Inclusive Excellence in STEM: Addressing Inequities in Undergraduate Student Access and Achievement through Integration of STEM-Focused, Equity-Minded Pedagogy

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。 该项目旨在通过解决本科STEM学生入学、学习和完成学位方面的不平等问题，为国家利益服务。本项目将通过三个主要领域解决这些不平等问题。首先，该项目旨在增加包容性，以学生为中心的教学实践的使用。其次，该项目旨在实施高影响力的做法，支持STEM学生的参与。第三，该项目旨在通过重组数学课程途径来改善学生获得STEM学位的机会。该项目将为STEM教师创建和支持以公平为中心的合作专业发展小组，以提高教师对公平意识的认识。STEM教师将实施和支持包容性教学和高影响力的做法，旨在提高学生的成功，并专门解决来自代表性不足的STEM学生群体的学生的需求。该项目将通过开发创新的大学预科数学加速模型来增加学生获得STEM学位的机会，以提高学生完成STEM学位所需的数学先决条件。该项目旨在促进对有助于学生在社区学院STEM学位途径中取得成功的机制和体制改革的理解。它还将提供有关因素有助于在干教师教学实践的有意义的和可持续的变化更深入的见解。此外，该项目有可能增加以公平为中心的教学的影响，以改善代表性不足的学生在STEM途径中的成功。该项目专门解决代表性不足的STEM学生群体的学生的需求，包括种族少数群体，第一代，低收入和女性学生。该项目将：1）提高STEM教师对包容性教学实践的认识和使用，2）利用高影响力的实践来解决STEM学位获得和成就方面的公平差距，并提高学生在STEM课程和计划中的持久性和成功率，3）提高学生在微积分数学先决条件中的过渡和成功率。该项目提供了一个机会，为两年制机构的STEM教育工作者提供急需的知识，包括更好地了解社区大学生的成功干预措施，有抱负的STEM学生更有可能在学术上没有准备，第一代，老年人，工作和/或来自代表性不足的学生群体。该项目的更广泛的影响，使学生能够更好地了解有助于学生在STEM学位途径中取得成功的基本机制。该项目侧重于对STEM中学生成功的文化响应，包容性教学方法的影响，旨在确定在STEM入门课程中实施文化响应和包容性教学方法，结合高影响力实践，同伴指导和本科生研究经验，是否会改善学生的成果，特别是来自代表性不足群体的学生。该项目的总体成功和成果进展的评估将基于目标的实现，从而改善STEM学生的入学，保留和学位完成，课程重新设计和实施，以及教师文化的转变。该项目提出了以下研究问题：1）哪些活动导致2年制机构内的信念和教学实践发生变化，并使STEM部门更加专注于解决代表性不足的STEM学生群体的需求？2)重组和加速微积分前数学途径，以减少STEM参与的结构性障碍，促进学生在STEM中的整体接触和成功，包括代表性不足的STEM学生的参与和成就，有什么影响？NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型的轨道，该计划支持的努力，以改变和改善高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育.这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估支持.

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing inequities in undergraduate STEM students’ access, learning, and degree completion. These inequities will be addressed in this project via three primary areas. First, the project seeks to increase use of inclusive, student-centered teaching practices. Second, the project seeks to implement high impact practices supporting STEM student engagement. Third, the project seeks to improve student access to STEM degrees by restructuring mathematics course pathways. The project will create and support equity-focused collaborative professional development groups for STEM faculty to increase faculty awareness of equity-mindedness. STEM faculty will implement and support inclusive teaching and high impact practices designed to improve student success and specifically address the needs of students from underrepresented STEM student populations. The project will increase student access to STEM degrees by developing innovative accelerated models for pre-college mathematics to improve student completion of mathematics prerequisites required for STEM degrees. This project aims to advance understanding of mechanisms and institutional reforms contributing to student success in STEM degree pathways at community colleges. It will also provide greater insight about factors contributing to meaningful and sustainable changes in STEM faculty teaching practices. Additionally, this project has potential to increase the impact of equity-focused teaching for improving underrepresented student success in STEM pathways.The project specifically addresses the needs of students from underrepresented STEM student populations, including racially minoritized, first-generation, low-income, and female students. The project will: 1) increase awareness and use of inclusive pedagogical practices by STEM faculty, 2) utilize high impact practices to address equity gaps in access and achievement in STEM degrees and improve student persistence and success in STEM courses and programs, and 3) increase student transition and success rates in calculus-based mathematics prerequisites. This project provides an opportunity to generate much needed knowledge for STEM educators at two-year institutions, including a greater understanding of the successful interventions for community college students, where aspiring STEM students are more likely to be academically unprepared, first-generation, older, working, and/or from underrepresented student groups. The broader impact of this project allows for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to student success in STEM degree pathways. Focusing on the impact of culturally responsive, inclusive teaching approaches for student success within STEM, the project seeks to determine if implementation of culturally responsive and inclusive teaching approaches within introductory STEM courses, combined with high impact practices, peer mentoring, and undergraduate research experiences, result in improved outcomes for students, and especially students from underrepresented groups. The evaluation of the project’s overall success and progress towards outcomes will be based on the achievement of objectives, resulting in improved STEM student access, retention, and degree completion, curricular redesign and implementation, and a shift in faculty culture. The project asks the following research questions: 1) What activities result in changed beliefs and teaching practices within 2-year institutions and produce STEM departments more focused to address the needs of underrepresented STEM student populations? 2) What are the impacts of restructuring and accelerating pre-calculus math pathways to reduce structural barriers to STEM participation and promoting overall student access and success in STEM, including the participation and achievement of underrepresented STEM students? The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.