Longitudinal Investigation of the Decision Process in Adoption of Course-based Undergraduate Research

本科生课程研究决策过程的纵向调查

• 批准号: 1912520
• 负责人: Carol Bascom-Slack
• 金额: $ 29.95万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1912520&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Longitudinal; Investigation; Decision; Process; Adoption

With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by investigating the motivators and barriers that influence instructors' adoption and implementation of research in undergraduate courses. The value of early opportunities for undergraduates to engage in research is widely recognized. In fact, national reports have recommended replacing standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses as an inclusive way to engage students in compelling experiments. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are particularly valuable because they can reach students at institutions in which out-of-classroom research is limited or unavailable (e.g., high enrollment institutions; community colleges). However, development of a successful CURE requires an initial investment of time and the willingness to take a risk in the classroom. Many instructors do not have the autonomy, time, or resources to develop their own CUREs. As a result, nationally disseminated "network CUREs" have been a successful alternative. In network CUREs, students at different institutions work in parallel using the same methods, but in different contexts. Although network CURES have expanded accessibility of research experiences, much work remains since non-research activities still take up the bulk of most undergraduate laboratories. If widespread dissemination of CUREs is to reach all institution types, the undergraduate STEM education community needs a better understanding of the institutional and contextual challenges that instructors face in implementing CURES. This project aims to investigate the "undergraduate research mindset" of instructors representing a diversity of undergraduate populations. The study intends to identify the characteristics of CURE programs that influence instructors' decisions to implement and persist in implementing them, and whether these characteristics differ depending on institutional context. Guided by Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theory, this study will use qualitative and quantitative methods to assess what programmatic characteristics of two conceptually related, but structurally different network CUREs factor into instructors' decisions to implement and then persist in implementing or exit from each program. In the first phase of the study, longitudinal tracking will be employed through interviews of instructors who are ready to implement one of these two CUREs. In the second phase, results from longitudinal tracking will be used to create and administer a national survey to gain similar information from a broader group of instructors. This understanding could guide future CURE developers to target institutional contexts that are currently underrepresented in CURE networks. In addition, it can provide a framework to help future CURE developers create research experiences that are likely to be successfully implemented at diverse institution types. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program will support efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.

在美国国家科学基金会改善本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源（IUSE: EHR）的支持下，本项目旨在通过调查影响教师在本科课程中采用和实施研究的动机和障碍，为国家利益服务。大学生早期从事研究的机会的价值得到了广泛的认可。事实上，国家报告已经建议用基于发现的研究课程取代标准的实验课程，作为一种让学生参与有吸引力的实验的包容方式。基于课程的本科生研究经验（CUREs）特别有价值，因为它们可以覆盖那些课堂外研究有限或无法获得的机构（例如，高入学率机构；社区学院）的学生。然而，开发一种成功的治愈方法需要在课堂上投入时间和承担风险的意愿。许多教师没有自主权、时间或资源来开发自己的治疗方法。因此，在全国范围内传播的“网络治疗”是一种成功的替代方案。在网络治疗中，不同机构的学生使用相同的方法，但在不同的环境中并行工作。尽管网络CURES扩大了研究经验的可及性，但由于非研究活动仍然占据了大多数本科实验室的大部分，因此仍有许多工作要做。如果要将CUREs广泛传播到所有类型的机构，本科STEM教育界需要更好地了解教师在实施CUREs时面临的制度和背景挑战。本项目旨在调查代表不同本科生群体的教师的“本科生研究心态”。本研究旨在确定影响教师决定实施和坚持实施CURE课程的特征，以及这些特征是否因机构背景而异。在罗杰斯的创新扩散理论的指导下，本研究将使用定性和定量方法来评估两个概念相关但结构不同的网络疗法的规划特征对教师实施、坚持实施或退出每个计划的决策的影响。在研究的第一阶段，纵向跟踪将通过对准备实施这两种治疗方法之一的教师的访谈来采用。在第二阶段，纵向跟踪的结果将用于建立和管理一项全国调查，以便从更广泛的教员群体中获得类似的信息。这种理解可以指导未来的CURE开发者瞄准目前在CURE网络中代表性不足的机构背景。此外，它可以提供一个框架来帮助未来的CURE开发人员创建可能在不同类型的机构中成功实施的研究经验。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划将支持高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育转型和改善。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。