In the early 2000s, our primarily undergraduate, white institution (PUI/PWI), began recruiting and enrolling higher numbers of students of color and first-generation college students. However, like many of our peer institutions, our established pedagogies and mindsets did not provide these students an educational experience to enable them to persist and thrive in STEM. Realizing the need to systematically address our lack of inclusivity in science majors, in 2012 faculty from multiple disciplines developed the Science, Math, and Research Training (SMART) program. Here, we describe an educational innovation, originally funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, designed to support and retain students of color, first generation college students, and other students with marginalized identities in the sciences through a cohort-based, integrated, and inclusive first-year experience focused on community and sense of belonging. The SMART program engages first-year students with semester-long themed courses around “real world” problems of antibiotic resistance and viral infections while integrating the fields of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and an optional Computer Science component. In the decade since its inception, 97% of SMART students have graduated or are on track to graduate, with 80.9% of these students earning a major in a STEM discipline. Here, we present additional student outcomes since the initiation of this program, results of the student self-evaluative surveys SALG and CURE, and lessons we have learned from a decade of this educational experience.
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Implementing Mathematical Mindsets in a High School Mathematics Classroom
Mathematical mindset theory (Boaler, 2015) indicates student achievement in mathematics has the potential to improve, through the use of, student engagement, collaborative groups, and open-ended problem sets that allow students to discover their own understanding of mathematics. This presentation explores how and when I used methods of mathematical mindsets in my classroom, when it appeared that these types of lessons were not appropriate, and student reactions to lessons using mathematical mindsets versus lessons that did not incorporate this theoretical framework. Lessons learned are also explored.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1758371
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10100819
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- NSF Noyce Conference 2019
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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