Collaborative Research: Feasibility Study of Dissemination of Knowledge from STEP 1 Projects

STEP Type 1 projects take a range of innovative approaches to increasing the flow of students into STEM majors and through college to STEM degrees. The strategies employed by various projects, however, ultimately work to increase the number of STEM majors through similar, often overlapping mechanisms. At the same time, STEM fields are as heterogeneous as the students they draw; what works for some STEM fields and/or students might not work (or not work quite as well) for others. In this project we ask: 1.  What mechanisms underlie the success or failure of Type 1 projects to increase the number of students who enter and complete bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields?
2. How do effects of project interventions vary for students in different sociodemographic subgroups, in particular by gender and race/ethnicity? and
3. How do the impacts of project interventions differ across STEM fields?