HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Leveraging Social Psychology Interventions to Promote First Year STEM Persistence

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，纽约城市大学约翰·杰伊学院的这一Track 2：IEP旨在支持未被充分代表的少数族裔(URM)理科学生从高中过渡到大学，以增加他们的第一年保留率，并最终促进这些学生的更高毕业率。大学的第一年被证明是一个关键的时期，在这段时间里，学生们挣扎着，停止了学习和毕业，获得了STEM学位。该项目旨在更好地帮助一年级学生为理科专业的严格学术要求做好准备，并解决导致URM学生在STEM中的担忧和挑战的特定潜在心理过程。此外，该项目还将与STEM教职员工合作，建立“成长思维”课堂。该项目旨在增加在STEM相关领域毕业的URM学生的数量，提高他们的学术成绩，并提高他们在STEM攻读研究生院和从事职业的兴趣。这一方法将通过一个多方面的策略同时满足URM学生的心理、学术、社会和教育需求，这些发现将最终帮助其他教育工作者制定策略，更好地支持我们的拉美裔服务机构(HSI)的学生群体。该项目的目标是：(1)通过实施经验性支持的社会心理干预措施，增加一年级大学生在STEM的参与度和保留率，(2)通过学习技能培训和指导，提高STEM学生的文化知识和学业准备，以及(3)扩大STEM教师的专业知识，向学生传达成长心态。假设参加社会-心理和学习技能以及时间管理培训将减少社会认同威胁，并增加对STEM的归属感、认同感和兴趣。该项目由多管齐下的干预措施指导，将利用准试验性混合析因研究设计来检查该计划是否影响客观(例如，GPA，第一年保留率)和主观(例如，在STEM中的归属感、认同感)结果。据预测，接受干预的学生在STEM的年终GPA和第一年保留率将显著高于没有接受干预的学生，这将促进STEM一年级学生的坚持不懈，增加他们毕业于STEM学科的可能性。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育和HSI的能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP, from City University of New York- John Jay College aims to support the high school to college transition of underrepresented minority (URM) science students to increase their first-year retention and ultimate promote higher graduation of these students. The first year of college has been shown to be a critical time in which students struggle and desist from studying and graduating with STEM degrees. The project is designed to better prepare 1st year students for the rigorous academic demands of majoring in the sciences and address the specific underlying psychological processes that contribute to URM students' concerns and challenges in STEM. In addition, the project will work with STEM faculty in establishing a “growth mindset” classroom. The project is positioned to increase the number of URM students who graduate in STEM-related fields, improve their academic outcomes, and increase their interest in pursuing graduate school and careers in STEM. The approach will address psychological, academic, social, and educational needs of URM students simultaneously through a multi-faceted strategy, and these findings will ultimately help other educators develop strategies that better support student populations in our Hispanic-serving institutions (HSI).The goals of the project are to: (1) increase first-year college students' engagement and retention in STEM via the implementation of empirically supported social psychological interventions, (2) enhance STEM students’ cultural knowledge and academic preparation through study skills training and mentoring, and (3) expand STEM faculty’s expertise to convey a growth mindset to students. It is hypothesized that participation in a social-psychological and study skills and time management training will reduce social identity threat and increase feelings of belonging, and identification and interest in STEM. The project is guided by a multi-pronged intervention that will utilize a quasi-experimental mixed factorial research design to examine whether the program influences both objective (i.e., GPA, first-year retention) and subjective (e.g., sense of belonging, identification in STEM) outcomes. It is predicted that the end-of-year GPA and first-year retention in STEM will be significantly higher for students who received the intervention than for students who did not receive the intervention and will promote persistence in first-year STEM students, increasing their likelihood of graduating in STEM disciplines. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.