$2.4 million NSF grant focuses on student retention

University Park, Pa. — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Penn State more than $2.4 million over the next five years for a collaborative project intended to improve retention rates of students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The project, titled Toys and Mathematical Options for Retention in Engineering (TOYS 'n MORE), will provide resources and learning tools for 15 Penn State campuses to help reverse student attrition and increase the number of students pursuing STEM fields, with primary emphasis in engineering.

Each year, the campuses involved in the project attract more than 600 first-year students who declare engineering as their preferred major. Two years later, approximately one-third remain in engineering, one-third pursue other STEM fields and the remaining one-third drop out of Penn State altogether.

Engineering and mathematics faculty will collaborate with Learning Center staff, diversity experts and assessment experts to improve student performance using several strategies.

The first strategy combines instructor intervention and supplemental instruction to improve student success in introductory math courses through personalized online tutorials and peer tutors.

A second strategy involves the implementation of an existing one-credit course currently offered to first-year students at the University Park campus. Toy FUN-damentals uses toy making to introduce engineering design and prototyping and to teach mathematics. The Toy FUN-damentals course has been shown to increase student interest in engineering, especially among women and underrepresented minorities.

A third strategy, the Campus College Connection, is a multi-step program designed to assist underrepresented minority students in the transition from high school to college. The components of the transition program include a summer bridge program, peer mentoring, campus visits, student leadership conferences, College of Engineering visitation and a sophomore transition tour.

The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence will provide assessment support for the program. Information Technology Services will support online mathematics resources for the project.

"The problem is complex to understand -- what makes a student not be successful? Is it the student, the content, the learning environment?" asks Dhushy Sathianathan, principal investigator and head of the School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP).

"This is an opportunity to implement an effective infrastructure," said Sathianathan. "We're going to have a team of math faculty, engineering faculty and Learning Center support staff, and we?re going to track student persistence in the system. We should be able to know what other factors are influencing their success or failure."

Penn State administrators echoed the need for student retention programs. Student attrition is a prominent concern for the University, and administrators welcome all efforts to help improve retention rates.

"At Penn State, we are deeply concerned about students we lose and have created special programs and services that promote student success," said Penn State President Graham Spanier in a memo to all Penn State faculty and staff. "Our efforts are an institution-wide process, yet each year about 6 percent of freshmen at University Park and 15 percent University-wide do not return."

Spanier noted that student success can be influenced by a variety of factors, including lack of academic preparation, financial difficulty, cultural and social isolation and personal issues. He encouraged all faculty and staff to make a special effort to look for early signs of first-year students who are struggling and to offer available resources.

Approximately half the students at the involved campuses are the first in their family to attend college. The campuses are located in communities with a mixture of ethnic backgrounds, educational levels and socio-economic strata.

"The team (of Penn State faculty and advisers) will develop and implement approaches to engage and retain a talented and diverse pool of students through innovative projects, some of which are embedded in curriculum and others that support student achievement," said David Wormley, dean of the College of Engineering. "The team's comprehensive approach is well-grounded and positioned to make the difference we need in retaining a diverse STEM population."