Ethnobotany Segues to Science

民族植物学走向科学

• 批准号: 0618690
• 负责人: Will McClatchey
• 金额: $ 29.99万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-01-01 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0618690&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ethnobotany; Segues; Science

This project is improving undergraduate STEM education through the creation of new learning materials, developing faculty expertise, implementing educational innovations, and assessing student learning of science within ethnobotany courses. Ethnobotany is the study of interactions between people and plants. Examples include improved understandings of complex and statistically-testable cultural phenomena such as competition for natural resources, selection of diets, and differences in cultural practices. The combination of natural and social science investigative techniques it embodies address problems that are relevant to most students. The B.S. degree in Ethnobotany at the University of Hawai'i (UH) provides the context for development of a culturally-relevant curriculum. The introductory course has the second highest enrollment of any course in the biological sciences (behind non-majors biology). The project is based upon two simple observations about students currently in the ethnobotany courses on the UH campus: 1) Many non-science majors at the (UH) are attracted to courses in ethnobotany because they are seen as being interesting or culturally relevant. 2) Students become interested in science because of what they learn in ethnobotany and transfer into science majors and careers. The project is improving the quality of the content of a number of ethnobotany courses and is developing natural transition points (segues) from ethnobotany into other sciences to assist student transitions. It is transforming the teaching of ethnobotany from an approach that is largely descriptive to one that focuses on hypothesis-driven research intended to address important problems and develop theories. It directly relates STEM skills developed in ethnobotany courses to their counterparts in parallel sciences such as biology, chemistry, nutrition, and pharmacology. As a result, large numbers of students are learning about methods and theories involving cultural and biological diversity, conservation, and related issues. Since ethnobotany is an emerging discipline around the nation, a network of instructors is being developed that will serve to provide input and feedback on the developing ethnobotany curriculum in Hawai'i and will facilitate wide distribution of lessons learned in this project.The broader impacts of this project are the creation of new portals for young people to learn about science and consider science careers and the network of faculty involved in distributing the curriculum being developed and the lessons learned from development of the project to other U.S. institutions for implementation. The intellectual merits of the proposed project center on development of: 1) pedagogical changes that honor cultural knowledge thus appealing to minority students who often see science as something alien to their heritage; and 2) scientific activities that are particularly relevant to field research and promote the successful transition of students into other science courses.

该项目通过创建新的学习材料，发展教师专业知识，实施教育创新，以及评估学生在民族植物学课程中的科学学习来改善本科STEM教育。民族植物学是研究人与植物之间相互作用的学科。 例如，提高对复杂和可验证的文化现象的理解，如对自然资源的竞争，饮食的选择和文化习俗的差异。它体现了自然科学和社会科学调查技术的结合，解决了与大多数学生相关的问题。胡扯夏威夷大学（UH）的民族植物学学位为文化相关课程的开发提供了背景。 入门课程在生物科学的任何课程中排名第二（仅次于非专业生物学）。该项目是基于对目前在UH校园民族植物学课程的学生的两个简单的观察：1）在（UH）许多非科学专业的学生被吸引到民族植物学课程，因为他们被视为有趣或文化相关。2)学生对科学感兴趣，因为他们在民族植物学中学到了什么，并转入科学专业和职业。该项目正在提高一些民族植物学课程内容的质量，并正在开发从民族植物学到其他科学的自然过渡点，以帮助学生过渡。它正在将民族植物学的教学从主要描述性的方法转变为专注于假设驱动的研究，旨在解决重要问题并发展理论。它直接将民族植物学课程中开发的STEM技能与生物学，化学，营养学和药理学等平行科学中的同行联系起来。 因此，大量学生正在学习涉及文化和生物多样性、保护和相关问题的方法和理论。 由于民族植物学是一门新兴学科，目前正在建立一个教员网络，为夏威夷民族植物学课程的发展提供投入和反馈，并促进该项目中所学到的经验教训的广泛传播。该项目的更广泛影响是为年轻人学习科学和考虑从事科学职业创造新的门户网站，以及参与该项目的教师网络。将正在制定的课程和从项目制定中吸取的经验教训分发给美国其他机构实施。拟议项目的智力价值集中在以下方面的发展：1）教学改革，荣誉文化知识，从而吸引少数民族学生，他们往往认为科学与他们的传统格格不入; 2）科学活动，特别是与实地研究有关，并促进学生成功地过渡到其他科学课程。