A Comprehensive Model for Improving the Success of STEM Majors through the STEM Center

Sam Houston State University, Huntsville TX

Investigators

Abstract

In 2012, the "Engage to Excel" report from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) declared a national need for an additional one million college graduates in STEM fields over the next decade. The 40% retention rate among STEM majors nationally presents a major hurdle to meeting this need. The goal of this project is to increase the number and quality of STEM graduates by adapting and combining three proven approaches. The first, aimed at students who intend to pursue STEM majors at the outset of their college careers, will prepare students for success in STEM coursework by creating community among participants; developing necessary reading, note-taking, and time-management skills; reinforcing fundamental concepts in mathematics; and helping students understand their individual approaches to effective learning. The second approach will expand the use of effective, evidence-based teaching methods across STEM disciplines. The third approach will engage students in research in a course early in their college careers. The project's components will form a comprehensive model for increasing the quality and quantity of STEM graduates that can be replicated and sustained across many institutions. The STEM Center at Sam Houston State University will integrate and improve upon tested interventions for retaining students in STEM. Using methods and materials developed by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the project team will create an immersive summer experience for entering STEM majors, "Frameworks and Foundations," to focus on frameworks of field-specific skills for collegiate success and foundations of STEM content in mathematics, chemistry, and engineering technology. The STEM Center will broaden the use of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) practices and Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) methods across STEM disciplines and degree programs. To specifically engage students in scientific practice, the project will embed a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in the STEM curriculum. This new research-focused course, which students will take as soon as they complete their first-year STEM coursework, will quickly prepare them to conduct meaningful scientific research on an original topic developed by each student along with an identified faculty mentor. This course will particularly target transfer students and those from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Although the project will utilize proven practices, its innovation mainly lies in its comprehensive approach. The project evaluation will add to the body of knowledge about the effectiveness of the interventions and, especially, their integration in this model. Elements of the evaluation will include measures of retention, course completion, and graduation; comparison of students taking IBL and POGIL courses with respect to gains in critical thinking skills, argumentation skills, academic performance, etc.; comparison of students' performance across disciplines to identify transferability of skills; comparison of learning outcomes of students who complete the "Frameworks" and "Foundations" courses with learning outcomes of students who do not; and surveys of students in the modified learning environments to examine perceived differences in teaching and learning strategies.