Connecting Science Identity to STEM Success at a Rural Primarily Undergraduate Institution Propelled by an Evidence-Based First Year Experience

Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Indiana Wesleyan University. Over its seven-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 24 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, or physics. First year students will receive four-year scholarships. Students will be intentionally supported with STEM-oriented best practices to increase first year student retention and degree completion. The program support begins with a two semester first year experience (FYE) course to intentionally develop science identity in first year students through peer mentorship, vision-building industry field trips, research talks from upperclassmen peers and context-based curriculum paralleling common conceptual sticking points in a challenging first year course taken by all STEM majors, General Chemistry. Students will be introduced to undergraduate research and attend conferences to present their work and engage the greater research community over four years. Mapping the impact of these best practices such as mentorship, research, and context-based learning on the development of science identity at a rural primarily undergraduate institution has potential to inform future efforts to increase student retention, graduation, and desire to enter the STEM workforce. Better understanding of scaffolding that grows science identity in first year students and beyond can be implemented as a scalable STEM FYE pathway for all undergraduate STEM programs. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The IWU S-STEM program will recruit and support 24 first year students majoring in biochemistry, biology, chemistry, or physics to form three STEM scholar cohorts. Best practice student supports will be implemented to increase student retention and success during the first year on to degree completion. Transitioning to an undergraduate STEM major results in the freshman year being the point of highest attrition for STEM majors. A student’s sense of science identity and feelings of self-efficacy are understood to predict student retention and success, however the impact of interventions on these measures merits further study. This project will study the effectiveness of student interventions on the development of science identity and feelings of self-efficacy and will advance the understanding of how these measures correlate with student retention and success in STEM majors. The results of this project will be shared with the broader STEM education community. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. 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.