Changing Department Culture to Achieve Inclusive Excellence in 2-year STEM Education

该项目旨在通过开发一种模式来转变两年制大学的科学系文化，以反映包容的价值观，并接受所有学生都有能力取得成功的期望，从而服务于国家利益。这个项目调查了全系教师专业发展计划的有效性，以改善学生的学习和学生体验。包容性转型是一项社区努力：促进强有力的教师合作确保更好地利用包容性教学实践以及更有针对性和更具支持性的课堂文化，从而从根本上改变学生学习科学的方式。在培训计划期间，教师将得到支持，因为他们将重新设计他们的教学，以纳入以公平为重点的经过验证的包容性学习实践。科学教育的协作、系统改进创造了欢迎学生进入科学社区的教育空间。这些变化有可能提高学生的自信心，支持不同的背景和观点，并鼓励学生追求科学事业。该项目计划研究在一个新兴的两年制拉美裔服务机构中，让整个教职部参与可持续改善科学教育的有效性。值得注意的是，两年制大学支持不同的学生群体，最终毕业的STEM大学毕业生中有多达一半在两年制大学上课。因此，将包容性教学策略纳入基础课程对于建立一支多元化的STEM工作队伍至关重要。该项目旨在支持前岭社区学院跨学科科学系的系统性文化变革，该项目的范围包括11个科学学科和大约50名全职和兼职教师。该项目的目标是改善学生在科学课程中的学习和成功，缩小因族裔或种族(同龄人)而被排除在外的人之间的机会差距，并增加学生在STEM中的留存率和毅力。学院的转型将通过三个层次的合作专业发展计划进行：(1)通过一个专注于主动学习和包容性教学的两年期计划培训教师，(2)部门务虚会和反思性实践小组，以定义和讨论共同的公平目标，以及(3)欢迎和指导新教师。该项目计划使用课堂观察工具、分类的学生成功指标以及教师参与度和学生科学认同感的衡量标准来研究这种文化变化的有效性。这一框架可用于支持创新和以研究为基础的包容性做法，并为其他科学部门的机构转型努力提供信息。这一项目的发现将有助于理解两年制大学教学实践的有效性。NSF关于在两年制高等教育机构推进本科STEM教育的创新和影响的项目描述支持在两年制大学推进STEM教育倡议的项目。该项目描述促进了两年制大学本科STEM教育的创新和循证实践。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 developing a model to transform science department culture at a two-year college to reflect values of inclusion and to embrace the expectation that all students are capable of succeeding. This project investigates the effectiveness of a department-wide faculty professional development program to improve student learning and the student experience. Inclusive transformation is a community effort: fostering robust faculty collaboration ensures better utilization of inclusive teaching practices and more intentional and supportive classroom cultures, resulting in fundamental changes in the way students learn science. During the training program, faculty will be supported as they redesign their teaching to incorporate proven inclusive learning practices with a focus on equity. Collaborative, systematic improvement in science education creates educational spaces that welcome students into the scientific community. These changes have the potential to improve student confidence, support diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and encourage students to pursue science careers. This project plans to study the effectiveness of engaging faculty department-wide for sustainable improvement of science education at an emerging two-year Hispanic-Serving Institution. Significantly, two-year colleges support diverse student populations, and up to half of eventual STEM college graduates take classes at a two-year college. Therefore, incorporating inclusive teaching strategies into foundational courses is essential to building a diverse STEM workforce.This project intends to support systemic culture change in the interdisciplinary science department of Front Range Community College, with a scope of 11 science disciplines and approximately 50 full- and part-time faculty. The goals of this project are to improve student learning and success in science courses, decrease opportunity gaps among Persons Excluded because of their Ethnicity or Race (PEERs), and increase student retention and persistence in STEM. Department transformation will occur through collaborative professional development programs at three levels: (1) training faculty through a 2-year program focused on active learning and inclusive pedagogy, (2) departmental retreats and reflective practice groups to define and discuss common equity goals, and (3) welcoming and mentoring new faculty. This project plans to study the effectiveness of this culture change using classroom observation tools, disaggregated student success metrics, and measures of faculty engagement and student science identity. This framework can be used to support innovation and research-based inclusive practices and to inform institutional transformation efforts in other science departments. The findings from this project will contribute to understanding the efficacy of pedagogical practices in two-year colleges. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges.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.