Performing Department
XEM Pre-College Prg Admin
Non Technical Summary
Oregon State University's (OSU) Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences Program (SMILE), a school-university partnership program, will collaborate with OSU's Beaver Hangouts, College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS) and Bioresource Research Program (BRR), Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) and Society for the Advancement of Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) chapters to provide food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce development programming for underrepresented and underserved students participating in SMILE's afterschool science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) clubs in rural Oregon high schools. Over this two-year project, groups of SMILE high school students from 10 rural Oregon schools will work with facilitating teachers and be paired with undergraduate near-peer mentors to identify and implement inquiry-driven projects exploring real-world problems and current research on FANH topics. They will engage in career exploration while developing the skills that will be critical for the next generation USDA workforce especially in rural communities nationwide.While academically engaging afterschool programs are especially important for students who come from family backgrounds with lower income and less education, those students are also more likely to be placed in tutoring programs that do not provide the benefits associated with participating in academic enrichment experiences that are social, collaborative, problem-solving oriented, and intrinsically engaging. SMILE's afterschool STEM programs address this gap and increase the number of Oregon underrepresented and underserved students who graduate from high school, pursue higher education, and succeed in STEM-related careers. Additionally, SMILE supports teachers through professional development workshops that sustain a long-term community of practice supporting their work in the clubs and in their larger classrooms through engaging and research-informed STEM activities. Currently, 10 rural high school SMILE clubs provide STEM learning curriculum and College Connection events for 151 students in Oregon communities. Half of these communities have fewer than 2,500 people, most have median incomes below the Oregon average of $53,270, some are geographically isolated and all have few adults with four-year degrees. Among all SMILE participants in 2018-19, 38% identified as Latino/Hispanic, 35% white, 14% multi-ethnic, 12% Native American, and 1% as other. 61% of students identified as female, 83% as first generation to college, and 92% as low-income.Research opportunities and social mentoring support have been identified as critical factors for recruiting and retaining underserved students in sciences, and early participation in research improves students' academic performance and persistence to graduation, creating a greater sense of integration into the academic community, and raising the likelihood of enrollment in graduate and professional schools. Increased mentoring, peer mentoring, and early involvement in inquiry-driven activities improve retention of underserved students, and there is a close correspondence between the gains from student research and the "soft skills" identified as required for competitive employment in FANH related careers: 1) Experience; 2) Team Skills; 3) Communication Skills; 4) Leadership Skills; 5) Decision Making/Problem Solving Skills; 6) Self-Management Skills; and 7) Professionalism. Grant activities will provide professional development for undergraduate mentors and facilitating teachers to support student skill building and exploration of FAHN disciplines and career paths. This experience paired with access to local and institutional services, resources and expertise will provide students with continued support for their transition into higher education. Stakeholders will be involved in aspects of planning and conceptualizing the project thus promoting collective impact in clearly structured pathways, increasing equitable access to higher education, decreasing enrollment barriers, and increasing the number of qualified underserved students available to enter the workforce in the FANH sciences.Addressing USDA educational priorities around student recruitment, retention and equity, this project increases participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM, and in FANH sciences in particular, through inquiry-driven projects implemented at SMILE afterschool clubs and mentored by OSU undergraduate students. These projects will serve as platforms for youth to engage in inquiry and learning experiences involving real world issues and career pathways within the FANH sciences. It creates pathways for rural women and minorities to obtain skilled, higher-wage earning positions that help revitalize their community's economies, by 1) Increasing the number of women and minority youth in rural communities interested in pursuing careers in FANH sciences; 2) Engaging and inspiring underrepresented and underserved youth with inquiry-driven FANH projects and activities; 3) Providing leadership opportunities and near-peer mentorship that support positive youth development and determination to pursue higher education; 4) Providing awareness of STEM mid-skills careers and the varied pathways for opportunities within the FANH sciences; and 5) Harnessing institutional infrastructure and resources for continued support of youth transition into secondary education beyond the life of this grant.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
Oregon State University's (OSU) Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences Program (SMILE), a school-university partnership program, will collaborate with OSU's Beaver Hangouts, College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS) and Bioresource Research Program (BRR), Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) and Society for the Advancement of Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) chapters to provide food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce development programming for underrepresented and underserved students participating in SMILE's afterschool science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) clubs in rural Oregon high schools. Over this two-year project, groups of SMILE high school students from 10 rural Oregon schools will work with facilitating teachers and be paired with undergraduate near- peer mentors to identify and implement inquiry-driven projects exploring real-world problems and current research on FANH topics. They will engage in career exploration while developing the skills that will be critical for the next generation USDA workforce.In doing this, our goal is topromotecollective impact in clearly structured pathways, increasing equitable access to higher education, decreasing enrollment barriers, and increasing the number of qualified underserved students available to enter the workforce in the FANH sciences.Addressing USDA educational priorities around student recruitment, retention and equity, this project increases participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM, and in FANH sciences in particular, through inquiry-driven projects implemented at SMILE afterschool clubs and mentored by OSU undergraduate students. These projects will serve as platforms for youth to engage in inquiry and learning experiences involving real world issues and career pathways within the FANH sciences. It creates pathways for rural women and minorities to obtain skilled, higher-wage earning positions that help revitalize their community's economies by achieving thefollowing objectives:Increasing the number of women and minority youth in rural communities interested in pursuing careers in FANH sciences; Engaging and inspiring underrepresented and underserved youth with inquiry-driven FANH projects and activities;Providing leadership opportunities and near-peer mentorship that support positive youth development and determination to pursue higher education;Providing awareness of STEM mid-skills careers and the varied pathways for opportunities within the FANH sciences;Harnessing institutional infrastructure and resources for continued support of youth transition into secondary education beyond the life of this grant.
Project Methods
Project Efforts.The project will design, deliver and evaluate a near-peer mentorship program for inquiry-driven FANH projects to be implemented at all 10 SMILE high school clubs in rural Oregon. A total of 15 teachers deliver STEM programming to 151 students in 25 one- hour club meetings throughout the academic year. Participating teachers will recruit and work with a subset of club members (ideally 5-6 students) to research, identify and implement inquiry- driven FANH related projects with the help of assigned undergraduate near-peer mentors through the following project activities:Two project guiding meetings with project leaders and supporterswill occur at the OSU campus at the start of each year to bring collaborators to review assessment tools and identifyexisting institutional resources, tools, and pathways to harness in a collective impact structure. Utilizing the SMILE program structure, the project team willrecruit five SMILE clubs ineach year of the project.The program coordinator will work with teachers to determine criteria and to recruit a subset of students in their clubs to participate in the project. Additionally, project leaders will recruit five undergraduate near-peer mentors each year to support club activities related to FANH projects. Recruited mentors will develop individual biographical videos profiling their background, experiences and interest in mentoring youth for recruited clubs.Near-Peer Mentorship through Beaver Hangouts:Since 2012, OSU's Precollege Beaver Hangouts Program has been using videoconferencing software to connect OSU undergraduate coaches to economically disadvantaged and underserved students in K-12 classrooms. This project will integrate this technological solution for mentorship sessions reaching SMILE clubs where they are. Co-PI Dr. Brooks, Beaver Hangout Coordinator, will work with the project team and recruited mentors to set up the content, structure and schedule of sessions by 1) Reviewing FANH content materials (using our various supporting sources and specially existing BRR curriculum) for lesson format and content supportive of potential inquiry-driven projects, 2) Sharing specialty areas with SMILE clubs for feedback and hone group interest, and 3) Drafting and piloting lessons supportive of FANH projects. Beaver Hangouts mentorship sessions will occur twice a month from February to April each year.Professional development(PD) for both near-peer mentors and facilitating teachers will take place face-to-face during the scheduled SMILE teacher workshops in January and August each year. Half-day sessions will cover content related to identified FANH projects as well as content exploring the soft skills for leadership development and STEM mid-skill career awareness. The first session in January 2022 will serve as the project kick-off with teachers and near-peermentors for introductions, initial discussions about project ideas, building community and sense of belonging through fostering shared ownership of project components. We will also develop an OSU Canvas site as an online training platform for mentors. They will find PD resources and supporting materials such as the link to OSU online training "Enhancing Peer Tutor Training at OSU", an open source online module developed by PI, Dr. Rowe and leading authors at the OSU Academic Success Center. The canvas site will also serve as a platform for discussions and to foster a professional learning community for near-peer mentorship through youth programing.Project identification, development and implementation:Teachers will work with students during February club meetings to identify, choose, and determine the scope of their FANH projects. With the support of mentors, they will work with students to plan their projects, identify S.M.A.R.T goals and actionable items. This will help determine feasible projects, timeline, roles and tasks. Mentors will also develop their own S.M.A.R.T goals and actionable items related to their mentorship skills and leadership development. Project kick-off for students in SMILE clubs will take place in February through Beaver Hangouts videoconferencing. Project implementation will occur from February through April each year. Teachers will facilitate FANH projects in club meetings, and undergraduate students will lead near-peer mentorship sessions as described above. Upon project completion, students will present findings in a poster session to take place during the established annual SMILE High School College Connection event (spring).ProjectEvaluation.The project will take advantage of existing SMILE evaluation tools and strategies including surveys administered to students, teachers, and parents at events and at the end of the school year. SMILE club meetings are also periodically observed using the Youth Program Quality Assessment tool (YPQA). Demographic information such as gender, ethnic background, parent/guardian education, primary language spoken at home, and eligibility for free/reduced lunch is collected on student SMILE club membership applications. SMILE teachers submit weekly club meeting logsdetailing information such as student attendance, activities delivered, and likelihood of using the activities in their larger classrooms. They also complete evaluations at workshops on how effectively sessions increased their STEM content knowledge, quality of activities, and their ability to successfully engage club members. Students complete evaluations for College Connection events providing information on their STEM content learning, engagement in STEM activities, and increase in college/career interests. Student, school, and community data is also collected to provide insight on the overall student population and environment. The proposed project activities will be integrated into these activities and their evaluative tools and processes.To evaluate achievement of project goals, we will use the previously mentioned tools as well as creating project-specific questions that draw on existing research-based assessment instruments where available. For example, student attitudinal changes are documented by an adapted survey tool developed by the Assessing Women and Men in Engineering Project which gauges student engagement and changes in education plans and career aspirations. Adaptation will be made to these tools to measure success in achieving the soft skills (experience skills, team Skills, communication skills, leadership skills, decision making/problem solving skills, self-management skills, and professionalism). The overarching methodology will be Naturalistic Inquiryand data will be triangulated to draw conclusions. Quantitative data will be analyzed initially using descriptive and inferential statistics including, but not limited to, those appropriate for non-experimental designs. Qualitative data will be initially analyzed by coding techniquesand using the constant comparative method. This diversity of data sources and types will provide stronger validity and credibility for decision-making and clarity of conclusions.