There is a critical need for more students with engineering and computer science majors to enter
into, persist in, and graduate from four-year postsecondary institutions. Increasing the diversity
of the workforce by inclusive practices in engineering and science is also a profound identified
need. According to national statistics, the largest groups of underrepresented minority students in
engineering and science attend U.S. public higher education institutions. Most often, a large
proportion of these students come to colleges and universities with unique challenges and needs,
and are more likely to be first in their family to attend college. In response to these needs,
engineering education researchers and practitioners have developed, implemented and assessed
interventions to provide support and help students succeed in college, particularly in their first
year. These interventions typically target relatively small cohorts of students and can be managed
by a small number of faculty and staff. In this paper, we report on “work in progress” research in
a large-scale, first-year engineering and computer science intervention program at a public,
comprehensive university using multivariate comparative statistical approaches.
Large-scale intervention programs are especially relevant to minority serving institutions that
prepare growing numbers of students who are first in their family to attend college and who are
also under-resourced, financially. These students most often encounter academic difficulties and
come to higher education with challenging experiences and backgrounds. Our studied first-year
intervention program, first piloted in 2015, is now in its 5th year of implementation. Its
intervention components include: (a) first-year block schedules, (b) project-based introductory
engineering and computer science courses, (c) an introduction to mechanics course, which
provides students with the foundation needed to succeed in a traditional physics sequence, and
(d) peer-led supplemental instruction workshops for calculus, physics and chemistry courses.
This intervention study responds to three research questions: (1) What role does the first-year
intervention’s components play in students’ persistence in engineering and computer science
majors across undergraduate program years? (2) What role do particular pedagogical and cocurricular
support structures play in students’ successes? And (3) What role do various student
socio-demographic and experiential factors play in the effectiveness of first-year interventions?
To address these research questions and therefore determine the formative impact of the firstyear
engineering and computer science program on which we are conducting research, we have
collected diverse student data including grade point averages, concept inventory scores, and data
from a multi-dimensional questionnaire that measures students’ use of support practices across
their four to five years in their degree program, and diverse background information necessary to
determine the impact of such factors on students’ persistence to degree. Background data
includes students’ experiences prior to enrolling in college, their socio-demographic
characteristics, and their college social capital throughout their higher education experience. For
this research, we compared students who were enrolled in the first-year intervention program to
those who were not enrolled in the first-year intervention. We have engaged in cross-sectional
2
data collection from students’ freshman through senior years and employed multivariate
statistical analytical techniques on the collected student data.
Results of these analyses were interesting and diverse. Generally, in terms of backgrounds, our
research indicates that students’ parental education is positively related to their success in
engineering and computer science across program years. Likewise, longitudinally (across
program years), students’ college social capital predicted their academic success and persistence
to degree. With regard to the study’s comparative research of the first-year intervention, our
results indicate that students who were enrolled in the first-year intervention program as
freshmen continued to use more support practices to assist them in academic success across their
degree matriculation compared to students who were not in the first-year program. This suggests
that the students continued to recognize the value of such supports as a consequence of having
supports required as first-year students. In terms of students’ understanding of scientific or
engineering-focused concepts, we found significant impact resulting from student support
practices that were academically focused. We also found that enrolling in the first-year
intervention was a significant predictor of the time that students spent preparing for classes and
ultimately their grade point average, especially in STEM subjects across students’ years in
college. In summary, we found that the studied first-year intervention program has longitudinal,
positive impacts on students’ success as they navigate through their undergraduate experiences
toward engineering and computer science degrees.
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Student perceptions towards introductory lessons in R
Quantitative literacy is necessary to keep pace with the exponentially increasing magnitude of biological data and the complexity of statistical tools. However, statistical programming can cause anxiety in new learners and educators alike. In order to produce graduates that are well‐prepared for quantitative research, overcoming the initial hurdles associated with statistical programming is a must. Often, valuable class time is dedicated to teaching introductory concepts of statistical programming, leaving instructors short on time. Here we present an introductory tutorial to statistical programming in the language R. Our tutorial is easily customizable, self‐paced, and can be used in secondary through graduate level classrooms. Student questionnaire responses suggest that perceptions towards R became generally more favorable following an introduction to the program, with an increased likelihood of returning to R. Similar results were found across multiple formats for introducing statistical programming in R and suggest a tutorial‐style introduction is as effective as a series of lectures and computer exercises for altering student perceptions towards statistical programming for graduate students. Our tutorial provides a self‐paced introduction that covers basic programming in R and offers students an opportunity to learn the basic skills that often act as a roadblock to learning and utilizing more complex quantitative tools, while reserving class time for instruction.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10448186
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Natural Sciences Education
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2168-8273
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The drive to broaden equitable access to undergraduate research experiences has catalyzed the development and implementation of course‐based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Biology education has prioritized embedding CUREs in introductory labs, which are frequently taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Thus, a CURE GTA is expected not only to teach but also to support novice student researchers. We know little about how GTAs perform as research mentors in a CURE, or how the quality of their mentorship and support impacts undergraduate students. To address this gap in knowledge, we conducted a phenomenological study of an introductory biology CURE, interviewing 25 undergraduate students taught by nine different GTAs at a single institution. We used self‐determination theory to guide our exploration of how students' autonomous motivation to engage in a CURE is impacted by perceptions of GTA support. We found that highly motivated students were more likely to experience factors hypothesized to optimize motivation in the CURE, and to perceive that their GTA was highly supportive of these elements. Students with lower motivation were less likely to report engaging in fundamental elements of research offered in a CURE. Our findings suggest that GTAs directly impact students' motivation, which can, in turn, influence whether students perceive receiving the full research experience as intended in a CURE. We contend that practitioners who coordinate CUREs led by GTAs should therefore offer curated training that emphasizes supporting students' autonomous motivation in the course and engagement in the research. Our work suggests that GTAs may differ in their capacity to provide students with the support they need to receive and benefit from certain pedagogical practices. Future work assessing innovative approaches in undergraduate biology laboratory courses should continue to investigate potenital differential outcomes for students taught by GTAs.
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Abstract Background Implementing research-based teaching practices has been repeatedly cited as an important factor for student success in university mathematics courses. Many research-based practices increase the amount of student–student and/or student–instructor interaction. However, some instructors are hesitant to implement such practices because they anticipate their students reacting negatively to experiencing an interactive classroom. As part of a larger project studying introductory undergraduate mathematics courses in the United States, we investigated students’ perceptions of the helpfulness of various classroom characteristics, particularly those that require interaction.
Results From analyzing quantitative student data, we found that students reported interactive classroom characteristics (e.g., group work) as less prevalent than other classroom characteristics (e.g., lecture). Moreover, the students tended to regard characteristics that they reported experiencing often as helpful for their learning. From analyzing qualitative data from student focus groups, we found that students considered several indicators when identifying if a characteristic was helpful for their learning. In particular, students suggested that they can identify a characteristic as helpful for their learning when it supported them in solving assigned problems and understanding why the procedures work, earning good grades, building on their knowledge or applying it in different contexts, and teaching others.
Conclusions The key finding from our work is that students are likely to view classroom characteristics that they experience more often as more helpful for their learning and are less likely to view characteristics that they rarely experience as helpful for their learning. Students view the characteristics that they regularly experience as helping them to solve problems and understand why the procedures work, earn good grades, build on their knowledge or apply it in different contexts, and teach others. We discuss important implications for practice, policy, and research as it relates to both student and instructor buy-in for increasing interactions in class.
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Abstract Simulation models are increasingly used by ecologists to study complex, ecosystem‐scale phenomena, but integrating ecosystem simulation modeling into ecology undergraduate and graduate curricula remains rare. Engaging ecology students with ecosystem simulation models may enable students to conduct hypothesis‐driven scientific inquiry while also promoting their use of systems thinking, but it remains unknown how using hands‐on modeling activities in the classroom affects student learning. Here, we developed short (3‐hr) teaching modules as part of the Macrosystems EDDIE (Environmental Data‐Driven Inquiry & Exploration) program that engage students with hands‐on ecosystem modeling in the R statistical environment. We embedded the modules into in‐person ecology courses at 17 colleges and universities and assessed student perceptions of their proficiency and confidence before and after working with models. Across all 277 undergraduate and graduate students who participated in our study, completing one Macrosystems EDDIE teaching module significantly increased students' self‐reported proficiency, confidence, and likely future use of simulation models, as well as their perceived knowledge of ecosystem simulation models. Further, students were significantly more likely to describe that an important benefit of ecosystem models was their “ease of use” after completing a module. Interestingly, students were significantly more likely to provide evidence of systems thinking in their assessment responses about the benefits of ecosystem models after completing a module, suggesting that these hands‐on ecosystem modeling activities may increase students’ awareness of how individual components interact to affect system‐level dynamics. Overall, Macrosystems EDDIE modules help students gain confidence in their ability to use ecosystem models and provide a useful method for ecology educators to introduce undergraduate and graduate students to ecosystem simulation modeling using in‐person, hybrid, or virtual modes of instruction.
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Akerson, V. ; Sahin, I. (Ed.)The Texas A&M University (TAMU) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) office provided funding to the Texas A&M University College of Engineering to support student participation in the Engineering Learning Community Introduction to Research (ELCIR) program. ELCIR is a two-week, study abroad, research program implemented in a learning community pattern. ELCIR has three purposes: (1) to expose sophomores to research, (2) to introduce students to cultural differences and global challenges, and (3) to provide students with the basic tools to prepare them for future research involvement. Participation in the multi-term program, which takes place at TAMU and in the Yucatan Peninsula, is limited to first-generation college students and/or students from underrepresented populations. The external evaluator for TAMU System LSAMP developed a survey for students to complete after their participation in the ELCIR international experience. Survey questions were designed to identify the impact of participation in ELCIR on students and gather participant suggestions for improvement of future LSAMP-supported international research experiences. The evaluator compiled information gathered from 92 participants during five years of ELCIR programming. This paper describes the participants’ self-reports of experience with and continued interest in study abroad, interest in another similar experience, subsequent involvement with undergraduate research, and ELCIR’s impact on their confidence regarding international travel, their awareness of, interest in, and plans regarding graduate school, their educational or career plans, and interest in employment outside the United States. Interest in or increases in interest in international travel, study abroad programming, graduate school, and employment outside the United States were found. These findings can inform engineering education programming for first-generation and minority students, an area of national need, for institutions across the United States.more » « less
