Supporting Persistence by Increasing the Relevance of Algebra to Learning: A Competency-based Curriculum for College Algebra

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI）计划，该实施和评估（轨道2）项目旨在开发一个经验上可辩护的模型，用于HSI和文科机构如何使那些在STEM研究领域参与不足的学生能够在早期STEM课程中取得成功并及时毕业。该项目将通过重新设计第一年的大学代数课程并结合开发强大的学习支持系统，在学生的早期课程和未来课程之间建立联系，从而改善湖圣母大学的STEM成果。虽然它是一系列学科所必需的，但传统的大学代数课程往往与学生的专业和文化知识缺乏相关性，或者与其在非数学领域的应用缺乏明显的联系。通过调整课程以反映学生未来学习所需的能力，利用学生的文化知识，并雇用这些学生担任学习助理和辅导员，该项目将扩大关于高效教学战略的功效、社会文化知识对学习的重要性以及两者对学生坚持学习的影响的研究。该项目将通过尽早引入专业特定的课程内容，从而提高数学素养并促进成长心态，使学生受益。为了研究在早期STEM课程中增加学术和文化相关性的效果，数学和非数学教师将合作重新设计实验室支持的大学代数课程，分为三个学科特定的课程部分。同时，该项目将开发一个两级学习支持系统，以帮助学生发展和情境化他们的代数技能。本科生学习助理将在课堂上提供支持，而专业的同侪导师将帮助学生通过他们的高级课程的进展。该项目将研究这些活动在不同人口层次上的影响，涉及学生的心理社会特征（归属感、数学自我效能感、心态、数学自我概念和相关性感知）、教师信念（关于文化适应性教学和学生的先前知识和心态）以及学术成果。除了显着提高完成率为大学代数和代数必修课程，干保留率，并干毕业率在一个主要的拉丁裔和女性学生团体，该项目将有助于有关的条件，导致改善干的教学知识和学习。结果将通过专门的网站和相关出版物提供给希望实施类似方法的机构。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建立HSI的能力。实现这些目标，鉴于HSI的多样性和背景，需要创新的方法，激励机构和社区转型，促进基础研究（i）参与学生学习，（ii）多样化和增加有效参与STEM，以及（iii）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得支持的，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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Implementation and Evaluation (Track 2) project aims to develop an empirically defensible model for how HSIs and liberal arts institutions can empower students who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study, to succeed in their early STEM coursework and graduate in a timely manner. The project will improve STEM outcomes at Our Lady of the Lake University by establishing connections between students’ early coursework and future classes through the redesign of the first-year College Algebra course combined with the development of a robust learning support system. While it is required across a range of disciplines, the traditional College Algebra curriculum often lacks relevance to students' majors and cultural knowledge, or obvious connections to its applications in non-mathematical fields. By realigning the curriculum to reflect competencies required for students’ future studies, tapping into students’ cultural knowledge, and employing those students as learning assistants and tutors, this project will extend the research on the efficacy of high-impact pedagogical strategies, the importance of socio-cultural knowledge on learning, and the effects of both on student persistence. This project will benefit students by introducing major-specific course content early, thus improving math literacy and promoting a growth mindset.To examine the effects of increasing academic and cultural relevance in early STEM coursework, mathematics and non-mathematics faculty will collaborate to redesign a lab-supported College Algebra course into three discipline-specific course sections. Concurrently, the project will develop a two-tiered learning support system to aid students in developing and contextualizing their algebra skills. Undergraduate learning assistants will provide support in the classroom, while specialized peer tutors will assist students as they progress through their upper-level courses. The project will study the effects of these activities across demographic levels, in relation to students’ psycho-social characteristics (sense of belonging, mathematical self-efficacy, mindset, mathematical self-concept, and perceptions of relevance), faculty beliefs (about culturally responsive teaching and students’ prior knowledge and mindsets), and academic outcomes. In addition to significantly increasing completion rates for College Algebra and algebra-requisite courses, STEM retention rates, and STEM graduation rates among a predominantly Latinx and female student body, this project will contribute to knowledge about conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning. Results will be made available to institutions who wish to implement similar approaches through a dedicated website and relevant publications. 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) on diversifying and increasing participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) on understanding ways to improve institutional capacity at HSIs.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.