Promoting Student Persistence, Learning, and Understanding Through an Expanded MESA Program

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，该项目旨在扩展贝克斯菲尔德学院的数学工程科学成就（MESA）计划，并研究其各个方面对学生成功的影响。贝克斯菲尔德学院的MESA参与者提高了课程完成率和其他成果，并有望获得STEM学科的副学士学位和/或转入四年制大学。该项目有三个主要目标：(1)将MESA项目的学生参与人数从每学期107人增加到200人，为未来的研究建立基线，并初步了解进一步扩展可能存在的挑战；(2)确定一般MESA计划的哪些组成部分对学生成功的影响最大；(3)建立认识并探索如何更好地将MESA融入贝克斯菲尔德学院的Guided Pathway组织。MESA计划的主要组成部分将包括研讨会、非正式和同伴指导、社区志愿服务、本科研究、参加会议的机会、工业和实验室实地考察以及工作实习。了解如何在保持积极成果的同时发展该项目将提供重要的见解，特别是对于服务于农村人口的社区学院，因为他们希望实施成功的战略，弥合服务不足群体进入STEM专业的差距。通常在社区大学，转到STEM专业需要两年以上的时间，而且成功转到STEM专业的学生数量可能很低。该项目将通过研究贝克斯菲尔德学院MESA项目的关键组成部分如何在不减少成果的情况下扩大规模，为STEM教育的知识库做出贡献。该项目占STEM预科学位的48%，但只吸引了6%的STEM预科学生。主要数据来源包括当前MESA项目参与者的焦点小组，MESA毕业生的调查，以及评估整个提议机构对MESA项目认识的调查。预期的结果是确定项目的关键要素，以增加参与者的数量并保持其有效性水平。研究结果将在类似的机构中传播，特别是那些为大量少数民族人口服务的机构，这些机构可能正在寻找可扩展的策略来支持STEM学位的完成。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的多样化性质和背景，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(i)关于参与式学生学习，（ii）关于如何有效地多样化和增加STEM参与，以及（iii）提高我们对如何在hsi建立机构能力的理解，这些都是由该计划支持的。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 expand Bakersfield College’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program and study the impact of its various aspects on student success. MESA participants at Bakersfield College have improved course completion rates and other outcomes, and are on a path to graduate with an associate degree in a STEM discipline and/or transfer to four-year institutions. The project has three main goals: (1) expand the number of MESA program student participants from 107 to 200 students per semester to establish a baseline for future study and give preliminary insight to challenges that might exist for further expansion; (2) determine which of the general MESA program components have the greatest impact on student success; and (3) build awareness and explore how to better integrate MESA into the Guided Pathway organization of Bakersfield College. Major components of the MESA program that will be explored include workshops, informal and peer mentoring, volunteering in the community, undergraduate research, opportunities to attend conferences, industry and laboratory field trips, and job shadowing. Understanding how to grow the program while maintaining positive outcomes will provide important insights, particularly for community colleges that serve rural populations as they look to implement successful strategies for bridging the gap for underserved groups to access the STEM professions.Often at community colleges, the path to transfer in STEM takes longer than two years and the number of students who successfully transfer can be low. This project will contribute to the knowledge base in STEM education by studying how key components of Bakersfield College’s MESA program, which accounts for 48% of STEM pathway degrees while only engaging 6% of STEM pathway students, can be scaled up without diminishing outcomes. Major data sources include focus groups of current MESA program participants, a survey of MESA graduates, and a survey to gauge awareness of the MESA program across the proposing institution. The expected results are to identify the critical elements of the program needed to increase the number of participants and maintain its level of effectiveness. The results of the research study will be disseminated amongst similar institutions, particularly those that serve large minority populations and may be looking for scalable strategies to support STEM degree completion. 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 are supported by this program.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.