With National Science Foundation support, Johnson C Smith University will establish a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Learning Community to produce STEM undergraduates well able to use problem-based learning, interdisciplinary inquiry, in-depth analysis, technology, and critique for reflection and change. The STEM Learning Community will include a freshman STEM experience, second year STEM problem-based learning activities, field-specific upper level college courses and research experiences, and continuous faculty/student research opportunities and career and graduate school advisement. This model will serve as a national competency-, performance-based curriculum to produce capable STEM graduates who will successfully pursue graduate study or enter the STEM work force.
The intellectual merit of this project lies in the proposed STEM infrastructure enhancements and their potential to result in significant and sustainable improvements in the overall quality of STEM instruction at the institution.
The impact of the proposed efforts is to broaden the participation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce and provide a model for enhanced undergraduate STEM learning.
