Abdramane Serme, PhD. Mathematics department coordinator of the S-STEM, C-STEP and LSAMP scholarship programs.

Transcription

1 Abdramane Serme, PhD BMCC/CUNY-The City University of New York Mathematics department coordinator of the S-STEM, C-STEP and LSAMP scholarship programs. Actively involved in mentoring students research projects.

2 Myth: Students in community colleges are not able to conduct research in mathematics. Fact: Students come to community colleges immature, unprepared (Brock, 2010) to do college work. Fact: There is no AMATYC grant to support student research/mentoring programs (conv. about AMATYC) Fact: High school teachers reject responsibility to junior high teachers who reject responsibility to middle school.

3 The faculty members of the mathematics department at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) have mentored over 140 students in various student research programs since The goal of this talk is to share BMCC s experience in student research/mentoring programs. Some student research projects will be discussed.

4 BMCC has five major student research programs The Honors program The Cleo and Zack project The C-STEP (Collegiate Science and technology Entry Program) The S-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) The LSAMP (Louis Stroke Alliance for Minority Participation) programs

5

6 The shortage of students trained in mathematics is a well documented (Herzig, 2004). Many students enter and exit community colleges with no or little knowledge about the rigor and responsibility of doing research. The research project is a way to hone their writing skills and to master techniques such as writing an abstract and references in a report, oral presentation, computer software programs such as Matlab, Mathematica and Maple.

7 All students in a research program grant funded by the NSF must pass six modules provided by CITI (Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative) Responsible conduct of research Research misconduct, a case study: plagiarism Publication practices Responsible authorship Collaborative research When collaborators become competitors

8 54% of students admitted to plagiarism from the internet (plagiarism.org). Tackle that problem early by talking about it and allowing students to be confronted by it. Every faculty member engaged in mentoring students is required to educate his mentee on plagiarism.

9 Students will succeed better academically when they feel more integrated into the college community. Informal contacts (outside the classroom) between college students and faculty members have a positive impact on students' academic performance, retention and career goals (Bernier, Larose, & Soucy, 2005). Implemented the right way, with passion and close supervision, student mentoring programs may help integrate more students especially mathematics major students. Integration may in the long run affect the retention rate positively.

10 Underrepresented minorities comprise a very low percentage of students in higher education (Herndon & Hirt, 2004). According to the OECD's (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 25th among their peers from 34 countries on a mathematics test (Hechinger, 2010). TIMSS (Trends in Inter. Math and Science Study). Developing robust research/mentoring programs for students majoring in mathematics has become even more important.

11

12 At the start of each semester, clear goals to encourage strengthening the college's STEM program are set. The chair exhibits a strong sense of leadership by : Being very involved in grant writing. Encouraging faculty members to team up to write grants. Making sure that at least one grant is written on student research/mentoring programs.

13 Every semester all BMCC students engaged in any mentoring program are invited to the BMCC Annual Poster Presentation. Certificate of participation are distributed to participants. Students engaged in mentoring/research project are encouraged to present at conference outside BMCC. Workshops on how to present at conferences are organized to train the students.

14 Private providers and Institutional providers. MAA ( MAA tensor women and girls grant, grants for underrepresented female students. MAA through NREUP (National Research Experience for Undergraduates Program). AMS ( msforstudents)

15 US Department of Education (USDE) Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) National Science Foundation (NSF) Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (TUE-STEM) formally know as CCLI Program Advanced Technological Education (ATE)

16

17 BMCC takes students mentoring programs very seriously and is very well organized The scholarships coordinator has the following responsibilities: The point person for student s recruitment Pair students with faculty members Centralizes all the recruitment effort s for the department Go physically class by class starting from remedial classes to higher level classes to talk to students Distribute flyers in class or during students organized events in order to gain awareness Remind all the faculty members by Distributing flyers in the mailboxes of faculty members

18 The scholarships coordinator may send letters to all mathematics major students or potential candidates based on their GPA or based on their history of participation in the research programs. Some other clubs such as the Hispanic, Caribbean, African, etc., student government associations may be targeted depending on the recruitment goal. Talk and distribute flyers to the student s association members during clubs hours.

19 Each professor in the department is encouraged to distribute flyers and recruit qualified students in his/her class. The mathematics major coordinator: Will alert all the mathematics major students by about the scholarships availability One of three authorized to register mathematics major students Identify qualified students for a particular scholarship Early recruitment of students with potential in mathematics in remedial classes

20 Dropout rate is one of the main challenges with student mentoring programs. Research project difficult or at a higher level. Not enough interest in the research project offered to him/her. No connection with his/her project or mentor. Low GPA (3.0 or higher).

21 The choice of the project is extremely important: A student in a college algebra class will not be given a project dealing with integration. Assess the students knowledge by some questions. Assess the students area of interest: Ask the mentee if he/she has an interest in financial mathematics, history of mathematics, biological mathematics, algebra, differential equations, etc.

22 Encourage Teamwork: Divide the same problem into two or more parts for two or more students. Mathematics or physics research projects on gadgets used by students in their everyday life are very well liked and constitute an extra source of motivation for students. Student's algebra, calculus or physics textbook is a good source of research projects. Very good source of research projects. One may use (Simmons, 2007) or (Gaughan, 1991). Assigning 1 college credit to student research project.

23

24 Bernier, A., Larose, S., & Soucy, N., (2005). "Academic mentoring in college: The interactive role of student's and mentor's interpersonal dispositions." Research in Higher Education, 46(1). Brock, T. (2010). "Young Adults and Higher Education: Barriers and Breakthroughs to success." The Future of Children, 20(1), Gaughan, D. E., (1991) "Student Research Projects in Calculus.", Spectrum Series, The Mathematical Association of America. Hechinger, J., (2010). "U.S. Teens lag as China soars on International Test", Herbdon, K. M. & Hirt, B. J., (2004). "Black students and their families: What leads to success in college." Journal of Black Studies, 34(4), Herzig H. A. (2004). "Becoming Mathematicians: Women and Students of Color Choosing and Leaving Doctoral mathematics." Review of Educational Research, 74(2), Simmons F., G., (2007). "Calculus Germs: Brief Lives and Memorable Mathematics.", Spectrum Series, The Mathematical Association of America.

25 rme.nsf/0/2674e d e004 F95AB/$File/Cstep%20Flyer.pdf?OpenEle ment&filename=cstep%20flyer.pdf