- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2241382
- First Name Aubrey
- Last Name Southall
- Institution Aurora University
- Role/Position Co-PI
- Proposal Type Workshop
- Workshop Category Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends
- Workshop Disciplines Audience STEM Education (general)
- Target Audience Co-PIs, Other Faculty/Staff, Project PIs
- Topics Partnerships for Success (High-need schools/informal institutions/industry/community)
- Additional Presenter(s)
Drs. Chetna Patel, PI, Alma Rodriguez Estrada, Co-PI (non-presenting), Lindsey Hill, Co- PI (non-presenting), and Noyce Scholars Jamica Foster and Brigid Redmond-Mattucci
Goals
Our session will focus on the following goals: building relationships with students, community networking practices, and bridge creation between science, math, and education faculty. As a relationship intensive institution, we pride ourselves on the connections faculty have with students throughout their time at Aurora University. We firmly believe relationships have played a major role in our success in Noyce recruitment. Throughout the year there are events on campus involving students, faculty, and administrators. With funding from our Capacity Building and Track 1 grants, we have been able to successful create the following events: AU STEM Success Matters focused on experiential learning), STEM Success 4U focused on alumni and graduate/career fair, Noyce signing events, and Noyce social events. The events allow for collaboration and conversation between faculty, administrators, and students. One Noyce scholar stated, “I applied to be a Noyce scholar because it offers valuable support for my last two years of college, enabling me to focus on my education and professional development as a future STEM educator, while also providing me opportunities for networking and giving back after graduation.” Community networking strategies have helped to extend our Noyce outreach and bring together our faculty, administrators, students, local school and community college faculty and staff. Our biannual STEM advisory board meeting affords us the opportunity to connect with many community partners at one time. We’ve also developed a virtual teaching hackathon alongside community college faculty for our local school partners. This event brings together STEM faculty, education faculty, Noyce scholars, in-service teachers, and community partners together to discuss challenges in STEM teaching. Furthermore, we have created a digital newsletter sent regularly to our community partners, Noyce colleagues, K12 schools, and AU faculty. The newsletter has allowed for more networking and Noyce project dissemination. The creation of a “bridge” between science, math, and education faculty has allowed for collegial interactions, program understandings, and successful Noyce scholar recruitment. The ongoing and daily conversations between STEM and education faculty has positively impacted curricular offerings, student check ins, course work decisions, and faculty friendships. Trust and collegiality have improved relationships and led to more students being introduced into education as a viable career option, resulting in more Noyce scholars. A Noyce scholar stated, “I applied to be a Noyce scholar since it offers financial support as we as professional development opportunities. This was essential in my ability to focus on my studies during my final years of obtaining a bachelor’s degree in STEM education (mathematics and secondary education).” Additionally, faculty from STEM and education disciplines receive our monthly newsletter and participate in our STEM advisory panel. Furthermore, summer activities such as Strategies for STEM Success and Camp Spartan are developed collaboratively and co-taught by STEM and education faculty alongside Noyce scholars.
Evidence
The Aurora University Noyce faculty have had an external evaluator survey students and faculty based on this year’s activities. Strategies for STEM Success course: The Strategies for STEM Success course was evaluated and its impact is provided. Students participated in the STEM challenge which was an educational experience. Data collection activities to date include the Strategies for STEM Success Student Survey. All eleven participants were AU students and completed the survey. Survey responses indicated alignment with the course description and success in meeting the student objectives (e.g., understanding STEM careers and how to acquire skills needed for a STEM career, proposing solutions to a STEM challenge). The majority of survey respondents agreed the five-day course: • led to a greater understanding of STEM career options for me (10 out of 11) • led to a greater understanding of the skills needed for a STEM career (11 out of 11) • led to a greater understanding of how to gain the skills needed for a STEM career (11 out of 11) • helped me to develop my career plan (9 out of 11) • helped me to develop a resume (11 out of 11) • allowed me to practice solving STEM challenges (9 out of 11) Most respondents (nine or more out of eleven) gained new knowledge and an understanding of how to access STEM-related student clubs, mentoring and networking opportunities in STEM fields, and STEM-related internship and research opportunities. Students’ descriptions of what they liked best about the course included networking (with other students interested in STEM and with guest speakers) and the class activities (e.g., résumé-building, STEM challenge). Student quotes include: “This workshop opened my eyes to a lot of new opportunities that I wasn’t aware of before, like certain STEM careers and ways to access them, as well as research opportunities for me to further my knowledge of subjects I’m interested in.” “I liked how this class brought people from various professions to present us with their work experiences and to connect with them if we are interested in working in the same professions as them.” “I liked doing the STEM challenge because it allowed me to brainstorm ways to solve a real-life problem that I am now quite interested in and willing to learn more.” “Learning how to advance and use my major to my advantage.” Faculty/Staff survey results: The survey was conducted, and below are key findings from 6 respondents. Most of the respondents indicated they have adequate information about the grant. No one identified any current challenges or provided suggestions. Aside from 1 respondent who did not know, the remaining 5 respondents indicated the project is somewhat or very effective in preparing Noyce-eligible STEM majors for a teaching career. Two respondents indicated which of the program components were most impactful for students. They indicated the scholarship and summer course, NSM-1811, as most impactful. Furthermore, we have conducted 4 interviews with our faculty and partners and the data is not analyzed yet. By July 2024, we will have administered three additional surveys for three Noyce activities.
Proposal
Recruitment and retention of students in the STEM disciplines is critical for the advancement of science in today’s competitive world. Students who receive a solid and fulfilling experience early in their science classrooms are more likely to pursue a STEM-associated career. STEM educators can greatly and positively influence students’ career choices. Aurora University’s NSF Noyce Track 1 grant seeks to provide diverse and valuable resources for students and professionals in STEM and STEM education to boost recruitment and retention before, during and after graduation. Many of these resources include community-building activities and networks that facilitate partnerships among different entities at different levels. STEM and education faculty (at a 4-year university and community colleges), school district teachers and administrators come together to support the new generations of STEM educators. During the 2023-2024 school year, our institution, with 4,000 undergraduate students recruited 15 Noyce scholars. We believe our use of culturally relevant teaching practices and the relationship intensive nature of our university aided in our successful recruitment. In this presentation, the overall goals of the grant and recently implemented activities will be discussed.
