Supporting Academic Excellence in STEM Through Instructional and Co-curricular Practices

The project aims to serve the national interest by implementing evidence-based instructional and co-curricular practices designed to foster student success, persistence, and completion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs at a two-year community and technical college. Importantly, this Track 1 project will support the establishment and sustainability of Undergraduate Research Experiences (UREs) and Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for all students and across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs at the Minnesota Community and Technical College that serves diverse group of students.

The project integrates faculty professional development with opportunities to learn about and engage in the evidence-based practices of undergraduate research. The project team values faculty's crucial role in fostering both curricular and co-curricular innovation. Therefore, they will invest time and resources into faculty professional development activities focused on enhancing these opportunities and building on the strengths of faculty while meeting the institution's mission and teaching culture.

Recognizing the teaching-oriented mission of two-year institutions, the team will also respond to the importance of providing faculty and students with opportunities to engage in research, which has been demonstrated to foster student interest in STEM along with deep learning and critical thinking, increase knowledge of and skills in STEM particularly valuable for success in upper-level courses, and facilitate student persistence, transfer, and completion.

The aims of the project are (1) increase and improve awareness of UREs and CUREs at the institution; (2) develop a mentoring program to assist faculty with creating and implementing UREs and CUREs for all students; and (3) assessing the efficacy of the effort. Building on existing institutional supports for faculty and students, the project team will (a) align its efforts to engage and challenge scholars, creating well-prepared transfer students to support Minnesota STEM Transfer Pathway programs; (b) create UREs and CUREs as permanent and sustainable components of STEM programs; (c) collaborate with national undergraduate research initiatives; (d) provide faculty support workshops that include financial incentives and resources; (e) establish a mentoring support system for faculty; and (f) provide UREs and CUREs opportunities with financial support for students engaged in selected UREs and CUREs.

Results from a survey rooted in Diffusion of Innovations theory will guide interventions targeted to the perceived barriers and motivators of faculty. A mixed methods investigation will focus on factors that encourage faculty to engage in curricular/co-curricular innovation and factors that hinder implementation and sustainability. The NSF IUSE: Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education (ITYC) Program seeks to accelerate the impact of and advance knowledge about emerging and evidence-based practices to undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges.

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.