STEM Excellence in Engineering Equity (SEEE)

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2) While rural students are now graduating from high school at rates comparable to their urban and suburban peers, they continue to fall behind in pursuing postsecondary education, including engineering courses and programs. The STEM Excellence in Engineering Equity (SEEE) project will develop and pilot a model for recruiting and retaining rural high school students that can be replicated in other contexts. The project partners, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), the STEM Equity Initiative (a nonprofit), and RTI International will design, implement, and evaluate a secondary professional development program and faculty learning communities that guide educators in integrating evidence-based engineering content, pedagogical practice, and educational equity indicators with demonstrated application in high school science, technology engineering or math (STEM) classrooms. The SEEE program will integrate a hands-on, high school engineering curriculum (INSPIRES – INcreasing Student Participation, Interest & Recruitment in Engineering and Science) with research-based and practitioner-tested equity content to improve educators’ ability to create Equitable Learning Environments (ELE) that better serve the social, emotional, and cultural needs of every student. The N.E.I.R. (Normalizing, Empowering, Inclusive, and Relevant) constructs will provide criteria and indicators that can be tailored and prioritized to address the root causes impacting underrepresented (UR) populations in rural schools, which may include gender biases, low family income, and shifting race/ethnicity in communities. Through the seamless integration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content with N.E.I.R. constructs, teachers can help UR students develop an interest in engineering in high school and the resilience to pursue courses, programs, or postsecondary engineering education. Working with an advisory board of experts in rural and engineering education, this project will further the design and development of the N.E.I.R. constructs and their integration into STEM content. The research design will examine (1) implementation usability and feasibility and (2) SEEE’s potential to influence the capacity of educators to build and sustain ELEs to improve rural students’ engagement and interest in engineering. The specific objectives include: 1. Create the SEEE professional development program by integrating the four research-based and practitioner-tested educational equity constructs for the classroom into the INSPIRES Engineering Energy Solutions professional development curriculum. 2. Train 30 school STEM teachers, leaders and community members from two rural PA high schools from Beaver County, PA through a 3.5-day training to prepare them for pilot implementation. 3. Pilot the SEEE professional development training workshops, followed by the launch of Faculty Learning Communities to providing ongoing support as the teachers implement the equitable, hands-on STEM content. 4. Identify and train four Pitt engineering students from rural backgrounds to co-facilitate the Faculty Learning Communities, serve as role models/mentors for high school students, and provide coaching for teachers who are delivering the program. 5. Assess participating educators’ perceptions of the usability and feasibility of the SEEE professional development program for developing ELEs. 6. Develop a SEEE professional development manual and materials for sustaining and scaling the program for future iterations and further research. 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.