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The First‐Year Research Advancement Program (FRAP): A research‐centered experience to foster discipline identity, persistence, and agency in under‐represented students in chemistry and biology.
Author(s) -
Mills Kenneth V.,
Paxson Julia
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.00597
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , persistence (discontinuity) , identity (music) , psychology , medical education , mathematics education , medicine , sociology , engineering , social science , physics , geotechnical engineering , acoustics
The First‐Year Research Advancement Program (FRAP) was started at Holy Cross in 2014 to increase persistence in STEM of academically promising students who belong to groups that traditionally do not persist at the same rate as majority students, including first‐generation students, PELL‐eligible students, and underrepresented minority students. We cofounded FRAP based on evidence that early experiences in research laboratories can increase discipline identity and persistence. We are now in the sixth year of the program, with 58 total first‐year participants, and six former participants serving as mentors. Two first‐year students are paired with both a faculty mentor and a senior student in the lab, and all students are paid for eight hours per week such that their participation replaces campus employment rather than adding an extra burden. Students work in the lab six hours per week, and participate in one‐hour meetings with their lab group and in a one‐hour meeting with all participants in order to create two cohorts of support: one among the research lab who typically are of all class years, and another among their first‐year peers. We have assessed the program in collaboration with the Office of Assessment and Research, and have found that participants show growth in aspects of their attitudes toward science and in their agreement with statements that students like them can succeed in science and that even if they forget facts they can still use thinking skills they learned in science. They did not show as much growth in their confidence to do well in classes. As our total number of participants has grown, we are analyzing persistence data in STEM disciplines. Nine of the 12 students who started in the Mills lab as FRAP students are either still in the lab or stayed in the lab for their four years at Holy Cross. Support or Funding Information This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (MCB‐1517138, KVM) and a Henry Dreyfus Teacher‐Scholar Award (KVM).