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This program has been archived.


Division of Undergraduate Education


Widening Implementation & Demonstration of Evidence Based Reforms  (WIDER)


CONTACTS
Name Email Phone Room
Myles  Boylan mboylan@nsf.gov (703) 292-4617  835 N  


PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Solicitation  13-552

Important Information for Proposers

A revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 22-1), is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after October 4, 2021. Please be advised that, depending on the specified due date, the guidelines contained in NSF 22-1 may apply to proposals submitted in response to this funding opportunity.


DUE DATES

Archived


SYNOPSIS

The chief goal of WIDER is to transform institutions of higher education into supportive environments for STEM faculty members to substantially increase their use of evidence-based teaching and learning practices. The first recommendation in the Report of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), "Engage to Excel," is to increase widespread implementation of evidence-based practices in order to increase persistence in STEM and contribute to the goal of producing 1 million additional STEM graduates. 

Through this process, WIDER seeks to substantially increase the scale of application of highly effective methods of STEM teaching and learning in institutions of higher education, by employing instructional materials and methods that have a convincing evidentiary basis of effectiveness.  In particular WIDER seeks this transformation for high enrollment, lower division courses required for many STEM majors and taken by many other students to fulfill general education distribution requirements.

Included in our broad definition of effective STEM teaching and learning are not only instructional practices in traditional learning environments, but also modern laboratory methods and field research, proven distance education methods (or hybrid designs incorporating both face-to-face and distance methods), and improved approaches to motivating student interest in STEM.  In all cases, the primary goal of WIDER is to increase substantially the scale of these improvements within and across the higher education sector in order to achieve:

(1) Improved student learning;

(2) Increased numbers of students choosing STEM majors, particularly from demographic groups underrepresented in STEM;

(3) Improved retention in the first two years of undergraduate study and to graduation of all STEM majors. 

Applicants may apply for WIDER grants to begin institutional planning efforts, to support implementation efforts for evidence-based teaching and learning practices, and for research on how to increase the importance placed on evidence-based practices in institutional strategic planning and faculty rewards.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The identified "Related Programs" are complementary to WIDER.  All these programs share the goal of seeking to improve undergraduate STEM education for all undergraduates.  WIDER could be viewed in part as a program to propagate educational practices developed in these other NSF programs, particularly TUES, that have strong evidence from use in higher education of superior effectiveness for most students. 

Some examples of this complementarity are:

WIDER shares an institutional implementation goal with two tracks within the HBCU-UP program design: The "Implementation" track and the "Achieving Competitive Excellence Implementation" track.  A key difference is that all academic institutions are eligible to apply for WIDER grant support. 

WIDER shares a goal with the ADVANCE program of influencing the culture of higher education in order to achieve broader participation by all stakeholders.  In the case of ADVANCE the focus is on improving the prospects of women faculty members and administrators.  In the case of WIDER the focus is on improving the learning prospects in STEM for all students.   

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RELATED PROGRAMS


What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)

Map of Recent Awards Made Through This Program