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Research has shown that making STEM socially relevant can attract more diverse students to STEM fields. Learn to utilize the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to center socially relevant goals in first-year seminars, as we did when constructing STEM linked-course learning communities. The seminars were designed to foster a communal view of science and mathematics, both in terms of the importance of collaboration to STEM success and the application of STEM to real-world problems. Course structures and sample materials will be shared as inspiration. Conversations will focus on helping visitors increase the social relevance of their own courses or curricula. 

Four writing-intensive, inquiry-based, three-credit seminars were created to serve as the hub for linked learning communities for first-year students in STEM. Based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), the seminars engaged students in socially-relevant modeling, lab work, and public presentations. The seminars were designed to foster a communal view of science and mathematics, both in terms of the importance of collaboration to STEM success and the application of STEM to real-world problems. Course structures and sample materials will be shared, along with preliminary analyses from a randomized controlled trial comparing students in the seminars to a control group of peers. In fall 2021,students who participated in the seminars reported increased awareness of the UN SDGs, valued team work more highly, and earned more credits and higher grades than control group students. Supported by NSF2020765, these seminars are part of a study of the effectiveness of learning communities.