Building Capacity for Student Success in Science and Math: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Professional Engagement

Texas Lutheran University, Seguin TX

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to incorporate culturally relevant teaching methods into baccalaureate degree programs in Biology, Mathematics, and Physics. These disciplines have well-documented opportunities to improve recruitment and education of undergraduate STEM students from diverse populations. Texas Lutheran University, a small liberal arts HSI, aims to increase STEM students’ retention, persistence and success in these disciplines. To achieve this aim, the project will use an integrated approach that combines faculty development in culturally relevant teaching, early engagement of STEM students in faculty-mentored research, outreach experiences, and family engagement. The project will examine the hypothesis that engaging students in early research experiences will increase retention, graduation, and post-graduation career success. The project seeks to improve the academic performance and increase the number of undergraduate students who earn STEM degrees, particularly students from underrepresented groups. The project focuses on the critical transition from high school into rigorous college or university STEM degree programs. The project plans to improve success of students through this transition by integrating STEM curricula with the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, including identity formation, social justice and equity, and understanding of cultural biases and barriers. The project will study the effect of this integration on STEM undergraduate student retention and success. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed to understand the influence of curricular, co- curricular, and extracurricular interventions on retention and graduation. It is anticipated that these results will identify highly effective combinations of practices for improving participation, persistence, and success of students in STEM disciplines, with attention to students from underrepresented groups. Data collection methods will include surveys, focus groups, interviews, and review of institutional metrics. Comparative data from participants involved in the project’s interventions and non-participating students will be used for analysis, with the goal of identifying correlations and possible causative relationships that impact students’ epistemological and identity development, and their overall success in STEM. The project expects that its model of student supports can be used or adapted by other institutions that intend to increase STEM student success. The findings and insights from this work have the potential to generate knowledge about how to include diverse students in science careers and also about how to increase the cultural awareness of all students. This HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. 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.