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能力独一无二，但几乎没有采取什么行动来改变实验室教学，以应对这种代际转变。这个项目将进行教育研究，评估在科学方法中使用案例研究教学来改进实验室教学。这种教育教学法促进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。这些案例将被用来介绍实验室的概念，作为一种与在实验室中学习的分析技能相关的方式。该项目的总体目标是改革实验室“循序渐进”的教学方法，使其更加积极、吸引和切合千禧一代的学习者。更具体地说，该项目将使用案例研究方法评估学生的学习偏好、学生参与度、材料保留和课程概念的学习。将进行定性和定量评估，以评估学生在生物、环境工程和工程入门课程中对方法的使用、学生学习成果和批判性思维的看法。这项研究将评估和比较基于性别、种族和机构类型的数据，涉及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，因为人们普遍对改善STEM领域的教育实践感兴趣。这项工作的目标将是确定实验室教学的案例研究是否有可能为实验室教学提供一个贯穿各领域的新范式。

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.