Engaging, Mentoring, Retaining, and Graduating STEM Scholars

在美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）项目的资助下，该项目将支持32名在科尔比-索耶学院表现出经济需求的优秀学生的成功。在五年的时间里，该项目将为两组攻读生物学学士学位的学生提供奖学金，每组7人。新罕布什尔州正在经历STEM工作岗位的快速增长。因此，完成STEM学位的学生数量的增长至关重要。该项目将提供财政、学术和社会支持，帮助学者完成STEM学位，使他们能够利用这些工作机会。来自不同STEM学科的教师将在整个项目中指导学者，从学生被录取到毕业。教师导师将协调夏季量化技能的培养和学生入学指导活动，以加强对大学教育的期望和价值。然后，教师将每周举办学习研讨会，并在学生的整个大学生涯中定期提供建议。在早期阶段，支持活动将为奖学金获得者介绍STEM领域的广泛职业和研究生机会。随着学生的进步，支持活动将转向实习、研究、简历写作和面试策略，以支持职业准备和研究生入学或工作安排。该项目的预期成果包括评估STEM学生的具体学习策略和学习干预措施的效用，以及在完成大学学位后将学生安置到STEM劳动力或研究生院。该项目将支持14名学业成绩优异的低收入学生在科尔比-索耶学院攻读生物学学士学位。到2020年，预计新罕布什尔州14%的就业岗位将与stem相关。然而，在授予STEM学科学士学位的数量上，新罕布什尔州在各州中排名最后。此外，来自低收入地区的学生更难留住，尤其是在大学的第一年。该项目将在该人群中招募学业成绩优异的学生，并帮助学生坚持到毕业，并进入STEM领域的职业或研究生院。该项目将为学者提供奖学金、入学指导和社区建设活动、定量技能培养和学习技能培训。教师导师将领导学习技巧培训，指导学生进行连续再学习，这是一种结合了分布式练习和实践测试的策略。连续再学习已被证明是一种有效的学习策略，比传统的学习策略显示出更大的学习收益。该项目将衡量其在提高来自低收入地区的生物学专业有学术天赋的学生的成功和保留方面的有效性，从而有助于了解如何支持STEM学生的成功。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will support the success of 32 high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need at Colby-Sawyer College. Throughout its five years, this project will fund scholarships to two groups of seven students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in biology. The State of New Hampshire is experiencing rapid growth in STEM jobs. Therefore, growth in the number of students who complete STEM degrees is critical. This project will provide financial, academic, and social support to help Scholars complete STEM degrees so that they can take advantage of these job opportunities. Faculty from different STEM disciplines will mentor the Scholars throughout the program, from students' acceptance into the program through graduation. The faculty mentors will coordinate summer quantitative skill building and orientation activities for the Scholars, to reinforce the expectations and value of college education. Then, faculty will conduct weekly study seminars and provide regular advising throughout the students' college career. At early stages, the support activities will introduce the Scholars to a wide range of career and post-graduate opportunities in STEM. As the students advance, the support activities will shift to internships, research, resume writing, and interview strategies, to support career preparation and graduate school acceptance or job placement. The expected outcomes of the project include an assessment of the utility of specific study strategies and learning interventions for STEM students and placement of students into the STEM workforce or graduate school upon completion of their college degree. The project will support 14 academically high-achieving, lower-income students as they pursue B.S. degrees in Biology at Colby-Sawyer College. By 2020, it is expected that 14% of employment in New Hampshire will be in STEM-related occupations. Yet, New Hampshire ranks last among states in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in the STEM disciplines. Additionally, students from lower-income areas are known to be more challenging to retain, particularly during the first year of college. This project will recruit academically high-achieving students within that population and help students persist through graduation and on to careers or graduate school in STEM. The project will provide Scholars with scholarships, orientation and community-building activities, quantitative skill building, and study skills training. Faculty mentors will lead the study skills training, instructing students in Successive Relearning, a strategy that combines Distributed Practice and Practice Testing. Successive relearning has been shown to be an effective study strategy, showing larger learning gains than traditional study strategies. The project will measure its efficacy for improving success and retention of academically-talented students from lower-income areas in a Biology major, thus contributing to knowledge about supporting STEM student success.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.