Collaborative Research: Biocomplexity and the Habitable Planet -- An Innovative Capstone Course for High School

合作研究：生物复杂性和宜居星球——高中创新顶点课程

• 批准号: 0628171
• 负责人: Gillian Puttick
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: TERC Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-10-01 至 2013-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0628171&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Biocomplexity; Habitable; Planet

This project will develop a set of instructional materials that engages students, teachers and their parents in the science of coupled natural human (CNH) systems. Teacher guides, a website and family/community materials accompany the four student modules (which focus on an urban watershed, an urban/agricultural system, Amazonia and a polar system). The curriculum provides material for a yearlong capstone course; individual modules can be used as replacement units. In an era of global human impact on the environment, understanding the "complex fabric of relationships" between humans and the environment is of unique urgency for all citizens. It is no longer possible to study "natural" systems without considering human interactions. There is a need for high school materials that reflect this critically important fact, and that also support students to engage in authentic investigations of systems phenomena. To address this need, Biocomplexity draws on current research by the Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and other CNH Biocomplexity grantees as the basis for the materials. Biocomplexity is inquiry-based. Student materials scaffold activities to support all students -- particularly those from historically underserved backgrounds -- to learn successfully. Curriculum design is informed by research on progression in student learning of scientific content and reasoning. Developed using the "backward design" approach, Biocomplexity ensures that instructional strategies promote learning the key ideas. Biocomplexity is an "educative curriculum:" teacher materials provide extensive and practical support that increasing teachers' content knowledge and pedagogical skills. This proposal promises to effectively link the high school classroom with important current science and at the same time extend and strengthen the learning of core scientific and mathematical concepts, in the context of an innovative curriculum incorporating authentic scientific inquiry and using a case-based approach. Furthermore, the project will make a significant contribution to educational research on students' understanding of models and their use in science inquiry. This curriculum makes a unique contribution to the field because of its grounding in current research on Biocomplexity. Its focus on CNH systems, situated in urban, rural and other settings, results in problem-based cases in applied science that will compel the interest of students from all backgrounds. Students experience authentic scientific inquiry, exploring the same fundamental ideas that engage scientists and researchers. Informed by the best recent research -- both scientific and educational -- the curriculum will reflect the growing importance of science unifying insights from many fields of biological inquiry. Community elements serve to develop strong ties between school, parents and communities. The partnership with researchers at LTERs and elsewhere will have positive synergistic outcomes for the LTERs' education programs, while connecting a new range of nationally important research centers with high school classrooms across the country.

该项目将开发一套教学材料，让学生、教师及其家长参与自然人类耦合 (CNH) 系统科学。 四个学生模块（重点关注城市流域、城市/农业系统、亚马逊流域和极地系统）附带教师指南、网站和家庭/社区材料。 该课程为为期一年的顶点课程提供材料；单个模块可以用作替换单元。 在人类对环境产生全球影响的时代，了解人类与环境之间的“复杂关系结构”对于所有公民来说都具有独特的紧迫性。 在不考虑人类相互作用的情况下研究“自然”系统已不再可能。 高中教材需要反映这一至关重要的事实，并支持学生对系统现象进行真实的研究。 为了满足这一需求，生物复杂性利用长期生态研究 (LTER) 站点和其他 CNH 生物复杂性受资助者的当前研究作为材料的基础。 生物复杂性是基于探究的。学生材料支撑着所有学生——特别是那些来自历史上服务不足背景的学生——成功学习的活动。 课程设计的依据是对学生学习科学内容和推理进展的研究。 生物复杂性采用“逆向设计”方法开发，确保教学策略促进关键思想的学习。 生物复杂性是一门“教育课程”：教师材料提供广泛而实用的支持，提高教师的内容知识和教学技能。该提案承诺将高中课堂与当前重要的科学有效地联系起来，同时在融合真实科学探究和基于案例的方法的创新课程的背景下扩展和加强核心科学和数学概念的学习。 此外，该项目将为学生理解模型及其在科学探究中的应用的教育研究做出重大贡献。 该课程以当前生物复杂性研究为基础，对该领域做出了独特的贡献。 它专注于位于城市、农村和其他环境中的 CNH 系统，产生基于问题的应用科学案例，这将吸引来自各种背景的学生的兴趣。 学生体验真正的科学探究，探索与科学家和研究人员相同的基本思想。 该课程以最近最好的科学和教育研究为基础，将反映科学统一来自生物探究许多领域的见解日益增长的重要性。 社区元素有助于在学校、家长和社区之间建立牢固的联系。与 LTER 和其他地方的研究人员的合作将为 LTER 的教育项目带来积极的协同成果，同时将一系列新的国家重要研究中心与全国各地的高中教室连接起来。