NSF Award
2411933
Teamwork is an integral part of engineering and computer science curricula. However, underrepresented students, particularly Black and Latinx students, especially those of lower socioeconomic status, tend to encounter adverse team experiences beyond those generally encountered by all students. A team-based learning environment that values each individual student’s assets can potentially decrease occurrences of negative team experiences rooted in racial bias, increase belongingness, and provide students with teamwork skills to succeed in the increasingly global job market. The goal of this collaborative project is to identify and understand pedagogical strategies that promote equity in team experiences for Black and Latinx students in engineering and computer science classrooms. The research team will use an asset-based approach drawing upon students’ cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets to inform team compositions that will foster cooperation, collaboration, and inclusion leading to equitable outcomes in team-based assignments. Additionally, the research team will couple this novel approach to team formation with training that educates faculty and students about conscious and unconscious bias, intercultural conflict, and culturally responsive communication to improve team dynamics. Enhancing the persistence of Black and Latinx students to degree completion and subsequent entrance into the STEM workforce can increase the diversity and global competitiveness of the STEM workforce in the U.S. which, in turn, promotes national economic prosperity.<br/><br/>The research team will perform a quasi-experimental, quantitatively driven, sequential, mixed methods design in three phases guided by a socioecological framework. The unit of analysis will focus on undergraduate teams formed in engineering and computer science courses that assign team-based assignments at the University of South Florida, Virginia Tech, and West Point. Undergraduate Black and Latinx students will partner with the PIs and co-PIs to make decisions about the research design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of research results. The intellectual merits of this study will provide insights regarding the use of cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets in the formation of equitable engineering and computer science student teams. By leveraging the new insights, the research impact will be to create more inclusive and equitable classroom environments to help alleviate challenges encountered in team-based undergraduate assignments. This project is a step toward transforming the STEM higher education system by illuminating the cultural assets that Black and Latinx students bring to the classroom and by providing inclusive team training to establish better team working environments and pedagogical strategies to improve overall learning experiences.<br/><br/>This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
