Teaching Science with Minnows and Liverworts: Integration of Faculty Research and Science Education

生物科学（61）。该项目涉及对一所小型公立大学的本科课程进行重组，目的是通过将跨学科的教师研究融入科学教育中来提高科学素养。一个以学生为导向的开放探究（SDOI）硕士课程正在开发和实施，它将一系列核心课程正式联系起来，并将分子生物学整合到强调生态学和进化生物学（EEB）的课程中。在这个核心中，学生将建立基本的科学知识，提出研究问题，利用信息技术资源，形成可测试的假设，熟练掌握基础研究设计，使用统计方法进行评估和解释，获得衡量证据和综合理解的技能，并将结果传达给广泛的受众。被整合到核心课程中的研究系统（鱼类和苔类）提供了方便、有魅力的模型，涵盖了植物和动物的光谱，并且非常适合本科生的参与。学生们正在用最先进的分子分析解决EEB中的现实问题。该计划的评估包括形成性和总结性两部分，并纳入了大学认可的评估工具。让训练有素的学生参与并做好准备，可以激发教师的研究计划，从而为将研究注入核心生物学课程提供未来的机会。目前正在评估、修改和传播两个系列的SDOI实验室练习。一个系列包括化学行为生态学的创新实验室经验，第二个系列详细介绍了分子技术与生态学课程的整合。在入门生物学实验室中，一种对照研究方法被用来明确地测试SDOI与指导性探究的有效性。更广泛的影响包括每年让来自14个不同专业的200多名学生在强化的核心课程中获得SDOI体验。这些学生中约有三分之二是女性，这一群体在生态学和其他STEM领域的代表性不足。本研究的结果对本科课程中科学探究的文献有所贡献。学生和教师在地方、区域和国家论坛上介绍他们的研究，包括科学和教育专业会议，并参加为当地在职教师举办的专业发展讲习班。

Biological Sciences (61). This project involves a retooling of an undergraduate curriculum with the goals of increasing scientific literacy by integrating cross-disciplinary faculty research into science education in a small public university. A student-directed open-inquiry (SDOI) master curriculum is being developed and implemented that formally links a series of core courses and integrates molecular biology into a curriculum emphasizing ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB). Within this core, students are building basic scientific knowledge, developing research questions, using information technology resources, forming testable hypotheses, becoming proficient in basic research design, using statistical methods for assessment and interpretation, gaining skill in weighing evidence and synthesizing understandings, and communicating results to broad audiences. The study systems (fish and liverworts) that are being integrated into the core curriculum provide convenient, charismatic models that span the plant-animal spectrum and are highly amenable to the involvement of undergraduates. Students are addressing real-world questions in EEB with state-of-the-art molecular analyses. Assessment of the program includes both formative and summative components and is incorporating university-sanctioned assessment instruments. Engaging and preparing cohorts of trained students is invigorating faculty research programs that in turn are providing future opportunities for infusing research into the core biology curriculum. Two series of SDOI laboratory exercises are being assessed, modified and disseminated. One series includes innovative laboratory experiences in chemical behavioral ecology, and a second series details the integration of molecular techniques into ecology curricula. A controlled study approach is being used to test explicitly the efficacy of SDOI versus guided-inquiry in introductory biology labs.Broader impacts include exposure of over 200 students, from 14 different majors, to an SDOI experience each year in the enhanced core curriculum. Approximately two-thirds of these students are women, a group traditionally underrepresented in ecology and other STEM areas. Results from this study are contributing to the literature on scientific inquiry in undergraduate curricula. Students and faculty are presenting their research in local, regional and national forums, including both scientific and education professional meetings, and participating in professional development workshops for local in-service teachers.