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DHSI STEM 4 Teaching and Learning

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US Department of Education’s Hispanic Serving Institutions, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Project: STEM 4 Teaching and Learning, Award Number: P031C210012, Award period: 2021-2026.

The Sacramento State’s "STEM 4 Teaching and Learning" project strives to increase the number of STEM degrees earned by underserved students by changing the STEM curriculum. Effective teaching strategies in and beyond the classroom are implemented to support and empower students for success.

STEM 4 Teaching and Learning Goals

  1. Implement STEM specific, student responsive, workforce aligned curricular change in undergraduate gateway and gatekeeper STEM courses to make measurable improvements to the persistence, academic success, and STEM career development students.
  2. Strengthen and expand student support services and transfer pathways to increase seamless advising, successful enrollment, graduation, and STEM employment of underserved students.

Measurable outcomes for these goals include increasing the proportion and number of underserved students graduating with STEM degrees by 30% to over 350 per year and closing the disparity gap in STEM courses.

STEM 4 Teaching and Learning Activities

  1. Course Redesign – Minigrants awarded to faculty to redesign and transform courses with a high proportion of non passing grades and/or large gaps for underserved students. Visit the Minigrant Application page
  2. STEM Faculty Professional Development – Professional Learning for STEM faculty to improve effective teaching skills, acquire responsive teaching strategies, and implement accessible and Artificial Intelligence (AI) informed technology. Visit the Faculty and Professional Learning Community page.
  3. Peer Assisted Learning Program (PAL) – Expansion of the successful Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) co-curricular courses into Biology and Engineering departments. Visit the PAL webpage
  4. STEM Workforce Development – Integration of practical workplace skills into STEM courses and on campus STEM microinternships. Link to PAL webpage.

STEM 4 Teaching and Learning Project Leadership

  • Lynn M. Tashiro Professor of Physics, Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning
  • Jennifer Lundmark, Professor of Biological Sciences, PAL Program Director
  • Mariappan “Jawa” Jawaharlal, Associate Vice President of Research Innovation and Economic Development
  • Jenni Murphy, Vice President for Enrollment and Engagement
  • Mary Ann Wong, Project Evaluator, Institute for Social Research

STEM 4 Teaching and Learning Research

To evaluate the effectiveness of the STEM 4 Teaching and Learning activities, STEM education researchers, statisticians, and faculty analyze course level and institution level data to measure the impact of course redesigns, faculty professional learning, and co-curricular programs. Publications, presentations, and results include:

“Assessing Student Success in a Peer Assisted Learning program Using Propensity Score Matching”, Corey Shanbrom, Michelle Norris, Caitlin Esgana, Matthew Krauel, Vincent Pigno, and Jennifer Lundmark, Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 52, No. 7, 2023

“STEM Faculty Professional Development: Measuring the Impact on College Student Grades and Identifying Critical Program Components”, Mary McCarthy, Lynn Tashiro, Sabrina Solanki, Judi Kusnick, De-Laine Cyrenne, Di Xu, manuscript submitted