A Coherent Multi-disciplinary Initiative to Enhance Student Learning in STEM Courses

该项目致力于改善所有STEM学科基础课程的本科教学和学生学习。这一目标是通过将两种强大的教学技术--即时教学(JITT)和同伴教学(PI)--整合到个人反应系统中来实现的。一个目标是将这些技术结合在一个跨STEM学科的连贯模型中。这是对之前努力的广泛延伸。来自生物、化学、地质学、工程学、数学科学和物理的多学科教师团队致力于创建一个跨这些学科的连贯、吸引人和有效的学生学习环境。这些学科的班级之间的协同互动--无论是在内容层面还是在学生体验层面--预计将导致改善学生的学习结果。通过部署专门设计的学习社区，第一代大学生受到了特别关注，因为这一人口群体在STEM入门课程中的表现历来远远低于平均水平。该项目还设计了一个活动计划，以帮助新教师在协作、支持性、多学科框架下教授这些重新设计的课程。这些努力的进展以精心设计的形成性和总结性评价的结果为指导。

This project is engaged in improving undergraduate teaching and student learning in the foundational courses across all STEM disciplines. This goal is being pursued by integrating two powerful teaching techniques, Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) and Peer Instruction (PI) within a Personal Response System. A goal is to combine these techniques in a coherent model across the STEM disciplines. This is a broad extension of previous efforts. A multidisciplinary team of faculty from Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, and Physics is engaged in creating a coherent, engaging, and effective student learning environment across these disciplines. Synergistic interactions among the classes in these disciplines - both at the content level and at the student experience level - is expected to result in enhanced student learning outcomes. Special attention is being paid to first generation college students through the deployment of specially-designed learning communities, because this demographic group has historically performed far below average in introductory STEM classes. This project is also designing a program of activities to assist new instructors to teach these redesigned courses in a collaborative, supportive, multi-disciplinary framework. The progress of these efforts is guided by the outcomes of carefully designed formative and summative evaluations.