HSI Pilot Project: Enhancing STEM Participation and Attainment at a Rural, Hispanic-Serving Institution

在改进的本科生STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，这个Track 1项目旨在提高STEM的参与率和农村HSI社区学院学生的学士学位转学。尽管拉美裔学生的入学率和毕业率在过去几十年里有所上升，但拉美裔学生在STEM学位和STEM劳动力中的比例仍然偏低。在HSI乡村社区学院，由于地理位置的限制，许多拉美裔学生无法获得必要的科学实验室课程，也无法从事STEM学科非常有价值的本科生研究经验。社区大学环境中的在线课程有可能通过消除地点限制并允许学生在攻读学位方面继续取得进步，从而增加入学机会、持久性和学位完成率。新冠肺炎疫情表明，许多资源不足的机构，如农村的恒生社区大学，在寻求提供高质量的在线实验室科学课程时，面临着重大挑战。类似的能力限制限制了西班牙裔学生在农村HSI社区学院进行本科研究的机会。这项研究将促进越来越多的文献，说明在线教学和本科生研究经验可以通过循证的最佳实践在促进STEM机会和结果的公平性方面发挥作用，这些最佳实践旨在为HSI农村社区大学的拉美裔学生建立更强大的STEM途径和认同感。本项目的目的是(1)增加HSI和HSI农村学生获得STEM的机会和(2)改善HSI学生获得学位和转移STEM教育的机会。为了解决这两个有待改进的领域，SFSC将与佛罗里达大学高等教育学院(UF IHE)合作，实施基于证据的最佳实践，以增加获得必修科学课程和本科研究经验的机会。这些干预措施将包括高质量的在线课程、创新的虚拟科学实验室和扩大本科生的研究经验。预期的项目结果包括增加实验室科学课程的学生入学人数，提高STEM专业学生的持久性，以及增加学生对本科生研究体验的参与。SFSC和UF IHE的合作研究团队将探索该项目对学生STEM课程参与度、成功程度和专业坚持性的影响。该项目团队还将检查参与本科生研究经验的教员记录，并进行半结构化访谈，以更好地了解学生对干预部分的参与和经验。在独立的外部评估之后，这项工作的结果将在州、地区和国家各级广泛传播，包括佛罗里达学院系统机构、专业协会、高等教育研究网络和专注于高等教育和STEM教育的同行评议期刊。为确保广泛传播，项目组还将创建一个专门的项目网站，并通过联合国教科文组织国际基础结构、水利和环境工程学院网站宣传交付成果。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 1 project aims to improve STEM participation and baccalaureate transfer for students at a rural HSI community college. Despite a rise in Hispanic student enrollment and graduation rates over the past few decades, Hispanic students remain underrepresented in STEM degrees and the STEM workforce. At rural HSI community colleges, many Hispanic students are unable to access required science lab coursework or engage in highly valuable undergraduate research experiences in STEM disciplines due to location constraints. Online courses in community college settings have the potential to increase access, persistence, and degree completion by removing location constraints and allowing students to continue to make progress toward their degree. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that many under-resourced institutions, such as rural HSI community colleges, faced major challenges when seeking to deliver high-quality online laboratory science courses. Similar capacity constraints limit Hispanic students' undergraduate research opportunity at rural HSI community colleges. This research will contribute to the growing body of literature on the role that online instruction and undergraduate research experiences can play in advancing equity in STEM opportunities and outcomes via evidence-based best practices designed to build stronger STEM pathways and identities among Hispanic students at a rural HSI community college.The aims of this project are to (1) increase access to STEM for rural students at and HSI and (2) improve degree attainment and transfer opportunities for HSI students pursuing STEM education. To address these two areas for improvement, SFSC will partner with the University of Florida Institute of Higher Education (UF IHE) to implement evidence-based best practices that increase access to required science courses and to undergraduate research experiences. These interventions will include high-quality online courses, innovative virtual science labs, and expanded undergraduate research experiences. Expected project outcomes include increased student enrollment in laboratory science courses, increased persistence of students in STEM majors, and increased participation of students in undergraduate research experiences. The collaborative research team from SFSC and UF IHE will explore the project's influence on students' STEM course participation, success, and persistence in their major. The project team will also examine faculty records for participation in undergraduate research experiences and conduct semi-structured interviews to better understand students' engagement and experiences with intervention components. Following an independent external evaluation, results of this work will be broadly disseminated at the state, regional, and national levels, including Florida College System institutions, professional associations, higher education research networks, and peer-reviewed journals focused on higher education and STEM education. To ensure broad dissemination, the project team will also create a dedicated project website and promote deliverables through the UF IHE website. 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.