A CEREUS (Consortium Exchanging Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students) Approach to Assessing Ecological Responses in the Southern Appalachians to Environmental Change

物候学是对季节性生物事件的研究，它追踪了每年的气候变化和长期环境变化对当地和全球生态的影响。它具有相当大的潜力，可以作为本科生研究和发展跨校园研究的基地。最近的几项研究，包括总统科学技术顾问委员会（2014年）和本科生物学教育的愿景与变化（2011年代表500多名生物学教师和管理人员观点的文件）都引用了本科研究对于留住理科生和帮助学生更好地理解关键概念和发展关键能力的重要性。北卡罗来纳大学阿什维尔分校、阿巴拉契亚州立大学、东田纳西州立大学和沃伦威尔逊学院这四所大学正在联合力量创建公共花园，并开发可以指导学生研究的模块，以解决从基因到生态系统等多个生物层次上全球变化的潜在影响。合作院校各具特色，学生群体多样化，位于不同的气候带。该项目将有助于我们对生态问题的了解，并将扩大各院校联合力量提高学生STEM知识和能力的方式。研究的环境变化问题包括监测外来入侵植物清除技术对研究区域内草本植物、灌木、藤蔓和树木的影响（低级课程的研究），以及利用GIS（全球信息系统）制图、植物标本馆收藏和在线数据库（高级课程）的组合，探索潜在外来入侵植物的传播问题。合作机构将创建和测试模块，识别和减少成功实施课程变更的障碍，并传播课程变更。这些模块每年将对2000多名本科生的学习产生直接影响，包括非stem专业的学生。它们将由本科生和研究生开发和部分管理，并将有助于发展教师的教学专业知识。模块传授植物学知识的能力，同时鼓励高阶认知过程，提高定量素养，教授分析技术，培养科学沟通技巧，培养学生对植物和STEM的积极态度，以及提高STEM专业学生的持久性和毕业率，将使用混合方法方法（定量和定性数据收集）进行评估。研究结果将开始记录全球变化对一个未被充分研究但重要的生物区域的影响，同时培养具有扎实STEM培训的未来劳动力。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会和本科教育司教育和人力资源理事会联合资助，以支持应对《本科教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/所提出的挑战。

Phenology, the study of seasonal biological events, tracks the effects of both year to year climate variability and long-term environmental change on both local and global ecology. It has considerable potential for serving as a base for research studies by undergraduate classes and developing cross-campus studies. Several recent studies, including the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2014), and Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education (a 2011 document representing the views of over 500 biology faculty and administrators) cite the importance of undergraduate research for retaining science majors and helping students better understand key concepts and develop crucial competencies. Four institutions, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Appalachian State University, East Tennessee State University, and Warren Wilson College, are combining forces to create common gardens and to develop modules that can guide students' research studies to address potential impacts of global change at multiple levels of the biological hierarchy, from genes to ecosystems. The cooperating institutions are unique in character, diverse in their student bodies, and located in varying climate zones. The project will contribute to our knowledge about ecological issues and will expand the ways in which institutions can combine forces to increase the STEM knowledge and competencies of their students. Environmental change issues to be investigated include monitoring effects of invasive exotic removal techniques on herbs, shrubs, vines, and trees within the areas studied (studies for lower division courses), and exploring questions about the spread of potentially invasive exotic plants, using a combination of GIS (Global Information Systems) mapping, herbarium collections, and online databases (upper division courses). The collaborating institutions will create and beta-test modules, identify and mitigate barriers to successful implementation of curricular changes, and disseminate curricular changes. The modules will have a direct impact on the learning of over 2000 undergraduates per year, including non-STEM majors. They will be developed and partially administered by undergraduate and graduate research students, and will be instrumental in developing pedagogical expertise for faculty members. The ability of modules to impart botanical knowledge while encouraging higher-order cognitive processes, advancing quantitative literacy, teaching analytical techniques, honing scientific communication skills, cultivating positive student attitudes towards plants and STEM, and improving persistence and graduation in STEM majors will be assessed using a mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative data collection). Results will begin to document the effects of global change on an understudied but important bioregion while developing a future workforce with solid STEM training. This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education, in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.