Increasing the Persistence of STEM Majors through Nanoscience-Themed Activities that Support Academic, Professional, and Personal Engagement and Development

通过支持学术、专业和个人参与和发展的纳米科学主题活动，提高 STEM 专业的持久性

• 批准号: 2028230
• 负责人: Brandon Mitchell
• 金额: $ 99.96万
• 依托单位: West Chester University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2028230&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Increasing; Persistence; STEM; Majors; through

This project will contribute to the national need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students at West Chester University, a comprehensive, primarily undergraduate institution. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide scholarships to 18 full-time students who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Forensic and Toxicological Chemistry, Geosciences, Mathematics, or Physics. Scholars will enter in two annual cohorts of nine students and receive up to four years of scholarship support. In addition to the scholarships, the project will provide Scholars with a comprehensive suite of evidence-based academic, professional, and personal engagement and development activities that are embedded within an overarching nanoscience theme. The activities will span Scholars’ entire academic career and include a STEM-oriented summer camp, Orientation and Learning Community activities, a STEM-themed journal club, opportunities for nanoscience research summer experiences and industry internships, and career planning and graduate fellowship grant-writing workshops. The overall goal of the project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific aims include: (1) To implement a four-year program of evidence-based, integrated academic, professional, and personal experiences; (2) to contribute to an understanding of the impact of student cohorts and other psychological and social factors on student success and retention and graduation in STEM; and (3) to broaden the participation of low-income high-achieving STEM students in Biology, Earth and Space Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. Drawing on a phenomenological approach, the mixed methods research and development effort will examine the lived experience of Scholar cohorts to document and explore how growth mindset, desirable difficulties/productive struggles, and metacognitive practices during learning impact student success, retention, and graduation with a STEM degree. Across individuals, time, and methods/measures, the project’s triangulation strategies will support the development/collection of data, the use of multiple data sources and methods/measures, analyses of the data to include addressing convergence, inconsistency, and contradiction, and the establishment of the trustworthiness, credibility, and validity of the study findings. The project has the potential to advance knowledge about activities and factors that differentially influence student success, retention, and graduation in STEM. A mixed methods formative and summative evaluation will inform project improvement, as well as document and assess project processes and student outcomes. Results from the project will be made available through the project website, publications, and presentations at education-oriented conferences and venues. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.

该项目将通过支持西切斯特大学（West Chester University）的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，这是一家全面的，一家小学的本科机构，这将促进国家对熟练科学家，数学家，工程师和技术的需求。在五年的持续时间内，该项目将为18名全日制学生提供奖学金，这些学生正在攻读生物学，化学，法医和毒理学化学，地球科学，数学或物理学的学士学位。学者将参加两名九名学生的年度人群，并最多获得四年的奖学金支持。除奖学金外，该项目还将为学者提供一系列基于证据的学术，专业和个人参与和发展活动，这些活动嵌入了总体纳米科学主题中。这些活动将涵盖学者的整个学术职业，包括一个面向STEM的夏令营，取向和学习社区活动，以STEM主题的期刊俱乐部，纳米科学研究的机会，夏季夏季经验和行业互助以及职业规划以及研究生奖学金授予赠款撰写的工作室。该项目的总体目标是增加茎学位的完成，以表明经济需求，低收入，高成就的大学生的本科生。具体目的包括：（1）实施四年的循证，综合学术，专业和个人经验计划； （2）有助于理解学生队列以及其他心理和社会因素对STEM的成功，保留和毕业的影响； （3）扩大低收入高成就的STEM学生参与生物学，地球和太空科学，化学，数学和物理学。利用现象学方法，混合方法的研究和发展工作将研究学者同伙的现场经验，以记录和探索在学习过程中如何在学习影响学生成功，保留和毕业时如何获得成长心态，理想的困难/生产力斗争以及元认知实践。在个人，时间和方法/措施中，项目的三角剖分策略将支持数据的开发/收集，多种数据源和方法/方法/措施，数据分析，包括解决融合，不一致和矛盾，以及建立可信赖性，可信度，可信度，研究结果的有效性。该项目有可能提高有关活动和因素的知识，从而影响学生的成功，保留和毕业STEM。混合方法形成和总结性评估将为项目改进以及文档和评估项目过程和学生成果提供信息。该项目的结果将通过项目网站，出版物以及以教育为导向的会议和场地提供。该项目由NSF在科学，技术，工程和数学计划方面的奖学金提供资金，该计划旨在增加具有在STEM领域获得学位的经济需求的低收入才华横溢的学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工人的教育，并为低收入学生的学术成功，保留，转移，毕业以及学术/职业途径提供知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来评估的珍贵的支​​持。