Conference Proposal: Developing a National Research Agenda for Academic Support in STEM Higher Education

获得科学探究和STEM职业是我们国家的一个重要目标。该项目将通过加强为STEM本科生提供学术支持（如辅导、学术指导）的学术研究基础设施，帮助改善STEM本科教育。在美国的学院和大学里，学术支持是司空见惯的，它是每年数百万学生STEM学习环境的重要组成部分。然而，尽管人们对调查学生在高等教育中学习STEM的兴趣很高，但关于学术支持服务的研究却非常少。对学术支持的强有力的、基于研究的理解将有助于改善学术支持服务，并更好地将基于证据的课堂实践与课外STEM教育经验结合起来。该项目将组织并举办一次会议，旨在为大学层面的STEM学术支持制定国家研究议程。会议将汇集学术支持专业人士、高等教育学者、高等教育管理人员、STEM教师、STEM教育研究人员和学生，共同制定学术支持的研究议程，涉及学者和从业者，解决现实和紧迫的问题，并为美国高校的学术支持项目制定更明智和更系统的决策铺平道路。这个为期一天半的项目将：(a)寻求确定有关STEM学术支持的紧迫研究问题；(b)发展新知识以支持这项研究；(c)鼓励实践者和学者之间的合作；(d)使参与者能够为未来的工作制定具体的计划，并通过虚拟协作平台继续发展他们的研究和研究协作技能。一份最终的白皮书将有助于推动关于STEM学术支持研究的全国性对话。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。

Access to scientific inquiry and STEM careers is an important goal for our nation. This project will help to improve undergraduate STEM education by strengthening the infrastructure for scholarly research into the provision of academic support (e.g., tutoring; academic coaching) for STEM undergraduates. Academic support is commonplace in U.S. colleges and universities, and it forms a critical component of the STEM learning environment for millions of students each year. Yet, despite the high level of interest in investigating student learning in STEM in higher education, there has been remarkably little research about academic-support services. A robust, research-based understanding of academic support will support improvements in academic support services and better alignment between evidence-based classroom practices and out-of-classroom STEM educational experiences. This project will organize and offer a conference designed to establish a national research agenda for STEM academic support at the college level. The conference will bring together academic support professionals, higher education scholars, higher education administrators, STEM faculty, STEM education researchers, and students to develop a research agenda for academic support that involves scholars and practitioners, addresses real and pressing questions, and sets a path toward better-informed and more systematic decision-making around academic-support programming in U.S. colleges and universities. The day-and-a-half-long program will: (a) seek to identify pressing research questions about STEM academic support; (b) develop new knowledge to support this research; (c) encourage collaboration among practitioners and scholars; and (d) enable participants to create concrete plans for future work, and to continue developing their research and research-collaboration skills, in part via a virtual collaboration platform. A culminating white paper will help drive a national conversation about research in STEM academic support.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.