Active Learning as a Basis for Reform of Undergraduate Life Science Education

主动学习作为本科生命科学教育改革的基础

• 批准号: 9909411
• 负责人: Harold Modell
• 金额: $ 45.84万
• 依托单位: Physiology Education Research Consortium
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-02-01 至 2003-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9909411&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Active; Learning; Basis; Reform; Undergraduate

Meaningful reform in science education is onlly possible if we sucessfully translate knowledge gained from educational research to practical applications in the classroom. Guided by emerging theory, we must determine what classroom approaches will best faculty to help students attain more meaningful learning. It is through this applied research that we will reach the goal of a general population that understands science. The first steps in detemining if more "meaningful learning" is occurring is to measure the knowledge and skills base of students as they enter our courses (the input state) and to define, in explicit terms, measurable outcomes that reflect the desired learning (the output state). This project focuses first on developing appropriate tools for measuring conceptual change and conceptual learning in physiology. The project then uses these measurement tools to examine the effectiveness of active learning techniques (helping students build and test mental models) in helping students remedy existing misconceptions and improve conceptual learning. The project consists of three studies. The goal of Study 1 is to gain a better understanding of the actual knowledge and skills base of undergraduate students entering physiology courses and to determine the prevalence of misconceptions held by these students. Study 2 examines the types of instructor-students interactions that lead to successful conceptual change (remedy of existing misconceptions) in the student laboratory environment. Study 3 examines two approaches to helpingstudents build appropriate mentals models of physiological systems (i.e., conceptual learning). One set of experiments is designed to determine if helping students build and apply general models of recurring in physiology (as opposed to viewing the concepts in terms of situationally specific models) leads to greater conceptual learning. A second set of experiments focuses on two questions related to the use of problem solving as a vehicle for promoting conceptual learning. First, do problem solving exercises provide a conceptual framework that enhances conceptual learning?Second, is the manner in which the problems are used (i.e., to provide a contexual framework during mental model building or as a culminating exercise requiring application of the mental developed) a significant factor in determining the degree of conceptual learning attained? The results of this project are relevant to all science education. To help students gain the broadest understanding of science, we must discover, in the context of the actual classroom, what instructional techniques best help them build and use appropriate mental models.

只有成功地将从教育研究中获得的知识转化为课堂上的实际应用，才有可能对科学教育进行有意义的改革。在新兴理论的指导下，我们必须确定什么课堂方法最适合教师，以帮助学生获得更有意义的学习。正是通过这项应用研究，我们才能达到让普通民众了解科学的目标。确定是否发生了更有意义的学习的第一步是测量学生进入我们课程时的知识和技能基础(输入状态)，并以明确的术语定义反映期望学习的可测量结果(输出状态)。这个项目首先集中于开发适当的工具来测量生理学中的概念变化和概念学习。然后，该项目使用这些测量工具来检验主动学习技术(帮助学生建立和测试心理模型)在帮助学生纠正现有误解和改善概念学习方面的有效性。该项目包括三项研究。研究1的目的是为了更好地了解进入生理学课程的本科生的实际知识和技能基础，并确定这些学生所持的误解的普遍性。研究2考察了在学生实验室环境中导致成功的概念改变(纠正现有的误解)的师生互动的类型。研究3考察了帮助学生建立适当的生理系统心理模型(即概念学习)的两种方法。其中一组实验旨在确定，帮助学生建立和应用生理学中反复出现的一般模型(而不是从情景特定的模型来看待概念)是否会带来更大的概念学习。第二组实验集中在两个问题上，这些问题与问题解决作为促进概念学习的工具有关。首先，问题解决练习是否提供了增强概念学习的概念框架？其次，问题的使用方式(即，在心理模型构建过程中提供上下文框架，还是作为最终练习需要应用已开发的智力)是决定概念学习程度的重要因素吗？这一项目的结果与所有科学教育有关。为了帮助学生对科学有最广泛的理解，我们必须在实际的课堂环境中发现，什么教学技巧最能帮助他们建立和使用适当的心理模型。