Classroom activities to promote a deep understanding of evolution among biology majors in introductory courses

在入门课程中促进生物学专业学生对进化论的深入理解的课堂活动

• 批准号: 0942109
• 负责人: Steven Kalinowski
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Montana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-01-15 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0942109&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Classroom; activities; promote; deep; understanding

Biological Sciences (61). Evolution is the central unifying theory of biology, but is poorly understood by many students. A large body of evidence shows that evolution is an inherently difficult theory to learn, in part because 1) students often lack the conceptual background to understand evolution, and have misconceptions about it, 2) evolution can be difficult to observe, and 3) evolution is often taught in large lecture-based classes. Three decades of research have charted a clear path for overcoming these obstacles. In particular, instructors can 1) design instruction to address student misconceptions, 2) illustrate evolutionary changes as concretely as possible, 3) emphasize scientific thinking, 4) give students multiple examples of key concepts, and 5) incorporate active learning exercises into lectures. This project is addressing these recommended ways to improve instruction of evolution at the undergraduate level through development of a series of 20 research-based classroom activities for teaching evolution to biology majors in introductory undergraduate biology courses. Development of the activities is being guided by evidence-based principles for effective course design. Each activity is being carefully evaluated through student interviews, video recordings of students working, student surveys, and comparison of student conceptions before and after instruction. Validated standardized tests are also being used to measure student learning across the entire course. Descriptions of the classroom activities and results from the evaluations are being disseminated through a series of peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations and workshops. In addition, videos of the classroom activities are being made available through an online database of teaching videos for use by potential adopters of the materials. Intellectual merit Reviews of undergraduate biology education in the United States have repeatedly called for the kinds of classroom activities that are being developed in this project. A novel feature of these activities is that they are being designed to bring recent discoveries in genomics into the classroom, for the purpose of engaging students and as an effective strategy for dispelling common misconceptions regarding how natural selection occurs. Broader impacts The primary impact of this project is on improving undergraduate education about evolution in the United States, both by creating classroom activities that other instructors can use, particularly in large enrollment introductory courses, and by providing instructors with a model of exemplary teaching practices, from which they can create their own activities.This project is being co-funded by funds from the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Emerging Frontiers Division.

生物科学(61)。进化论是生物学的核心统一理论，但许多学生对此知之甚少。大量证据表明，进化论是一门难学的理论，部分原因是1)学生往往缺乏理解进化论的概念背景，并对其有误解；2)进化论可能很难观察；3)进化论通常是以课堂为基础的大型课程。三十年的研究为克服这些障碍绘制了一条清晰的道路。特别是，教师可以1)设计教学以解决学生的误解，2)尽可能具体地说明进化的变化，3)强调科学思维，4)给学生提供多个关键概念的例子，5)在课堂上融入积极的学习练习。这个项目正在讨论这些建议的方法，通过开发一系列20个研究型课堂活动，在本科生物学入门课程中向生物专业的学生教授进化论，从而改善本科生的进化论教学。这些活动的开展是以循证原则为指导的，以期有效地设计课程。每项活动都是通过学生访谈、学生工作录像、学生调查以及教学前后学生概念的比较来仔细评估的。经过验证的标准化考试也被用来衡量学生在整个课程中的学习情况。正在通过一系列经同行审查的出版物以及会议介绍和讲习班散发对课堂活动和评价结果的说明。此外，正在通过教学视频在线数据库提供课堂活动的视频，供可能采用这些材料的人使用。美国本科生生物教育的智力价值评估一再呼吁在这个项目中开展类似的课堂活动。这些活动的一个新特点是，它们旨在将基因组学的最新发现带到课堂上，目的是让学生参与进来，并作为一种有效的战略，以消除关于自然选择如何发生的常见误解。更广泛的影响这个项目的主要影响是改善美国的本科生进化论教育，通过创建其他教师可以使用的课堂活动，特别是在招生人数较多的入门课程中，以及通过为教师提供示范教学实践的模型，他们可以创建自己的活动。该项目由新兴前沿司生物科学局的资金共同资助。