Preparing Graduate Student Educators to Strengthen Undergraduate Success in Foundational STEM Courses

With support from the Improving Undergraduate Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Implementation and Evaluation Project (IEP) Level 1 Track aims to improve the classroom experience and academic success of undergraduate students in introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Too many students who enter college intending to pursue STEM careers leave STEM majors within the first few years, in part because they do not feel supported or successful in their early courses. The project will address this issue by training graduate teaching assistants, who lead many of these foundational STEM courses, in teaching strategies that recognize and build on students’ strengths and experiences. These strategies will support graduate educators in creating welcoming classrooms, connecting course material to students' experiences, and offering meaningful feedback that supports growth for all students. The project expects to reduce failure and withdrawal rates in foundational STEM courses, increase students’ confidence and sense of community, and ultimately improve persistence in STEM majors. This work will contribute to national efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education, thereby contributing to increases in the STEM workforce. Fifty graduate educators who teach foundational STEM courses will participate in a training institute over three years on using student-centered and asset-based teaching strategies, impacting 1,100 undergraduates. The institute will be followed by mentorship from experienced faculty and monthly community of practice meetings. The training will be grounded in prior successful initiatives for faculty and responds to institutional data showing that graduate educators play a key role in shaping student experiences in high-impact STEM courses. The research will use a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the impact of the intervention on graduate educators’ self-efficacy and use of these practices. Data will be collected through pre- and post-surveys, classroom observations, focus groups, and analysis of institutional data on course outcomes and student persistence in STEM majors. Results will be shared through academic conferences, peer-reviewed publications, institutional policy briefs, and professional networks that support Hispanic-Serving Institutions and other institutions of higher education. The broader impact includes developing a scalable model of educator training that improves STEM instruction, builds institutional capacity, and supports national efforts to develop a strong and prepared STEM workforce. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and increase capacity to engage in the development and implementation of innovations to improve STEM teaching and learning at HSIs. 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.