STEM Education Through Sophomore Innovation (SETSI)

Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park CA

Investigators

Abstract

Research has shown that STEM learning is enhanced when students' experiences are authentic and meaningful, e.g., when students see direct connections between what they learn and their own lived experiences and the surrounding community. During the last ten years there has been prolific growth of Makerspaces, hackerspaces, and Fab labs that are accessible to students and provide an environment that introduces students to methods and technologies that they can use to arrive at solutions relevant to society and their lives. This project aims to increase retention rates for college students majoring in STEM disciplines by creating a university "Makerspace" laboratory and an associated Sophomore Year Experience (SYE) course. The STEM-SYE course aims to develop specific skills, including technical skills, group collaboration, project design, planning and execution, and the ability to present and defend results. The project will impact sophomore STEM majors through three major program elements: 1) The design, creation, and implementation of a multi-disciplinary STEM sophomore-year experience course; 2) the creation of a campus Makerspace to support the proposed curriculum and to foster an inclusive community by providing learning and service opportunities; and 3) the improvement of the knowledge base for defining effective undergraduate STEM education. The education goal will be guided by two research questions: How does the developed innovative pedagogy impact students' motivation and retention in STEM fields? Do the skill sets introduced through low-cost campus Makerspaces lead to gains in students' future performance and career readiness? Education research conducted by the project team will measure the influence of the new course, and will provide formative input on the course development process, replicability and scalability. To document learning and retention gains from the program, external evaluators will quantify progress toward achieving specific learning outcomes and improving the retention and graduation rate of STEM students.