Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The most commonly reported recruitment activities were flyers and emails to the school district to be disseminated to teachers, counselors, and families. In the future we plan on holding information sessions both in English and Spanish, and prepare short presentations at the schools to recruit students in addition to the previously-mentioned efforts. Changes/Problems:There was a change in administration of this program last year. The biggest challenge was accomplishing all the major goals of the program in a short period of time. However, thanks to the excellent reports and guidance from the PI, the program was just as successful as any previous year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For the last 4 years, each Monday-Thursday during the program, we brought in career awareness speakers who are currently working in a STEM-related field. These presenters volunteered their time to teach our students what it's like to work in their career. Students ask questions and learn more about specifics of multiple STEM-related degrees and career opportunities. Many students have reported learning about careers they didn't know existed and being interested in pursuing those fields. Additionally, every Friday during the program, we take the students on field trips to STEM-related businesses where they get to tour and learn on-site about what the company does and all different career options available. Both of these types of activities are vital for PREP, and have shown to increase student's career awareness, science identity, and helped students see how vast STEM field job opportunities can be. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SUU PREP is part of Intermountain PREP, which includes a number of PREP sites. For the past 4 years, we have met on a monthly basis with all IM PREP sites to share insights and information and help each other improve. PREP sites work together to create and improve curricula and other resources. Specifically, we work closely with Utah Tech PREP and UVU PREP which are the closes PREP locations. This past spring (2022) we held a luncheon with several stakeholders from SUU and Iron County School District to report the progress of SUU PREP and the service this program provided for the community, the school district, and the university. This luncheon was a success in the sense that these stakeholders received important information about the importance of this program and how it helps our students be better prepared for their desired STEM-related careers in the future. The stakeholders were impressed with the program. We plan on holding similar activities every year in the future. In the next several years we will finally be able to gather longitudinal data to see the number of PREP graduates enrolling in college and majoring in STEM-related fields. Several of our students are currently in high school on STEM tracks, particularly those who are enrolled in SUCCESS Academy, which is a concurrent enrollment high school associated with SUU focused on preparing students for a STEM-related career. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the final report.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For this final report, we wish to summarize the accomplishments of the three years of funding and the additional no-cost extension year of this grant. First, the number of students enrolled in SUU PREP over the 4 years has remained consistent, with perhaps the exception of summer 2020, where enrollment went down to the restrictions of COVID-19. However, enrollment of 50-60 students every summer has been consistent. Second, statistically significant gains in every course for all cohorts were reported every year. In 2022, the average gains were of 39%. Of course, gains are expected after instruction; however, these large gains over a short period of time are remarkable. In addition, statistically significant attitude gains across all topics were reported for the summer 2022, mirroring all three previous years. Students reported greater sense of science identity, and greater desire to attend college and major in STEM related fields. Another goal of SUU PREP is to increase participation of gender, and racial/ethnic minorities in the program as well as student from low-income homes. In 2019, we reported about 13% racial/ethnic minorities participating in the program. In 2021, we reported ~25% of racial/ethnic minorities participating in the program. Similarly, in 2022 we had 25% racial/ethnic minority participation. In 2022 we also had 25% of students that reported qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Finally, female participation in the program has consistently hovered around 50% throughout the 4 years of this grant.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The most commonly reported recruitment activities were flyers and emails to the school district to be disseminated to teachers, counselors, and families. In the future we plan on holding information sessions both in English and Spanish, and prepare short presentations at the schools to recruit students in addition to the previously-mentioned efforts. Changes/Problems:There was a change in administration of this program last year. The biggest challenge was accomplishing all the major goals of the program in a short period of time. However, thanks to the excellent reports and guidance from the PI, the program was just as successful as any previous year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For the last 4 years, each Monday-Thursday during the program, we brought in career awareness speakers who are currently working in a STEM-related field. These presenters volunteered their time to teach our students what it's like to work in their career. Students ask questions and learn more about specifics of multiple STEM-related degrees and career opportunities. Many students have reported learning about careers they didn't know existed and being interested in pursuing those fields. Additionally, every Friday during the program, we take the students on field trips to STEM-related businesses where they get to tour and learn on-site about what the company does and all different career options available. Both of these types of activities are vital for PREP, and have shown to increase student's career awareness, science identity, and helped students see how vast STEM field job opportunities can be. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SUU PREP is part of Intermountain PREP, which includes a number of PREP sites. For the past 4 years, we have met on a monthly basis with all IM PREP sites to share insights and information and help each other improve. PREP sites work together to create and improve curricula and other resources. Specifically, we work closely with Utah Tech PREP and UVU PREP which are the closes PREP locations. This past spring (2022) we held a luncheon with several stakeholders from SUU and Iron County School District to report the progress of SUU PREP and the service this program provided for the community, the school district, and the university. This luncheon was a success in the sense that these stakeholders received important information about the importance of this program and how it helps our students be better prepared for their desired STEM-related careers in the future. The stakeholders were impressed with the program. We plan on holding similar activities every year in the future. In the next several years we will finally be able to gather longitudinal data to see the number of PREP graduates enrolling in college and majoring in STEM-related fields. Several of our students are currently in high school on STEM tracks, particularly those who are enrolled in SUCCESS Academy, which is a concurrent enrollment high school associated with SUU focused on preparing students for a STEM-related career. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This is the final report.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For this final report, we wish to summarize the accomplishments of the three years of funding and the additional no-cost extension year of this grant. First, the number of students enrolled in SUU PREP over the 4 years has remained consistent, with perhaps the exception of summer 2020, where enrollment went down to the restrictions of COVID-19. However, enrollment of 50-60 students every summer has been consistent. Second, statistically significant gains in every course for all cohorts were reported every year. In 2022, the average gains were of 39%. Of course, gains are expected after instruction; however, these large gains over a short period of time are remarkable. In addition, statistically significant attitude gains across all topics were reported for the summer 2022, mirroring all three previous years. Students reported greater sense of science identity, and greater desire to attend college and major in STEM related fields. Another goal of SUU PREP is to increase participation of gender, and racial/ethnic minorities in the program as well as student from low-income homes. In 2019, we reported about 13% racial/ethnic minorities participating in the program. In 2021, we reported ~25% of racial/ethnic minorities participating in the program. Similarly, in 2022 we had 25% racial/ethnic minority participation. In 2022 we also had 25% of students that reported qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Finally, female participation in the program has consistently hovered around 50% throughout the 4 years of this grant.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The most commonly-reported recruitment activities were flyers and emails sent to the school district to be disseminated to teachers, counselors, and families. When indicators of gender, ethnicity, income, and rural populations are considered, recruitment efforts appear to be successful in recruiting students from STEM-minoritized populations. SUU PREP has been particularly successful in recruiting from rural, low-income, and female populations. These efforts provide evidence that program outcomes related to recruitment are being met and are in line with the focus of the WAMS program. Changes/Problems:Due to the challenges brought by COVID-19 in the previous year, some of the goals could not be met last year. However, in 2021 when PREP was held in person, those changes could be implemented. We incorporated study hall hours and increased the number of hands-on activities during the week. As far as new goals and changes for 2022, we will continue to hold study hall ours and incorporate new hands-on experiences for the students. Additionally, we are providing new career speakers, and field trips that have not yet been part of the repertoire at SUU PREP. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Each morning Monday-Thursday during the program, we bring in career awareness presenters who are currently working in a STEM-related field. These presenters volunteer their time to teach our students what it's like to work in their career. Students have the ability to ask questions and learn more about specifics of multiple different STEM related degree and career opportunities. Every Friday during the program, we take the students on a field trip to a STEM-related location, usually a business, where they get to tour and learn on-site about what the company does and the different career options available. These activities are vital for PREP and introduce our students to many possibilities they otherwise may not have known about. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SUU PREP is a part of Intermountain PREP, which includes a number of other PREP sites in the area. Together, all sites meet monthly and share insights and information to help each other improve. Prep sites work together to update curricula and share resources. Eventually, SUU PREP will be able to gather the long term data of our students to determine how many of our students pursue STEM related degrees. The information gathered from SUU PREP is used for current and potential grants and as recruiting data for schools, educators and parents. Yearly stats are also shared with students, their families, and other stakeholders at our closing ceremony. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue to find ways to upgrade and improve our curriculum, continue to find educational places to visit for field trips, and add to our variety of career awareness presenters. SUU PREP will look for additional ways to motivate and reward our students academically by seeking high school credits through the local school district for those students who complete all 3 summers of our program, as well as admission to SUCCESS Academy. SUU PREP will continue to encourage students of STEM-minoritized backgrounds to participate in our program by providing informational sessions in Spanish, and seeking out ways to motivate students of diverse backgrounds to participate in the program. One way to do this is by sharing inspiring stories and statistics of those groups in the STEM fields.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the summer of 2021, SUU PREP resumed activities in person after a year of virtual experiences in 2020. However, recruitment efforts were difficult (particularly for Year 1 students) due to circumstances surrounding COVID-19. Despite these difficulties, the enrollment of students in the program was good. The overall enrollment in the program indicated we had equal number of male and female students. The distribution of racial/ethnic enrollment indicated 72% of white students, 22% multiracial, 2% American Indian, and 3% unreported. Additionally, we had 26% of students that qualified for free or reduced lunch. Overall, the student retention of students moving through the program was 93%. Our results indicate that the Year 1 student improved their scores in their three courses (Engineering, Logic, and Problem Solving 1) by 30% on average, with Engineering increasing the most (48%) over the course of the seven weeks of PREP. Year 2 students improved their course scores by 24% in average, with Algebraic Structures increasing the most (32%) over the course of the program. Finally, Year 3 students improved their course scores by 23% on average, with Computer Science showing the greater improvement (30%). Students began PREP with scores below 50% on average except in Problem Solving 1 (Year 1), Problem Solving 2 (Year 2), and Computer Science (Year 3). However, they finished most of their courses above 50%, with some courses ending with very high average scores. The one exception of this statement was the Logic course that ended at 46%; however, an improvement from 22% at the beginning of the program. On the other hand, Computer Science showed an average of 96% in the post test, and Engineering showed an average of 95% in the post-test. These improvements and post-test scores indicate that the PREP students gained high or improved levels of mastery in all of their subjects during the program. All of these results were tested using paired samples t-tests, and the improvements for each course were all statistically significant to the 0.01 p-level, except for the Probability and Statistics course, which only showed a 16% improvement. Additionally, student attitudes toward science and science-related careers improved significantly over the course of the program. For example, attitude toward science improved 17.2 points from a 100 point scale. All of the gains were reported as significant to the 0.001 p-level.
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The most commonly-reported recruitment activity was school presentations to 6th graders. When indicators of gender, ethnicity, income, and rural populations are considered, recruitment efforts appear to be successful in recruiting students from underrepresented populations. 100% of our students live in rural areas and 40.7% of our students are female. These efforts provide evidence that program outcomes related to recruitment are being met and are in line with the focus of the WAMS program. Changes/Problems:Our goals from last year were to include a study hall hour during each day of SUU Prep for students to work on homework and fun activities to break up the day a little, offering more tutoring time as needed and to update the curriculum to create more hands-on activities for students. Changing our program to be online made these goals difficult, however we did create weekly experiments that students were able to do from home and they sent us videos and pictures to share. This provided them with more hands on activities as much as possible under the circumstances. We also offered tutoring help on Thursdays for those students who needed it. The greatest disappointment in holding PREP online in 2020 was the fact that students were notable to engage face-to-face like they normally would. This limited the students' ability to buildrelationships and bond, which is part of the fun of PREP - to engage and learn with students whohave similar interests. COVID also affected student learning, growth, and achievementof the goals of the program due to the fact that the curriculum was condensed drastically (as PREP wasonline.) This still gave the students an opportunity tolearn a little bit about each subject; however, none of the subjects were as detailed and in-depth as they normally would have been. Students also missed out on the weekly field tripswhere they could go in person and experience STEM-related businesses. Holding PREP online in 2020 was the best they could do this year, under thecircumstances, to address the problems created by COVID. We were still able to hold a verylimited number of in-person activities, which was nice, but we didn't feel,overall, that PREP was as successful as it could have been if we had been able to hold it inperson. We are looking forward to holding PREP in person in 2021 and intend to incorporate a study hall and hands-on activities as we proposed in our 2019 report when the students are back on campus with us again. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SUU PREP is a part of Intermountain PREP, which includes a number of other PREP sites in the area. Together all sites meet monthly and share insights and information to help each otherimprove. PREP sites work together to update curriculums and share resources. Eventually, SUU PREP will be able to gather the long term data of our students to determine how many of our students pursue STEM related degrees. The information gathered from SUU PREP is used for current and potential grants and as recruiting data for schools, educators, and parents. Yearly stats are also shared with students and their family at ourclosing ceremony. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue to find ways to upgrade and improve our curriculum, continue to find educational places to visit for field trips, and add to our variety of career awareness presenters. SUU PREP will look for additional ways to motivate and reward our students' accomplishments through our programacademically by seeking scholarship opportunities for graduating SUU PREP students. SUU PREP will continue to encourage underrepresented students to participate in our program by increasing diversity of representation in terms of the STEM professionals we highlight, both in our recruiting efforts and within the program itself.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Due to COVID-19, we were unable to host SUU PREP in person; however, we adjusted our program to be a drastically-reduced online program for the year so students wouldn't fall behind in the courses. In addition to the material students learn in their courses, every Tuesday and Wednesday we did a Zoomcareer awareness presentation. These presenters were currently working in a STEM-related field. These presenters volunteer their time to teach our students what it's like to work in their career. Students had the ability to ask questions and learn more about specifics of multiple different STEM-related degree and career opportunities. Although we weren't able to do weekly field trips, we were able to hold a limited number of in-person activities later in the summer as public restrictions were reduced. Students were burned out from online schooling from their public schools before summer, so we reduced the number of hours and days for SUU PREP to Mondays 8am-12pm, Tuesdays & Wednesdays 9am-12pm, and Thursdays were used for any needed tutoring and homework help from 9am-1pm. Our program still ran for 7 weeks from June 1-July 18. SUU PREP 2020 COVID-19 MODIFICATIONS: Due to COVID-19, SUU PREP 2020 was necessarily modified in a number of ways: ? PREP reduced the number of teachers from 9 to 1 ? PREP reduced the number of Program Assistants (PA's) from 9 to 3 ? PREP put PA's in charge of teaching 1 class (with the exception of the 3rd-year PA, who taught 2 classes) ? PREP held all classes and meetings over Zoom ? PREP used Canvas to teach, to track/submit assignments, and as a base for all SUU PREP curriculum, Career Speakers, and Resources (with a plan to continue using Canvas in the future, regardless of whether the program remains online or reverts to in-person instruction) ? PREP reduced the days and times of PREP from M-F 9am-3pm to Monday 8am-12pm, Tuesday-Wednesday 9am-12pm, and Thursday 9am-1pm for optional tutoring. (The dates of the program, June 1-July 18, remained the same) ? PREP held a weekly PREP experiment on Wednesdays that students first learned about via Zoom, and then completed at their homes ? PREP reduced the number of Career Awareness speakers from 4 per week to 2 per week, and all were held over Zoom rather than in-person ? PREP reduced the curriculum in the following ways: ? 1st years - alternating lessons for Problem Solving 1 and Logic each Monday, Engineering on Tuesdays ? 2nd years - alternating lessons for Problem Solving 2 and Algebraic structures each Monday, Physics on Tuesdays ? 3rd years - weekly lessons for Probability & Statistics on Monday. Alternating lessons on Computer Science & Technical Writing on Tuesdays ? PREP curriculum lesson priorities were left to the discretion of the teacher ? Limited and optional in-person activities included 1 activity per cohort and 1 rocket launching activity for all 3 cohorts ? A PREP Kit box was given to each student which contained supplies needed for weekly activities, class supplies for experiments, a t-shirt, and a hat ? Staff meetings were held weekly (instead of daily) via Zoom ? Staff presented students with weekly awards delivered to students' homes ? No field trips were held this year at all (normally there would be a field trip every Friday fora total of at least 6 field trips, both locally and out of town) ? No buses were used at all
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The most commonly reported recruitment activity was school presentations to 6th graders. When indicators of gender, ethnicity, income, and rural populations are considered, recruitment efforts appear to be successful in recruiting students from underrepresented populations. SUU PREP has been particularly successful in recruiting from rural, low income, and female populations. These efforts provide evidence that program outcomes related to recruitment are being met and are in line with the focus of the WAMS program. Changes/Problems:After feedback about students struggling with homework, and needing an activity to help break of the heavy workload of the day, we will include a study hall hour during each day of SUU Prep for students to work on homework and fun activities to break up the day a little, offering more tutoring time as needed. We will update the curriculum to create more hands-on activities for student What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Each morning Monday-Thursday during the program we bring in career awareness presenters who are currently working in a STEM related field. These presenters volunteer their time to teach our students what it's like to work in their career. Students have the ability to ask questions and learn more about specifics of multiple different STEM related degree and career opportunities. Every Friday during the program we take the students on a field trip to a STEM related location, usually a business, where they get to tour and learn on-site about what the company does and the different career options available. These activities are vital for prep and introduce our students to many possibilities they otherwise may not have known about. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?SUU Prep is a part of Intermountain Prep which includes a number of other prep sites in the area. Together all sites meet monthly and share insights and information to help each otherimprove. Prep sites work together to update curriculums and share resources. Eventually SUU Prep will be able to gather the long term data of our students to determine how many of our students pursue STEM related degrees. The information gathered from SUU Prep is used for current and potential grants and as recruiting data for schools, educators and parents. Yearly stats are also shared with students and their family at ourclosing ceremony. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue to find ways to upgrade and improve our curriculum, continue to find educational places to visit for field trips, and add to our variety of career awareness presenters. SUU Prep will look for additional ways to motivate and reward our students' accomplishments through our programacademically by seeking high school credits through the local school district for those students who complete all 3 summers of our program,as well as admission to Success Academy. SUU Prep will continue to encourage underrepresented students to participate in our program by sharing inspiring stories and statistics of those groups in the STEM fields.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Student course-specific pre-post-test score data indicate the effectiveness of SUU PREP at promoting student proficiency at both mathematics and general problem-solving ability. The results presented in Table represent average growth in mathematics and problem-solving ability across all IM PREP s (grouped by PREP Year). ites Results for the Engineering course have been omitted from the 2019 results, due to inconsistencies in test scoring (i.e., errors in IM PREP test questions and scoring keys). Students in Year 1 showed the most growth, with an average of 23.6% growth across the Logic and Problem Solving 1 courses. Year 2 students had an average growth of 18.5% across the Physics, Algebraic Structures, and Problem Solving 2 courses. Higher pre-test scores can constrain the amount of growth possible because students start closer to the maximum points possible on the assessment. This phenomenon was present in both the Problem Solving 1 and the Problem Solving 2 courses. Average post-test scores provide additional evidence of learning. While growth scores indicate a change over time, post-test scores are an indicator of content mastery. All course-specific pre- post-tests had a maximum of five points possible. The average post-test score across all tests was 3.44 (68.8%). The courses with the highest post-test scores were Problem Solving 1 (4.36, 87.2%) and Problem Solving 2 (3.64, 73%). As expected, courses often considered to be more difficult topics had lower post-test scores. Differences between course-specific pre- and post-test scores were statistically tested using a paired- samples t-test. The results of this statistical analysis indicated that there was a statistically significant change in students' course-specific mathematics and general problem-solving ability between pre- and post-test occasions. These statistical results are summarized in Table 12.
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