Building Community Through Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations (SIMIODE)

在改善本科STEM教育计划的支持下，SIMIODE（微分方程建模研究和机会系统倡议）社区将为第一个本科微积分课程开发一种数学建模方法。微积分导论是本科STEM课程中的一门重要课程，本项目提出的设计和教学改进有可能提高全国STEM专业学生的保留率、毕业率和质量。微分方程的数学建模方法在STEM本科教学中采用了最佳实践：它是动手的，基于问题的，探究驱动的，并结合了小组学习。该项目将创建侧重于真实世界数据的教材，并鼓励学生在数学和其他学科之间转移知识。该项目将结合面对面和虚拟支持，为教师寻求在自己的教室中采用数学建模方法。这种支持包括研讨会、小组讨论、在地区和国家会议上的演讲，以及在线社区的指导。该项目将支持不同程度的教师参与：一些教师将在课堂上引入一些建模活动，而其他教师将完成完整的课程转向数学模型。最后，该项目将对教师发展的具体方法的功效进行研究。该项目的第一部分将支持开发同行评审的开源教材，这些教材将通过SIMIODE的HUBZero平台向公众提供。这个在线平台将允许用户和作者分享对材料的评论、修改和扩展。该项目还将通过在会议上分发教材来提高对这种建模方法的认识。其次，该项目将通过在线社区和面对面的研讨会为教师发展提供初步和长期的支持。这些讲习班将侧重于将这些材料纳入课程，从而鼓励从技术驱动到模型驱动方法的持续教学转变。夏季研讨会和年度全国会议上的迷你课程将展示微分方程的建模方法，并将为采用这种方法的教师提供面对面的指导和支持。在整个项目中，评估小组将审查在线社区和面对面研讨会的有效性，以便项目人员可以修改它们以提供最佳支持。SIMIODE采用由包括材料作者和用户在内的投稿顾问委员会对已出版材料进行双盲同行评审。委员会和参与者还将提供反馈意见，说明项目活动在提供影响教学变革所需的教员支助方面的效力。在线社区平台将根据正在进行的形成性项目评估提供所需的灵活性，以适应教师支持的多种方法（例如，网络研讨会；小组或个人指导）。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program, the SIMIODE (Systemic Initiative for Modeling Investigations and Opportunities with Differential Equations) community will develop a mathematical-modeling approach for the first undergraduate calculus course. Introductory calculus is an important course in undergraduate STEM curricula, and the design and teaching enhancements proposed in this project have the potential to increase the retention, graduation, and quality of STEM majors nationwide. The mathematical-modeling approach to differential equations uses best practices in STEM undergraduate teaching: it is hands-on, problem-based, inquiry-driven, and incorporates group learning. The project will create teaching materials that focus on real world data and encourage students to transfer knowledge between mathematics and other disciplines. The project will combine in-person and virtual support for faculty seeking to adopt a mathematical-modeling approach in their own classrooms. This support includes workshops, panel discussions, presentations at regional and national conferences, and mentoring in an online community. The project will support different levels of faculty engagement: some faculty will introduce a few modeling activities into their classes while others will complete a full curriculum shift to mathematical models. Finally, the project will conduct research on the efficacy of specific approaches to faculty development. The first part of the project will support the development of peer-reviewed, open-source teaching materials that will be made available to the public through SIMIODE's HUBZero platform. The online platform will allow users and authors to share comments, modifications, and extensions of the material. The project will also promote awareness of this modeling approach through dissemination of teaching materials at conferences. Secondly, the project will provide initial and long-term support for faculty development via an online community and in-person workshops. These workshops will focus on incorporating these materials into courses, thus encouraging a sustained pedagogical shift from technique-driven to a model-driven approach. Summer workshops and annual mini-courses at national conferences will demonstrate the modeling approach to teaching differential equations and will provide in-person mentoring and support to faculty adopting this approach. Throughout the project, the assessment team will review the effectiveness of the online communities and in-person workshops so the program staff can modify them to provide the best support. SIMIODE employs a double-blind peer review of published materials by a Board of Contributing Advisors that includes material authors and users. The Board and participants will also provide feedback on the efficacy of the project's activities in delivering faculty support needed to affect pedagogical change. The online community platform will provide the flexibility needed to adapt multiple approaches in faculty support, (e.g., webinars; group or individual mentoring) as dictated by the ongoing formative project assessment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.