Enhancing Introductory Biology with the Arizona Insect DNA Barcoding Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

在改善本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI)计划的支持下，这个Track 2项目旨在改善本科生生物教育。它将通过在社区大学实施生物学入门课程的基于地点的本科生研究体验(CURE)来做到这一点，并研究CURE对学生的影响。这种疗法将由位于亚利桑那州图森市的皮马社区学院和亚利桑那大学合作开发。参与CURE的学生将生成、分析和发布对科学来说是新的数据。为科学知识做出贡献的机会有望增加学生对科学的积极情感，这反过来可能会增加他们在STEM领域的坚持性和毕业率。这个项目将通过确定参加治疗的社区大学生是否更有可能继续学习科学并以STEM学位毕业，为治疗的价值提供新的证据。在社区大学上第一堂生物课的大学生中，有相当大一部分来自代表性不足的群体。因此，该项目有可能扩大对STEM教育和STEM工作人员的参与。皮马社区学院生物学入门课程的学生将参加亚利桑那州昆虫DNA条形码治疗。学生将从亚利桑那大学昆虫收藏馆藏的昆虫中获取、分析和发表DNA序列。通过这项工作，学生们将为亚利桑那大学的研究和整个科学界做出贡献。研究表明，学生在项目所有权、自我效能感、科学认同感和对障碍的容忍度方面的增加与他们在STEM领域的坚持性和毕业程度的增加有关。预计参加治疗的学生将比不参加治疗的学生在这些特征上表现出更大的增长。该项目还将研究同一治疗中的多个体验是否比单一体验与更大的增长相关。本项目旨在通过研究社区大学学生成功转学到四年制院校以及随后在STEM毕业之间的关系，拓宽对STEM学生成功的研究。因此，该项目可以为两年制和四年制院校如何合作改善转学成功率和提高STEM毕业率提供一个合作模式。它还有望成为一个榜样，积极吸引本科生与自然历史博物馆的收藏品接触，使学生的表现和收藏品都受益。该项目的成果将在国家科学教育会议上公布，并提交同行评议的STEM和STEM教育期刊发表。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育和HSI的能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。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 Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project aims to improve undergraduate biology education. It will do so by implementing a place-based Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in introductory biology at a community college, and studying the CURE's impact on students. The CURE will be developed through a collaboration between Pima Community College and the University of Arizona, both located in Tucson, Arizona. Students participating in the CURE will generate, analyze, and publish data that will be new to science. The opportunity to contribute to scientific knowledge is expected to increase students' positive feelings toward science, which may in turn increase their persistence and graduation in STEM fields. This project will provide new evidence about the value of CUREs by determining whether community college students participating in a CURE are more likely to continue studying science and to graduate with a STEM degree. A significant percentage of college students who take their first biology course at a community college are from underrepresented groups. Thus, the project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM education and the STEM workforce.Students in introductory biology courses at Pima Community College will participate in the Arizona Insect DNA Barcoding CURE. Students will obtain, analyze, and publish DNA sequences from insects curated in the University of Arizona Insect Collection. Through this work, students will contribute to research at the University of Arizona and to the scientific community at large. Research has shown that increases in students' project ownership, self-efficacy, science identity, and tolerance to obstacles are associated with increases in their persistence and graduation in STEM fields. It is expected that students who participate in the CURE will demonstrate greater increases in these characteristics than those who do not participate. The project will also examine whether multiple experiences in the same CURE are associated with greater increases than a single experience. This project aims to broaden research on STEM student success by examining the relationship between CURE participation and the successful transfer of community college students to four-year institutions and their subsequent graduation in STEM. Thus, the project may provide a collaborative model for how two-year and four-year institutions can partner to improve transfer success and increase STEM graduation rates. It is also expected to serve as a model for actively engaging undergraduate biology students with natural history museum collections in ways that benefit both student performance and the collections. Results from this project will be presented at national science education conferences and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed STEM and STEM education journals. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.