In rural West Virginia, the First2 Network aims to improve STEM persistence by including students in creating solutions to STEM attrition. A research program for rising first-year students in STEM majors is discussed here. The authors assessed students’ STEM education and career plans, identity, efficacy, and sense of school of belonging before and after the program. Students’ STEM identity, efficacy, and school belonging improved after participation.
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Comparison of on-campus and virtual self-assessment outcomes for incoming Appalachian STEM undergraduates’ first research experience
The First2 Network is an alliance of higher education institutions across the State of West Virginia striving to improve science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) education by supporting rural, first-generation, and underrepresented college students pursuing STEM majors. Over the summers of 2019 and 2020, the First2 Network delivered two-week summer research immersion experiences at various institutions throughout West Virginia. The 2019 program was delivered on-campus at four universities while the 2020 program was delivered virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, across nine sites. Before and after the immersion experience, students who participated in the program completed a variety of survey questionnaires for the assessment of their interests, expectations, identity and belonging in STEM. We found that the in-person experience in 2019 had better outcomes compared to the virtual experience, suggesting students conducting research directly under their faculty supervisors in-person and on-site will have a more positive impact on their STEM education and career. However, participation in the virtual format still resulted in an improvement in belonging and STEM identity, indicating that connecting with students remotely is still worthwhile when it is the most viable option. The student population in Appalachia faces a number of academic barriers, so there is much to gain by finding new ways to reach as many students as possible with early career development programs.
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- PAR ID:
- 10499055
- Publisher / Repository:
- Online Learning Consortium
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Online Learning
- Volume:
- 28
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2472-5749
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- virtual in-person research network first-generation immersive STEM
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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The first two years of an undergraduate student’s STEM program of study are particularly treacherous, with roughly half of STEM majors switching to other fields or dropping out entirely after their sophomore year. Moreover, attending a rural high school that was unable to offer higher-level math courses and being a first-generation college student further increase the likelihood of STEM attrition. This presentation will feature evaluation results from the First2 Network’s first two years of operation. Funded by the National Science Foundation, First2 is a collective impact effort to improve STEM persistence among rural, first-generation college students in West Virginia. With students themselves as co-creators of solutions to problems of persistence, core Network activities include iterative testing of improvements to practice, development of a statewide network to support student success, and capacity building to ensure sustainability. Study methods include surveys and interviews, observation of Network activities, document review, social network analysis, and tracking of student progress. Key findings suggest rapid Network expansion, establishment of core processes to support workgroups, provision of Network-wide training in improvement science, and successful facilitation of summer immersive research experiences for targeted students (in-person in 2019 and virtually in 2020). Early outcomes include statistically significant improvements in students’ STEM efficacy and STEM identity following summer immersive experiences, and improved survey scores indicating progress through iterative testing cycles. Early persistence data from participating students is less promising. But since the purpose of the Network is to learn how to help students persist, members continue their efforts to improve.more » « less
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Nationally, more than half of all college students who declare a major in STEM fields drop out or change their majors in the first two years of post-secondary education. Among first-generation college students in West Virginia this number may approach 70%. The First2 STEM Success Network, an NSF INCLUDES Alliance, is a cross-sector effort aimed at improving the college enrollment rate and success of undergraduate STEM students, with emphasis on rural first-generation students in West Virginia. At the core of our shared vision is the inclusion of students themselves as co-creators of the solutions. First2 is an outgrowth of a two-year pilot project funded by the National Science Foundation in 2016. During the pilot, we began to create and test interventions that address the underlying reasons for attrition in STEM majors, and to develop a preliminary research program to better understand rural first-generation STEM students, a population for which there is scant existing research. We engaged 36 rural first-generation students in some combination of early STEM research experiences, an online discovery-based "principles of research and development" college seminar, a “hometown ambassador” program, and leadership training. We also developed and administered an online survey to an additional 101 first generation students attending West Virginia University and Fairmont State University. This presentation describes the research and evaluation findings from the pilot project and implications for the Network moving forward. The First2 Network Design and Development Pilot Project was supported by National Science Foundation INCLUDES Award No. 1649323.more » « less
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Undergraduate research has been found to be positively associated with obtaining a STEM baccalaureate degree, persisting in the field, and performing academically well. Underrepresented minority (UREP) students who participate in undergraduate research experiences show increased confidence in their abilities, understanding of the nature of research, and understanding of graduate school. In spring 2020, in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions were forced to make shifts in program offerings. As a result of the move to online learning, research experiences were either canceled, postponed or moved to a virtual format. COVID-19 presented a new opportunity for students to still participate in activities from remote locations. After in-person activities resumed, aspects of these virtual opportunities have continued to be embraced by programs through virtual symposiums, more intentional and in depth “checking-in” at the start of meetings, wellness focused workshops, and emphasized community building. Additionally, virtual research experiences have expanded the number of students participating in these programs. The purpose of this paper is to share lessons learned from a co-curricular program for underrepresented students that successfully made the shift from in-person research experiences to virtual and back to in-person. Program activities are guided by the literature on mentoring, STEM identity, community, and sense of belonging. Implications for practitioners and faculty include opportunities for mentoring through virtual platforms, the inclusion of family, friends, and community members through virtual research symposiums, continuing to focus on the mental health and well-being of students, and the acknowledgement of varying home environments to conduct research.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v28i1.3834
