Supplemental Instruction
CSME offers Science Supplemental Instruction (SI), a series of one-unit courses supplementing the STEM major gatekeeper courses. The instructors create learning communities to focus on conceptual understanding and mutual support. Instruction is mainly through hands-on and interactive small-group work. Course size is generally limited to 20 students.
All Supplemental Instruction courses are listed in the SF State online Class Schedule with the prefix SCI (not SI). Classes begin during the second week of instruction. We encourage you to contact SI Program Director Jessica Fielder with any questions.
See Unit 11 location/schedule information here.
Apply here via Qualtrics: https://sfsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aaAGLku1bPSHIUK
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all open positions are filled. Applicants will be contacted via email to set up follow-up interviews within a week or so after submitting their applications.
The Spring 2023 Supplemental Instruction Team
History of the SI Program at SF State
From 1999-2005, the SI program was supported by NIH grants. The courses showed very strong results, with SI-participating students achieving higher performance than non-participants at a statistically significant level in 11 out of 12 science courses despite having equal or lower SAT scores. In many cases, students from underrepresented minority groups benefited more from SI than their peers. Students who took SI with the first course in a sequence were more likely to take subsequent courses.
In 2009, the SI courses were shut down for lack of funding. In Fall 2010, CSME revived the courses at a lower funding level. An outside evaluator showed that the SI course had “a small, positive impact on ameliorating the effects of lower SAT scores and on keeping Introductory Biology I students in the same majors.” As may be expected, the new SIs showed lower effects compared to the better funded earlier efforts, so we continue to seek greater funding.
Starting with the Fall 2018 semester as SF State began using a new budget and accounting model based on student enrollment, the SI program and the SCI courses became fully institutionally funded. This allowed for more program growth including hiring faculty liaisons from the various CoSE departments to work with the facilitators, reinstating formerly-closed SCI courses, and expansion into new departments.