STEM Excellence in Engineering Equity (SEEE)

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。尽管农村学生现在的高中毕业率与城市和郊区的同龄人相当，但他们在追求高等教育方面仍然落后，包括工程课程和项目。根据美国国家科学基金会扩大工程参与（BPE）计划的目标，支持创新方法和项目的发展，以显著影响从代表性不足的群体中招募和留住工程专业学生，STEM卓越工程公平（SEEE）项目将开发和试点一种模式，用于招募和留住农村高中学生，该模式可以在其他情况下复制。项目合作伙伴，匹兹堡大学（Pitt）， STEM公平倡议（非营利组织）和RTI国际将设计，实施和评估二级专业发展计划和教师学习社区，指导教育工作者将循证工程内容，教学实践和教育公平指标与高中科学，技术工程或数学（STEM）教室的演示应用相结合。SEEE项目将把动手操作的高中工程课程（激励——提高学生对工程和科学的参与、兴趣和招聘）与基于研究和实践者测试的公平内容结合起来，以提高教育者创造公平学习环境（ELE）的能力，更好地满足每个学生的社会、情感和文化需求。N.E.I.R.（正常化、赋权、包容和相关）构建将提供标准和指标，可以定制和优先处理影响农村学校中代表性不足（UR）人口的根本原因，其中可能包括性别偏见、低家庭收入和社区中种族/民族的变化。通过科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）内容与N.E.I.R.结构的无缝整合，教师可以帮助UR学生在高中时培养对工程的兴趣，以及追求课程、项目或高等工程教育的弹性。该项目将与一个由农村和工程教育专家组成的顾问委员会合作，进一步设计和开发新知识体系结构，并将其融入STEM内容。研究设计将检验(1)实施的可用性和可行性，以及(2)SEEE影响教育工作者建立和维持ELEs以提高农村学生对工程的参与和兴趣的能力的潜力。具体目标包括：1。通过将四种基于研究和实践者测试的课堂教育公平结构整合到inspire工程能源解决方案专业发展课程中，创建SEEE专业发展计划。通过为期3.5天的培训，培训来自宾夕法尼亚州比弗县两所农村高中的30名学校STEM教师、领导和社区成员，为他们的试点实施做好准备。3 .试点SEEE专业发展培训工作坊，随后启动教师学习社区，为教师提供持续的支持，帮助他们实施公平、实践的STEM内容。确定并培训四名来自农村背景的皮特工程专业学生，共同促进教师学习社区，作为高中生的榜样/导师，并为授课教师提供指导。评估参与的教育工作者对SEEE专业发展项目的可用性和可行性的看法。开发SEEE专业开发手册和材料，以维持和扩展未来迭代和进一步研究的程序。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 award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2)While rural students are now graduating from high school at rates comparable to their urban and suburban peers, they continue to fall behind in pursuing postsecondary education, including engineering courses and programs. In accordance with the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) program’s goal to support the development of innovative methods and projects to significantly impact the recruitment and retention of engineering students from underrepresented groups, the STEM Excellence in Engineering Equity (SEEE) project will develop and pilot a model for recruiting and retaining rural high school students that can be replicated in other contexts. The project partners, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), the STEM Equity Initiative (a nonprofit), and RTI International will design, implement, and evaluate a secondary professional development program and faculty learning communities that guide educators in integrating evidence-based engineering content, pedagogical practice, and educational equity indicators with demonstrated application in high school science, technology engineering or math (STEM) classrooms.The SEEE program will integrate a hands-on, high school engineering curriculum (INSPIRES – INcreasing Student Participation, Interest & Recruitment in Engineering and Science) with research-based and practitioner-tested equity content to improve educators’ ability to create Equitable Learning Environments (ELE) that better serve the social, emotional, and cultural needs of every student. The N.E.I.R. (Normalizing, Empowering, Inclusive, and Relevant) constructs will provide criteria and indicators that can be tailored and prioritized to address the root causes impacting underrepresented (UR) populations in rural schools, which may include gender biases, low family income, and shifting race/ethnicity in communities. Through the seamless integration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content with N.E.I.R. constructs, teachers can help UR students develop an interest in engineering in high school and the resilience to pursue courses, programs, or postsecondary engineering education.Working with an advisory board of experts in rural and engineering education, this project will further the design and development of the N.E.I.R. constructs and their integration into STEM content. The research design will examine (1) implementation usability and feasibility and (2) SEEE’s potential to influence the capacity of educators to build and sustain ELEs to improve rural students’ engagement and interest in engineering. The specific objectives include:1. Create the SEEE professional development program by integrating the four research-based and practitioner-tested educational equity constructs for the classroom into the INSPIRES Engineering Energy Solutions professional development curriculum.2. Train 30 school STEM teachers, leaders and community members from two rural PA high schools from Beaver County, PA through a 3.5-day training to prepare them for pilot implementation.3. Pilot the SEEE professional development training workshops, followed by the launch of Faculty Learning Communities to providing ongoing support as the teachers implement the equitable, hands-on STEM content.4. Identify and train four Pitt engineering students from rural backgrounds to co-facilitate the Faculty Learning Communities, serve as role models/mentors for high school students, and provide coaching for teachers who are delivering the program.5. Assess participating educators’ perceptions of the usability and feasibility of the SEEE professional development program for developing ELEs.6. Develop a SEEE professional development manual and materials for sustaining and scaling the program for future iterations and further research.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.