Cohort-Based Interdisciplinary Learning to Increase Retention and Graduation Rates of Undergraduate Students in Science, Technology, and Mathematics

基于队列的跨学科学习可提高科学、技术和数学本科生的保留率和毕业率

• 批准号: 2030485
• 负责人: Holley Lynch
• 金额: $ 99.98万
• 依托单位: Stetson University
• 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: 2021-03-15 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2030485&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cohort; Based; Interdisciplinary; Learning; Increase

This project will contribute to the national need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with verified financial need. The project is led by Stetson University, a private four-year university in Central Florida. The five-year project will provide scholarships to 32 different full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, math, molecular biology, or physics. Two annual cohorts of 16 students will be recruited, and each student will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project seeks to enhance degree completion by engaging the student cohorts in a novel STEM-enriched, interdisciplinary curriculum. This curriculum will emphasize peer-interaction, project-based learning, community partnerships, mathematical problem-solving skills, technological literacy, and professional writing and presentation skills. Scholars will also have access to mentoring, tutoring, and career counseling. The recruitment plan emphasizes the importance of identifying academically talented, low-income students from diverse populations, thereby broadening access to STEM educational opportunities.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific aims of the project include increasing Scholars' first to second year retention, graduation rates, and post-graduate placement in graduate studies or the workforce within one year of degree completion. The scope of this project is inspired by a successful pedagogical experiment originally developed at Brandeis University, which found that a closed-cohort model focused on STEM study led to enhanced retention and persistence to degree completion, especially among students from groups that are not equitably represented in STEM. The project will track the progress of Scholars alongside peer STEM cohorts in a traditional STEM curriculum. This analysis will be designed to examine the impact of navigating a series of courses as members of a close-knit cohort in which all participants actively and purposefully engage in a common interdisciplinary general education core that culminates in a community-based research project and a capstone research experience. The effectiveness of the innovative curriculum on learning, motivation, and persistence toward degree completion will be evaluated, with attention to identifying elements that correlate with improvements in learning and retention. Throughout the five-year project, an independent external evaluator will examine and document project outcomes, accomplishments, and lessons learned using a combination of online surveys, interviews, and participant data. If the project is successful, the University intends to sustain and expand the positive outcomes of this initiative beyond the grant term, extending its broader impacts within the University. Lessons learned from the project will be shared through presentations at regional and national higher education conferences, as well as discipline-specific professional conferences, thereby extending the broader impacts of the project beyond the University. 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.

该项目将通过支持具有验证财务需求的高分，低收入学生的保留和毕业，以支持熟练的科学家，数学家和技术人员的国家需求。该项目由佛罗里达州中部的四年制私立大学Stetson University领导。这项为期五年的项目将为32名不同的全日制学生提供科学，他们正在攻读生物化学，化学，计算机科学，环境科学，数学，分子生物学或物理学学士学位。将招募两个年度的16名学生，每个学生将获得多达四年的科学支持。该项目旨在通过让学生同伙参加新颖的跨学科课程来提高学位完成。该课程将强调同伴交往，基于项目的学习，社区伙伴关系，数学解决问题技能，技术素养以及专业写作和演示技巧。学者还将获得心理，辅导和职业咨询。招聘计划强调了确定来自潜水员人群的准确，低收入学生的重要性，从而扩大了获得STEM教育机会的机会。该项目的总体目标是增加茎学位的完成，以证明财务需求，使低收入，高成就的大学生的本科生完成。该项目的具体目的包括增加学者在研究生学习或学位完成后的一年内提高学者的第一年保留率，毕业率和研究生的毕业生。该项目的范围是受Brandeis University最初开发的成功的教学实验的启发，该实验发现，专注于STEM研究的封闭模型导致了对程度完成的保留和持久性的增强，尤其是在STEM中并非同样代表的群体的学生中。该项目将在传统的STEM课程中跟踪学者与同伴茎队的进步。该分析将旨在研究导航的一系列课程的影响，这是一个紧密联系的队列的成员，在该课程中，所有参与者都积极地有目的地参与了一个共同的跨学科通识教育核心，该核心最终在基于社区的研究项目和Capstone研究经验中达到顶峰。将评估创新课程对学习，动机和持久性完成的有效性，并注意确定与学习和保留的改善相关的要素。通过五年的项目，一个独立的外部评估将使用在线调查，访谈和参与数据的组合来检查和记录项目成果，成就和经验教训。如果该项目成功，大学将打算维持和扩大该计划的积极成果，超出授予期限，从而扩大其在大学内的广泛影响。从项目中学到的经验教训将通过区域和国家高等教育会议的演讲以及特定于纪律的专业会议分享，从而将项目的广播公司影响扩大到大学之外。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，该计划旨在增加在STEM领域赢得学位的经济需求的准确治疗的低收入学生的数量。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，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准通过评估来通过评估来获得支持的。