Collaborative Research: Implementing Multi-institutional Classroom-based Undergraduate Research Experiences to Study the Impact of Environmental Changes on Salamander Populations

本项目由美国国家科学基金会改进本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源（IUSE: EHR）资助，旨在通过开发和实施多机构基于课程的本科研究经验（CUREs）来服务于国家利益。有证据表明，CUREs可以非常有效地吸引大量学生参与真实的研究。此外，参与CUREs可以增加学生对STEM学科的坚持，并产生新的科学数据。该项目由密歇根州立大学、布里奇沃特州立大学、马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校、宾夕法尼亚州立大学公园分校和里士满大学合作完成。该团队将利用蝾螈种群适应研究协作网络（SPARCnet）来开发和支持合作机构的CUREs。SPARCnet是一个研究和教育合作组织，负责协调有关蝾螈对环境条件反应的研究。在本项目所开发的模型中，学生将研究红背蝾螈个体和种群水平对环境变化和变化的反应。这种蝾螈在美国东北部和中西部森林中扮演着重要的生态系统角色。学生将从广泛的地理范围收集和分析数据，强调生态学和进化过程。具体的CURE模块将在五所院校的不同科学课程中共同开发和实施。该项目预计，CURES将增进学生对科学合作本质的理解，并培养处理大型数据集所需的定量技能。该项目将开发和测试CURE模块，包括独特的基于领域的研究和单一研究系统内的多机构合作。CURE模块将超越大多数CURE的单一校园结构，通过创建一个框架，将学生整合到一个智力多样化和已建立的研究网络SPARCnet中。在研究过程中，教师将通过对不同机构的教室进行配对，促进学生的合作和数据共享。该项目的教育研究部分将调查三个教学问题，以检验CURE模型如何有助于提高学生的定量和科学素养、自我效能感、科学认同感和归属感。利用最近开发的跨多机构网络应用的CURE模型框架，本研究的结果有可能推进关于CURE如何促进学生学习成果和观点的知识。最后，该项目将通过检查CURE对定量和科学素养的影响来增加对CURE模型本身的理解。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。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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 NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by developing and implementing multi-institutional Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Evidence demonstrates that CUREs can be highly effective for engaging large numbers of students in authentic research. In addition, participation in CUREs can result in increased persistence of students in STEM disciplines, as well as generate new scientific data. This project is a collaboration between Michigan State University, Bridgewater State University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Pennsylvania State University Park, and the University of Richmond. The team will leverage the Salamander Population Adaptation Research Collaboration network (SPARCnet) to develop and support CUREs at the collaborating institutions. SPARCnet is a research and education collaboration that coordinates research about salamander responses to environmental conditions. In the CUREs developed by this project, students will study individual- and population-level responses of the red-backed salamander to environmental variation and changes. This salamander has important ecosystem roles in northeastern and mid-west U.S. forests. The students will collect and analyze data from a wide geographic range, emphasizing ecology and evolutionary processes. The specific CURE modules will be developed and implemented collaboratively in different science courses across the five institutions. The project expects that the CURES will increase students' understanding of the collaborative nature of science, as well as develop the quantitative skills needed to work with large data sets. This project will develop and test CURE modules that include unique field-based research and multi-institutional collaborations within a single research system. The CURE modules will go beyond the single-campus structure of most CUREs by creating a framework that integrates students into an intellectually diverse and established research network, SPARCnet. The instructors will facilitate student collaboration and data sharing by pairing classrooms across institutions during the research experience. The education research component of the project will investigate three pedagogical questions that examine how the CURE model may contribute to improvements in students' quantitative and scientific literacy, self-efficacy, and science identity and sense of belonging. Using the recently developed CURE model framework applied across a multi-institutional network, the results of this study have the potential to advance knowledge about how CUREs promote student learning outcomes and perspectives. Finally, the project will increase understanding of the CURE model itself by examining the impacts of this CURE on quantitative and scientific literacy. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.