Innovative Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics Work Force Development Project

莫尔豪斯学院的创新科学、技术、工程和数学劳动力发展项目将吸引少数族裔男性学生参与一个积极、包容的学习社区，以提高他们对科学和数学教育和职业的兴趣。该项目的目标是在现实生活中解决问题的场景中从被动学习转变为主动学习，以促进初中和高中的学业成功，并为学生进入大学做好学业准备。学习模块将向学生展示创新和创造力，以提供一个动态的、吸引人的和现实的动手活动环境，以学习物理和数学中可在现实生活中应用的概念。该项目成果的出版将为提高少数群体在科学和数学教育和职业方面的参与度提供途径。这可能会对国家教育议程产生重大影响，因为它提供了关于理解这些发现背后的机制的最佳方法的经验研究结果。该项目将融入强大的创业元素，旨在将这些学生培养成未来的科学和数学商业领袖，他们不仅将参与科学和数学劳动力的工作，还将为科学和数学劳动力的扩张做出贡献。该项目将吸引黑人男性学生参加一个长期的科学、技术、工程和数学项目，其中包括为期四周的暑期项目、实践实地体验和学年期间的周六学院。该计划将把中学生连接到高中，每年分别招收6年级、7年级和8年级各14名学生参加为期3年的文化支持体验，其中包括：1)学术、社会融合和建议；2)知识和技能发展；3)支持和激励，最终影响学生的信心、学业成绩和科学、技术、工程和数学职业选择。该项目的目标是：1)增加科学和数学的认同感；2)提高对科学和数学作为职业的认识和认知；3)扩大未被充分代表的人群对科学、技术、工程和数学课程和职业的参与。研究计划将集中于以下研究问题：(1)哪些因素和关键经验有效地促进了学生对科学和数学职业的认识、追求科学或数学职业的动机和坚持从事这些职业的教育途径？(2)父母、导师、照顾者和其他社区成员以什么角色和方式激励学生意识到科学和数学职业，对科学和数学职业感兴趣，并为之做好准备？将使用混合方法评估拟议的主动学习经验对未被充分代表的少数族裔学生进行科学和数学教育的有效性，包括关注三个相互关联的主观结构，这些结构可预测对科学的坚持：科学自我效能感、科学认同感和坚持科学的意图。为确保项目活动的持续质量，将进行外部形成性和终结性评价，并进行定性和定量分析，以衡量实现方案目标的进展情况。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)以及信息和通信技术(ICT)职业的知识和兴趣。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。

The Morehouse College's Innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Work Force Development Project will engage minority male students in an active, inclusive learning community to enhance their interest in science and mathematics education and careers. The objective of the project is to shift from passive learning to active learning within the context of real-life problem-solving scenarios in order to promote academic success in middle school and high school and prepare students academically to attend a college or university. Learning modules will expose students to innovation and creativity to provide a dynamic, engaging, and realistic environment of hands on activities to learn concepts within physics and mathematics that have applications in real life. The publication of findings from this project will provide an avenue for improving minority participation in science and mathematics education and careers. This could have significant influence on the national educational agenda by providing empirical findings on the best approach to understand the mechanism underlying these findings. The program will incorporate a strong entrepreneurial component designed to develop these students into future science and mathematics business leaders who will not only participate in the science and mathematics workforce, but will also contribute to the expansion of the science and mathematics workforce.The project will engage Black male students in a long-term Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program that will include a four-week Summer Program, Hands-on Field Experience, and Saturday Academy during the academic year. The program will bridge middle school students into high school and impact 42 students/year by admitting 14 students each from 6th, 7th and 8th grades respectively for a 3-year experience that includes culturally sustaining: 1) academic, social integration and advising; 2) knowledge and skill development; and 3) support and motivation which ultimately impacts students' confidence, academic outcome and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics career choices. The goals of the project are: 1) Increase Science and Mathematics identity; 2) Increase the awareness and perception of Science and Mathematics as a career; and 3) Increase broadening participation of underrepresented populations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics programs and careers. The research plan will focus on the research questions: (1) What factors and key experiences effectively promote awareness of Science and Mathematics careers, motivation to pursue a Science or Mathematics career, and persistence in undertaking education pathways to those careers? (2) In what roles and in what ways do parents, mentors, caregivers, and other community members motivate students to become aware of, interested in, and prepared for Science and Mathematics careers? The effectiveness of proposed active-learning experiences to enhance science and mathematics education of underrepresented minority students will be evaluated using a mixed method approach including a focus on three inter-related subjective constructs known to predict persistence in science: scientific self-efficacy, science identity, and intent to persist in science. To ensure ongoing quality of the project activities, external formative and summative evaluations with both qualitative and quantitative analysis will be conducted to gauge progress toward program goals. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.