RCN-UBE: Building capacity for evidence-based undergraduate field experiences

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Because of the tremendous investment in field stations and marine labs and the potential for reaching a broad range of undergraduates across the U.S. and the world, it is critical to consider how to best provide effective educational experiences at these venues and other extended field programs. These programs often provide specific types of training not provided anywhere else in the undergraduate education system. The Undergraduate Field Experiences in Research Network (U-FERN) seeks to understand the impacts of these types of experiences and to build a community of practitioners working together with education researchers to share and develop effective practices that are inclusive of all students. The network will connect current knowledge about persistence of underrepresented students in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) with practitioners of undergraduate field experiences to harness the power of active learning as a potential for increasing participation and persistence in the field-based sciences.U-FERN seeks to build a vibrant, supportive, and sustainable collaborative network that fosters effective undergraduate field experiences by: 1) identifying and sharing evidence-based models and practices for engaging a diverse range of undergraduates in effective field and marine learning experiences, 2) identifying, modifying, developing, and sharing assessment tools for understanding the impact of field and marine learning experiences on undergraduate student learning, STEM identity, and career trajectories, 3) investigating how undergraduate field experiences may help broaden the participation and retention of underrepresented and underserved students in field-based sciences such as marine ecology, ecology and geosciences, and 4) establishing undergraduate learning experiences at field stations and marine labs as "interdisciplinary laboratories" for researching evidence-based practices in undergraduate research, service learning, and place-based education. U-FERN will build capacity of field station and marine labs (FSMLs) and others including undergraduates in field experiences while engaging new collaborators from the social and learning sciences in program assessment and research into student learning, effective practices, and broad engagement. The wide diversity of practices implemented at field stations and marine labs creates a unique opportunity to test models of effective training in order to generate insights that can inform educational practices beyond the FSML community. The proposed network will explore how insights from undergraduate experiences at field stations and marine labs can help improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning in general.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.or/finalreport/). This project is also co-funded by the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) in the BIO directorate.