Achieving Equitable Persistence in STEM with a Data-informed Student-centered Transformation of the First-year College Experience

该项目旨在制定和部署一套有效的成功做法，以改变一年级的STEM教育，以便在亨特学院和其他为拉美裔服务的机构实现STEM的公平教育结果。虽然许多拉美裔学生进入亨特学院对STEM感兴趣，但由于第一年的挑战，坚持并毕业于他们选择的STEM专业的学生相对较少。在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构计划(HSI计划)的支持下，该项目团队将提供几项STEM成功计划，旨在加强第一年的STEM教育，并确定哪些政策和做法最有效地支持亨特学院的STEM成功。这些有效的做法将嵌入亨特学院的STEM学科，从而改变其教育格局。该项目的成果将得到广泛传播，使其他校园能够采用类似的最佳做法。预计这将缩小亨特学院和其他高等学府拉美裔学生的平等差距并改善STEM成果，从而促进STEM工作队伍的扩大和多样化。该项目旨在通过部署和研究一系列教学实践的有效性来增强STEM学生的第一年经验。这些措施包括门户STEM课程修订、教师教学发展、基于课程的研究经验、以STEM为重点的学习社区、STEM准备活动和以STEM为重点的联合课程支持。我们将采用定量和定性相结合的方法来考察四个关键问题。首先是这些增强与学生短期和长期学业成功、动机、归属感和对STEM的承诺之间的关系。第二，学生作为科学学习者的动机和自我概念与他们在STEM中的成功和坚持不懈之间的关系。第三，学生对学校氛围的看法如何与他们在STEM的成功和坚持不懈有关。第四，背景和情境因素如何与这些不同计划的成功相关。这个项目产生的新知识将通过演讲、出版物和会议向亨特学院和更广泛的高等教育社区的教职员工、研究人员、政策制定者和机构领导人传播。该项目的预期好处包括：不同的STEM学生有更多的归属感和动力；西班牙裔学生在STEM中的坚持性和成功程度更高；学生在他们选择的STEM学科中获得公平的结果；改善STEM的教育体验；STEM和STEM教育教师之间加强合作；以及利益攸关方对变革性STEM教育做法的更多承诺。该项目还将通过加深对机构内部团队如何发挥作用来支持学生的理解，产生关于机构转型过程本身的知识。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建设HSIS的能力。鉴于高等教育机构的不同性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法，以激励机构和社区的变革，并促进基础研究(I)关于学生参与式学习，(Ii)关于如何有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)提高我们对如何建设高等教育机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将从这些方法中获得如何实现这些目标的新知识。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 aims to develop and deploy a set of effective success practices to transform first-year STEM education in order to attain equitable educational outcomes in STEM, both at Hunter College and other Hispanic-serving institutions. While many Hispanic students enter Hunter College interested in STEM, relatively few persist and graduate in their chosen STEM majors due to challenges during their first year. With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program), the project team will deliver several STEM success initiatives intended to enhance first-year STEM education and determine which policies and practices are the most effective for supporting STEM success at Hunter College. The effective practices will be embedded across STEM disciplines at Hunter College, thereby transforming its educational landscape. The project’s results will be disseminated broadly, enabling other campuses to deploy similar best practices. This is expected to reduce equity gaps and improve STEM outcomes for Hispanic students at Hunter College and other HSIs, thereby contributing to a larger and more diverse STEM workforce.This project aims to enhance the first-year experience among STEM students by deploying and studying the effectiveness of a range of pedagogical practices. These include gateway STEM course revisions, faculty pedagogical development, course-based research experiences, STEM-focused learning communities, STEM-readiness activities, and STEM-focused co-curricular supports. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to examine four key questions. First is how these enhancements relate to students’ short- and long-term academic success, motivation, belonging, and commitment to STEM. Second is how students’ motivation and self-concept as science learners relate to their success and persistence in STEM. Third is how students’ perception of institutional climate relates to their success and persistence in STEM. Fourth is how contextual and situational factors relate to success across these different initiatives. The new knowledge generated from this project will be disseminated to faculty, researchers, policy makers, and institutional leaders within Hunter College and the wider higher education community, via presentations, publications, and conferences. The anticipated benefits of this project include a greater sense of belonging and motivation among diverse STEM students; increased persistence and success in STEM among Hispanic students; equitable outcomes for students in their chosen STEM discipline; an enhanced STEM educational experience; increased collaboration between STEM and STEM education faculty; and increased stakeholder commitment to transformative STEM educational practices. This project will also generate knowledge on the institutional transformation process itself by deepening understanding of how intra-institutional teams can function to support students. 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.