RCN-UBE Incubator: Undergraduate Learning Environments in Biology

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The increased use of active-learning pedagogies, defined as ones that engage students in their own learning by having them participate in activities and/or discussions in class, presents unique challenges for some students. For example, active learning may cause additional stress for students with anxiety. This project will bring together experts from different fields to identify sources of anxiety in active-learning biology classrooms, design interventions to help lessen student anxiety, and to spur new research related to student anxiety in this unique context. This project will plan to establish a network that will bring together interdisciplinary experts in biology education research, psychiatry, psychology, and student services. The network will use the combined knowledge and experience of its members to help create more inclusive active learning biology classes for students with anxiety. Specifically, the network will identify sources of anxiety in biology courses using active-learning pedagogies, articulate best practices and design large-scale, sustainable interventions to lessen student anxiety, and coordinate future research. Although the network will focus on biology, the results of its efforts will likely be applicable in other disciplines, both in and outside of STEM. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action" (http://visionandchange/finalreport).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.