Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Homestead Campus has been awarded a $822,379 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to implement Step 2 STEM, a five-year project that will extend from 2019 to 2023.
The project aims to conduct a study of student perceptions and learning incentives, and boost the success of 60 low-income, academically talented scholars in STEM majors. For the latter, funds will be awarded annually, from 2019 to 2021, to groups of 20 students registered for the academic Fall Semester.
The project’s research study will address key issues affecting low-income students in STEM career pathways including maintaining motivation, the effect of their social, financial and academic environments and ways the college can intervene to assist participants who live in farming communities and high crime rate neighborhoods, among others.
Divided in three phases — step in, step up and step out — Step 2 STEM involves a series of activities and assessments to monitor the attitudes and motivations of students with the objective to gather information that helps the college find ways to retain at least 80 percent as they transition into their second year, and to encourage another 60 percent to earn associate degrees in STEM careers with the aim to transfer to a four-year institution within 2.5 years of entering the program.
It is expected throughout the program implementation that a wealth of information on student mindsets, perceptions and learning incentives becomes available and will allow MDC’s Homestead Campus to provide strategies and pedagogical innovations to capture the attention of incoming students.
Jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are projected to grow at almost double the rate of non-STEM occupations. Colleges like MDC are playing a huge role in working to meet this demand. More than half of all STEM jobs across the United States require no more than an associate degree and pay wages that average more than $50,000 annually.
For more information, visit www.mdc.edu.
