Collaborative Research: Building Confidence through Culturally Relevant Co-requisite Mathematics Courses within Math Pathways

该项目旨在通过调查旨在改善黑人或非裔男性本科生在初级数学课程中的成绩的战略，为国家利益服务。这项研究有助于STEM劳动力的增长和多样化的更大努力。这项努力的目标是通过实施和研究在其他领域显示出希望的四种策略，来增加黑人或非洲裔男性在必修大学数学课程中的成功、信心和归属感：1)谨慎的安置策略，使学生与适当的数学课程相匹配；2)改进建议做法，以增加对数学课程的积极态度；3)提供支持性指导；以及4)为将从有针对性的数学课程支持中受益的学生提供共同必修课。该项目建立在整个北卡罗来纳大学系统正在进行的数学路径努力的基础上，这一合作将支持有效实践的开发、评估和共享。识别和提炼有效支持黑人或非裔美国男性的做法，将提供洞察力，作为干预措施支持其他学生的基础。该项目预计，随着数学教育学和其他支持结构的改善，北卡罗来纳大学系统机构和STEM专业将保留更多的学生。随着这些增长，大量成功学生的存在将使STEM专业对来自代表性不足群体的新生更受欢迎，更具吸引力。该项目的目标是确定改进的安置程序以及与文化相关的建议、指导和共同必修的支持课程对黑人或非裔美国人男性的课程结果、数学自我效能和归属感、目标导向、内容相关性和成长心态的影响程度。四个机构(北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校、北卡罗来纳大学格林斯伯勒分校、北卡罗来纳农业与农业技术州立大学和北卡罗来纳中央大学)的1900多名黑人或非裔美国人将直接受益于项目组成部分，参与机构的数学教师之间的牢固关系将促进整个项目的数据收集和分析。该项目将从经过验证的措施中收集数据，以评估参加共同必修支助课程和辅导的黑人或非裔美国男子以及参加支助课程但没有参加辅导或共同必修课程的人的成果。通过黑人或非裔美国人参加支持课程的焦点小组，将获得进一步的见解，而不考虑个别课程的结果。该项目的调查结果将与有关社区分享，并将通过严格的评估计划评估实现该项目所述目标的进展情况。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。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 serve the national interest by investigating strategies aimed to improve the outcomes of undergraduate Black or African-American men in entry-level mathematics courses. This study contributes to the larger effort to grow and diversify the STEM workforce. The goals of this effort are to increase the success, confidence, and sense of belonging of Black or African-American men in required early college mathematics courses by implementing and studying four strategies that have shown promise in other areas: 1) careful placement strategies that match students with appropriate mathematics courses; 2) improving advising practices to increase positive attitudes towards mathematics courses; 3) offering supportive mentoring; and 4) offering co-requisite courses for students who would benefit from targeted support in their mathematics courses. This project builds upon an ongoing Math Pathways effort across the University of North Carolina system, a collaboration that will support the development, evaluation, and sharing of effective practices. Identifying and refining practices that effectively support Black or African-American men will provide insights that can serve as the basis for interventions to support other students. The project anticipates that as mathematics pedagogy and other support structures improve, a broader population of students will be retained at UNC System institutions and in STEM majors. With these increases, the presence of a critical mass of successful students will make STEM majors more welcoming and attractive to incoming students from underrepresented groups. The goals of this project are to determine the extent to which improved placement procedures coupled with culturally-relevant advising, mentoring, and co-requisite support courses impact Black or African-American men's course outcomes, mathematical self-efficacy and sense of belonging, goal orientation, content relevance, and growth mindset. Over 1,900 Black or African-American men at four institutions (University of North Carolina Charlotte, University of North Carolina Greensboro, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, and North Carolina Central University) will directly benefit from the project components, and strong relationships between mathematics faculty members at participating institutions will facilitate data collection and analysis across the project. The project will collect data from validated measures to evaluate outcomes for Black or African-American men who participate in the co-requisite support course and mentoring as well as those who participate in the supported course but do not participate in either mentoring or the co-requisite courses. Further insights will be gained through focus groups with Black or African-American men enrolled in the supported courses, regardless of individual course outcomes. The project's findings will be shared with communities of interest, and progress towards the project's stated goals will be assessed through a rigorous evaluation plan. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.