Enhancing Critical Transitions in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Education

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，这个Track 1项目旨在加强土木工程专业本科课程从低年级到高年级的关键过渡。该项目的重点是解决内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校（UNLV）土木工程本科学位的低保留率和毕业率问题，该大学是指定的HSI。拉斯维加斯大学也是一所土著美国人服务机构和一所亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民服务机构。该项目将通过以下方式提高土木工程专业的留校率和毕业率：1)提高学生之间以及学生与教师之间的社区意识；2)通过课程创设和上下级课程衔接，创新本科课程设置；3)协助STEM教师和研究生助理制定和实施文化响应教学策略。该项目将制定基于证据的策略来管理工程教育的文化方面，这些方面可以被其他机构采用。通过提高土木工程专业学生（包括不同背景的学生）的保留率和顺利毕业率，该项目有可能为增加STEM劳动力的多样性做出贡献。利用工程和教育研究人员的强大合作，该项目将探索影响土木工程本科教育因素的因果和相关相互作用。为了达到教育和研究目标，该项目将进行三个相互关联的活动，包括：1)社区凝聚力建设，2)转型课程开发，以及3)文化响应性教师发展。该计划将让土木工程学生参与以群体为基础的社会活动，以建立学习社区。该项目将聘请教师来调整低年级和高年级的课程，并创造一个包容的教学环境。该项目旨在为工程和教育研究界发展以文化为基础的工程教育学知识。为此，它将采用一项定量的、符合文化的评估计划来跟踪进展情况，增强在不可预见情况下的复原力，并指导未来的可持续活动。该项目还将包括一个专家咨询委员会，以提供反馈和指导。期望本研究能够：1)找出最佳的支持结构，使学生能够顺利完成从低年级到高年级课程的关键过渡；2)揭示群体间的关系支持对提高新生保留率和提高高年级课程学习成绩的影响；3)研究整合文化响应性教学的协同效应及其对学生学习的影响。项目成果将通过期刊文章、演讲和网站进行传播。HSI计划旨在加强HSI的本科STEM教育和能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。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 support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to enhance critical transitions from lower- to upper-division undergraduate coursework for civil engineering majors. The project focuses on addressing low retention and graduation rates in civil engineering undergraduate degrees at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), which is a designated HSI. UNLV is also a Native-American-Serving Institution and an Asian-American- and Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. The project will increase retention and graduation in civil engineering by: 1) increasing the sense of community among students and between students and faculty; 2) innovating the undergraduate curriculum through course creation and alignment of lower- and upper-division courses; and 3) assisting STEM faculty and graduate assistants to develop and implement culturally responsive teaching strategies. The project will develop evidence-based strategies to manage cultural aspects of engineering education that can be adapted by other institutions. By increasing retention rates and on-track graduation of civil engineering students, including students of diverse backgrounds, the project has the potential to contribute to increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. Leveraging a robust collaboration of engineering and education researchers, the project will explore causative and correlative interactions of factors affecting undergraduate civil engineering education. To achieve the educational and research objectives, the project will perform three interconnected activities including, 1) Community Cohesion Building, 2) Transformative Curriculum Development, and 3) Culturally Responsive Faculty Development. The project will engage civil engineering students into cohort-based social activities to build learning communities. The project will engage faculty to align the curriculum of lower- and upper-division courses and to create an inclusive teaching environment. The project seeks to develop evidence-based knowledge on culturally responsive engineering pedagogy for the engineering and education research communities. To this end, it will employ a quantitative and culturally responsive evaluation plan to track progress, enhance resiliency in unforeseen circumstances, and guide future sustainable activities. The project will also include an Advisory Board of experts to provide feedback and guidance. It is expected that the research studies will: 1) identify optimal support structures to enable students to successfully complete the critical transition from lower- to upper-division course; 2) reveal the relational support among cohort groupings to increase retention in the freshman year and to improve learning achievement in upper-division coursework; 3) examine the synergistic effects of incorporating culturally responsive instruction and its impact on student learning. The project outcomes will be disseminated through journal articles, presentations, and a website. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.