Generating Enthusiasm for Math and Science (GEMS) at the University of West Georgia
Goal:
To increase the number of students seeking and receiving baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging fields in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the University of West Georgia.
Objectives of GEMS initiative:
§ Enlarge the talent pool of STEM majors by recruiting more students of both sexes and of all ethnic backgrounds.
§ Generate enthusiasm for math and science (GEMS) in selected first year students who have not chosen a major.
§ Provide enhanced academic and career advising, as well as mentoring by STEM faculty.
§ Reduce the attrition of all undergraduate STEM majors.
§ Improve all students’ success in key mathematics and introductory science courses, which can act as barriers to success in the STEM disciplines.
§ Enhance first year-science and math courses.
§ Support a summer research experience that will induct students into the scientific community, greatly influence their major selection and generate interest in continuing research.
§ Provide opportunities for STEM students to serve as teaching assistants early in their careers.
Overall vision:
This program is designed to recruit undecided UWG students who display an aptitude for math and science to major in STEM disciplines, and to ease the transition from high school to college for these entering students. GEMS also intends to increase retention of first-year STEM students. This program seeks to stimulate students’ interest in STEM, to lessen math anxiety, to provide assistance in the rigorous first–year science and math courses and to “hook” students with a first-year summer research experience. Selected during summer orientation, qualified students will be invited to join the GEMS program. In the first semester, selected students will take a first-year seminar course and pre-calculus or calculus with supplementary workshops based on the group problem-solving model. During the second semester, students will begin a science sequence (biology, chemistry, computer science, geology or physics) and will continue in math. During the summer, following successful completion of the required first-year courses, students will be eligible for a paid summer research experience.
Significance of the project:
Scientific knowledge and innovations have been linked to a nation’s comparative advantage in the global economy. Today the United States is the world leader in the global science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) enterprise, but other countries stand ready to challenge this economic strength. One of the main reasons is a shortage of U.S. workers to fill STEM jobs. Technically skilled workers on H-1B Visas (guest workers) are now making up for the U.S. worker shortfall. This supply of talent could dwindle in the near future as other nations take steps to increase their own STEM productivity. In order for the U.S. to remain a leader, U.S. colleges and universities will need to focus on strategies to prepare the next generation of the STEM workforce. The major responsibility will be to promote technological, quantitative and scientific literacy, and to support an increase in diversity, size and quality of the next generation of STEM professionals who enter the workforce (DUE’s mission - www.ehr.nsf.gov).
Currently, too few undergraduates are recruited and retained in STEM programs to meet the nation’s future needs. During college, the highest risk of students switching out of STEM disciplines (35%) occurs by the end of the first-year (Seymour & Hewitt, 97). As many as 25% of all high school graduates, but only 13% of college sophomores, are interested in majoring in natural science and engineering (Green, 87). As students’ time in college increases, risk of attrition declines, with Hilton and Lee (1988) reporting a loss between sophomore and junior year of only 2%. Therefore, we have designed our GEMS intervention program to focus on the first year of college.
Introduction to the University:
The State University of West Georgia (UWG) is a selectively-focused comprehensive university, located in Carrollton, Georgia, which is an hour’s drive west of Atlanta. As of fall 2002, the university had more than 9,600 students (7,663 of which are undergraduates), over 460 faculty members, with programs in arts and sciences, business and education. The student body is comprised of 79% undergraduates, 64% women and 22% African Americans. The undergraduate population can be defined as traditional students with 78% less than 22 years old, 82% full-time and 60% of freshman living on campus.
As a comprehensive university, UWG has important strengths. The faculty is dedicated to both teaching and research. One of the visionary goals of the university is to become a leader among comprehensive universities in the area of faculty-directed student research. UWG has a history of programs to showcase and celebrate the success of these efforts, with a university-wide yearly Celebration of Scholarship event and an annual Sigma Xi student research paper competition. Faculty members are involved in research projects supported by a full range of private and government funding sources. The newly-constructed $24 million Technology-enhanced Learning Center (TLC) and the renovation of many other buildings have improved STEM teaching facilities on campus. Faculty members have obtained funding for instrumentation in teaching labs, as well as for innovative teaching methods using the studio approach and workshops from NSF-ILI, CCLI and MRI grants. The three-year-old Center for Teaching and Learning has been directed by STEM faculty members since its inception. STEM faculty members contribute tremendously to the retention and success of first-year students through a variety of university-wide programs such as learning communities and the center for academic success.
Science/Math Departments at UWG:
STEM departments are actively involved in recruitment and retention efforts. These include hosting the Annual High School Science Bowl, West Georgia Regional Science Olympiad Tournament, Annual Lockhart Chemistry Competition, Physics Demo Night and Group Observatory Observation sessions. The math department holds a Math Day in April of each year, during which students from surrounding high schools come to campus to participate in mathematics competitions and to learn about careers opportunities in mathematics. In addition, faculty members host students from local high schools or visit area schools to carry out demonstrations. Through these activities, our goal is to promote interest for the sciences among the youth in the region.
The science and math departments have also actively participated in UWG learning communities (LC). Students in a LC share a common program, (i.e., pre-engineering, pre-health, etc.), take their classes together, live in the same residence hall and participate in extra-curricular activities specially designed to reflect the academic topics they are studying. Retention rates and GPAs are improved in LC students, relative to their peers. Data for the spring of 2000 shows LC students had a GPA of 2.52 and a 74.40% retention rate, compared to a 2.22 GPA and a 65.08% retention rate for all other freshman. As one Learning Community student put it, “The Learning Community has helped my academic work because it inspires me to work hard. I know I am not alone and that I should not be afraid to succeed.”
Despite these efforts, Table 1 and Table 2 clearly indicate a retention problem in the STEM disciplines. The greatest decline in the number of STEM undergraduate majors occurs between the first and second year. We attribute this to introductory STEM courses not meeting the students’ needs, math anxiety, poor advising, misconceptions about being a science major, Georgia HOPE scholarship program (students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to retain this scholarship) and finally, to a lack of preparation. The GEMS program is designed to attract new students from the large pool of undeclared students to the STEM disciplines, as well as to increase the retention of STEM majors.
Table 1: Undergraduate Majors
Fall 1999 / Fall 2000 / Fall 2001 / Fall 2002Biology / 403 / 470 / 528 / 540
Chemistry / 118 / 128 / 122 / 154
CS / 181 / 239 / 250 / 225
Geosciences / 48 / 52 / 61 / 53
Math / 48 / 51 / 59 / 66
Physics / 33 / 39 / 35 / 31
Pre-engineering / 61 / 85 / 109 / 132
Undeclared / 1253 / 1329 / 1173 / 1191
Table 2: STEM Graduation Data
1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / AverageBiology / 37 / 17 / 17 / 18 / 32 / 24.2
Chemistry / 8 / 9 / 6 / 11 / 13 / 9.4
CS / 12 / 4 / 9 / 8 / 18 / 10.2
Geology / 11 / 9 / 8 / 8 / 11 / 9.4
Math / 7 / 13 / 4 / 6 / 5 / 7
Physics / 4 / 5 / 3 / 2 / 5 / 3.8
The computer science department offers a CAC/ABET-accredited B.S. in computer science (CS) and an M.S. in Applied CS. Located in the newly built TLC building, the department has modern lab facilities and state of the art classroom facilities. These facilities enable students and faculty to utilize modern technologies in the classroom and in research. The computer science curriculum includes both traditional and emerging areas of science and technology. Some of these include computer architecture, software engineering, web technologies, database systems, operating systems, networks, artificial intelligence and computational theory. The department has a number of highly qualified faculty dedicated to and focused on undergraduate teaching and research. In recent years, students from the CS department have placed high in the International ACM/IBM Quest for Java™ contest, achieved prestigious technology awards and engaged in research and presentation in regional conferences. About 20% of the graduates go on to pursue graduate degrees in nationally renowned CS programs. Last year the rest of the graduates were offered high paying jobs in the industry.
The biology department provides and maintains a rigorous curriculum which facilitates the understanding of the major principles and concepts in the biological sciences, promotes critical-thinking and communications skills and fosters a continuous interest in learning. The department is also committed to student-oriented research. Student-oriented research has led to the successful presentation of student papers at professional meeting each year. Graduates of our program have been successful in medical schools including Mercer, Medical College of Georgia, Emory, Vanderbilt, and also been successful in obtaining Co-op positions, acceptance into graduate programs and careers working at CDC, GBI, Pharmaceutical companies and Georgia Power.
The physics department offers seven plans leading to the B.S. degree in physics. The quality of the physics undergraduate education at UWG is evidenced by the quality of undergraduate student research, as well as from the publication of results in the form of abstracts and student papers (24 over the past five years). The department of physics is fully committed to its involvement in undergraduate faculty-guided student research. Physics students have had a combined seven best undergraduate student papers in the past five years at Sigma Xi and the Georgia Academy of Science. In addition, students who desire to continue on to graduate school have obtained entrance to prominent graduate institutions.
The chemistry department offers a B.A. and an American Chemical Society certified B.S. degree. The department has an active research program, which was enhanced in 1999 by an NSF-REU grant that has been renewed. Over half the graduates in the past five years have proceeded to graduate or professional schools in chemistry or a related profession. Students from UWG are currently pursuing doctoral work in chemistry at some of the best programs in the nation, including Caltech, Cornell University, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina and Georgia Tech. In addition, graduates have been awarded a Marshall Scholarship, a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and a year-long internship working with Professor Francis Collins at NIH on the Human Genome Project.
The Engineering Studies Program at UWG has two tracks: 2+2 Regents Engineering Transfer Program (RETP), and the 3+2 dual degree programs in physics or chemistry. The program has tripled in size in the past five years. The growth of the program can be attributed to these unique features:
- Engineering Studies learning community offered to first year students since 1997
- Inter-disciplinary seminar course entitled, “What do you really know about engineering?” developed to generate interest and enthusiasm in engineering
- National Engineer’s Week celebrated on campus involving bridge-building contest
- Field trips organized to local industries to give students the opportunity to observe engineers in their workplace
The mathematics department offers a B.S., a B.A. and a minor in mathematics. The curriculum includes both traditional and emerging areas of mathematics. Some of these include differential equations, numerical analysis, graph theory, combinatorics, number theory, applied statistics or education. The department has a number of highly qualified faculty dedicated and focused on undergraduate teaching and research. In recent years, students from the mathematics department have competed in a Mathematical Contest in Modeling, in which teams of three students are challenged to use mathematics to solve a real-world problem from science or industry. The 2000 team earned an Honorable Mention, and the 2002 teamed earned Meritorious. Additional student achievements include 11 published research papers, 16 presentations, a Goldwater Scholarship and Best Research Paper from NSSA.