NRT-IGE: Enhancing Learning and Retention in Graduate Physics

NRT-IGE：增强研究生物理学的学习和保留

基本信息

批准号：
1735027
负责人：
Andrew Heckler
金额：
$ 49.66万
依托单位：
Ohio State 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 2022-08-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1735027&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
NRT IGE Enhancing Learning Retention

项目摘要

In recent years, education research has revolutionized undergraduate STEM education and physics education in particular. However, many of the positive changes to instructional practices and metrics for success have not been implemented at the graduate level. With a national economy increasingly dependent on highly-trained specialists in technical fields, this is a nationally-relevant problem. Similarly widespread are the problems of high attrition rates in physics graduate programs (on the order of 50%, nationally) and persistent underrepresentation of women, African Americans, Hispanics and other groups in Physics and STEM. These chronic shortcomings in diversity and in retention highlight the need for improved strategies in STEM education at the graduate level. One of the significant barriers identified is the traditionally-taught graduate core physics courses. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award in the Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) Track to The Ohio State University will seek to develop, adopt, and assess innovative, research-based instructional best practices in graduate-level physics courses, especially focusing on factors affecting retention and diversity. In particular, the project is aimed at ensuring that the developed methods and materials are widely-applicable and adoptable by engaging multiple sites in the development process (initially four large Midwestern research universities), and collecting data on effectiveness at each site. A critical strategy of the project is to directly engage the graduate core course instructors of each participating institution. The approach applies and adapts a successful model for establishing and maintaining faculty learning communities to facilitate the professional development of instructors and the adoption of research-based instructional materials and methods. The project will also engage the department graduate studies committees to facilitate positive change in policies and practices in order to ensure systemic and lasting change. In a bottom-up process emerging from the needs of the faculty learning communities, instructional materials will be developed via a highly effective research-based iterative model including the identification of student difficulties and construction of materials to engage students in addressing those difficulties in an inclusive and welcoming environment. The approach includes feedback to the instructors and the project researchers via performance on content tests, course assignments, in-class performance, student surveys (e.g., attitude, belonging, motivation) and student and faculty surveys and interviews. This program will advance our knowledge of topic-specific instructional materials and methods to improve student learning at the graduate level, which is currently virtually non-existent, and can serve as a model for other STEM graduate programs.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The Innovations in Graduate Education Track is dedicated solely to piloting, testing, and evaluating novel, innovative, and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education.This project is co-funded by the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. AGEP funds research and the development, implementation, and investigation of models to transform the dissertation phase of doctoral education, postdoctoral training and/or faculty advancement of historically underrepresented minorities (URMs) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and/or STEM education research.

近年来，教育研究彻底改变了本科STEM教育和物理教育。但是，在研究生一级尚未实施任何成功实践和成功指标的积极变化。随着国民经济越来越依赖技术领域的训练有素的专家，这是一个与国家有关的问题。同样，宽度是物理学研究生计划中高流失率的问题（在全国范围内为50％）以及妇女，非裔美国人，西班牙裔和其他物理学和STEM的持续代表性不足。这些在多样性和保留方面的长期缺点凸显了在研究生一级改善STEM教育策略的必要性。所确定的重要障碍之一是传统上教授的研究生核心物理课程。这项国家科学基金会研究训练（NRT）在研究生教育创新（IGE）轨道上的奖项将寻求开发，采用和评估研究生级物理学课程的创新，基于研究的教学最佳实践，尤其是专注于影响保留和多样性的因素。特别是，该项目旨在确保通过在开发过程中吸引多个站点（最初是四个大型中西部研究型大学），并在每个站点收集有关有效性的数据，从而确保开发的方法和材料具有广泛应用和适应性。该项目的一个关键策略是直接吸引每个参与机构的研究生核心课程讲师。该方法采用并改编了一个成功的模型，以建立和维护教师学习社区，以支持教师的专业发展以及采用基于研究的教学材料和方法。该项目还将聘请部门研究生研究委员会，以促进政策和实践的积极变革，以确保系统性和持久的变化。在从教师学习社区的需求中得出的自下而上的过程中，教学材料将通过一个高效的基于研究的迭代模型开发，包括确定学生困难和建设材料，以吸引学生在包容和欢迎环境中解决这些困难。该方法包括通过有关内容测试，课程作业，课堂表现，学生调查（例如态度，归属，动机）以及学生和教职员工调查和访谈的绩效以及对项目研究人员的反馈。该计划将促进我们对特定于主题的教学材料和方法的了解，以改善研究生水平的学生学习，目前实际上是不存在的，并且可以作为其他STEM研究生课程的模型。NSFResearch训练（NRT）计划旨在鼓励大胆的，新的，潜在的STEM毕业生教育培训模型的开发和实施。研究生教育轨道的创新仅致力于试用，测试和评估新颖，创新和潜在的研究生教育方法。该项目由研究生教育联盟和教授（AgeP）计划共同资助。 Agep资助了研究，发展，实施和投资模型，以改变博士教育的论文阶段，博士后培训和/或在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）和/或STEM教育研究中历史上代表性不足的少数民族（URMS）的教师进步。