Improving STEM Student Success through the Integration of Learning Assistants and Co-requisite Models in First-year Courses

通过在一年级课程中整合学习助手和必备模型来提高 STEM 学生的成功

• 批准号: 2315453
• 负责人: Jennifer Whisner
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
• 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: 2023-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315453&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; STEM; Student; Success; through

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving student success in first-year college courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A well-educated and diverse science and technology workforce is crucial for U.S. economic development. When students have trouble successfully completing required STEM courses in their first year, they may take longer to complete their degrees, leave STEM majors, or even leave college entirely; and these issues are more common among students from groups that have been underrepresented and underserved in their participation in STEM fields of study. This project aims to help students in first year STEM courses by implementing two approaches that have been shown to increase college success and persistence for disadvantaged students: the co-requisite and learning assistant (LA) models. In the co-requisite model, students with less math preparation get two additional hours of support each week, allowing them to gain needed skills without having to take an extra semester of remedial math. In the LA model, faculty redesign their courses to incorporate active learning, and are supported in the classroom by trained near-peer student facilitators (LAs). This project is significant because it will investigate the impact of combining the LA and co-requisite models in first-year math courses and of adding LAs to required first-year courses in STEM disciplines not yet well represented in the LA literature. The goals of this project are to improve completion of STEM courses; retain more, and more diverse, students at the university and in STEM majors; and reduce time-to-graduation. Faculty professional development in the LA and co-requisite models will catalyze improvements in STEM teaching, create more engaging learning environments, and improve students’ quantitative skills. Faculty engaged in these classroom transformations will both receive and provide additional support to one another in a Community of Practice. LAs will take a one-semester pedagogy course, meet weekly with faculty, facilitate active learning and critical thinking in class, and provide additional student support outside the classroom. This project will fill critical gaps in our understanding of the co-requisite and LA models by pursuing three objectives. First is to study how LAs impact the effectiveness of co-requisite support sections of foundational STEM math courses. Second is to explore why LAs improve student outcomes by investigating how LAs impact students’ sense of belonging in STEM and disciplinary identity. Third, and finally is to add key data on student success, content knowledge, and belonging and identity in LA-assisted courses in Biology, Chemistry, Geoscience, and Math to the Physics-focused LA literature. Project successes, challenges, best practices, and research results will be helpful to other institutions interested in advancing STEM teaching and reducing equity gaps in first-year gateway and foundational STEM courses. Project findings will be shared widely via conference presentations, journal articles, and a dedicated project webpage. The NSF:IUSE EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在通过提高学生在大学一年级科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）课程中的成功程度，为国家利益服务。受过良好教育和多样化的科技劳动力对美国经济发展至关重要。当学生在第一年无法顺利完成所需的STEM课程时，他们可能需要更长的时间才能完成学位，离开STEM专业，甚至完全离开大学；这些问题在那些在STEM研究领域中代表性不足和服务不足的群体的学生中更为常见。该项目旨在通过实施两种方法来帮助第一年学习STEM课程的学生，这两种方法已被证明可以提高弱势学生的大学成功率和持久性：共同条件和学习助理（LA）模式。在共同必要模式下，数学准备较少的学生每周可以获得两个小时的额外支持，这样他们就可以获得所需的技能，而不必额外花一个学期的时间补习数学。在LA模式中，教师重新设计他们的课程，以融入主动学习，并在课堂上得到训练有素的近同伴学生辅导员（LAs）的支持。该项目意义重大，因为它将调查将LA和共同必备模型结合到一年级数学课程中的影响，以及将LA添加到尚未在LA文献中得到很好体现的STEM学科的一年级必修课程中的影响。该项目的目标是提高STEM课程的完成率；在大学和STEM专业留住更多、更多样化的学生；缩短毕业时间。教师的专业发展将促进STEM教学的改进，创造更有吸引力的学习环境，提高学生的定量分析能力。参与这些课堂变革的教师将在实践社区中相互接受并提供额外的支持。助理教师将学习一个学期的教育学课程，每周与教师会面，促进课堂上的主动学习和批判性思维，并在课堂外为学生提供额外的支持。该项目将通过追求三个目标来填补我们对共同条件和洛杉矶模型的理解中的关键空白。首先是研究LAs如何影响基础STEM数学课程的共同必要支持部分的有效性。其次，通过调查LAs如何影响学生在STEM和学科认同中的归属感，探索LAs改善学生成绩的原因。第三，也是最后一个目标是在以物理为重点的洛杉矶文献中添加关于学生成功、内容知识以及洛杉矶辅助课程中生物、化学、地球科学和数学的归属和身份的关键数据。项目的成功、挑战、最佳实践和研究成果将有助于其他有兴趣推进STEM教学和减少第一年入门和基础STEM课程的公平差距的机构。项目成果将通过会议报告、期刊文章和专门的项目网页广泛分享。NSF:IUSE EDU项目支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过其参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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。