Reforming Laboratory Instruction and Hands-on Experiences for the Millennial Learners in STEM

许多教育工作者承认，千禧一代的学生学习起来与众不同，但在改变实验室教学以应对这一代人的转变方面却做得很少。该项目将进行教育研究，评估使用案例研究教学的科学方法，以改善实验室教学。这种教育教学法提倡使用案例或互动故事，让学生参与STEM课程，并帮助改革STEM教学。 这些案例将用于介绍实验室概念，作为一种将相关性引入实验室学习的分析技能的方法。该项目的总体目标是改革实验室“逐步”教学，使之成为一种更积极、更吸引人和更适合千禧年学习者的方法。 更具体地说，该项目将评估学生的学习偏好，学生参与，保留材料，并使用案例研究方法学习课程概念。将进行定性和定量评估，以评估学生的看法，使用的方法，学生的学习收益，并在生物学，环境工程和工程导论课程的学生的批判性思维。这项研究将评估和比较基于性别，种族和机构类型的数据在三个非常不同的大学环境。这项工作有可能产生广泛的影响，因为人们对改善STEM领域的教育实践有着广泛的兴趣。这项工作的目标将是确定实验室教学的案例研究是否可以为实验室教学提供一个横切的新范式。

Many educators acknowledge that the millennial generation of students learns like no other, yet little has been done to alter laboratory instruction in response to this generational shift. This project will conduct educational research that evaluates the use of the Case Study Teaching in the Sciences method to improve laboratory instruction. This educational pedagogy promotes the use of cases, or interactive stories, to engage students in STEM courses and to help reform STEM instruction. The cases will be used to introduce the lab concepts as a way to bring relevance to the analytical skills being learned in the lab. The overarching goal for this project is to reform laboratory "step-by-step" instruction to a method that will be more active, engaging and relevant to millennial learners. More specifically, the project will evaluate student learning preferences, student engagement, retention of material, and learning of course concepts using the case studies method. Qualitative and quantitative assessment will be conducted to evaluate student perceptions for use of the methods, student learning gains, and critical thinking of students in biology, environmental engineering, and introductory engineering courses. This study will evaluate and compare data based on gender, ethnicity, and institutional type across three very different university environments. This work has the potential for broad impact because there is widespread interest in improving educational practices across STEM fields. The goal for this work will be to determine if the case studies for laboratory instruction can potentially provide a crosscutting new paradigm for lab instruction.