SBIR Phase I (COVID-19): Developing a comprehensive and customizable science courseware grounded in evidence-based teaching and learning practices

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是推进STEM课程的实践状态。某些技术，被称为循证教学（EBT），可以提高所有STEM学习者的表现，缩小成绩差距，但80%的STEM课堂仍然主要以讲座为基础。该项目将开发一个数字课程设计工具，使教师能够快速创建和实施令人兴奋的STEM课程。它将创建和扩展一个即插即用的高质量评估项目和教学资源库，以一种教师发现授权，易于使用和有价值的方式。在远程学习期间，例如在COVID-19局势造成的社会距离期间，这将是宝贵的。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将支持开发和测试一个系统，以大规模分发EBT课程结构和内容。主动学习和高结构课程产生更好的效果，因此本项目侧重于传播EBT课程和课程结构。研究目标是实现课程设计的自动化，探索用户对系统的需求，并对学生的表现进行实时反馈。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。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to advance the state of practice of STEM courses. Certain techniques, known as evidence-based teaching (EBT), can improve performance for all STEM learners and narrow the achievement gaps, but 80% of STEM classrooms are still primarily lecture-based. This project will develop a digital course design tool enabling an instructor to quickly create and implement an exciting STEM course course. It will create and scale a plug-and-play library of high-quality assessment items and instructional resources in a way that instructors find empowering, easy to use, and valuable. This will be valuable during a period of remote learning, such as that created by the social distancing of the COVID-19 situation. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will support the development and testing of a system to distribute EBT course structure and content at scale. Active learning and high-structure courses produce better outcomes, and therefore this project focuses on dissemination of EBT curricula and course structures. The research objectives are to automate course design, and explore user requirements for the system to scale, and produce real-time feedback on student performance.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.