The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue STEM graduate programs and/or careers. Through this one-year pre-planning project, Norfolk State University will investigate factors associated with high failure rates in chemistry courses and obtain sufficient data to develop interventions to support the retention, progression and improved graduation rates of biology and chemistry majors.
Chemistry courses tend to be a challenge for STEM students, particularly biology and chemistry majors. Poor performance in gatekeeper chemistry courses adversely affect retention and graduation rates, particularly for minority students. Through data collection and analysis on key data points such as math placement data for incoming students, pass/fail rates in chemistry and math and student progression data, the project aims to develop co-requisite remediation for gatekeeper courses. The project will also implement a Faculty Learning Community to promote curriculum transformations and provide faculty with pedagogical training.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
