Collaborative Research: Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI)

社区学院本科生研究计划（CCURI - www.ccuri.org）是一个由社区学院、四年制学校、政府机构和私人组织组成的全国性联盟，致力于开发、实施和评估将本科生研究（UR）经验整合到社区学院生物学课程中的可持续模式。CCURI与本科研究委员会（Council on Undergraduate Research， CUR）合作，开发了一个全面整合的模式，用于整合社区学院的本科研究。该项目旨在：1)将CCURI模式的修改版本扩展到另外16所社区学院；2)对CCURI模型在STEM领域的学生学习、能力和保留情况进行全面评估；3)衡量CCURI模式对另外16所致力于发展本科研究项目的社区学院机构能力发展的影响；4)在CCURI的机构合作伙伴中传播修改后的CCURI集成模型和模型的定制版本。该提案是对《愿景与变革：行动呼吁》（NSF/AAAS）和2010年生物教育报告（NRC）中提出的生物教育改革建议的回应。CCURI正致力于制定一个完全有效的策略，以便社区大学在了解如何启动改革时可以参考。CCURI模型的新颖之处在于，它是从对社区大学在维持UR项目方面面临的独特障碍的根本原因分析中发展出来的。该项目包括将经济影响指标作为评估社区大学教师模式的工具，并利用与田纳西理工大学的CAT工具的合作关系来获取批判性思维技能的收益——这一结果的影响超出了生物学。该项目正在创建和维持一个全国性的社区学院网络，致力于将犹他大学的经验引入生物学课程。该模式正在帮助社区大学克服独特的障碍，这些障碍阻碍了他们在大约45%的美国本科生（包括代表性不足的群体和家庭第一代上大学的学生）的教育中运用UR教学法的力量。广泛评价计划的结果正在广泛传播，并用于改进模式，以便在一所社区大学整合大学教育的经验。

The Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI - www.ccuri.org) is a national consortium of community colleges, four-year schools, government agencies, and private organizations dedicated to the development, implementation, and assessment of a sustainable model for integrating an undergraduate research (UR) experience into community college biology curriculum. In partnership with the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), CCURI has developed a fully-integrated model for integrating undergraduate research at a community college. This project aims to: 1) Expand a modified version of the CCURI model to 16 additional community colleges; 2) Implement a comprehensive evaluation of the CCURI model on student learning, competency, and retention in STEM; 3) Measure the impact of the CCURI model on developing institutional capacity at the 16 additional community colleges that are committed to developing an undergraduate research program; and 4) Disseminate the modified CCURI model of integration and the customized versions of the model as they exist at the institutional partners within CCURI. This proposal is responsive to the recommendations for biology education reform called for in both Vision and Change: A Call To Action (NSF/AAAS) and the BIO 2010 report (NRC). CCURI is working toward a fully validated strategy that community colleges can look to in understanding how to initiate reform. The CCURI model is novel in that it was developed from a Root Cause Analysis of the unique barriers that community colleges face in sustaining UR programs. The project includes economic impact metrics as a tool for evaluating a Community College Faculty Model and leverages a partnership with Tennessee Tech & their CAT instrument to capture gains in critical thinking skills - an outcome with implications beyond biology. This project is creating and sustaining a national network of Community Colleges committed to bringing the UR experience into biology curriculum. The model is helping community colleges overcome the unique barriers that have prevented them from employing the power of the UR pedagogy in the education of approximately 45% of all U.S. undergraduates including underrepresented groups and students who are the first generation of their family to attend college. The results from the extensive evaluation plan is being widely disseminated and used to refine the model for integrating the UR experience at a community college.