Collaborative Research: Creating Assessments for Student Understanding of Core Chemistry Ideas in Introductory Biology

协作研究：为学生对生物学入门中的核心化学思想的理解进行评估

• 批准号: 1708589
• 负责人: Sonia Underwood
• 金额: $ 15.05万
• 依托单位: Florida International University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1708589&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Creating; Assessments; Student

To address biological problems, students must apply and integrate chemistry principles with biology principles, yet existing science assessments in introductory biology courses often encourage rote memorization and assess factual recall. The recently published Framework for K-12 Science Education report from the National Research Council offers a way of thinking about science education aimed at positively affecting students' abilities to use their knowledge and make connections across disciplines. This vision integrates three dimensions: 1) disciplinary core ideas (what students really need to know); 2) crosscutting concepts (themes across science disciplines); and 3) scientific practices (how students should use their knowledge). The integration of these dimensions is referred to as "three-dimensional learning". Instead of assessing factual recall, assessments should probe students' abilities to use scientific practices (e.g., analyzing and interpreting data) in the context of disciplinary core ideas (e.g., using the structure of a compound to predict how the substance behaves) and crosscutting concepts (e.g., conservation of energy and matter) to make sense of phenomena, but writing such assessments is difficult. There is a need for assessments that emphasize three-dimensional learning in introductory biology courses to support students in developing an integrated understanding of science. To address this need, the objective of this two-year collaborative project between Michigan State University (MSU) and Florida International University (FIU) will be to develop, test, and evaluate the effectiveness of assessment items that integrate chemistry and biology disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific practices, and focus on making sense of phenomena. Evidence-centered design will be used to develop constructed-response assessment items of three-dimensional learning for undergraduate introductory biology courses at both MSU and FIU in the context of the following research question: In what ways do students use their chemistry knowledge to explain biological phenomena? Three-dimensional assessments will be designed that incorporate scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and chemistry and biology disciplinary core ideas. Follow-up student interviews and administration of the items in introductory biology courses will serve to validate the items, explore student learning, and inform revisions to the items. The following three outcomes are expected for this study: a set of reliable and validated items including scoring rubrics that probe three-dimensional learning at the interface of chemistry and biology, knowledge of how these items impact students' abilities to learn, and documentation of a process for creating three-dimensional items about interdisciplinary ideas. By developing the items and rubrics in collaboration with both MSU and FIU, the unique student populations will be leveraged at each institution in service of making the assessments applicable to a broad audience. This research is significant because the developed items will serve as tools to better help researchers and instructors understand how students do or do not connect their chemistry and biology knowledge, which is imperative for explaining scientific phenomena and addressing multidisciplinary challenges, such as improving human health and environmental sustainability.

要解决生物问题，学生必须应用化学原理和生物学原理并将其结合起来，然而，生物学入门课程中现有的科学评估往往鼓励死记硬背和评估事实记忆。国家研究委员会最近发布的K-12科学教育框架报告为科学教育提供了一种思路，旨在积极影响学生运用知识和建立跨学科联系的能力。这一愿景包括三个方面：1)学科核心思想(学生真正需要知道的)；2)交叉概念(跨科学学科的主题)；以及3)科学实践(学生应该如何使用他们的知识)。这些维度的整合被称为“立体学习”。评估不应该评估事实记忆，而应该调查学生在学科核心概念(例如，使用化合物的结构来预测物质的行为)和交叉概念(例如，能量守恒和物质守恒)的背景下使用科学实践(例如，分析和解释数据)来理解现象的能力，但编写这种评估是困难的。在生物学入门课程中需要强调三维学习的评估，以支持学生发展对科学的综合理解。为了满足这一需求，密歇根州立大学(MSU)和佛罗里达国际大学(FIU)为期两年的合作项目的目标是开发、测试和评估评估项目的有效性，这些评估项目整合了化学和生物学科的核心思想、交叉概念和科学实践，并专注于理解现象。以证据为中心的设计将在以下研究问题的背景下，为密歇根州立大学和密歇根州立大学的本科生生物学入门课程开发三维学习的构建反应评估项目：学生以什么方式使用他们的化学知识来解释生物现象？将设计包含科学实践、交叉概念以及化学和生物学科核心思想的三维评估。后续的学生访谈和对生物入门课程中项目的管理将有助于验证项目，探索学生学习，并为项目的修订提供信息。这项研究预计会有以下三个结果：一套可靠和有效的项目，包括探索化学和生物界面三维学习的评分标准，了解这些项目如何影响学生的学习能力，以及记录创建关于跨学科想法的三维项目的过程。通过与密歇根州立大学和金融情报院合作开发项目和标准，每个机构将利用独特的学生群体，使评估适用于更广泛的受众。这项研究具有重要意义，因为开发的项目将作为工具，更好地帮助研究人员和教师了解学生如何将他们的化学和生物知识联系起来，这对于解释科学现象和应对多学科挑战，如改善人类健康和环境可持续性至关重要。

项目成果

Impact of Ocean Acidification on Shelled Organisms: Supporting Integration of Chemistry and Biology Knowledge through Multidisciplinary Activities

海洋酸化对带壳生物的影响：通过多学科活动支持化学和生物学知识的整合

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00981
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Journal of Chemical Education
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Roche Allred, Zahilyn;Shrode, Alec D.;Gonzalez, Jeffrey;Rose, Aaron;Green, Abigail I.;Swamy, Uma;Matz, Rebecca L.;Underwood, Sonia M.
• 通讯作者: Underwood, Sonia M.