Examining the Effects of Training Undergraduate Chemistry Students How to Deliberate

检验培养本科化学学生如何思考的效果

• 批准号: 2012931
• 负责人: Laura Wysocki
• 金额: $ 59.93万
• 依托单位: Wabash College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2012931&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Examining; Effects; Training; Undergraduate; Chemistry

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.

该项目旨在为优秀本科STEM教育的国家利益做出贡献。 它将通过研究教授大学生如何思考的影响来做到这一点。 审议技能包括在具有不同经验的人之间进行尊重对话的能力，批判性思考，以及通过考虑多个角度做出更好的决策。 许多紧迫的国家和全球挑战，如污染和能源消耗，将复杂的科学概念与伦理和道德问题交织在一起。 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审慎的思维方式，以加强有效的协作和知情的决策。 然而，在本科理科教育中，慎思训练却很少见。审议培训和实践审议的机会将被整合在本科化学课程。学生将参加促进审议练习，挑战他们找到和评估现实世界问题的方法。该项目将确定审议培训是否能增强科学学习，鼓励审议心态，并加深学生的公民参与感。此外，项目小组将研究两所四年制大学和一所社区大学化学课程的审议培训，以及促进者培训的影响。 通过这种方式，该项目将调查是否可以在不同的机构与不同的学生人口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劳动力队伍并成为积极参与的公民做好准备。 重要的是，许多来自STEM代表性不足的群体的学生通过社区学院进入中学后教育。如果审议培训在这种情况下达到了预期的学生成果，该项目可能有助于纳入不同的声音，并扩大参与STEM。该项目将研究几个变量，以确定它们是否是成功的审议教学法的关键因素（即训练学生如何审议）在化学课程。 它还将开发和测试评估这些影响的多种方法。一个环境污染物审议模块将在一年级的化学课程，化学，生物化学和生物学的学生。在学生通过指定阅读和课堂讲座熟悉问题的背景后，他们将有三个选择来继续前进。然后，学生将参加一个促进审议，深思熟虑地讨论每种方法的好处和权衡，不可避免地存在于这些行动。 然后，他们将提出最佳的前进方向。这个练习让学生分析不同的观点，并承认每一种方法，即使不受学生的青睐，都植根于价值观。为了加强这方面的经验，将在三年级生物化学课程中设计和实施一个遗传工程审议模块。在这种经验中，学生将被鼓励考虑基因工程产生和妥协的价值观，以及它如何既有利于社会成员，又损害社会成员。在第一年和第三年的课程中，将评估与科学学习和公民参与有关的学生成果。经过必要的修改后，这些模块将在另一所四年制学院和随后的城市社区学院实施，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给其他教员和机构使用。 该项目由NSF改善本科STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源支持。 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。该项目是在学生学习的轨道，通过该计划支持的创建，探索和实施有前途的做法和工具。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。