HSI Pilot Project: Inclusive and Integrative STEM Education through Undergraduate Research

在“改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）”的支持下，这个第一轨道项目旨在为传统上代表性不足的STEM学生增加获得研究机会的机会，支持STEM领域的多元化学生和教师，将研究融入课程，为本科生创造更具包容性的研究环境，并提高教师和研究导师的专业水平。本科生研究是一项行之有效的高影响力实践，它为那些来自传统上代表性不足的种族的学生、家庭中第一个上大学的学生、低收入家庭的学生和转校生提供了显著的好处（Jones, Barlow, & Villarejo, & Villarejo, & Villarejo, & Villarejo, & Villarejo, & Villarejo, & Villarejo, & Gonyea, Shoup, & Kuh, 2008）。然而，这些学生比他们的同龄人更不可能参与研究（国家科学院，工程和医学，2011年），即使在西班牙裔服务机构（Haeger, BrckaLorenz, & Webber， 2015年）。此外，在参与研究时，学生可能会发现研究文化是一个不支持或敌对的环境，这最终是导致STEM领域低入学率和高流失率的主要因素之一（Clancy, Nelson, Rutherford, & Hinde, 2014）。在与加州州立大学、蒙特利湾（CSUMB）和蒙特利半岛社区学院（MPC）的合作中，这个规划和试点项目将致力于未来的建议，包括与地区社区学院建立合作关系，并扩大有效的干预措施。该项目将通过以下方式支持学生：创造更多的研究机会；让转学生参与转前和转后的研究；支持学生从低年级的入门研究经历过渡到高年级的密集研究经历；建立STEM职业道路；通过对学生和导师进行公平培训，创造更具包容性的研究环境。在支持教师方面，我们的目标是：激励本科生进行研究；通过包容性指导和教学，培育更具包容性的研究空间；为教师创建一个实践社区，在他们的课程中发展互动学习和职业准备；建立跨学科和多机构的教师合作。项目评估将涉及一系列与赠款目标密切相关的研究：多样化本科研究，通过建立更具包容性和公平的研究环境来消除公平差距，以及建立有助于在参与机构内外“扩大”教育干预的伙伴关系。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并在HSI进行能力建设。考虑到hsi的多样性和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，并促进基础研究(1)关于参与式学生学习，(2)关于如何有效地使STEM多样化和增加参与，以及(3)提高我们对如何在hsi建立机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将借鉴这些方法，为如何实现这些目标提供新的知识。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 increase access to research opportunities for traditionally underrepresented students in STEM, support diverse students and faculty in STEM, integrate research in the curriculum, create more inclusive research environments for undergraduates, and to enhance the professional advancement of faculty and research mentors. Undergraduate research, a well-established high-impact practice, provides significant benefits for students who are from traditionally underrepresented ethnicities, the first in their family to go to college, from lower-income families, and transfer students (Jones, Barlow, & Villarejo, 2010; Kinzie, Gonyea, Shoup, & Kuh, 2008; Villarejo, Barlow, Kogan, Veazey, & Sweeney, 2008). However, these students are less likely to participate in research than their peers (National Academy of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine, 2011), even when attending Hispanic Serving Institutions (Haeger, BrckaLorenz, & Webber, 2015). Additionally, when participating in research, students may find a research culture that is an unsupportive or hostile environment, which ultimately is one of the main contributing factors that cause low enrollment and high attrition rates in STEM fields (Clancy, Nelson, Rutherford, & Hinde, 2014). In a partnership with California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and Monterey Peninsula Community College (MPC), this Planning and Pilot Project will work towards a future proposal including building collaborations with regional community colleges and scaling up interventions that prove effective. The project will support students by: generating more research opportunities; engaging transfer students in research pre- and post-transfer; supporting students through the transition from lower-division, introductory research experiences, to upper-division intensive research experiences; building STEM career pathways; and creating more inclusive research environments through equity training for students and mentors. In supporting faculty, our aims are to: incentivize research with undergraduates; foster more inclusive research spaces through inclusive mentoring and pedagogy; create a community of practice for faculty to develop interactive learning and career preparation in their courses; build interdisciplinary and multi-institutional faculty collaborations. Program evaluation will involve a series of studies closely tied to the goals of the grant: diversifying undergraduate research, eliminating equity gaps by building more inclusive and equitable research environments, and building partnerships that can help “scale up” educational interventions within and beyond the participating institutions. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to 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.