Collaborative Research: The Role of Co-curricular Service and Outreach Activities on Persistence and Success for Undergraduate Physics Students

合作研究：课外服务和外展活动对物理本科生坚持和成功的作用

• 批准号: 2214493
• 负责人: Tatiana Erukhimova
• 金额: $ 18.47万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M 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: 2022-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214493&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Role; Co; curricular

This project aims to serve the national interest by studying how undergraduate student participation in informal physics outreach programs for K-12 students affects their success as physics majors. Significant research efforts have focused on improving retention in STEM in formal educational settings, such as the classroom or laboratory, while the impact of student participation in informal physics outreach programs remains unclear. Prior work suggests that improving students' sense of belonging, defined by the feeling of being valued and accepted as a legitimate member of their chosen scientific discipline can reduce attrition rates and increase resilience, particularly among students from underrepresented populations. Participating in outreach experiences may develop skills and abilities beyond the focus of formal education, including communication, teamwork, and creativity. The American Physical Society and American Association of Physics Teachers have identified these skills as a high priority for physics programs to prepare students for 21st century careers. Thsi project intends to conduct a national survey of undergraduate physics majors to assess student engagement in informal physics programs and to study how the engagement is related to student success factors. The analysis of survey results should inform a set of best-practice recommendations for physics departments for improving outreach programs and transforming culture to help students succeed.This project plans to study the impact of informal, co-curricular physics outreach programs, which are often designed and facilitated by undergraduate students, on students’ physics identity, retention and persistence, sense of belonging, and the development of 21st century career skills. Data will be collected via a survey instrument distributed to physics programs at US colleges and universities. This project intends to create and validate a new survey instrument with closed and open-ended questions to probe students’ perceived value of the outreach experience and its impact on measures of confidence, sense of community, ability to work in teams, competence in communicating science, perceptions of ability to develop creative solutions to problems and perceived impact of experiential and collaborative learning on physics knowledge. The survey will be given to undergraduate students across the US through the existing network of active Society of Physics Students chapters, creating a large dataset that allows for an objective examination of how outreach programs support undergraduate student populations, including those traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Analysis of the survey responses will explore the relationship of outreach activities to physics identity including internal and external recognition as a member of the physics community, interest and motivation in physics, beliefs related to performance and competency within physics, confidence and physics self-efficacy, and desire to persist in the field, as well as acquisition and development of career skills important to 21st century careers. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This project is also supported by the NSF IUSE:HSI program, which has the goals of enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education, and increasing the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM.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.

该项目旨在通过研究学生在非正式物理外展计划中为K-12学生的非正式物理外展计划如何影响他们作为物理学专业的成功来满足国家利益。重大的研究工作集中在改善在课堂或实验室等正规教育环境中STEM的保留率，而学生参与非正式物理外展计划的影响尚不清楚。先前的工作表明，提高学生的归属感，这是由被评估和接受为合法成员的科学学科的合法成员所定义的，可以降低属性率并提高韧性，尤其是在代表性不足人群的学生中。参加外展经验可能会发展超出正规教育重点的技能和能力，包括沟通，团队合作和创造力。美国物理学会和美国物理学协会教师将这些技能确定为物理学计划的重点，以使学生为21世纪的职业做好准备。 THSI项目打算对本科生专业的全国性调查进行评估学生参与非正式物理计划的参与，并研究参与与学生成功因素的关系。对调查结果的分析应为物理部门提供一系列最佳实践建议，以改善外展计划并改造文化以帮助学生成功。该项目计划研究非正式的，课外物理学外展计划的影响，这些计划通常由本科生，学生对物理学身份，保留和默默无闻，统一和属于21世纪的职业生涯的效果经常设计和支持。数据将通过分发给美国大学物理计划的调查工具收集。该项目旨在创建和验证具有封闭和开放式问题的新调查工具，以探讨学生对推广经验的感知价值及其对信心，社区意识，团队工作能力的影响，在团队中工作的能力，交流科学能力，交流科学的能力，对问题的创造性解决方案的能力以及对经验的影响以及对体验的影响和对物理学知识的协作影响的能力。这项调查将通过现有的主动物理学专业学生章节的现有网络向美国各地的本科生提供，创建了一个大型数据集，该数据集可以客观地检查外展计划如何支持本科生群体，包括传统上代表性不足的STEM的人群。对调查反应的分析将探讨外展活动与物理身份的关系，包括内部和外部认可作为物理学界的成员，有趣的和动机，物理学，与物理学和能力有关的信念，信心和能力相关，自信和物理效能感以及对领域的持续存在，以及对21个世纪护理人员的收购和职业技能重要。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习轨道，该计划支持有希望的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。 NSF IUSE：HSI计划也支持该项目，该计划的目标是提高本科STEM教育的质量，并提高招聘，保留和毕业率的学生在STEM中攻读合伙人或学士学位的学生。该奖项在NSF的法定任务中均通过评估委员会的支持，这表明了NSF的奖励的依据，这一奖项被认为是众所周知的Intelliquia interial and Intelliation and Foundic and Founlitia and Founlitial and Founlitial and Founlitial and Founlitial and Founlitial and Founlitial and Founlitial。