectory. The project will investigate how identifying as a scientist early on plays a role in student persistence and retention in STEM. Informed by Social Cognitive Career Theory, the project will take an action research approach to adapt programming to the needs of the cohort to account for variabilities in college preparedness and education loss due to the pandemic. Student mindset will be determined by surveys and interviews, so that programmatic evaluation leads to informed decisions in a timely manner. The longer-term effects of the program will be assessed by student output such as participation in research programs, extra-curricular work, transfer to STEM baccalaureate programs, testimonials, and other indicators of student trajectory. The proposed study will generate discipline-based research specific to community colleges, lending insight on how underrepresented students find their way to STEM research. This project aims to show how underrepresented students from community colleges can start to identify as scientists by capitalizing on their curiosity and love of learning. Findings will be disseminated in research conferences and papers. This project has implication for using conference participation to promote equity and will be a driver for diversifying the STEM workforce.This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.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.