Examining the Effects of Training Undergraduate Chemistry Students How to Deliberate

本项目旨在促进国家对优秀本科STEM教育的兴趣。它将通过研究教授本科生如何深思熟虑的影响来做到这一点。深思熟虑的技巧包括在不同经历的人之间进行尊重对话的能力，批判性思考的能力，以及通过考虑多个角度做出更好的决定的能力。许多紧迫的国家和全球挑战，如污染和能源消耗交织复杂的科学概念与伦理和道德问题。因此，社会往往难以协调应对这些挑战所需的行动。围绕这些复杂问题的决策将受益于更加深思熟虑的心态，以加强有效的协作和知情的决策。然而，在本科理科教育中，思辨训练却很少见。在本科化学课程中，应结合思考训练和思考实践的机会。学生将参与促进审议练习，挑战他们找到和评估现实世界问题的方法。该项目将确定审议训练是否能促进科学学习，鼓励审议心态，并加深学生的公民参与意识。此外，项目组还将研究两所四年制大学和一所社区大学的化学课程审议训练，以及促进者培训的影响。通过这种方式，该项目将调查在不同的学生人口统计数据不同的机构是否可以实现类似的学生成果。如果成功，该项目将更好地为毕业生进入STEM劳动力市场做好准备，并成为积极参与的公民。重要的是，许多来自STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生通过社区大学进入高等教育。如果审议训练在这种情况下达到预期的学生成果，该项目可能有助于包容不同的声音并扩大STEM的参与。该项目将检查几个变量，以确定它们是否是化学课程中成功的商议教学法（即训练学生如何商议）的关键因素。它还将开发和测试评估这些影响的多种方法。环境污染物审议模块将在化学，生物化学和生物学学生的一年级化学课程中实施。在学生通过指定的阅读和课堂讲座熟悉问题的背景后，他们将有三种选择继续前进。然后，学生们将参与一个促进的审议，仔细讨论每种方法的好处，以及这些行动中不可避免地存在的权衡。然后，他们将提出最好的前进道路。这个练习让学生分析不同的观点，并承认每一种方法，即使不是学生喜欢的，都植根于价值观。为了加强这种经验，我们将在三年级的生物化学课程中设计并实施一个基因工程审议模块。在这段经历中，学生们将被鼓励去思考基因工程所产生和妥协的价值，以及它如何对社会成员既有益又有害。在第一年和第三年的课程中，将评估学生在科学学习和公民参与方面的成果。在任何必要的变化之后，这些模块将在另一所四年制大学和随后的一所城市社区大学实施，以衡量可翻译性。将在项目期间创建的审议式教学法模块将公开提供，供其他教师和机构使用。本项目由美国国家科学基金改进本科STEM教育计划：教育与人力资源资助。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。该项目处于“参与学生学习”轨道，通过该轨道，该项目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。

This project aims to contribute to the national interest in excellent undergraduate STEM education. It will do so by studying the impacts of teaching undergraduates how to deliberate. Deliberation skills include the ability to have respectful conversations among people with different experiences, to think critically, and to make better decisions by considering multiple perspectives. Many pressing national and global challenges such as pollution and energy consumption interweave complex scientific concepts with ethical and moral issues. As a result, society often struggles to coordinate the actions needed to address such challenges. Decision-making around such complex issues would benefit from a more deliberative mindset to enhance effective collaboration and informed decision-making. However, deliberation training is rare in undergraduate science education. Deliberation training and opportunities to practice deliberation will be integrated in undergraduate chemistry courses. Students will participate in facilitated deliberation exercises that challenge them to find and evaluate approaches to real-world issues. The project will determine whether deliberation training enhances scientific learning, encourages a deliberative mindset, and deepens students’ sense of civic engagement. In addition, the project team will study deliberation training in chemistry courses at two four-year colleges and a community college, as well as the impact of facilitator training. In this way, the project will investigate whether similar student outcomes can be achieved across different institutions with different student demographics. If successful, the project will better prepare graduates to enter the STEM workforce and to become engaged citizens. Importantly, many students from groups underrepresented in STEM enter postsecondary education through community colleges. If deliberation training achieves the desired student outcomes in this setting, the project may contribute to the inclusion of diverse voices and broaden participation in STEM.The project will examine several variables to determine if they are key factors for successful deliberative pedagogy (i.e. training students how to deliberate) in a chemistry curriculum. It will also develop and test multiple methods for assessing these impacts. An environmental contaminants deliberation module will be implemented in a first-year chemistry course taken by chemistry, biochemistry, and biology students. After students become familiar with the background of the issue through assigned readings and class lectures, they will be presented with three options to move forward. Students will then participate in a facilitated deliberation that thoughtfully discusses the benefits of each approach and the tradeoffs that inevitably exist in those actions. They will then propose the best way forward. This exercise engages students in analyzing different viewpoints and acknowledging that every approach, even if not favored by the student, is rooted in values. To reinforce this experience, a genetic engineering deliberation module will be designed and implemented in a third-year biochemistry course. In this experience, students will be encouraged to consider the values that genetic engineering both engenders and compromises, and how it can both benefit and harm members of society. In both the first- and third-year courses, student outcomes related to scientific learning and civic engagement will be assessed. Following any necessary changes, the modules will be implemented at another four-year college and subsequently an urban community college to measure translatability. The Deliberative Pedagogy Modules that will be created during the project will be made publicly available for use by other instructors and institutions. This project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources. The IUSE: EHR program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This project is in the Engaged Student Learning track, through which 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.