Team Experiences and Mentoring Strategies for Undergraduate Research

该项目旨在为国家利益服务，教育一支能够在多样化的协作团队中有效工作的STEM劳动力。 这种类型的工作通常被称为“团队科学”，这种方法利用来自不同领域的个人的技能来解决一个复杂的问题，例如传染病的传播建模。 该项目将研究在多学科课程为基础的本科生研究经验（CURES）嵌入团队科学培训的影响。在该项目的过程中，调查将包括约6000名本科生跨多个STEM学科。 众所周知，CURE是一种高影响力的STEM教学实践，但人们对CURE如何帮助学生发展团队科学能力的理解有限。 该项目将调查导师制和团队科学培训在生物学，化学，工程学和地质科学多学科CURE中的影响。 在这些课程中，学生将接受研究和团队科学方面的培训。 他们将运用他们的团队科学能力和研究技能来合作解决研究问题。 该项目旨在实现两个关键成果。 首先，它预计将推进有效的做法和团队科学培训整合到CURE的影响的基础知识。 其次，它预计将为学生的职业生涯做好准备，作为STEM专业人士，他们可以跨学科合作，解决具有挑战性的国家和全球问题。由于东卡罗莱纳35%的本科生是低收入和/或第一代大学生，预计该项目将有助于扩大STEM职业的参与。该项目旨在开发经验证据，说明在本科生研究经验中嵌入团队科学培训如何影响知识，技能，和态度作为可移植的团队科学能力，以及哪些因素有助于跨学科的本科团队科学培训的成功，包容性和可扩展性。 旨在实现这一目标的项目活动包括努力：1）增加现有的基于课程的STEM研究机会的数量; 2）培训导师如何建立科学团队以及如何在整个机构中培养学习者社区; 3）提供研究经验，以建立本科生对STEM学科和团队协调战略的知识; 4）提高团队成员之间的沟通技巧和富有成效的自信心;和5）增加对研究的学科和跨学科贡献的理解。 该项目建立在项目团队过去在生物学，化学和物理学以及生物学和化学中的CURE开发和实施论证驱动的探究方面的工作基础上。 该项目将扩大这些努力，包括地质科学和工程，从而开发了一系列跨越大学许多STEM学生和教师兴趣领域的CURE。 该项目的评估将采用多维度的混合方法，包括机构和课程数据，学生和团队行为的观察，有形研究产品的评估，调查收集，以及与学生和教师参与者的访谈。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest in educating a STEM workforce that can work effectively in diverse, collaborative teams. This type of work is often called “team science,” an approach that engages the skills of individuals from different fields to tackle a complex problem, such a modeling the spread of infectious disease. The project will study the impact of embedding team science training in multidisciplinary course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Over the course of the project, the investigation will include approximately ~6000 undergraduate students across multiple STEM disciplines. CUREs are known to be a high-impact STEM teaching practice, but there is limited understanding about how CURES might help students develop team science competencies. This project will investigate the impact of mentorship and team science training in multidisciplinary CUREs across biology, chemistry, engineering, and geological sciences. In these CUREs, students will receive training in both research and in team science. They will apply both their team science competencies and research skills to collaboratively solve research problems. The project is designed to achieve two key outcomes. First, it is expected to advance foundational knowledge about effective practices for and the impacts of integrating team science training into CUREs. Second, it is expected to prepare students for careers as STEM professionals who can work collaboratively across disciplines to solve challenging national and global problems. Because 35% of the undergraduates at Eastern Carolina are low-income and/or first-generation college students, it is expected that this project will help to broaden participation in STEM careers.This project aims to develop empirical evidence about how embedding team science training in undergraduate research experiences affects the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes as transportable team science competencies and what factors contribute to successful, inclusive, and scalable implementation of undergraduate team science training across disciplines. Project activities designed to achieve this goal include efforts to: 1) increase the number of available course-based STEM research opportunities; 2) train mentors about how to build science teams and how to foster a community of learners across the institution; 3) provide research experiences that will build undergraduate students’ knowledge of both STEM subjects and team coordination strategies; 4) improve communication skills and productive assertiveness among team members; and 5) increase understanding of disciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions to research. The project builds on past work by the project team in developing and implementing Argument-Driven Inquiry in biology, chemistry, and physics, as well as CUREs in biology and chemistry. The project will extend these efforts to include geological sciences and engineering, thus developing a collection of CUREs that span the interest areas of many STEM students and faculty at the University. Evaluation of the project will use a multidimensional, mixed-methods approach that includes institutional and course data, observation of student and team behaviors, assessment of tangible research products, collection of surveys, and interviews with student and faculty participants. 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.