Freshman Intervention and Retention in STEM Through Scientific Literacy (FIRST SL)

将在莫尔豪斯学院开展改善本科生STEM教育(IUSE)的实施和研究项目，目的是利用高度创新的实用型科学素养课程来留住STEM专业的新生。将特别强调第二学期STEM专业新生，他们有可能转到非STEM专业。这将通过以下方式实现：1)在莫尔豪斯学院的生活学习中心-迎新和培训计划中向所有STEM专业的大一新生举办科学素养讲习班/研讨会；2)利用书面评估和焦点小组确定可能正在考虑转到非STEM专业的第二学期STEM专业的新生；3)将这些高危的第二学期新生纳入一个队列，让他们接触到旨在保留他们在STEM专业的高级科学素养最佳实践。该项目的教育研究议程是确定计划活动在保留STEM专业方面的成效，以此作为促进关于STEM新生干预和保留最佳做法的知识库的一种手段。增加STEM的学生留存率最终会增加美国的科学劳动力和全球经济竞争力。

An Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) implementation and research project will be conducted at Morehouse College with the goal of utilizing a highly innovative utilitarian scientific literacy curriculum to increase retention of freshman STEM majors. Special emphasis will be placed on second semester freshman STEM majors who are at-risk of changing to a non-STEM major. This will be accomplished by: 1) presenting scientific literacy workshop/seminars to all freshman STEM majors at Morehouse College in their Living Learning Center - Orientation and Training program; 2) identifying second semester freshman STEM majors who may be considering changing to a non-STEM major using written assessments and focus groups; 3) enrolling these at-risk second semester freshmen in a cohort and exposing them to advanced scientific literacy best practices that are designed to retain them in the STEM major. The educational research agenda of this project is to determine the efficacy of the programmatic activities in retention of STEM majors as a means of contributing to the knowledge base concerning best practices for freshman intervention and retention in STEM. Increasing student retention in STEM ultimately increases America's scientific workforce and global economic competitiveness.