Scholarships and a Learning Community Approach to Support Success of Undergraduates in Mathematics and Biology

该项目将为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献，支持东康涅狄格州立大学留住并毕业有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生。东康涅狄格州立大学是一所主要是本科生的公立文科院校。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为10名攻读生物或数学学士学位的全日制本科生提供奖学金。奖学金将在两个年度分组中选出，第一年奖学金将获得最多四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过一个提供建议和指导的学习社区，提高学生在STEM中的坚持性，并在学者和教师之间建立牢固的关系。学者在制定实现职业目标的路线图时，将得到教职员工和同行的指导。奖学金获得者还将有机会参加一系列全面的支持性活动，包括本科生研究经验、为STEM研究生学习和职业生涯做准备、以STEM为重点的研讨会以及对STEM相关学术机构和行业的实地访问。除了发展学者学习社区外，该项目还计划修订STEM课程，以更好地支持保留所有STEM一年级学生。该项目有可能提高低收入、有学术天赋的学生在STEM的持久力，并有助于减少全国STEM毕业生的短缺。将研究和公开分享关于STEM持久性的项目活动的有效性。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。该项目旨在将学生转变为STEM劳动力或研究生，并了解在他们的本科职业生涯中，哪些实践有助于他们对STEM的信心和坚持不懈。低收入学生，尤其是第一代大学生，进入大学时通常没有信心认为自己属于STEM领域。该项目旨在增加有关发展学生STEM身份的新知识。该项目包括对一个基于队列的跨学科学习社区的研究调查，该社区融合了攻读生物和数学专业的学生。这项研究将考察Scholars的STEM身份是如何通过参与一个基于队列的学习社区来影响的，该社区促进了师生之间的牢固关系。该项目还将确定支持STEM身份发展和STEM持久性的活动。工作假设是，一个基于队列的学习社区，帮助学者与教职员工和同行建立牢固的关系，将增加STEM的认同感，导致STEM更高的留存率和成功。研究方法包括混合方法来回答研究问题，使用来自调查、观察和对学生参与者、同行和教师导师的采访的信息。该项目的成果将在大学网站、地区和国家会议上公布，并通过在科学教育期刊上发表的手稿公布。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Eastern Connecticut State University, a primarily undergraduate, public liberal arts institution. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 10 unique full-time undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology or Mathematics. Scholars will be selected in two annual cohorts and first year Scholars will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM through a learning community that provides advising and mentoring and fosters strong relationships among Scholars and faculty. Scholars will be mentored by faculty and peers as they develop a road map to achieve their career goals. The Scholars will also have access to a comprehensive range of supportive activities including undergraduate research experiences, preparation for STEM graduate studies and careers, STEM-focused seminars, and site visits to STEM-related academic institutions and industries. In addition to developing the Scholar learning community, the project also plans to revise STEM curricula to better support retention of all first-year STEM students. The project has the potential to increase the persistence of low-income, academically talented students in STEM, as well as to help reduce the national shortfall of STEM graduates. The effectiveness of the project activities on STEM persistence will be studied and shared publicly. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project aims to transition students into the STEM workforce or graduate studies and to learn which practices during their undergraduate careers facilitated their confidence and persistence in STEM. Low-income students, especially first-generation college students, typically enter college lacking the confidence to view themselves as belonging to the STEM field. This project is designed to add new knowledge about developing students' STEM identities. The project includes a research investigation of a cohort-based, interdisciplinary learning community that integrates students pursuing biology and mathematics majors. The study will examine how Scholars’ STEM identity is affected by engaging in a cohort-based learning community that promotes robust relationships among students and faculty. The project also will identify the activities that support STEM identity development and STEM persistence. The working hypothesis is that a cohort-based learning community that helps Scholars build strong relationships with faculty and peers will increase STEM identity, leading to increased retention and success in STEM. Research methods include a mixed methods approach to answer the research questions, using information from surveys, observations, and interviews with student participants, peer and faculty mentors. Results from this project will be made available on the University website, at regional and national meetings, and via published manuscripts in science education journals. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.