Collaborative Research: Investigating Classroom Discourse in Active Learning Environments for Large Enrollment Chemistry Courses

在NSF改善本科STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源(IUSE：EHR)的支持下，该项目旨在通过调查为大型本科化学课程创造有效课堂环境的因素来服务于国家利益。为了实现这一目标，该项目将从爱荷华大学、亚利桑那大学、田纳西中部州立大学和斯坦布鲁克大学的大量招生课程中收集数据。它将使用这些数据来确定协作活动的特征，以促进高质量的学生参与和有意义的学习。将特别关注不同学生群体的参与，如第一代大学生和英语学习者。这项研究的核心发现将用于开发和传播教师资源，以支持创建和实施有效的课堂活动。本项目的研究设计基于这样一种理解，即集体活动是一种社会学结构，通过不同的互动模式促进思想的构建。当学习者解决问题，解释他们的想法，并在参与适当促进的设计良好和相关的任务时表达他们的想法时，产生了富有成效的推理方式。因此，研究设计的中心是观察、记录和分析学生-学生以及学生-促进者的对话：a)描述协作任务促进的关键特征，这些特征最有力地支持产出性参与；b)探索任务设计的不同特征(例如，结构；焦点；认知需求；知识整合的机会；知识的共同构建)如何影响学生的推理模式和在辩论和解释中的产出性参与；以及c)描述大化学课堂中任务设计和促进与学生话语的相互作用，并确定这些相互作用如何通过减少他们平等参与小组工作和为小组工作作出贡献的障碍来阻碍或促进不同学生的生产性参与。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。该项目位于开发和实施层，参与式学生学习路径。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 investigating factors that create effective classroom environments for large undergraduate chemistry courses. To accomplish this goal, the project will gather data from large enrollment courses at the University of Iowa, the University of Arizona, Middle Tennessee State University, and Stonybrook University. It will use these data to determine the features of collaborative activities that foster high-quality student engagement and meaningful learning. Special attention will be paid to the participation of diverse student populations, such as first-generation college students and English-language learners. Core findings from this research project will be used to develop and disseminate faculty resources that will support creation and implementation of effective classroom activities.The research design for this project is based on the understanding that collective activity is a sociological construct that fosters the construction of ideas through different patterns of interaction. Productive ways of reasoning emerge as learners solve problems, explain their thinking, and represent their ideas when engaged in well-designed and relevant tasks that are properly facilitated. Thus, at the center of the research design is the observation, recording, and analysis of student-student as well as student-facilitator conversations to: a) characterize critical characteristics of collaborative task facilitation that most strongly support productive engagement; b) explore how different features of task design (e.g., structure; focus; cognitive demand; opportunities for knowledge integration; co-construction of knowledge) affect students' modes of reasoning and productive engagement in argumentation and explanation; and c) characterize the interaction of task design and facilitation with student discourse in large chemistry classes and determine how those interactions hinder or facilitate the productive engagement of diverse students by reducing barriers to their equal participation in and contribution to group work. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This project is in the Development and Implementation Tier, Engaged Student Learning Track. 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.