Biology undergraduate Mathematics Attitudes and Anxiety Program (BioMAAP)

生物学本科生数学态度和焦虑计划（BioMAAP）

• 批准号: 1612072
• 负责人: Tara Pelletier
• 金额: $ 29.88万
• 依托单位: Radford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-15 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1612072&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Biology; undergraduate; Mathematics; Attitudes; Anxiety

Radford University (RU) has received an Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources Directorate (IUSE: EHR) Exploration and Design award for a project to design, implement and assess interventions to help undergraduate biology majors improve their attitudes and decrease their anxiety towards mathematics. Introductory mathematics courses are a key roadblock for many students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Since student attitudes toward mathematics are strongly correlated with their performance, the goal of the current work is the development and study of strategies that reduce student resistance to mathematics. The Biology undergraduate Math Attitudes and Anxiety Program (BioMAAP) is a cohesive program that can be added to existing courses and curricula, without replacing content instruction. The approaches, which include biofeedback and metacognitive reflection, are readily adoptable and actively engage students in reducing their own mathematics anxiety and improving their attitude toward mathematics. The core of the program is a set of online activities, with supplemental in-person group activities available when local resources permit. In biofeedback activities, students use simple smartphone devices to collect data on their own physiological responses to mathematics and to measure their responses to anxiety reducing interventions. Metacognitive activities lead students through purposeful reflections on their own methods of solving mathematics problems and learning quantitative content, which will help to demystify mathematics and improve student attitudes. While the current study involves biology majors, the knowledge generated by this project will be applicable to the amelioration of mathematics anxiety in students in all STEM disciplines. This, in turn, will increase the persistence of these majors and increase the number of STEM majors entering the graduate school and the workforce.

拉德福大学（RU）获得了改善本科STEM教育：教育和人力资源局（IUSE：EHR）探索和设计奖，该项目旨在设计，实施和评估干预措施，以帮助本科生物学专业学生改善他们的态度，减少他们对数学的焦虑。对于许多有兴趣从事科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科职业的学生来说，数学入门课程是一个关键的障碍。 由于学生对数学的态度与他们的表现密切相关，目前工作的目标是发展和研究的战略，减少学生对数学的阻力。 生物本科数学态度和焦虑计划（BioMAAP）是一个有凝聚力的计划，可以添加到现有的课程和课程，而无需取代内容教学。这些方法包括生物反馈和元认知反思，易于采用，并积极参与学生减少自己的数学焦虑，改善他们对数学的态度。该计划的核心是一套在线活动，在当地资源允许的情况下，还可以提供补充性的面对面小组活动。在生物反馈活动中，学生使用简单的智能手机设备收集关于他们自己对数学的生理反应的数据，并测量他们对减少焦虑干预措施的反应。元认知活动引导学生有目的地反思自己解决数学问题和学习量化内容的方法，这将有助于揭开数学的神秘面纱，改善学生的态度。 虽然目前的研究涉及生物专业，但该项目产生的知识将适用于改善所有STEM学科学生的数学焦虑。 反过来，这将增加这些专业的持久性，并增加进入研究生院和劳动力市场的STEM专业的数量。