Building Resilience and Engaging in Achievement through Collaborative, Holistic Programming in STEM

通过 STEM 中的协作、整体规划来增强韧性并取得成就

• 批准号: 2221224
• 负责人: Laura Strausberg
• 金额: $ 101.83万
• 依托单位: Wesleyan College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-15 至 2029-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221224&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Building; Resilience; Engaging; Achievement; through

This project aims to answer 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. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 21 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, neuroscience, and applied mathematical science. First-year students, particularly students who attend rural high schools in the region, will receive scholarships for four years. Scholarships will begin at $6,500 in Year 1 and incrementally increase to $8,000 in Year 4 based on financial need. Additionally, students will receive summer scholarships of $2,000 during Years 2-4 for those scholars who opt to take six credits of summer courses for academic advancement or recovery. Informed by the research literature, institutional data, and student survey data, the curricular and co-curricular supports include implementation of mathematics support in early gateway STEM courses through co-requisite pre-calculus courses; a summer bridge program; development and support of mindfulness practices by scholars that include self-visualization; robust faculty mentoring; peer tutoring; micro-credentials; networking; undergraduate research experiences and internships; and placement into student cohorts. Recognizing the importance of financial support and a robust system of academic and co-curricular support and cohorts, the design of project activities and strategies respond to the impact of COVID-19 on secondary and post-secondary education. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need at Wesleyan College, a small liberal arts college for women. Four objectives provide a framework for the project to achieve its goal. First is the recruitment and enrollment of 21 low-income academically talented female undergraduate scholars in biology, neuroscience, and applied mathematical science. Second is the retention of 71% of the scholars in their STEM majors from their first to second year. Third is meeting a graduation target of 67% of scholars in STEM and ensuring that 79% of the graduating scholars enter into the STEM workforce or graduate studies in STEM. Fourth, and finally, is investigation into the efficacy of the proposed strategies and activities to influence student success and the influence of mindfulness practices in reducing stress overall and specifically in gateway mathematics courses. To support and inform project implementation and contribute to a deep understanding of psychosocial factors influencing student success, a mixed methods evaluation and research study will be conducted using quantitative and qualitative research methods for project improvement (formative evaluation), accountability (summative evaluation), and knowledge generation. Findings resulting from this project will be disseminated throughout the Wesleyan College community; statewide conferences for mathematics teachers; local, regional, state, and national conferences focused on curricular and co-curricular innovation (e.g., First Year Experience, undergraduate research experiences, education of women students); and research conferences on education. 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.

该项目旨在通过支持具有表现出的财务需求的高分，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，工程师和技术的国家需求。在六年的持续时间内，该项目将为21名独特的全日制学生提供奖学金，这些学生正在攻读生物学，神经科学和应用数学科学学士学位。一年级的学生，特别是该地区大约高中的学生，将获得四年的奖学金。奖学金的成价为1年的6,500美元，并根据财务需求逐渐增加到4,000美元。此外，对于那些选择参加六个学分的夏季课程以进行学术发展或恢复的学者，学生将获得2 - 4年的夏季科学。在研究文献，机构数据和学生调查数据的信息中，课程和课外支持包括通过共同条件的前账目课程在早期网关STEM课程中实施数学支持；夏季桥梁计划；包括自我视觉化的学者对正念实践的发展和支持；强大的教师指导；同行辅导；微观奖励；联网;本科研究经验和实习；并安置在学生队列中。认识到财政支持的重要性以及强大的学术和课外支持和同伙的系统，项目活动和策略的设计应对Covid-19对中学和大专教育的影响。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入，高成就的大学生的茎学位完成，并在卫斯理学院（卫斯理学院（Wesleyan College）表现出财务上的需求，这是一所小型女性文科学院。四个对象为项目实现其目标提供了一个框架。首先是招募和入学21种低收入才华横溢的女性本科生在生物学，神经科学和应用数学科学领域。第二是从第一年到第二年，将71％的学者保留在其STEM专业中。第三是达到STEM中67％的学者的毕业目标，并确保79％的毕业学者进入STEM劳动力或STEM研究生研究。第四，最后是对拟议策略和活动的效率的调查，以影响学生的成功，以及正念实践在减轻整体压力，特别是在Gateway数学课程中的压力方面的影响。为了支持和告知项目实施，并有助于对心理社会因素的深刻理解影响学生的成功，将使用定量和定性研究方法进行项目改进（形成性评估），问责制（总结评估）和知识产生的混合方法评估和研究。该项目产生的发现将在整个卫斯理学院社区中传播；全州数学教师会议；本地，地区，州和国家会议的重点是当前和课外创新（例如，第一年的经验，本科研究经验，女学生的教育）；以及有关教育的研究会议。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证明经济需求的低收入学术才华的学生人数，他们在STEM领域获得了学位。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。