Understanding the Role of Writing in Strengthening and Assessing Learning and Engagement in Undergraduate STEM Education

该项目是一个为期两天的研讨会，旨在推进当前关于写作学习（WTL）在本科STEM教育中的作用的知识和话语，特别是在研究型大学。 它还旨在教育和授权教师使用写作作为教学工具，以改善和衡量学生的学习。虽然有大量证据表明，写作可以是一种有效的工具，用于改善和衡量学习和提高学生的参与度，WTL的做法并没有被广泛纳入本科STEM教育。有几个障碍阻碍了其执行。首先，STEM教师通常没有将写作与他们的教学联系起来，也没有考虑如何在课程中使用写作来增加学生的知识，理解和参与。第二，现有的研究一般没有系统性或概念性的驱动。因此，有效的WTL实践的证据是分散的，质量不一，而不是积累，并没有通知教学实践。第三，很难在经验研究的独特教育背景之外进行推断。该研究将使STEM教师与最新的WTL理论和实践的同事一起研究如何将WTL应用于本科STEM课程，以提高学生的知识和理解力，促进批判性和分析性思维技能的发展，并衡量这两个领域的进展。第一个目标是编写一份报告，综合目前关于在STEM学科中使用WTL的知识，并编写一个关于“STEM写作学习”的在线工具包，确定经验验证和有前途的WTL做法（包括实施指南）。 第二个目标是为STEM学科中WTL的多大学实证研究奠定基础，以解决报告中确定的知识差距和将证据转化为实践的关键问题。 最终目标是建立一个STEM教师社区，他们拥有在STEM学科中使用WTL实践的经验和知识，将在他们的大学和他们的学科中发挥主导作用，促进WTL实践，并将参与设想的多大学实证研究。

This project is a two-day workshop to advance current knowledge and discourse on the role of writing-to-learn (WTL) in undergraduate STEM education, particularly at research universities. It is also designed to educate and empower instructors to use writing as a pedagogical tool to improve and measure student learning. Although there is substantial evidence indicating that writing can be an effective tool for improving and measuring learning and increasing student engagement, WTL practices are not widely incorporated into undergraduate STEM education. Several barriers have hindered their implementation. First, STEM faculty generally have not connected writing to their teaching and have not reflected on ways to use writing in their courses to increase students' knowledge, understanding, and engagement. Second, extant studies have not generally been systematic or conceptually driven. As a consequence, evidence on effective WTL practices is scattered, of varying quality, and not cumulative, and does not inform teaching practices. Third, it is difficult to extrapolate beyond the unique educational contexts of empirical studies. The study will bring STEM faculty together with colleagues who are up-to-date on WTL theory and practice to investigate how WTL may be applied in undergraduate STEM courses to improve students' knowledge and comprehension and foster the development of critical and analytic thinking skills and to measure progress in both arenas. The first objective is to produce both a report that synthesizes current knowledge regarding the use of WTL in STEM disciplines and an online tool kit on "Writing to Learn in STEM" that identifies empirically validated and promising WTL practices (including guidance on their implementation). The second objective is to lay the foundation for a multi-university empirical study on WTL in STEM disciplines that addresses the gaps in knowledge and key issues in translating evidence into practice identified in the report. The final objective is to build a community of STEM faculty who have experience and knowledge of the use of WTL practices within STEM disciplines, will play a lead role at their universities and within their disciplines in promoting WTL practices, and will participate in the envisioned multi-university empirical study.