Washington Community and Technical College Consortium for Undergraduate Research and Equity

该项目旨在通过提高STEM领域历史上代表性不足的学生的学术参与度，增强他们的学科学习，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2级机构和社区转型IUSE项目。WA CURE是由34所华盛顿州立公共社区和技术学院共同努力，以扩大基于课程的本科生研究经验（CURE）的使用。华盛顿州58%的本科生就读于社区学院或技术学院。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，如在职成人。社区和技术学院报告了采用CURE的类似制度障碍，例如缺乏研究文化、机构支持以及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CURE采用的这些障碍。该项目的主要研究问题将是：1）如何，以及以何种方式，参与一个CURE学习社区影响教师的教学实践？2)在多大程度上做CURE，作为参与教师实施，影响和潜在的关闭学生的学业成绩，持久性，完成和转移的公平差距？以及3）如何以及以何种方式，在大学范围内实施CURE识别和验证有关组织变革的有前途的做法，在参与大学扩展CURE，并在其他州的大学复制CURE？这些问题将通过三种方法来解决：1）一个专业发展计划，以扩大高质量的CURE的实施，辅之以共享，开放访问的CURE课程档案; 2）一个CURE“制度化孵化器”-WA CURE学院-培养教师领导，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，以促进参与学院的学术教学和研究文化，并提高这些学院的学生和教师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STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型的轨道，该计划支持的努力，以改变和改善高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育.这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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.