HSI Pilot Project: Investigating Impact of an Active Learning-informed and Creative-Video-based Psychosocial Enrichment Intervention on Retention of Hispanic Engineering Students

Texas A&M International University, Laredo TX

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the National Science Foundation's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 1 project aims to research active learning techniques to improve the engineering retention rate of Hispanic students at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted classrooms to virtual learning modes, which negatively impacted the retention of many of our undergraduate students. Student success has always been a challenge for minority students in STEM fields and is even more so for TAMIU's at-risk student population. With these challenges, the project will provide engineering students with meaningful video-based learning and group-based activities to facilitate learning. Social and video interactions will be designed to benefit women and minorities, as almost 90% of TAMIU students are Hispanic, and more than half are female. Simultaneously, the project will study the effect and success of an evidence-based STEM enrichment program that can be implemented at other minority-serving institutions. The Project's specific aim is to improve the persistence, completion, and graduation of Hispanic, under-represented, and low-income students pursuing undergraduate engineering degrees. The Project's research strategy will combine a randomized controlled trial design, a path-analytic approach, and a longitudinal approach, and will engage two cohorts of freshman engineering students. Each cohort will be equally divided into two groups, one with creative video projects and the other without creative video projects, in a 2-semester enrichment program. This intervention will be applied to two existing gateway engineering courses with low retention rates. The Project team includes experts from engineering, psychology, and sociology. The success of this project will generate insights into how psychosocial outcomes facilitate the impact of our intervention on engineering student retention and timely graduation. Findings will be disseminated through local, state, national, and international conferences and forums; manuscripts will be submitted for publication in engineering education, cognitive psychology, and sociology of science journals. This project will advance understanding and generate insights on how active learning strategies can further enhance learning and improve engagement, retention, completion, and persistence in undergraduate engineering education. The 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 strategic 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.