Building a Resilience-focused, Social-emotional Support Structure to Enhance Persistence of Academically Talented, Socioeconomically Disadvantaged STEM Students

该项目将通过为有经济需要的有学术天赋的低收入本科生实施全面的支持结构，支持国家对受过良好教育的STEM劳动力的需求。学生们将进入贝米吉州立大学学习，这是一所位于明尼苏达州北部的地区性大学，距离三个土著民族不到50英里。在六年的时间里，55名攻读生物、化学、计算机科学、环境科学或数学学士学位的独特学生将获得长达五年的奖学金支持。除了经济支持外，学生还将参加迎新前暑期桥牌周、社交情感学习研讨会、STEM特定的生活学习社区、同行和教职员工指导、辅导和研究机会。这些努力预计将创造一个支持性的社区环境，培养归属感。STEM教师还将培养响应文化的教育学和学生指导方面的技能。有效的实践和创新可以推广到STEM学科内外的未来学生群体中。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。目标是招募和留住两批S-STEM的多元化学者，在四年内毕业其中的80%，并在毕业后六个月内至少有90%的人找到工作。来自低收入家庭的大学生经历不良童年经历的比率高于经济条件较好的同龄人。为了解决这一问题，以社会情绪学习(SEL)为中心的以复原力为中心的系统范式将作为本项目的框架。将产生关于以复原力为重点的系统范式的组成部分(SEL、学校环境、社区环境、家庭环境、课堂环境、课程和教学质量以及生物心理社会功能)如何有助于学生在STEM中的学业坚持和归属感的知识。该项目将使用通过调查、焦点小组和访谈获得的数据以及学者们的学术持久度数据，采用混合方法进行评估。调查结果将通过同行评议的期刊、专业会议和地区性新闻媒体传播。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。

This project will support the national need for a well-educated STEM workforce through implementation of a holistic support structure for academically talented, low-income undergraduate students with financial need. Students will attend Bemidji State University, a regional University in northern Minnesota located within 50 miles of three indigenous nations. Over its six-year duration, 55 unique students pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental sciences, or mathematics will receive up to five years of scholarship support. In addition to financial support, students will participate in a pre-orientation summer bridge week, social emotional learning workshops, STEM-specific living-learning communities, peer and faculty mentorship, tutoring, and research opportunities. These efforts are expected to create a supportive community environment that cultivates a sense of belonging. STEM faculty will also build skills in culturally responsive pedagogy and student mentorship. Effective practices and innovations can be carried forward to future cohorts of students both within and outside of STEM disciplines.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The aims are to recruit and retain two cohorts of diverse S-STEM scholars, graduate 80% of these scholars within four years, and have at least 90% obtain jobs within six months of graduation. College students from low-income backgrounds experience adverse childhood experiences at higher rates than their economically advantaged peers. To address this issue, a Resilience-focused Systemic Paradigm centered on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) will serve as the framework for this project. Knowledge will be generated regarding how the components of the Resilience-Focused Systemic Paradigm (SEL, school environment, community environment, family environment, classroom environment, curriculum and instruction quality, and biopsychosocial function) contribute to student’s academic persistence and the sense of belonging in STEM. This project will be evaluated with a mixed-method approach using data obtained through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, and academic persistence data of the Scholars. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, professional conferences, and regional news outlets. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.