Implementation Project: Increasing the Quality of STEM Education and Research

传统黑人学院和大学的实施项目-本科项目为设计，实施，研究和评估全面的机构努力提供支持，通过加强科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育和研究来增加学生人数和他们的准备质量。Tougaloo学院是一所小型私立机构，该实施项目为非裔美国学生在STEM专业取得成功提供了多层次的机会。该项目的重点是两个关键领域，即数学和物理科学。该项目由正在进行的评价以及内部和外部咨询委员会指导和提供信息。Tougaloo学院将通过采用整体策略来识别、告知、激励和支持学生走向成功，从大学预科阶段的第一年开始，一直到毕业。预计这些干预策略将导致STEM学科的入学率增加，看门人课程的成功率提高，新生保留率增加，进入研究生院和STEM劳动力的学生数量增加。该项目的目标是：通过改进夏季桥梁项目和开发跨学科新生课程，增加STEM专业的招聘和保留；让学生有机会看到STEM在通过研究解决现实生活问题方面的价值；通过创建一个学习社区，在以学生为中心的学习教学法中进行全面培训，从而振兴教师队伍。这种方法，在进入大学之前建立一个有绑定的STEM学习社区，然后提供一个整体的学术和研究环境，将为关注第一年STEM学生流失的小型学院和大学展示一个可靠的绩效模型。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。

Implementation Projects in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate program provide support to design, implement, study and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the numbers of students and the quality of their preparation by strengthening science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research. This implementation project at Tougaloo College, a small, private institution, provides a multilayered approach to broaden opportunities for African-American students to succeed in STEM majors. The focus of the project is on two critical fields, namely mathematics and the physical sciences. The project is guided and informed by an on-going evaluation, as well as by internal and external advisory committees.Tougaloo College will engage students from the pre-college level, during the first year, and up until graduation by using holistic strategies to identify, inform, motivate, and support students for success. These intervention strategies are anticipated to lead to increased enrollment in STEM disciplines, higher success rates in gatekeeper courses, increased retention of freshmen, and an increase in the number of students entering into the graduate school and STEM workforce. The project has the objectives to: increase recruitment and retention of STEM majors by revamping the summer bridge program and developing an interdisciplinary freshman curriculum; provide students with the opportunity to see the value of STEM in addressing real life problems through research; and revitalize faculty by creating a learning community with comprehensive training in a student-centered learning pedagogy. This approach, building a bound STEM learning community prior to entry into college, then providing a holistic academic and research environment, will demonstrate a reliable performance model for small colleges and universities that are concerned about first year STEM student attrition.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.