Guided Group Activities To Enhance Ways of Learning in Biology: GATEWAY Learning in Biology

加强生物学学习方式的指导小组活动（GATEWAY学习生物学）项目正在测试GATEWAY活动的效率——在课堂上，在大型讲座环境中由小组进行纸笔练习——旨在提高学生对生物学入门课程中三个特别重要和困难的挑战的理解：理解进化过程；培养解释系统发育树的能力；并了解实验设计的原则。这些概念是基本的，但特别容易被误解，并提出明确的教学问题。这项工作是STEM教育“第二代”研究的首批例子之一，研究人员测试了替代的主动学习练习，而不是将主动学习方法与被动学习方法进行比较。在大型讲座设置中比较的替代小组方法是由3-4名学生组成的小组完成的课堂活动。华盛顿大学（UW）的一门招生人数众多的课程中加入了GATEWAY练习，该课程已经实施了同伴助教、每周练习考试、自动响应系统（点击器）和探究式实验室等创新，但没有广泛的小组作业。这些指导活动也在一所两年制社区大学的一个小班授课中进行了测试，以确定它们在不同学生人数、班级规模和机构设置的班级中的有效性。众多本科生参与研究的目的是：(1)为学生提供反馈课堂活动设计的渠道；(2)让学生在职业生涯早期接触STEM教育研究；(3)深入了解导致学生对生物学关键概念误解的思维过程。更广泛的影响在这项研究中开发和测试的GATEWAY活动有可能影响每年在美国学习入门生物学的大约30万名学生。本研究使用研究生作为研究助理，本科生作为研究顾问，有助于扩大具有STEM教育研究经验的年轻专业人员的基础，并有助于发展一个不断增长和充满活力的国家STEM教育研究网络。该项目由生物科学理事会新兴前沿司的资金共同资助。

Biological Sciences 61 The Guided Group Activities To Enhance Ways of Learning in Biology (GATEWAY Learning in Biology) project is testing the efficiency of GATEWAY activities--in-class, pencil-and-paper exercises done by small groups in a large lecture setting--designed to increase student understanding of three particularly important and difficult challenges for students in introductory biology: understanding the processes of evolution; developing the ability to interpret phylogenetic trees; and appreciating the principles of experimental design. These concepts are fundamental but are particularly susceptible to misconceptions and present well-defined teaching problems. Intellectual Merit The work is one of the first examples of "2nd-generation" research in STEM education, where investigators test alternative active learning exercises instead of comparing active-learning to passive-learning approaches. The alternative small-group approaches being compared in the large lecture setting are guided, in-class activities to be completed by groups of 3-4 students. The GATEWAY exercises are being added to a large-enrollment course at the University of Washington (UW) that has already implemented such innovations as peer Teaching Assistants, weekly practice exams, automated response systems (clickers), and inquiry-based labs, but not extensive small-group work. The guided activities are also being tested in a small lecture class at a 2-year community college to ascertain their effectiveness in classes with a different student population, class size, and institutional setting. Involvement of numerous undergraduates in conducting the research is: (1) providing a conduit for student feedback on the design of the in-class activities; (2) exposing students to STEM education research early in their careers; and (3) providing insight into students' thought processes that lead to misconceptions of key concepts in biology. Broader Impact The GATEWAY activities developed and tested in this research have the potential to impact the approximately 300,000 students who take introductory biology in the U.S. each year. The use of graduate students as research assistants and undergraduates as research advisors for this study helps broaden the base of young professionals with experience in STEM education research and contributes to the development of a growing and vibrant national STEM education research network.This project is being co-funded by funds from the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Emerging Frontiers Division.