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Consistent with national trends, only about ½ of students who intend to major in STEM disciplines at Maryville College (MC) complete bachelor’s degrees in these fields. The Scots Science Scholars (S3) program was funded through the National Science Foundation’s STEM Talent Extension Program to increase the number of students graduating with STEM degrees from MC. The S3 program enrolls college freshmen who have an interest in STEM majors and math ACT scores between 21 and 27, with emphasis on students from groups underrepresented in STEM and first-generation college students. The program consists of a summer bridge, a living-learning community, early engagement in STEM research, a seminar series that exposes students to STEM careers and research fields, academic support through a first-year seminar class, peer tutoring, and time-management counseling. The program has enrolled 6 cohorts of students (n = 97) since 2013, (54% female, 22% underrepresented minorities and 35% first-generation college students). From 2013-2017, S3 compared favorably to the general college population: 96% of all S3 completed the first year of college, 69% declared STEM majors, and 85% returned to the college for a second year (compared to 71%, p < 0.001). Overall, S 3 students persist at the college longer than non-S3 students (P<0.01). Compared to a matched control group, S 3 had significantly higher STEM major declaration rates (68% vs. 38%), higher rates of STEM retention through the junior year (41% vs. 20%), and improved overall college persistence (P< 0.01). Students report high levels of satisfaction with the summer program. At the end of the summer program, students report gains in skills and attitudes that are important for success in STEM. They also perform significantly better on math and chemistry assessments after completing the program. College-wide, the number of students enrolled in STEM majors at Maryville has increased by 52% since the inception of S3 , and STEM undergraduate research productivity has increased markedly. Our data suggest the S3 program is an important component of institutional changes that are increasing the STEM population and building a robust and productive STEM culture at a liberal arts college.
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INCREASING STUDENT RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION USING PLACE-BASED RESEARCH PROGRAMS FOR INCOMING AND FIRST-YEAR EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE STUDENTS IN OGDEN, UT
The Geoscience Education Targeting Underrepresented Populations program is a National Science Foundation funded project designed to assess the effectiveness of a multifaceted approach to increase recruitment and retention in Earth & Environmental Science (EES) majors at Weber State University (WSU) in Ogden, Utah. This program integrates a combination of early outreach to high schools, concurrent-enrollment courses, a summer bridge program, structured early undergraduate research experiences, community engaged learning, and multiple pedagogies to support a diverse student population. The focus of this presentation will be on the place-based educational approach to teaching an Earth science summer bridge program and a first-year summer research experience. These programs overlap in both time and location allowing incoming students to have peer-to-peer interactions with current EES majors. The summer bridge program runs for two weeks and provides students with an introduction to the WSU campus, available student services, initial advising, and an early collaborative research experience focused on local natural hazards and the Great Salt Lake basin water resources. Students collect water samples from Great Salt Lake, local streams, and a groundwater well field on WSU’s campus. Students then analyze major element chemistry of those samples with the help of faculty and students in the EES department using lab facilities at WSU. The summer research program is a four-week summer program for freshmen and sophomores who have declared an EES major. Students conduct in-depth field and lab research project on the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, using real-time geochemical data collected from field observatories on Antelope Island State Park. Students work as a team with a faculty lead and senior peer teaching assistants to address a research question by analyzing field station data as well as collecting and analyzing environmental chemistry and microbiology samples from the lake, including alkalinity, inorganic and organic carbon, major ions, cell counts, and photosynthetic efficiency. The summer research students also act as peer mentors for students in the Summer Bridge. All students present their research finding to friends and family at a celebratory event on the last day of both programs. We will present on the successes and challenges of the program to date and our plans to assess various components and their overall impact on student recruitment and retention in our department.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1801760
- PAR ID:
- 10493370
- Publisher / Repository:
- Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs
- Date Published:
- Volume:
- 53
- Issue:
- 6
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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