BCSER: IID: Using Social Network Analysis to Evaluate the Impact of Communities on Engineering Majors

BCSER：IID：利用社交网络分析评估社区对工程专业的影响

• 批准号: 2400680
• 负责人: Geraldine Cochran
• 金额: $ 21.72万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 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: 2023-10-01 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2400680&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BCSER; IID; Using; Social; Network

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving retention among first-year engineering majors. Research shows that many students who plan to major in engineering leave the field after their first year in college. This attrition is particularly true for women students and students from ethnic or racial groups that are underrepresented in STEM. The low retention rates are disturbing, since the nation has a growing need to increase its engineering workforce. Strategies known to support retention of engineering students include student engagement in a learning community and access to strong social networks. This research project will investigate how students participate in and experience engineering communities in their first year of college. Specifically, the study will use Social Network Analysis to quantify the relationship between engagement in engineering communities and retention for first year engineering students. Potential implications of this research include a better understanding of how to design the first-year experience of engineering majors to promote the development of community and, thus, promote greater persistence in the major. The overarching goal of this study is to address the performance inequities in introductory STEM courses by creating more inclusive spaces that support students’ academic development. Previous research indicates a connection among learning communities, student engagement, social networks, and academic performance. Social Network Analysis provides a method for quantitatively describing these relationships. The goals of this project are to a) assess equity and inclusion in learning spaces for engineering students, including classrooms, b) quantify engineering students' access to social capital through peer networks in introductory courses, c) determine if access to social capital is a predictor for engineering students' academic success, and d) understand the relationships between student connection to the engineering community and their first-year experience in the engineering program. More specifically, the research focuses on students from marginalized or minoritized groups, including ethnic/racial minorities, women, first generation college students, and transfer students. The research objective is to determine if students from these groups have the same centrality within the community as other students. Centrality is a measure of connectedness, or how well the student is positioned within the community to give and receive information. The project will also determine if centrality in a community is a predictor of engineering students' academic success as determined by performance on concept inventories, overall course performance, and declaration of an engineering subdiscipline. This project is supported through the EHR Core Research: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) competition that is designed to build individuals’ capacity to carry out high-quality, fundamental STEM education research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.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.

该项目旨在通过提高工程专业一年级学生的保留率来服务国家利益。 研究表明，许多计划主修工程的学生在大学一年级后就离开了该领域，这种情况对于女学生和来自其他国家的学生来说尤其如此。在 STEM 中代表性不足的族裔或种族群体令人不安，因为国家越来越需要增加工程人员的数量，已知的支持工程学生留存的策略包括学生参与学习社区和获得强大的社交机会。该研究项目将调查网络。具体来说，该研究将使用社交网络分析来量化工程社区参与度与一年级工程学生保留率之间的关系。这项研究的潜在意义包括更好地理解。本研究的首要目标是通过创造更具包容性的空间来解决 STEM 入门课程中的表现不平等问题。支持学生的学术发展。研究表明学习社区、学生参与度、社交网络和学业成绩之间存在联系，社交网络分析提供了一种定量描述这些关系的方法，该项目的目标是：a) 评估工程专业学生学习空间的公平性和包容性。包括课堂，b) 量化工程专业学生通过入门课程中的同伴网络获得社会资本的机会，c) 确定获得社会资本的机会是否是工程专业学生学业成功的预测因素，以及 d) 了解学生与工程专业之间的关系社区及其第一年的工程项目经验。更具体地说，该研究重点关注边缘化或少数群体的学生，包括少数族裔/种族、女性、第一代大学生和转学生。研究目标是确定这些群体的学生在社区中是否具有相同的中心地位。中心性是对联系性的衡量，或者是学生在社区中提供和接收信息的地位的衡量标准。该项目还将确定社区中的中心性是否是工程专业学生学业成功的预测因素（由表现决定）。概念清单、整体课程表现和声明该项目得到 EHR 核心研究：STEM 教育研究能力建设（ECR：BCSER）竞赛的支持，该竞赛旨在培养个人在 STEM 学习和学习中开展高质量、基础 STEM 教育研究的能力。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。