An Integrative Science Success, Teaching and Retention Program for STEM Education

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is implementing a number of activities to improve success of STEM students in the early years of their undergraduate programs, as a foundation for increased graduation rates. First, a local variant of Peer-Led-Team Learning (PLTL) already developed for chemistry is being employed to deepen students' understanding of concepts in introductory mathematics and physics. Second, a focus on enabling students to transition successfully through their second year studies cultivates professional skills such as communication, interdisciplinary teamwork, professionalism, and awareness of life-long learning needs and opportunities. Third, an alternative teaching certification academy expands the academic horizons of a selected cadre of sophomore and junior students by allowing them to explore opportunities in science education careers. Fourth, a readily accessible, on-line tutoring portal with Flash-video and other asynchronous and synchronous resources is being created to support current and future peer leaders and teachers and to provide the means to disseminate scholarly activities. The intellectual merit of the project lies in its unified curriculum reform effort that builds on an established pedagogical best practice (PLTL) and concomitant support structures and activities that promote improved retention. In addition, the project expects to contribute to scholarly research in education by i) identifying and analyzing factors that influence the transferability of a successful implementation of a PLTL variant in one discipline to other key disciplines in the introductory STEM education experience, and by ii) investigating how the systematic implementation of this pedagogical strategy in gateway coursework improves the overall retention, success, and graduation of STEM students. The project's broader impacts are felt through the collaboration of three academic units, the College of Science, the College of Engineering, and the College of Education, which promotes not only increased retention and expected graduation rates among students pursuing STEM degrees, but also among students preparing for future science and mathematics teaching careers. Moreover, the project expects to have an important impact on the diversity of the STEM work force through its goal of increasing the six-year STEM graduation rate to 50 percent by 2015. (For Hispanic-majority institutions located in the Southwest, the six-year graduation rate is closer to 25 percent.) This goal translates into an increase in the number of baccalaureate degrees conferred in STEM disciplines by 2010 to 600 per annum, of which over two-thirds are Hispanic students.