Washington Community and Technical College Consortium for Undergraduate Research and Equity

该项目旨在通过改善STEM领域历史上代表性不足的学生的学术参与度，加强他们的学科学习，并增加他们获得本科学位的可能性，来服务于国家利益。华盛顿社区和技术学院本科生研究和公平联盟(WA CURE)是一个二级机构和社区转型IUSE项目。WA CURE是华盛顿州34所公共社区和技术学院的联合努力，旨在扩大以课程为基础的本科生研究经验(CURE)的使用。华盛顿州58%的本科生就读于社区或技术学院。在这些大学中，37%的STEM专业学生认同历史上代表性不足的群体，例如有色人种学生、第一代大学生和非传统学习者，如在职成年人。社区学院和技术学院报告了采用治疗方法的类似体制障碍，例如缺乏研究文化、机构支持和与研究基础设施的联系。从这个项目中吸取的经验教训旨在为大学提供有用的见解，以克服这些障碍，治愈采用。该项目的主要研究问题将是：1)参与治愈学习社区如何以及以何种方式影响教师的教学实践？2)参与学习社区的教师实施的治疗在多大程度上影响并可能缩小学生在学业表现、坚持不懈、完成学业和转学方面的平等差距？3)如何以及以什么方式在大学范围内实施治疗方案，以确定和验证关于组织变革、在参与的大学推广治疗方案以及在其他州的大学复制治疗方案的有前途的做法？这些问题将通过三种方法解决：1)专业发展计划，以扩大高质量CURE的实施，并辅之以共享的、开放获取的CURE课程档案；2)CURE“制度化孵化器”--西澳CURE学院--培养教师领导力，形成战略行动计划，并通过CURE实施产生变化；以及3)新的评估和研究基础设施，以在参与的学院培养关于CURE的学术教学和研究文化，并提高这些学院的学生和教职员工对相关研究机会的认识。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持高等教育机构和学科社区转变和改进STEM教育的努力。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the academic engagement of historically underrepresented students in STEM fields, enhancing their disciplinary learning, and increasing their likelihood of earning undergraduate degrees. The Washington Community and Technical College Consortium for Undergraduate Research and Equity (WA CURE) is a Level 2 Institutional and Community Transformation IUSE project. WA CURE is a joint effort by 34 Washington State public community and technical colleges to expand the use of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Fifty-eight percent of Washington State’s undergraduate students are enrolled at community or technical colleges. Thirty-seven percent of STEM majors at these colleges identify with historically underrepresented groups, e.g., students of color, first-generation college students, and non-traditional learners such as working adults. Community and technical colleges report similar institutional barriers to adopting CUREs, such as a lack of research culture, institutional support, and connections to research infrastructure. Lessons learned from this project aim to generate useful insights for colleges to overcome these barriers to CURE adoption. The project’s primary research questions will be: 1) How, and in what way, does participation in a CURE learning community affect a faculty member’s pedagogical practice? 2) To what extent do CUREs, as implemented by participating faculty, affect and potentially close equity gaps across student academic performance, persistence, completion, and transfer? and 3) How, and in what ways, does the college-wide implementation of CUREs identify and validate promising practices about organizational change, scaling CUREs at participating colleges, and replicating CUREs at colleges in other states? These questions will be addressed via three methods: 1) a professional development program to expand implementation of high-quality CUREs, complemented by a shared, open-access CURE curriculum archive; 2) a CURE “institutionalization incubator” – the WA CURE Academy – to cultivate faculty leadership, form strategic action plans, and produce change through CURE implementation; and 3) new assessment and research infrastructure to foster a culture of scholarly teaching and research on CUREs at participating colleges, as well as increase awareness of related research opportunities among these colleges’ students and faculty. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.