Melanie Van Stry
Lane College, TN·Education Research
Many students who start college in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) leave those fields before graduating. This is especially true for African-American students and others from historically disenfranchised groups.
- Fields
Education Research
Biology
- Topics
STEM education
student persistence
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Redesign foundational STEM courses at an HBCU with active learning and course-based research, and train faculty in these teaching methods.
- Expand peer mentoring and supplemental instruction for gateway science courses to help students persist in STEM majors.
- Engage college students in outreach to local K-12 schools that provides hands-on, inquiry-based science experiences and builds science literacy.
- Measure how these activities affect students' views of science, sense of belonging, scientific literacy and persistence in STEM, using a mixed-methods study.
More about the research
This project at Lane College, a Historically Black College, aims to keep more students in STEM. Its goal is to increase the number who go on to graduate and professional school in STEM fields, and it reaches every STEM major at the college.
Why it matters
The project addresses the low number of African-American students who complete STEM degrees and continue to graduate or professional school. Evidence on which practices help students stay in STEM at an HBCU could guide how similar colleges teach gateway courses and mentor students. Outreach also brings hands-on science to local K-12 students.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Eddie Red
Morehouse College, GA·Education Research
Investigate how HBCUs with diverse academic cultures graduate African American STEM students at higher rates than other institutions, using convergence research across the Morehouse, Spelman and Virginia State hub and about fifty partner HBCUs.
Charles Colen
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, AR·Education Research
Establish a STEM Academy for Research and Entrepreneurship that combines science and business training and builds faculty skill in high-impact practices that engage students.
Mark Graham
Yale University, CT·Education Research
Identify which teaching practices in SEA-PHAGES courses, where students discover bacteria-infecting viruses, build student trust, buy-in and persistence in STEM, using mixed-methods study of instructors and administrators.
The school
Lane College: 1 labs on PI Pages.
Reach out
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