Bridging the STEM Gap in Appalachia: Engaging with students to iteratively improve faculty practices in support of student success

缩小阿巴拉契亚地区的 STEM 差距：与学生互动，不断改进教师实践，支持学生取得成功

• 批准号: 2130106
• 负责人: Robert Niichel
• 金额: $ 74.97万
• 依托单位: Fairmont State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-15 至 2028-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2130106&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bridging; STEM; Gap; Appalachia; Engaging

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Fairmont State University (FSU) in West Virginia. The project will support students through a combination of financial assistance and curricular and co-curricular support. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to eighteen (18) unique high-achieving, low-income undergraduate majors in the STEM disciplines at the University. Additional support will include a STEM bootcamp for incoming students, a first-year STEM seminar course, opportunities for research experiences, STEM living and learning community availability, and regular interactions with faculty and peer mentors. Career placement initiatives will be incorporated and will include networking seminars with local and regional industries. A professional development program will be put in place for faculty and peer mentors. Recruiting efforts will include a focus on a 15-county region in Appalachia that will be accompanied by an innovative and flexible two-tier selection process to allow for the identification of low-income, highly-talented STEM students who might not have met traditional metrics related to high school success. To increase retention and STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to adapt and implement evidence-based curricular and co-curricular strategies for systematically supporting student academic and career pathways to success. Second is to implement, test, and study through project evaluation an innovative model for recruiting and selecting highly-talented STEM students who might otherwise go unnoticed based on traditional metrics for high school success. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base to help guide other colleges to implement similar programs successfully. Fourth is to integrate the project with local industries to improve career preparation and job placement, directly filling needs in the region. And fifth is to incorporate a networking process with industry, high schools, and other colleges to disseminate outcomes and findings related to project challenges and successes, in particular to other institutions working to support low-income STEM students. Insights and outcomes from a mixed methods evaluation will generate new knowledge on which aspects of the project's support interventions, or combination of interventions, are most effective for retention, engagement, academic performance, and overall success of students. The lines of investigation will address gaps in the literature and inform other higher-education professionals seeking to support students with a combination of curricular and co-curricular interventions, especially for students from rural regions who are underrepresented in STEM. 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.

该项目将通过支持在西弗吉尼亚州的费尔蒙特州立大学（FSU）的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，以支持受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的国家需求。该项目将通过财政援助以及课程和课外支持的结合来为学生提供支持。在六年的持续时间内，该项目将在大学的STEM学科中为十八（18）个独特的高分，低收入本科专业的奖学金提供资金。额外的支持将包括针对新来学生的STEM训练营，第一年的STEM开创性课程，研究经验的机会，STEM生活和学习社区的可用性以及与教师和同伴导师的定期互动。职业安置计划将合并，并将包括与本地和地区行业的网络开创性。将为教师和同伴导师制定专业发展计划。招聘工作将包括关注阿巴拉契亚一个15个县区的地区，该地区将通过创新且灵活的两层选择过程来完成，以允许识别低收入，高度高的STEM学生，他们可能没有遇到与高中成功有关的传统指标。为了提高低收入，高成就的本科生的保留和茎学位的完成，该项目将追求几个目标。首先是适应和实施基于证据的现代和课外策略，以系统地支持学生的学术和职业途径。其次是通过项目评估实施，测试和研究一种创新模型，用于招募和选择高度的STEM学生，否则他们可能会根据传统的指标忽略了高中成功的指标。第三是为知识库做出贡献，以帮助指导其他大学成功实施类似的计划。第四是将项目与当地行业融合在一起，以改善职业准备和工作安置，直接满足该地区的需求。第五是将网络流程与行业，高中和其他大学合并，以传播与项目挑战和成功有关的结果和发现，尤其是与其他旨在支持低收入STEM学生的机构。从混合方法评估中获得的见解和结果将产生有关项目支持干预措施的哪些方面或干预措施的组合，最有效地对学生的保留，参与，学习成绩以及学生的整体成功是最有效的。投资渠道将解决文献中的差距，并告知其他高等教育的专业人员，他们寻求通过课程和课外干预的结合来支持学生，尤其是对于来自STEM中代表性不足的粗糙地区的学生。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领域获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，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来诚实地通过评估来诚实地支持。