Polar (DCL- 16-119): Development and Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience in Arctic Sciences

亚利桑那州立大学的一个科学家和教育工作者团队将开发和实施一个高度跨学科的基于课程的本科生研究体验（CURE），以吸引学生参与极地研究。跨学科的经验将使理工科和非理工科的本科生在北极进行小组研究项目，并设计创新的方式向公众传达结果。在课程中，学生将比较北极生态系统，特别是芬兰北部Kilpisjärvi生物研究站的生态系统，与他们目前居住的沙漠环境的生态系统。学生的研究机会范围从北极生态系统研究到使用Kilpisjärvi大气成像接收器阵列，这是一个专注于极光的全向甚高频无线电天线的双阵列。通过这个创新的学习机会，学生将设计、实施和展示一个独立的科学研究项目和一个交流项目来解释他们的发现。学生参与者将从亚利桑那州立大学西校区的多元化学生群体中挑选。该项目的智力价值取决于该试验CURE的有效性，将使用混合方法来评估该经验如何影响学生的学习，以及它如何影响学生对科学研究和研究生学习的兴趣。该项目的更广泛影响包括让来自不同背景的学生参与极地研究，包括少数民族、第一代大学生和退伍军人，并训练学生进行有效的科学交流。这个项目提供了一个机会来确定短期国际研究经历对不同学生的影响。此外，对这门课程的两年支持将为课程的未来迭代奠定基础，并计划自我维持。

A team of scientists and educators at Arizona State University will develop and implement a highly interdisciplinary Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) to engage students in polar research. The interdisciplinary experience will pair undergraduate students from both science and non-science majors to conduct group research projects in the Arctic and to design innovative ways to communicate results to the public. During the course, students will compare the Arctic ecosystems, specifically ecosystems at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Research Station in northern Finland, with those from the desert environment in which they currently reside. Research opportunities for students range from Arctic ecosystem studies to use of the Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array, a dual array of omnidirectional VHF radio antennas focused on auroras. Through this innovative learning opportunity, students will design, implement and present both an independent science-based research project and a communications project to explain their findings. Student participants will be selected from the diverse student body at Arizona State University's West Campus. The intellectual merit of the project rests on the effectiveness of this pilot CURE, which will be evaluated using a mixed method approach to determine how the experience impacted student learning and how it impacts student interest in scientific research and in postgraduate studies. The broader impacts of the project include involving students from diverse backgrounds, including minorities, first-generation college students and veterans, in polar research and training students in the effective communication of science. This project offers an opportunity to determine the impact of a short international research experience on diverse students. In addition, the two years of support for this course will lay the foundation for the future iterations of the course, which are planned to be self-sustaining.