Integrating Project- and Place-based Research Experiences into General Education Courses to Increase Persistence of First-generation and Rural Undergraduates in STEM

该项目旨在通过提高农村或第一代大学生在STEM领域的保留率和学业成绩来服务于国家利益。为此，晨兴学院将开发和测试为期两年的四门通识教育课程，旨在为生物学和/或化学专业的本科生提供服务。这些通识教育课程将整合与当地社区相关的基于项目和地点的STEM研究经验。潜在的研究主题包括水质和可用性、草原恢复和食品安全。课程和研究经验的设计将满足培养批判性思维、定量推理、沟通和道德分析技能的通识教育要求。他们也将支持学生的科学推理能力的发展。STEM研究/通识教育途径有望支持农村和第一代STEM学生取得更大的成功。该项目将通过比较STEM研究/通识教育途径的学生与传统途径的单独通识教育和STEM入门课程的学生的学习成果来检验这一假设。该项目将开发、实施和评估一项创新的两年制通识教育课程，旨在提高农村或第一代学生在STEM劳动力队伍中的代表性。该项目将通过有针对性的调查和推理能力评估的结果来衡量这一途径的有效性。具体而言，该项目将：1)确定整合项目和基于地点的STEM研究的两年通识教育课程如何影响农村或第一代学生的保留；2)评估学生在学习STEM技能（如科学推理）方面的进展；3)确定四门课程对学生坚持STEM的积极性和动机的影响。该项目将增加有效支持农村或第一代STEM学生的证据基础。该项目将整合密集的教师发展，以提高教师的教学技能，并帮助确定将这项工作扩展到STEM研究领域和其他主要为农村学生服务的本科院校所需的关键因素或问题。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing retention and academic achievement of rural or first-generation college students in STEM fields. To this end, Morningside College will develop and test a two-year pathway of four general education courses designed to serve undergraduate biology and/or chemistry majors. These general education courses will integrate project- and place-based STEM research experiences that are relevant to the local community. Potential research themes include water quality and availability, prairie restoration, and food safety. The courses and research experiences will be designed to meet general education requirements for developing skills in critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, communication, and ethical analysis. They will also support the students’ development of scientific reasoning skills. The STEM research/general education pathway is expected to support greater success of rural and first-generation STEM students. The project will examine this hypothesis by comparing learning outcomes of students in the STEM research/general education pathway relative to students in the traditional pathway of separate general education and introductory STEM courses.The project will develop, implement, and evaluate an innovative two-year general education curriculum aimed at increasing representation of rural or first-generation students in the STEM workforce pipeline. The project will measure the effectiveness of this pathway through results from targeted surveys and reasoning skills assessments. Specifically, the project will: 1) determine how a two-year pathway of general education courses that integrate project- and place-based STEM research affects retention of rural or first-generation students; 2) assess student progress toward learning STEM skills, such as scientific reasoning; and 3) determine the impact of the four-course pathway on student agency and motivation to persist in STEM. The project will add to the evidence base regarding effective support for rural or first-generation STEM students. The project will integrate intensive faculty development to augment faculty members’ teaching skills and help define key factors or issues needed to scale this work across STEM fields of study and to other predominantly undergraduate institutions serving rural students. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.