Improving Learning Outcomes Via Enhancement of Biology Research (iLOVE Biology Research)

西阿拉巴马大学（UWA）通过加强生物学研究来提高学习成果（UWA iLOVE生物学研究）项目的目标是通过一系列基于发现的课程和研究项目为生物学专业的学生提供实践经验。让学生有机会参与本科研究，激发他们的求知欲，满足他们对发现的渴望，并为他们的创造力提供一个出口。该奖项将支持西澳大学的学生，传统上来自代表性不足的群体的学生，包括女性、少数民族和第一代大学生。西澳大学位于美国最贫困的县之一，因此该项目将对低收入学生群体产生重大影响，这些学生在成功完成学位方面遇到了许多障碍。该项目将为学生提供必要的培训和基本技能，以成功地加入劳动力队伍或进入研究生院。该项目将有助于扩大代表性不足的群体对生物学的参与，从而有助于解决该领域合格的生物学和科学教育工作者严重短缺的问题。西澳大学iLOVE生物学研究项目是一项尝试，旨在从现有的研究基础设施中成功吸引、留住和毕业训练有素的生物学专业本科生。西澳大学iLOVE生物学研究项目的最终目标是帮助学生培养技能，使他们能够在日常生活中适当地应用科学过程，并通过将以证据为基础、以学生为中心的教学作为西澳大学的文化规范，改变西澳大学生物学和其他STEM相关领域的教学方式。该项目的具体目标是为生物学专业的本科生提供严谨、全面的研究经验，并与传统课程的学生相比，研究本科生研究经验对西澳大学学生的影响。学生将参与以实践发现为基础的课程和长期研究项目，这将为他们提供更多的实践经验和许多研究相关技能的知识。预计该项目将改善学生对生物学的态度，增强学生对研究能力的信心，提高学生的科学过程和批判性思维技能，提高学生在生物学方面的成功和保留率，以及在STEM职业生涯中的持久性。iLOVE生物研究项目方法将提供一个有吸引力的、可行的模型，为本科生提供研究经验，这些研究经验将产生必要的数据，成为一种可以在校园范围内轻松实施的模型方法。这个项目是由美国国家科学基金会本科教育部和美国国家科学基金会生物基础设施部联合支持的，因为它符合两个部门在“本科生物学教育的愿景和变化”努力中表达的一个重要目标子集（见http://visionandchange.org/）。

The University of West Alabama (UWA) Improving Learning Outcomes Via Enhancement of Biology Research (UWA iLOVE Biology Research) project goal is to provide biology students with hands-on experience through a series of discovery-based courses and research projects. Allowing students the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research engages their intellectual curiosity, satisfies their thirst for discovery, and gives them an outlet for their creativity. This award will support UWA students, traditionally students from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, and first-generation college students. UWA is located in one of the poorest counties in the United States, therefore the project will have a significant impact on a low-income student population that encounters many barriers to successful degree completion. The project will provide students with the necessary training and essential skills to successfully join the workforce or enroll in graduate schools. The project will be instrumental in broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in biology and thus, contribute to solving the significant shortage of qualified biology and science educators in the area.The UWA iLOVE Biology Research project is an attempt to build from the existing research infrastructure to successfully attract, retain, and graduate well-trained undergraduates majoring in biology. The UWA iLOVE Biology Research program's ultimate goals are to help students develop skills that enable them to apply scientific processes appropriately in their daily lives, and to change how biology and other STEM related fields are taught at UWA by implementing evidence-based, student centered teaching as a cultural norm at UWA. The specific goals of the project are to provide undergraduate students majoring in biology with a rigorous, comprehensive research experience, and to examine the impact of undergraduate research experiences on UWA students compared to students enrolled in traditional coursework. Students will be engaged in hands-on discovery based courses and long-term research projects, which will provide them with increased hands-on experience and knowledge of many research-associated skills. It is expected that the project will improve student attitudes towards biology, increase confidence in students' abilities to do research, enhance students' scientific process and critical thinking skills, and increase student success and retention in biology and persistence in STEM careers. The iLOVE Biology Research program approach will provide an attractive, feasible model for providing research experiences to undergraduates that will generate the necessary data to become a model approach that can be readily implemented campus wide.This project is being jointly supported by the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education and the NSF Division of Biological Infrastructure as it aligns with an important subset of the objectives of both divisions that is expressed in the "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education" effort (see http://visionandchange.org/).