Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics Research Articles

Integrating Freshman STEM Education into a Big-History Course in Japan

Undergraduate education for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has been a global priority of governments for decades, because of its direct connection to work-force development in a world with growing dependence on technology and information. Technology is the outcome of an evolutionary process leading to increases of complexity and emergence of new functionalities, which is a central theme in Big History. In modern Japan, large public universities focus on undergraduate STEM education, originally inspired by the American model. This Japanese STEM approach is rather heavily based on liberal arts and general education courses that are taught as distinct silos in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. At least, this is the case for most of the first-year and some of the second-year content in most four-year degree programs. This model has its benefits and provides a solid foundation in these disciplines, one that expands on high school experience. However, this often means that students tend to overlook or forget the deep connections between disciplines.

Experimental Mathematics – A Course-Based Research Experience in Machine Learning

Efforts to expand the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) work- force have been topics of United States policy action for more than 50 years (Hira 2010). Unfortunately, among U.S. undergraduate curricula, STEM has one of the highest attrition rates (Tinto 1993) with less than half of students in the U.S. that enroll in an undergraduate STEM program ultimately receiving a degree in a STEM field (Hayes 2009). Naturally, the high rate of attrition is a topic of persisting concern. Many programs have been designed and implemented to model best practices in retaining students in STEM disciplines. One retention strategy is to engage STEM undergraduates in research experiences, and a number of programs have been implemented to provide such experiences. The Towson University Research Enhancement Program (TU REP) is one such program. This cohort-based program supports faculty in the development of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). In this note we describe a CURE in machine learning offered by the Towson University Department of Mathematics whose development was supported by TU REP. We categorize this course along the spectrum of traditional, inquiry, CURE and internship in each of the five dimensions characteristic of a CURE.

Health and education concerns about returning to campus and online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic among US undergraduate STEM majors

Objective: We examined undergraduates’ concerns about returning to campus and online learning from home. Participants: Undergraduates majoring in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) at US universities/colleges. Methods: Participants completed an online survey in July 2020. We content-analyzed responses to open-ended questions about concerns about fall 2020. Results: Students (N = 64) were 52% women, 47% low socioeconomic status (SES), and 27% non-Hispanic white. Concerns about returning to campus included student noncompliance with university COVID-19 prevention guidelines (28%), infection risk (28%), poor instructional quality (26%), inadequate university plans for preventing/handling outbreaks (25%), negative impacts on social interactions (11%), and transportation/commuting (11%). Concerns about learning from home included difficulty focusing on schoolwork (58%), lack of hands-on/experiential learning (24%), negative impacts on social interactions (19%), family/home environment (15%), concerns that online learning wastes time/money (10%), and inadequate technology/Internet access (5%). Conclusions: Universities should address student concerns and provide resources to overcome barriers to effective learning.

Sustaining Solutions in Undergraduate STEM Education

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs that attract and sustain student interest feature learning that is experiential, investigative, hands-on, personally significant to both students and faculty, connected to other inquiries, and suggestive of practical application to students’ lives. Such learning flourishes in a community in which faculty are committed equally to teaching, to maintaining their own intellectual vitality, and to partnering with students in learning, and in which institutional support for such a community exists. The Creative Scientific Inquiry Experience (CSIE) Program at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) is involved in retaining and increasing the number of STEM graduates by including faculty professional development, student connectedness to the sciences and mathematics through academic service-learning, and curricular reform. In this conference paper we report on the success of the CSIE program, including course development, student engagement, student success, especially among underserved students, and sustainability. This work is important because it offers insight into the development, sustainability, and scalability into faculty-driven STEM education reform spanning 15 years. Keywords: STEM education, retention strategies, undergraduate STEM, majors/non-majors

Embedded Experts Supporting Instructional Practice of Faculty Transitioning from Industry to Academia

The transition from industry to academia can present unique challenges for new faculty members in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. Considering high drop, fail, withdraw (DFW) rates in undergraduate STEM courses and the need to increase the number of well-prepared graduates in these areas, it is important to better understand the needs of early-career faculty transitioning from outside of academia in order to support their development as effective scholars and educators. This study, which utilizes a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) framework, focuses on the experiences, views, and needs of two engineering faculty members who have recently moved from industry to academia. Findings inform practice and indicate a common lack of knowledge about new faculty’s teaching requirements, a need for personalized support structures for incoming faculty members, and a shift toward active approaches to teaching students when such supports are provided. In this process, leveraging an embedded experts model and acknowledging and understanding students’ needs through active listening emerged as important factors in faculty’s growth and personal development during their first semester in academia.

Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) as a Rapid, Affordable and Effective Tool to Involve Students in Undergraduate Research.

Undergraduate research (UR) is a high-impact practice (HIP) to engage undergraduate student in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), especially from underrepresented groups. UR experiences (UREs) can be integrated into the classroom, making authentic research experiences inclusive and available to all students. However, developing UR pedagogy can be challenging for faculty in resource-limited labs, such as community colleges and small liberal arts colleges. Often molecular biology research methods are expensive, time-consuming and need equipment not readily available or affordable in small schools. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most commonly used techniques in research labs and many UREs. We have investigated loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) as an inexpensive, accessible alternative to PCR for DNA amplification enabling the identification of microorganisms in the context of UREs. LAMP does not require expensive instrumentation or reagents and uses equipment commonly found in teaching labs. By performing the technique, students learn several key scientific skills that will be useful in their undergraduate or graduate STEM careers. We designed guided independent research experiences for several undergraduates that included the use of LAMP. Students successfully applied the technique to culture samples of common environmental bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus, and were in addition, able to detect both Salmonella and Enterococcus in directly sampled environmental waters. To highlight the accessibility and affordability of this URE, a simple boiling method was used for DNA preparation from environmental samples. Student response data show positive attitudes toward UR when LAMP is utilized as a research tool to tackle relevant biological questions. The feasibility of using simplified LAMP in UREs points to a potential, more expanded application to public engagement with science and broader and more inclusive interactions with the research community.

A systematic review of observation protocols used in postsecondary STEM classrooms

Prior research studies have extensively used different classroom observation protocols to identify the characteristics of the lecture and instructional methods used by course instructors, to observe student and instructor behaviours, to evaluate the fidelity of certain implementations, and to understand classroom dynamics. This systematic review provides a synthesis and comparison of the features and dimensions of commonly used observation protocols in postsecondary (undergraduate or college) classrooms. This study identifies eight observation protocols, which are: Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol, Oregon Teacher Observation Protocol, VaNTH Observation System, Cooperative Learning Observation Protocol, Teaching Dimension Observation Protocol, Classroom Observation Protocol for the Undergraduate STEM, Classroom Interactive Engagement Observation Protocol, and Student Resistance and Instructional Practices. Based on 35 articles included in the full review, we present an overview description of each protocol. Further, we describe the strength and limitations of these protocols using deductive thematic and content analysis. Also, we evaluate these protocols by using the assessment triangle approach. The study advances the existing literature by providing usability details and suggestions to use each protocol. This review study also enhances the literature in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education as the first study that evaluates all these observation protocols and provides a reference point for future researchers.

A Collective Impact Model Towards Increasing STEM Major Student Retention

This article presents the research findings of a multidisciplinary team's collective research effort at one university over a five-year period as funded by the National Science Foundation's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program. A collaborative learning and retention action research effort at a large Hispanic Serving Institution is analyzed using mixed methods to document the power of collective impact as the foundation for a learning support model for students historically underrepresented majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academic programs. The actions of the team of researchers are presented to describe the Rising Stars Collective Impact model and the impacts achieved. This is a model that aligns objectives, intervention efforts, and reports collective results. The long-term goals of the Rising Stars Collective Impact multiple programs managed by the funded program team included the following: (a) to improve the campus sense of community for students historically under-represented in STEM, (b) to establish innovative and robust STEM education research-based practices to support critical skill attainment for students, and (c) to support faculty understanding of the funds of knowledge of diverse students. The positive student retention and success impacts of this research effort are measured through quantitative statistical analysis of the changes in second-year STEM undergraduate student retention rates and representation rates of women, Hispanics, and African American STEM majors.

Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure STEM Undergraduate Students’ Comprehensive Educational Process

This study reports the development and validation of an instrument, “Undergraduate STEM Educational Process Questionnaire” (USEPQ) to assess the learning experiences of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-major undergraduates from the perspective of a conceptualized comprehensive STEM educational process framework that consists of key essentials such as course learning and instruction, educational environment, assessment methods, and unique STEM attributes. Exploration Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis performed on independent samples indicate that the finalized 9-factor, 41-item USEPQ possesses a stable factor structure and sound psychometric properties. The factors of the validated scale are Classroom Instruction of Courses, Support from Faculty Members, Alternative Assessment Methods, Cooperative Learning, Resources and Service, Academic Competition, Cross-discipline Features of Program Courses, Connectedness of Program Courses, and Examination Difficulty.

Catalysts for Achieving Sustained Improvement in the Quality of Undergraduate STEM Education

Promoting excellence in undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education at major research universities is necessary to ensure that we have the STEM-literate workforce and general population required to propel the nation forward into the twenty-first century and beyond. This essay provides a brief contextual history of the Association of American Universities' (AAU) effort to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education at member campuses and delineates the specific goals of this initiative. The essay then illuminates the essential role of the academic department and department chair in achieving long-lasting change and improving the quality of undergraduate education. It also discusses critical strategies and approaches for promoting the most effective methods for undergraduate STEM teaching and learning, with numerous examples from AAU member universities. The essay concludes with an acknowledgment of key challenges and opportunities that continue to face undergraduate education at research universities.

Examining Processes of Normative Isomorphism and Influence in Scaled Change Among Higher Education Intermediary Organizations

This study examines the Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) initiative and the ability of a national organization and its member institutions to reshape norms about the importance and value of teaching and dedicated efforts to teaching improvement. The study is framed with literature from institutional theory, meso-influence theories from organizational theory, and research on higher education intermediary organizations. Our findings suggest that Association of American Universities’ influence was a powerful motivator for institutions to alter deeply ingrained perceptions and behaviors. We organize our findings into three categories of “enactments” based on the vehicles through which an influence behavior is motivated: prioritization, social pressure, and recognition. This study was able to provide concrete descriptions for what influence can look like within national organizations that are organizational field actors.

The assembly and circulation of science:

This article positions narrative as a needed, but often lacking, communicative resource for science technologyengineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals. While STEM curricula is quite effective at teaching studentsdiscipline-specific knowledge and preparing future generations of scientists to communicate within collegial discoursecommunities, there has been little attention paid to the importance of communicating effectively with publicaudiences—despite the fact that the public is a major stakeholder in scientific innovation. This article takes up this gapin current STEM curricula in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of best practices in communicatingscience, as well as the ways that these practices can be incorporated into academic programs. In achieving this goal, thisarticle draws upon current pedagogical and curricular models in communication studies in its examination of the waysstudents at a leading American undergraduate STEM institution are taught to engage with public audiences. Of specificimportance are the benefits of narrative in building bridges between academic and public stakeholders, particularly theability of narrative to increase comprehension, interest, and engagement when communicating science to non-expertaudiences.

The assembly and circulation of science:

This article positions narrative as a needed, but often lacking, communicative resource for science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals. While STEM curricula is quite effective at teaching students discipline-specific knowledge and preparing future generations of scientists to communicate within collegial discourse communities, there has been little attention paid to the importance of communicating effectively with public audiences—despite the fact that the public is a major stakeholder in scientific innovation. This article takes up this gap in current STEM curricula in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of best practices in communicating science, as well as the ways that these practices can be incorporated into academic programs. In achieving this goal, this article draws upon current pedagogical and curricular models in communication studies in its examination of the ways students at a leading American undergraduate STEM institution are taught to engage with public audiences. Of specific importance are the benefits of narrative in building bridges between academic and public stakeholders, particularly the ability of narrative to increase comprehension, interest, and engagement when communicating science to non-expert audiences.

Critical interdisciplinary dialogues: Towards a pedagogy of well-being in stem disciplines and fields

Students enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) globally and in South Africa are generally not in a state of well-being. International and South African research studies show that undergraduate STEM programmes pose significant challenges to students and that many STEM programmes are marked by high attrition rates and poor student success. There is growing recognition that STEM educators need to teach the “whole student” instead of focussing only on STEM knowledge and skills. In order to teach in a holistic way, university educators themselves need to understand and achieve their own well-being. The paper argues that pedagogy of well-being and its associated concepts of competence, self-efficacy, community and inter-relatedness are key to academic staff and student well-being in the STEM disciplines. The focus of this paper is an inter-institution study on enhancing STEM educators’ capacity towards a pedagogy of well-being through teaching portfolio development in diverse institutional contexts. The research question guiding is the study is: How might academic development practitioners and STEM university educators’ successfully collaborate for the benefit of student well-being and success? Data for this study was obtained from “critical dialogues” between academic development practitioners and STEM university teachers, as well as an external evaluation of the project. The data comprise video-recordings of the critical dialogues and survey responses. The findings of the study indicate that there are barriers as well as productive spaces for interdisciplinary work towards well-being in STEM teaching and learning. The findings have implications for how STEM academics might engage in professional learning towards pedagogical competence, and offer suggestions for the ways in which academic developers might respectfully “transgress” into STEM disciplinary domains in support of a pedagogy of well-being in the STEM disciplines and fields.

Where science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates move: Human capital, employment patterns, and interstate migration in the United States.

This research investigates the interstate migration of workers in the United States who have earned an undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree compared with those who have not. We build on previous studies that (a) classified "skilled" workers as having earned an undergraduate degree (b) used net migration gain or loss as a yardstick of relative destination attraction, and (c) advanced the idea that physical amenities play an outsized role in labour market preferences for skilled workers. We calibrate the attractivity of states for three levels of human capital and then evaluate these assessments of relative attractivity to show that workers with different types of human capital respond to different labour market signals in contradictory ways. Amenity, measured by heating degree days, has little to do with the state-to-state migration of workers who have a STEM degree, yet helps explain the migration patterns of workers with no undergraduate degree. Employment growth in a state influences migration for degreed workers in the recessionary years but not in the period of recovery. The opposite holds for workers without a degree. States with high percentages of any type of degreed workers attract both STEM and non-STEM degreed migrants but not those without a degree. States with a large share of STEM degreed workers in their degreed workforce are especially attractive for STEM degreed migrants. The conclusions discuss what the findings imply about diverging access to labour market opportunity by human capital and state higher education policy.

The Impact of Service Quality on Students' Satisfaction and the Word-of-Mouth: The Case of the University of Rijeka Departments

The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of service quality perceived by science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and information communication (IC) students of the University of Rijeka Departments on students' satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth. Based on the extensive literature review, the survey method was used to explore the relationships between the following variables: service quality, students' satisfaction, and word-of-mouth. The data were collected through an online self-administrated structured questionnaire administered to undergraduate and graduate STEM and IC students of the University of Rijeka Departments using Google Docs Forms. The findings provide some important insights into how the service quality impacts the students' satisfaction and word-of-mouth, in a Croatian higher education context. A high positive significant impact of service quality on students' satisfaction and word-of-mouth clearly indicates that it is an imperative for higher education sector. Based on the results and remarks of this study improvements can be planned and concluded across all dimensions. Policy makers in the industry in general and in the higher education sector, in particular, may benefit from the findings of this study.

Aligning Practice to Policies: Changing the Culture to Recognize and Reward Teaching at Research Universities.

Recent calls for improvement in undergraduate education within STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines are hampered by the methods used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. Faculty members at research universities are commonly assessed and promoted mainly on the basis of research success. To improve the quality of undergraduate teaching across all disciplines, not only STEM fields, requires creating an environment wherein continuous improvement of teaching is valued, assessed, and rewarded at various stages of a faculty member's career. This requires consistent application of policies that reflect well-established best practices for evaluating teaching at the department, college, and university levels. Evidence shows most teaching evaluation practices do not reflect stated policies, even when the policies specifically espouse teaching as a value. Thus, alignment of practice to policy is a major barrier to establishing a culture in which teaching is valued. Situated in the context of current national efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education, including the Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, this essay discusses four guiding principles for aligning practice with stated priorities in formal policies: 1) enhancing the role of deans and chairs; 2) effectively using the hiring process; 3) improving communication; and 4) improving the understanding of teaching as a scholarly activity. In addition, three specific examples of efforts to improve the practice of evaluating teaching are presented as examples: 1) Three Bucket Model of merit review at the University of California, Irvine; (2) Evaluation of Teaching Rubric, University of Kansas; and (3) Teaching Quality Framework, University of Colorado, Boulder. These examples provide flexible criteria to holistically evaluate and improve the quality of teaching across the diverse institutions comprising modern higher education.

Water Pollution and Leukemia: A Model for Interdisciplinary Research in the Classroom Experiences Incorporating Effective Pedagogical Approaches for Community College General Biology I Lab Students

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in the United States faces a host of problems including low recruitment and retention in STEM disciplines, underrepresentation of multiple segments of the US population, and a host of other issues. These problems are well recognized and a variety of solutions are being implemented by interested parties at multiple points along the STEM education pipeline. Incorporating research into STEM classes is an effective way of enhancing student success in STEM education at the undergraduate level. This work describes the development and implementation of a research in the classroom project for community college General Biology I lab students which addresses possible relationships between water pollution and cancer while simultaneously implementing established High Impact Practices (HIPs). This work is part of a larger effort to recruit and retain the next generation of Earth and Environmental Systems engineering students at the undergraduate level. Our inherently interdisciplinary model, which integrates multiple pedagogical elements, can be easily modified for implementation in a wide variety of undergraduate STEM courses allowing students to benefit from participation in research while generating actual scientific data, making connections with global and personal issues, and illustrating relevant discipline concepts.

The pipeline of physiology courses in community colleges: to university, medical school, and beyond.

Community colleges are significant in the landscape of undergraduate STEM (science technology, engineering, and mathematics) education (9), including biology, premedical, and other preprofessional education. Thirty percent of first-year medical school students in 2012 attended a community college. Students attend at different times in high school, their first 2 yr of college, and postbaccalaureate. The community college pathway is particularly important for traditionally underrepresented groups. Premedical students who first attend community college are more likely to practice in underserved communities (2). For many students, community colleges have significant advantages over 4-yr institutions. Pragmatically, they are local, affordable, and flexible, which accommodates students' work and family commitments. Academically, community colleges offer teaching faculty, smaller class sizes, and accessible learning support systems. Community colleges are fertile ground for universities and medical schools to recruit diverse students and support faculty. Community college students and faculty face several challenges (6, 8). There are limited interactions between 2- and 4-yr institutions, and the ease of transfer processes varies. In addition, faculty who study and work to improve the physiology education experience often encounter obstacles. Here, we describe barriers and detail existing resources and opportunities useful in navigating challenges. We invite physiology educators from 2- and 4-yr institutions to engage in sharing resources and facilitating physiology education improvement across institutions. Given the need for STEM majors and health care professionals, 4-yr colleges and universities will continue to benefit from students who take introductory biology, physiology, and anatomy and physiology courses at community colleges.

Which STEM majors enroll in online courses, and why should we care? The impact of ethnicity, gender, and non-traditional student characteristics

Using data from roughly 27,800 undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), this research examines the relationship between race/ethnicity, gender and non-traditional student characteristics and online course enrollment. Hispanic and Black STEM majors were significantly less likely, and female STEM majors significantly more likely, to take online courses even when academic preparation, socioeconomic status (SES), citizenship and English-as-second-language (ESL) status were controlled. Furthermore, non-traditional student characteristics strongly increased the likelihood of enrolling in an online course, more so than any other characteristic, with online enrollment probability increasing steeply as the number of non-traditional factors increased. The impact of non-traditional factors on online enrollment was significantly stronger for STEM than non-STEM majors.