Integrating and Scaffolding Research into Undergraduate STEM Curricula: Probing Faculty, Student, Disciplinary, and Institutional Pathways to Transformational Change

参与本科研究给学生带来了有据可查的好处，包括高学术成就、教育坚持性以及在知识和技能方面的显著收获。然而，参与研究的公平差距依然存在。为了解决这一缺陷，该项目将帮助生物、化学、物理和心理学系的教师设计和实施协调一致的四年制课程，为所有学生提供平等的机会，获得本科研究的好处。12所院校中，每所院校的两个系将根据他们对全面研究灌输的课程改革的兴趣而以竞争性方式选出。参与该项目的每个部门将得到专家顾问的协助，他们将保持持续的沟通，以监督和指导课程转型过程。将进行研究，以确定使学生能够参与并坚持以探究为导向的课程的因素，并确定支持教师、系和机构催化和维持支持这种参与所需的变化的战略。这项研究的发现将有助于努力缩小本科生参与研究的差距，并指导本科教育的转型努力。为了实现一个连贯的课程，引导学生在该学科中形成一种探究和研究的文化，各系将使用落后的设计方法来开发支架式的、富于研究的课程和作业，这些课程和作业以刻意的方式引导学生更大地独立和掌握他们的学习。两个主要的研究问题将被检验：(1)学生的特征(例如，先前的学业准备，当前的课程表现)对学生在支架式探究驱动课程中的学习经验和结果有什么影响？(2)不同的系方法和不同的学科文化如何影响本科研究的组成部分和结果融入课程？将使用混合方法来解决这些问题，包括调查、与学生和教职员工的焦点小组、观察和与教职员工和团队顾问的访谈、年度进度报告和深入的现场访问。这个项目的一个新方面将是开发关于全国学生参与度调查和教师学生参与度调查的标准化和试验性问题。这些调查将使项目机构能够与国家结果进行比较。从该项目发展而来的变革理论模式将允许广泛和多样化的机构类型和部门/学科评估它们对研究型课程的准备情况，并就这种课程变革对学生成绩以及组织和文化变革的影响提供关键的见解。

Participation in undergraduate research provides well-documented benefits to students, including high academic achievement, educational persistence, and significant gains in knowledge and skills. Yet equity gaps in participating in research persist. To address this shortcoming, this project will assist faculty in departments of biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology in designing and implementing coordinated four-year curricula to provide all students with equitable access to the benefits of undergraduate research. Two departments at each of twelve institutions will be competitively selected for their interest in comprehensive research-infused curricular reform. Each department involved in the project will be assisted by expert consultants who will maintain sustained communication to oversee and guide the curricular transformation process. Research will be conducted to characterize the factors that enable students to participate and persist in an inquiry-driven curriculum and to identify the strategies that support faculty, departments, and institutions in catalyzing and sustaining the changes needed to support this participation. Findings from this study will contribute to efforts to close undergraduate research participation gaps and guide transformation efforts in undergraduate education. To achieve a cohesive curriculum that initiates students into a culture of inquiry and research in the discipline, departments will use a backward design approach to develop scaffolded, research-rich courses and assignments that build in deliberate ways to guide students to greater independence and ownership of their learning. Two overarching research questions will be examined: (1) What effect do student characteristics (e.g., pre-existing academic preparation, current course performance) have on student-learning experiences and outcomes in a scaffolded inquiry-driven curriculum? (2) How do different departmental approaches and distinct disciplinary cultures impact the integration of the components and outcomes of undergraduate research into the curriculum? A mixed-methods approach will be used to address these questions, including surveys, focus groups with students and faculty, observations and interviews with faculty and team consultants, annual progress reports, and in-depth site visits. A novel aspect of this project will be the development of both standardized and experimental questions on the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement. These surveys will allow for comparison of project institutions with national results. The theory of change model that develops from this project will allow a broad and diverse range of institutional types and departments/disciplines to assess their readiness for research-scaffolded curricula and provide key insights into the effects of such curricular transformation on student achievement and organizational and cultural change.