Incorporating Real-World Experience in Diverse Science Curricula through Community Building Partnerships

目前的建议是申请启动资金，以补充和扩大我在米德尔伯里学院（米德尔伯里，佛蒙特州）的PSFSMETE（1999）博士后奖学金：“通过现实世界的经验教授科学：应用保护生物学的入门课程。“该项目测试了一种入门级科学教学模式，在这种模式中，学生有动力学习如何做科学，让他们有机会在实验室里从事现实世界的项目，而不是在烹饪书实验室里做预先确定的结果。与自然资源机构的伙伴关系为学生提供了研究机会，这些伙伴关系既有助于学生的学习（通过提高动机和奖励），也有助于伙伴机构（通过提供有用的数据、想法和公众曝光）。对于这种教学模式，合乎逻辑的下一步是扩展它。在我担任卡拉马祖学院生物学助理教授和环境研究项目联合主任的新职位上，我希望这样做。我将建立在我在前一个项目下开发的课程，以便在大规模招生的入门和非专业课程中融入真实世界的经验，以及更高水平的课程，学生更熟练，但仍将受益于真实世界的激励因素。由于许多本科课程的入学人数从50人到几百人不等，因此了解伙伴关系教学模式的哪些方面可以转移到更大的课程中是有用的。我已经包括了两个潜在的机构合作伙伴的支持信，召集行动（CF A），一个与卡拉马祖学院有联系的地方项目，旨在通过地理信息系统（GIS）和基于互联网的数据库来协调全县的土地使用规划，以及西南密歇根州土地保护局，它负责监督我们地区的许多重要自然区域。我的学生将要收集的大部分数据都有空间成分。也就是说，数据必须在其位置的上下文中进行分析，或者至少在空间上进行显示。因此，地理信息系统对于实现我设想的许多伙伴关系的目标至关重要。通过在CF A的保护伞下工作，并通过使用GIS，我将确保学生的努力集中在那些最需要数据的领域。在卡拉马祖学院，我最终将负责五门生物学课程：一门非专业的环境科学课程，招生人数上限为30人，一门生物学入门课程，招生人数上限为48人，还有一门高级课程，每门课程的预期招生人数为12到15人。拟议的研究将测试扩大伙伴关系模式的可行性，以便在这些大型课程中使用。在两个暑假期间，我将利用学生助手为将基于现实世界伙伴关系的体验式学习纳入这些课程奠定基础，其他资金将支持GIS技术，并增加使学生能够在课堂上进行研究的费用。该项目的短期成功将通过学生的表现和态度以及伙伴关系对机构的效用来衡量。为了确定真实世界的经验是否有助于学生的学习，我将在每门课程之前和之后进行问卷调查，以衡量学生对科学的态度，以及他们对我们如何做科学的基本知识的理解。这个项目的长期成功将通过伙伴关系是否成熟到互利合作，在整个学术日历的连续性来衡量。实现这些短期和长期目标将为从区域资源寻求额外资金提供跟踪记录，以确保在2003年8月拟议项目完成后伙伴关系的连续性。

Incorporating real-world experience in diverse science curricula through community building partnerships.The current proposal is a request for start-up funds to complement and extend my PFSMETE (1999) post-doctoral fellowship at Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT): "Teaching science through real-world experience: an introductory course in applied conservation biology." That project tested a model of introductory level science teaching in which students are motivated to learn how to do science by giving them the opportunity to work on real-world projects in their laboratories instead of cookbook labs with pre- determined results. Partnerships with natural resource agencies supplied research opportunities for students in the course, and these partnerships contributed to both student learning (by enhancing motivation and reward), and to the partner agencies (by providing useful data, ideas and public exposure). The logical next step for this model of teaching is to expand it. In my new capacity as Assistant Professor of Biology and Co-Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Kalamazoo College, I hope to do just that. I will build upon the curriculum I developed under the previous project in order to incorporate real-world experiences in large enrollment introductory and non-majors courses, as well as upper level courses with students who are more skilled but would still benefit from the real-world motivating factors. Since enrollment in many undergraduate courses ranges from fifty to several hundred, it will be useful to learn which aspects of the partnership pedagogical model will be transferable to larger courses. I have included letters of support from two potential agency partners, Convening for Action (CF A), a local project with ties to Kalamazoo College that seeks to coordinate county-wide land use planning through a geographic information system (GIS) and intenet- based database, and the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, which oversees many of our region's important natural areas. Most of the data my students will be collecting will have a spatial component. That is, the data must be analyzed in the context of their location, or in the very least displayed spatially. A GIS is therefore essential to satisfy the goals of many of the partnerships I envision. By working under the CF A umbrella, and by using GIS I will ensure that the students' efforts are concentrated in those areas where data are ,needed most. At Kalamazoo College, I will eventually be responsible for five biology courses: a non-majors Environmental Science course with an enrollment cap of 30, an introductory biology course with a cap of 48, and iliree senior level courses, each with expected enrollment of 12 to 15. The proposed research will test the feasibility of scaling up the partnership model for use in these larger format courses. Using student assistants during two summers, I will lay the groundwork for incorporating experiential learning based on real-world partnerships into these courses, and other funds will support the GIS technology and added expenses of enabling students to conduct research in the classroom. The short-term success for this project will be measured by students' performance and attitude, and the utility of the partnerships for the agencies. To ascertain if real-world experience facilitates student learning, I will administer a questionnaire before and after each course to gauge students' attitudes toward science, and their comprehension of the underlying basics of how we do science. The longer term success of this project will be measured by whether or not partnerships mature into mutually beneficial collaborations that have continuity across the academic calendar. Meeting these short-term and long-term goals will provide the track record to seek additional funding from regional resources to ensure continuity of the partnerships after the proposed project is completed in August 2003.