STEM Club Leadership for Undergraduate STEM Education, Recruiting and Success (STEM CLUSTERS)

全国有必要改进本科生STEM教育，了解培养本科生学科知识和非认知技能的有效策略。这个项目的意义在于，它将研究他们参与7-12 STEM推广活动对本科生的影响，这一策略正在全国范围内使用，并被认为是有益的。特别是，STEM俱乐部对本科生STEM教育、招聘和成功的领导力(STEM CLUPS)项目将通过组织学校STEM俱乐部，通过对STEM专业本科生的学习、元认知、沟通技能和对公平问题的敏感性的研究，研究7-12次外展的影响。该项目建立在科罗拉多大学丹佛分校建立的多学科K-12 STEM外展文化的基础上，将在大丹佛地区的五所合作学校组织和领导STEM俱乐部。每个俱乐部将由一个以2-3名本科生外展研究员(本科生STEM专业)为中心的垂直团队组织，他们将在设计、组织和提供俱乐部活动方面发挥核心作用。此探索性计划的目标是：(1)进行一项详细的研究研究，以确定组织STEM俱乐部如何影响本科生的STEM外展会员的学习、沟通技能、元认知和对STEM公平问题的敏感度；(2)通过他们规划和监督初中或高中STEM俱乐部的职责，为外展会员提供真实、互动的学习体验；以及(3)为7-12年级的学生提供广泛、高质量的STEM外展服务。该项目的研究议程探讨了如何参与该项目：(1)影响外联研究员自身的科学内容知识；(2)增加研究员的元认知知识和技能；(3)影响研究员交流复杂科学思想的能力；以及(4)提高研究员对STEM公平问题的敏感性。该项目对这些问题采用了案例研究方法，每个研究员都是一个案例，所有研究员一起都是具有共同经验的相互关联的案例。该项目的学术价值在于将产生与7-12 STEM推广对本科生学习和其他关键技能的影响有关的循证结果，并得到研究团队的能力和项目研究计划的合理性的进一步支持，该计划建立在成熟的研究文献的基础上。该项目的更广泛影响包括广泛采用该模式的潜力，该模式与各种俱乐部形式和学校设置相兼容。此外，该项目的调查结果适用于改善更多学生的入学机会，因为研究员及其支持的学校代表着我们国家日益多样化的情况。最后，该项目的结果将有助于STEM教育界的广泛领域，既涉及STEM渠道的多样性，也涉及创造有效的学习环境。

There is a national need to improve undergraduate STEM education and to understand effective strategies for developing disciplinary knowledge and non-cognitive skills sets of undergraduates. The significance of this project is that it will study the effect on undergraduate students of their participation in 7-12 STEM outreach, a strategy that is being used across the nation and believed to be beneficial. In particular, the STEM Club Leadership for Undergraduate STEM Education, Recruiting and Success (STEM CLUSTERS) project will study the influence of 7-12 outreach, through organizing school STEM clubs, by conducting research on undergraduate STEM majors' learning, metacognition, communication skills and sensitivity to equity issues in STEM. Building upon an established culture of multidisciplinary K-12 STEM outreach at the University of Colorado Denver, this project will organize and lead STEM clubs at five partner schools in the greater Denver area. Each club will be organized by a vertical team centered on 2-3 undergraduate Outreach Fellows (undergraduate STEM majors) who will take a central role in designing, organizing and delivering club activities. Each club's Fellows will be supported by experienced university faculty, an experienced 7-12 STEM teacher, and a graduate co-facilitator.The goals of this exploratory project are to: (1) conduct a detailed research study to ascertain how organizing STEM clubs impacts the undergraduate Outreach Fellows' learning, communication skills, metacognition and sensitivity to equity issues in STEM; (2) provide the Outreach Fellows with an authentic, interactive learning experience, through their responsibilities to plan and oversee a middle or high school STEM club; and (3) provide broad, high-quality STEM outreach to students in grades 7-12. The project's research agenda explores how participation in the project: (1) impacts Outreach Fellows' own science content knowledge; (2) increases the Fellows' metacognitive knowledge and skills; (3) affects the Fellows' ability to communicate complex scientific ideas; and (4) heightens the Fellows' sensitivity to equity issues in STEM. The project utilizes a case study approach to these questions, in which each Fellow is a case, and all Fellows together are interrelated cases with common experiences. The Intellectual Merit of this project resides in the evidence-based findings that will be generated related to the effects of 7-12 STEM outreach on undergraduate student learning and other key skills, and is further supported by the capacity of the research team and the soundness of the project research plan, which builds upon a well-established research literature. The Broader Impacts of this project include the potential for broad adoption of the model, which is compatible with a wide variety of club formats and school settings. Moreover, the project's findings are applicable to improving access for a breadth of students, as the Fellows and the schools they support are representative of the increasing diversity of our nation. Finally, the findings of the project will be useful to a broad cross-section of the STEM education community, relating both to the diversity of the STEM pipeline and to the creation of effective learning environments.