Effects of Culturally Responsive Practices on the Success of Academically Talented STEM Students with Financial Need

该项目将通过支持霍利奥克社区学院（Holyoke Community College）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为满足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。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为30名全日制学生和9名攻读STEM副学士学位的兼职学生提供奖学金，这些学生打算转学到四年制大学，主修生物、化学、计算机科学、工程、环境科学、地球科学、数学或物理。全日制学者将获得最多三年的资助，兼职学者将获得最多四年的资助。该项目将实施六项旨在促进学生成功的核心活动：1)以群体为基础，丰富stem专题研讨会；2)强化教师和同伴指导；3)本科前期研究；4)公民参与；5) STEM课程辅导；6)教师专业发展的文化响应教学法。这些活动的重点是提高学生的STEM身份，并有望增加获得高成就和其他积极成果的公平机会。项目成果和文化响应教学法专业发展研讨会所产生的知识有望广泛应用于从K-12到四年制大学的STEM教育。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。该项目将采用文化响应实践和活动来创建一个高度参与的学习者社区，使他们能够在学业和工作中取得成功。此外，该项目将调查围绕文化响应教学法设计的STEM计划将帮助学者发展他们的STEM身份，信心和归属感的假设，这反过来将影响他们在STEM中的成功，成就和保留。该项目的研究结果将促进对STEM教育中文化响应实践有效性的理解，并将解决与文化响应教学法与学生成果（包括学业成绩）之间联系相关的文献研究空白。项目成果还将强调如何提高社区大学水平的STEM学生的保留率和毕业率，他们转到四年制STEM学科大学，以及他们坚持从事STEM职业。每学期将进行形成性评估，以不断改进，评估学生的参与度，审查学术挑战，并解决其他需求。项目结果将通过会议报告、项目网站和期刊文章进行传播。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。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 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 Holyoke Community College. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 30 unique full-time students and 9 part-time students pursuing STEM associate’s degrees, with the intention to transfer to a four-year institution to major in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, environmental science, geoscience, mathematics, or physics. Full-time Scholars will receive up to three years of funding and part-time Scholars will receive up to four years of funding. The project will implement six central activities intended to bolster student success: 1) a cohort-based, enriched STEM-focused seminar; 2) intensive faculty and peer mentoring; 3) early undergraduate research; 4) civic engagement; 5) tutoring in STEM courses; and 6) faculty professional development on culturally responsive pedagogy. These activities focus on improving students’ STEM identity, and are expected increase equitable access to high achievement and other positive outcomes. Knowledge generated from project findings and professional development workshops on culturally responsive pedagogy are expected to be broadly transferable to STEM education from K-12 to four-year institutions. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will use culturally responsive practices and activities to create a community of highly engaged learners and enable them to achieve success academically and within the workforce. Further, this project will investigate the hypothesis that a STEM program designed around culturally responsive pedagogy will help Scholars develop their STEM identity, confidence, and sense of belonging, which, in turn, will impact their success, achievement, and retention in STEM. Findings from this project will advance the understanding of the effectiveness of culturally responsive practices in STEM education and will address research gaps in the literature related to the connections between culturally responsive pedagogy and student outcomes, including academic achievement. Project outcomes will also highlight methods to increase retention and graduation of STEM students at the community college level, their transfer to four-year colleges in STEM disciplines, and their persistence into STEM careers. Formative evaluation will be conducted each semester for ongoing improvement, to assess student engagement, to review academic challenges, and to address other needs. Project findings will be disseminated through conference presentations, a project website, and journal articles. 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.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.