NSF Award
2011969
Implementation Projects provide support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to design, implement, study, and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the number of students receiving undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and enhance the quality of their preparation by strengthen education and research. The project at Savannah State University seeks to build on previous successful efforts to increase participation of African-American and other students from historically disenfranchised groups in STEM disciplines. The goal of the project is early engagement of STEM students with immersive, interactive and relevant interdisciplinary applications of science, while offering professional development opportunities to the faculty. The project will impact all STEM majors at the institution.<br/><br/>The project has the goals to: transform STEM teaching and learning by reforming nine gateway STEM lab courses; strengthen the institution’s undergraduate research training model through a team-based applied interdisciplinary training approach; and implement a sustained training program for five cohorts of faculty to support faculty commitment to new teaching reforms. The project also seeks to institutionalize reformed teaching and learning strategies by including virtual reality environments within critical gateway science laboratory courses. A research study will be conducted to investigate the impact of the interventions and strategies in the gateway course on student learning outcomes. The project will be guided and evaluated by internal and external advisory boards and evaluators.<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.
