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Background: Designed in 2012 with a first implementation in 2013, NE STEM 4U is a professional development program for post-secondary students/undergraduates, and serves as a source of outreach, content knowledge generation, and STEM literacy for youth in grades kindergarten through 8th grade (ages 5-14). The model empowers post-secondary students as facilitators of inquiry-based learning within the context of an out-of-school time program. This study investigated the potential for replicating or 'franchising' this model by evaluating on the following: (1) Is the model replicable?; and, if so; (2) what core elements are necessary for program fidelity?; and (3) is there a dependency on a particular setting/participant type (e.g., a more rural or urban setting)?Results: Strategic expansion of the program to different institutional types (i.e., Research 1, Research II, and a predominantly undergraduate institution), different geographical locations (i.e., rural and urban), and with various school district partners (i.e., large and small) determined that program fidelity and replicability required 4 core elements or criteria: (1) intentional programming; (2) staff quality; (3) effective partnerships; and (4) program evaluation and continuous improvement. Importantly, we examined emergent themes by each site, as well as in combination (n = 16 focus group participants, n = 12 reflection surveys). These data indicated that "Flexibility" (21.22%), "Student Engagement (i.e., Youth)" (19.53%), "Classroom Management (i.e., also pertaining to youth)" (19.31%), and "Communication" (15.71%) were the themes most referenced by the post-secondary student mentors in the NE STEM 4U program, regardless of site. Finally, the YPQA results demonstrate general replication of program quality in a "franchise" location. Conclusions: These results highlight the core elements of the NE STEM 4U program for consideration of expansion (through strategic replication or 'franchising') as a possible international model. The findings and voices highlight the program's trajectory toward success into environments that expand professional development for post-secondary students, and for delivering STEM opportunities for youth.

Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (spring 2020), universities quickly moved to remote instruction. Our research during this time frame included investigating course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in General Chemistry, and we found ourselves in the middle of a CURE study without any laboratory component (aka "CURE-disrupted"). While the literature surrounding the importance of CUREs is extensive, based on our literature search, we posit that this is the first report of a study demonstrating student outcomes when given the CURE offering without actually implementing the wet-lab component. Consequently, we asked "is it important for students to execute the "entire" research project of a CURE or to simply understand scientific "reasoning" and rationalization of the "processes"?" Herein, we report student responses as "expert-like" and "non-expert-like" data using the CLASS instrument, and we describe the qualitative results from focus groups for the participating CURE and non-CURE students. Top emergent themes from the CURE participants included: Discovery (29.91%), Understanding by Doing (23.41%), and Research Skills and Techniques (20.36%). Conversely, students in the traditional lab reported top emergent themes mostly surrounding course organization, and top emergent themes included: Required More Structure (14.69%), Research Skills and Techniques (7.3%), and Understanding by Doing (6.11%). These preliminary findings demonstrate the value of a CURE, even while disrupted. While this pandemic allowed for the unique opportunity to evaluate offering a CURE without a wet-lab-based experience, we ultimately suggest that additional studies be completed surrounding this idea, in a more controlled (non-remote) learning environment to corroborate these findings.

Mentoring is a common practice in higher education institutions and scientific fields. Undergraduates approach faculty members who are working on topics that match their research interests. We conducted a study to compile a qualitative synthesis of research on the mentorship experience of undergraduate science students with faculty mentors. We used the stages of meta-ethnography to guide our study. Meta-ethnography involves identifying concepts from qualitative studies to translate them into a line of argument. We screened 2,888 titles and abstracts, 71 full texts, and included 13 studies in the synthesis. We identified and organized nine conceptual categories into two themes: student success and engagement, and barriers to student progression. The findings show that faculty mentorship is key to supporting student retention and increasing the scientific pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STEM faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) have partnered with teachers and administrators in the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) to implement a Teacher-Researcher Partnership Program. This program establishes resources and infrastructure that engage K-12 science teachers in scientific research experiences. In the first implementation of this program, eleven UNO faculty mentors, drawn from several STEM disciplines, were matched with eleven OPS teachers to conduct genuine research projects in support of their teaching.

Strong collaborative partnerships are critical to the ongoing success of any urban or metropolitan university in its efforts to build the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career pathways so critical to our nation. At the University of Nebraska at Omaha, we have established a faculty leadership structure of "community chairs" that work across colleges to support campus priorities. This paper describes UNO's STEM community chair model, including selected initiatives, impacts, and challenges to date.

The development of critical thinking skills in recent college graduates is keenly requested by employers year after year. Moreover, improving these skills can help students to better question and analyze data. Consequently, we aimed to implement a training program that would add to the critical thinking skills of undergraduate students: Nebraska Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math 4U (NE STEM 4U). In this program, undergraduates provide outreach, mentoring, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to K-8 students. To determine the impacts of serving as an undergraduate mentor in this program on critical thinking, we compared undergraduate mentors (intervention group) with nonmentor STEM majors (nonintervention, matched group) using the valid and reliable California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) as a pre/post measurement. Importantly, before the intervention, both NE STEM 4U mentors and nonmentor undergraduates scored similarly overall on the CCTST. However, the posttest, carried out one academic year later, indicated significant gains in critical thinking by the NE STEM 4U mentors compared with the nonmentors. Specifically, the math-related skills of analysis, inference, and numeracy improved significantly in mentors compared with nonmentors.

Afterschool interventions in STEM are linked to learning gains during the school day. These opportunities engage and excite students about STEM concepts since they observe a more hands-on, project-oriented approach. Often these opportunities for afterschool interventions are infrequent in nature and leave gaps for students in their maturation and understanding. Herein we describe the first report of an afterschool intervention, named "NE STEM 4U," targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged middle school youth via a twice weekly, year-long intervention, studied across two years. We assessed the impact of this program on i.) short-term, individual student gains in STEM content knowledge and ii.) delivery of the program in terms of appropriateness for age group and content using the DoS observation tool. We observed statistically significant gains in STEM content knowledge over short-term assessment using a multiple-group, pre-test post-test research design comparing scores in content before and after the intervention. In this report, we highlight the impact of this nascent program in Omaha Public Schools.

Background: Many university students are becoming involved in mentoring programs, yet few studies describe the impact of mentoring on the mentor. Additionally, many studies report that students graduating from college are not prepared to enter the workforce in terms of key career skills and/or content knowledge. Herein, we examine the impact of our program, NE STEM 4U (Nebraska Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for You), in which undergraduate (UG) mentors engage K-8 youth in after-school STEM experiments. The UGs reflected upon their experiences using post-mentoring evaluations, 12- and 24-week interviews, and exit surveys. Many of the questions asked of the mentors related directly to their own professional development, such as self-evaluation of communication, organization, and problem-solving skills, while other questions related to content knowledge and reflection. Results: Post-mentoring, UGs reflected on the delivery/teaching significantly more (p = 0.001 for each) than other variables (i.e., their own content knowledge gains, the students' content knowledge gains, scaffolding the lessons, or overall professional growth). By analyzing the evaluations and interviews together, some significant, self-reported gains emerged. For example, 94.15% of the UG reported that the experience was beneficial to their education. Additionally, UG mentors self-reported significant gains (p = 0.01 for each) moving from 12- to 24-weeks in the program in the categories of organization, STEM content knowledge, preparedness to teach, and engagement in the program. However, UG did not report significant gains in dependability. Importantly, when mentors ranked themselves at 24-weeks, they were blinded to (unaware of) the ranking they gave themselves at 12-weeks. Conclusions: This study helps to fill a gap in the literature by providing insight into the gains UG mentors report attaining after mentoring to K-8 students. These data suggest that participation by UGs in this program promoted self-reflection as well as self-reported gains related to career preparedness and STEM content knowledge.

Background: The Nebraska Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 4U (NE STEM 4U) program was initiated at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in 2013. NE STEM 4U is a student-run, faculty-led program facilitating problem-based learning (PBL) sessions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for socioeconomically disadvantaged kindergarten through grade 8 (K-8) students. PBL sessions are provided throughout the academic year in a twice-weekly, after-school, informal education program. The instructional material provided after school builds upon the curricula of the school day. Importantly, this program is a partnership between faculty members and administrators in higher education at UNO with community partners of Omaha including Collective for Youth, Beyond School Bells, and Omaha Public Schools. We focus on engaging K-8 youth in after-school immersion experiences in STEM fields using undergraduate students as mentors and facilitators using a model of problem-based learning. Results: This program fosters an educational pipeline for students with hands-on experience in problem-solving and critical thinking. The partnerships among the community provide the foundation for success for students across the K-16 pipeline. Conclusions: Herein, we describe the model of this program as documented by demonstrated successes to date in an effort to guide others in developing such a model in their city or region. We also provide models for implementation of assessment instruments.

Studies have identified gaps in the development of undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Students lack communication and problem-solving, impeding employment opportunities post-graduation. It is essential to prepare students for employment in STEM fields, as these fields remain in high demand and offer competitive wages for economic stability. Research has revealed that students gain critical thinking and problem-solving skills through students mentoring experiences. Evidence surrounding the inclusion of active learning strategies for in-classroom pedagogy has expanded in recent years, but the support mechanisms beyond the classroom remain unclear. Herein, we followed students for a decade after participation in our mentoring pre-professional training program, Nebraska STEM for You (NE STEM 4U). This phenomenological study utilized interviewing techniques and descriptive statistics to demonstrate how a midsized, metropolitan university STEM mentoring program supported the development of NE STEM 4U participants. We found that engagement in an after-school mentoring program provided participants with a model of mentorship. Participants also developed transferable professional and personal skill sets, including communication, perspectives, conflict resolution, and professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]