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)
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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)
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Plan• The NSF Program
• New courses
• Our Program
• Some data
• Other results
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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
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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.”
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JMM New Orleans9 January 2011
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.”
6Sunday, January 9, 2011
JMM New Orleans9 January 2011
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.”
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JMM New Orleans9 January 2011
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
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Truman9Sunday, January 9, 2011
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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, $$)
3. attracting and retaining community college students (advice, $$)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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)
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Attitude
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Concentration
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Information Processing
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Selecting Main Ideas
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Study Aid
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Time Management
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Motivation
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Anxiety
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Test Strategies
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Self Testing
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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