A First Report on the NSF PRISM Project at Truman State University

JMM New Orleans9 January 2011

A First Report on the NSF PRISM Project at

Truman State UniversityJason Miller, Ph.D.

Department of [email protected]

withDr. Barbara Kramer (Chemistry) and

Dr. Timothy Walston (Biology)

1Sunday, January 9, 2011

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Purpose

• Give the mathematical (and online) communicate a sense of what we are doing

• Share ups and downs of a reproducible program

• Motivate others to follow us and help develop best practices in STEM talent expansion (in which mathematics plays a central role)



Plan• The NSF Program

• New courses

• Our Program

• Some data

• Other results



Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Knocking at the College Door:Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity 1992-2022. March 2008. http://bit.ly/gVdM8W


http://bit.ly/gVdM8W

http://bit.ly/gVdM8W


PRISM - Proactive Recruitment in Introductory Science and Mathematics

“The goal of the program in Proactive Recruitment in Introductory Science and Mathematics is to strengthen the nation's scientific competitiveness by increasing the numbers of well-prepared, successful U.S. undergraduate majors and minors in science and mathematics. The program will ... widen the cross section of the mathematical sciences to which freshman and sophomore students are exposed and that provide these students increased opportunities for research experiences involving the mathematical sciences.”













SPECTRA - Students Prepared, Enriched, and Challenged through Research-based Activities



Truman9Sunday, January 9, 2011






Our Program• An experiment in broadening participation in STEM

(with mathematics as a theme)

• Three primary parts

1. retaining high-risk students (summer prep)

2. recruiting high-ability students (courses, $$)

3. attracting and retaining community college students (advice, $$)



Courses• Integrative Freshman Seminar (IDSM 140)

• first term, first-year

• presents the STEM disciplines as interrelated, socially relevant, exciting

• Inquiry Seminar (IDSM 130/131)

• second term, first-year

• prepares students to undertake independent, faulty-mentored research

• writing enhanced (graduation requirement)

Required of AY

SPECTRA Scholars

Required of AY

SPECTRA Scholars



Courses• Calculus and Mathematical Methods for the Life

Sciences (MATH 288)• alternative to ‘Calc I’ mathematics course for

life science students• satisfies ‘Calculus’ graduation requirement/

option• present more than ‘Calc I’ concepts and

techniques (partial derivatives, basic ODEs, basic statistics, data analysis, matrix methods)

• anticipate a follow-on course for Chemistry



Courses• Analytical Chemistry for the Life Sciences (spring

2012)• an integrative (biol+chem) course• alternative to Analytical Chemistry for chem

majors• will assist biology majors earning chemistry

minor



Our ProgramLow High

Low

Hig

h high-risk of leaving STEM

recruitmentpotential

traditionalpool

Summer Scholars

AY Scholars

Ability in STEME

nth

usi

asm

fo

r S

TE

M

<25 >30ACT MT

STEM major?

declared

notdeclared



Logistics

• used Admissions database of accepted students for pool

• advertised at monthly campus recruitment Saturdays

• FileMaker database + SeedCode email management plug-in (http://www.seedcode.com/)

• 3-4 applicants for each position (each program)


http://www.seedcode.com

http://www.seedcode.com


Summer Scholars

AY Scholars

• 19+ students, residential summer college courses; intro to being a college student

• Summer 2010: intro to Chemistry (CHEM 129, no lab), College Composition (ENG 190)

• plan: set loose in the Fall

• 6-7 students, 2-year scholarship (~$2k/year)• must take major-level STEM course each semester• must take new seminars• second year: faculty-mentored research experience

Assessment•Learning And Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI)•Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG)



Attitude



Concentration



Information Processing



Selecting Main Ideas



Study Aid



Time Management



Motivation



Anxiety



Test Strategies



Self Testing



STA - Study Aid

ATT - Attitude

MOT - Motivation

TMT - Time Management

ANX - Anxiety

CON - Concentration

INP - Information Processing

SMI - Selecting Main Ideas

SFT - Self-Testing

TST - Test Strategies

Change in Scores - Integrative Fr. Seminar Students



Results So Far• We’re making a big difference in Summer Scholars’

lives, though they are struggling academically (mean GPA = 2.4, sd=0.9)

• There is demand for our new courses beyond program participants

• Strategy shift: more support for Summer Scholars (invasive advising, study skills prep)

• Finding research mentors has been a challenge, so may try a ‘makers’ model - building tools with Arduino processors



This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF PRISM #0928013. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

http://spectra.truman.edu


http://mathbio.truman.edu

http://mathbio.truman.edu


Community College Students

• Over half of all college students start their studies at a 2-year school

• The predominant transfer degree is the Associates of Arts; coursework drawn heavily from the humanities

• Transfer students in STEM are ‘behind’ their peers when they arrive at 4-year schools (greater time-to-degree)

• Few community colleges track their students into majors; limits their ability to deliver STEM-specific academic advising

• Community College students tend to be career-oriented but lack information about careers that are available to those with a baccalaureate degree in STEM

Pre-STEM Pathways Program - provide information, advice to students at community colleges.
