A Collaborative, Team Science Approach to Transforming STEM Education into an Immersive Research Experience

该项目旨在通过在化学、生物学、食品科学和动物科学四门实验课程中实施循证教学实践，为国家利益服务。国家报告支持用基于探究的研究经验取代标准的实验课程，让学生从事真正的科学工作。众所周知，这样的机会可以提高学生在STEM领域的保留率。例如，本科生早期参与基于课程的本科研究经验（CUREs）的机会的价值得到了广泛认可。该项目将支持在四个学科的入门课程中开发和实施特定的CURE模块。六名教师将创建跨学科的CURE模块，让学生参与真实的研究经验，并帮助他们培养处理大型数据集所需的定量技能。学生们将进行一个主要的研究项目，并在导师和实验室之间进行短期模块轮换，从而加深他们在更广泛的跨学科CURE项目中的经验。通过CUREs将不同学科的课程联系起来的创新设计有可能帮助学生培养更广泛的科学研究视角。该项目将开发、整合和测试CURE模块，包括跨学科合作和独特的基于植物栽培的实地研究，从植物中纯化分子，以及在实验室研究中检查分子的作用。这些CUREs将为200多名不同的学生提供服务，有可能对他们在STEM领域的成功和保留产生重大的积极影响。教师将开展教育研究，调查cure对学生参与者的影响，参加cure强化课程的学生与参加传统实验室对照课程的学生的结果，以及对学生结果影响最大的体验要素。将使用四个研究问题来衡量CURE对学生在STEM中的学业成绩和持久性的有效性：1)参与跨学科CURE在多大程度上影响STEM的学业成绩和保留率？2)与传统课程的学生相比，参加CURE课程的学生在科学素养和科学推理能力方面有更大的提高吗？3)参与跨学科的CURE会在多大程度上影响学生的科学认同、科学动机和态度，以及对科学界价值观的理解？4)学生对实验课程设计的看法与他们的整体表现有何关系？这些问题的答案将有助于形成关于本科教育中研究经验价值的知识体系，特别是关于涉及跨越学科界限的研究项目的CURE模型。该项目旨在提高学生的学业成绩和毕业率，并作为跨学科主动学习和课程研究方法的典范。NSF 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。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划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 serve the national interest by implementing evidence-based teaching practices across four laboratory courses: chemistry, biology, food science, and animal science. National reports have endorsed replacing standard laboratory courses with inquiry-based research experiences that engage students in doing authentic scientific work. Such opportunities are known to improve student retention in STEM. For example, the value of early opportunities for undergraduates to engage in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is widely recognized. This project will support development and implementation of specific CURE modules in introductory courses across the four disciplines. Six faculty members will create interdisciplinary CURE modules that will involve students in authentic research experiences and help them develop quantitative skills needed to work with large data sets. Students will pursue a primary research project and rotate between instructors and labs for short modules, thus deepening their experiences within the broader interdisciplinary CURE project. The innovative design of linking courses from different disciplines through CUREs has the potential to help students develop broader scientific perspectives about research. This project will develop, integrate, and test CURE modules that include interdisciplinary collaborations and unique field-based research on plant cultivation, purification of molecules from the plants, and examination of the molecules’ effects in laboratory studies. These CUREs will serve more than 200 diverse students, with the potential to have significant positive impact on their success and retention in STEM. The instructors will conduct educational research to investigate the impact of the CUREs on student participants, outcomes of students in CURE-enriched courses versus those in the control sections with traditional labs, and the elements of the experience that had the most impact on student outcomes. Four research questions will be used to measure the effectiveness of CUREs on student academic outcomes and persistence in STEM: 1) To what extent does participation in an interdisciplinary CURE affect academic achievement and retention in STEM? 2) Do students who participate in a CURE have greater improvements in scientific literacy and scientific reasoning skills compared to students in traditional courses? 3) To what extent does participation in an interdisciplinary CURE affect students’ science identity, science motivation and attitudes, and understanding of scientific community values? and 4) How do students’ perceptions of laboratory course design relate to their overall performance? Answers to these questions will contribute to the body of knowledge about the value of research experiences in undergraduate education, and specifically about a CURE model that involves a research project that spans disciplinary boundaries. The project intends to increase the students’ academic success and graduation rates and serve as a model for interdisciplinary approaches to active learning and course-based research. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. 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.