A Research-based Intensive Summer Bridge to Build STEM Identity and Retention in Incoming Community College Students

Seattle Community College District Office, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the initial retention of first-generation students and students from historically marginalized populations in STEM pathways at North Seattle College, an urban two-year college. Given the disproportionately large role two-year colleges play in educating these student populations, these types of efforts are urgently needed if we are to truly broaden participation in STEM and unleash the full potential of the nation's aspiring STEM students. The central component of the project, a Track 1 project in the Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education (ITYC) program, is the iterative design and implementation of an intensive, research-based, week-long summer bridge program for incoming STEM students. The summer bridge program will create thoughtfully supported opportunities for students to conduct authentic research at the interface of air quality and social justice in their own communities. The project will iteratively design, implement, and assess a week-long summer bridge experience while directly supporting the success of 60 aspiring STEM students. It will advance knowledge about how best to ensure that incoming STEM students start their journeys with a strong sense of belonging and identity, essential skills and institutional knowledge, and a supportive peer group. The small-scale research projects embedded in the bridge week will both build essential skills in incoming students and provide rich opportunities to build STEM identity and belongingness. Importantly, the proposed bridge programming includes an array of evidence-based interventions to address common psychosocial barriers, such as stereotype threat and imposter phenomenon, known to contribute to attrition in STEM pathways. Regular cohort meetings and faculty mentoring in the year following the bridge experience will help reinforce and maintain the sense of community and STEM identity in the participants. Together these activities will help the project achieve its first goal: strengthening participants' STEM identity and increasing their rate of retention by 50%. The project is supported by a substantive collaboration with an experienced external evaluator to help in both an evaluation and research capacity by conducting a mixed methods analysis of the participants' experience. This collaboration will allow the project leadership to more rigorously explore the impact of the bridge program on participants' sense of belonging and identity. The team is committed to thoughtfully disseminating both their model and results in order to achieve their second goal: contributing to the growing and essential body of knowledge that helps us better understand and meet the needs of students pursuing STEM degrees at two-year colleges. The NSF IUSE: Innovation in Two-Year College STEM Education (ITYC) Program seeks to accelerate the impact of and advance knowledge about emerging and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges. 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.