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，它跟踪每年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，作为研究性学习的基础，由本科班和发展跨校园的研究。最近的几项研究，包括科学和技术顾问的总统理事会（2014年）和本科生物学教育的愿景和变化（2011年的一份文件，代表了500多名生物学教师和管理人员的意见）引用本科研究对保留科学专业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。四个机构-位于阿什维尔的北卡罗来纳州大学、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-正在联合力量，创建共同花园，并开发能够指导学生研究学习的模块，以解决全球变化在从基因到生态系统的生物层次结构的多个层次上的潜在影响。合作机构的特点是独特的，在他们的学生团体的多样性，并位于不同的气候带。 该项目将有助于我们对生态问题的知识，并将扩大机构可以联合收割机的力量，以增加他们的学生的STEM知识和能力的方式。要调查的环境变化问题包括监测外来入侵的去除技术对草本植物，灌木，葡萄藤和树木的影响研究领域内（低师课程的研究），并探讨有关潜在的外来入侵植物的传播问题，使用GIS（全球信息系统）映射，植物标本馆收藏和在线数据库（上师课程）的组合。 合作机构将创建和beta测试模块，确定和减少成功实施课程改革的障碍，并传播课程改革。这些模块将对每年2000多名本科生的学习产生直接影响，包括非STEM专业。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，推进定量素养，教学分析技术，磨练科学沟通技能，培养学生对植物和STEM的积极态度，并提高STEM专业的持久性和毕业率将使用混合方法（定量和定性数据收集）进行评估。结果将开始记录全球变化对一个研究不足但重要的生物区的影响，同时培养一批经过扎实STEM培训的未来劳动力。该项目由生物科学理事会，生物基础设施司和教育和人力资源理事会，本科教育司共同资助，以支持应对本科教育愿景和变革所带来的挑战：行动呼吁http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/。

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/.