Building Capacity to Develop a Collaborative Research Agenda on Project-Based Learning as a Mechanism for Program and Institutional Transformation

该项目旨在通过建设STEM社区设计和开展严谨的研究研究以调查基于问题的学习（PBL）的能力，为国家利益服务。PBL是一种教育方法和教学实践，学生通过解决复杂的现实问题来学习。PBL在高等教育中的传播速度超过了对这种体验式学习方法的研究。为此，本项目旨在发展和培养STEM社区调查PBL的研究能力。该项目将解决PBL研究中的一个重大空白：大多数关于PBL的研究都集中在课程层面上的影响。相反，该项目将侧重于PBL，将其作为一种转变STEM项目和高等教育机构的机制。这一重点借鉴了项目团队在教师专业发展方面的专业知识和经验，包括在STEM中促进PBL的传播。该项目预计将有助于检验PBL作为一种在项目和机构层面转变本科STEM教育的机制的有效性。认识到有大量和各种各样的研究课题需要调查和假设需要检验，该项目旨在通过使用不同的研究方法，从准实验和分析研究到现象学和多地点案例研究，建立合作机构参与研究的能力。活动将包括参与专业学习社区，通过参与为期一个学期的培训、自动民族志、系统研究综合/元民族志，以及应用发展评估来评估创新和使用（Patton, 2010）。作为记录和调查专业知识发展的一种手段，自我反思和自我民族志是以研究和知识生成的现象学方法为基础的。由Project Kaleidoscope管理的STEM Central将提供一个易于访问的网站，用于共享项目成果，包括PBL文献综述、实施PBL的机构的普查/实地扫描、组织变革理论的mooc和逻辑模型。它还将支持在实施和研究PBL的机构之间建立一个国家实践共同体。合作机构包括伍斯特理工学院、德克萨斯农工大学、贝尔维尤学院和美国高校协会。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。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育转型和改善。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 building the capacity of the STEM community to design and conduct rigorous research studies to investigate Problem-Based Learning (PBL). PBL is an educational approach and instructional practice in which students learn by solving a complex, real world problem. The propagation of PBL in higher education outpaces research on this experiential learning approach. In response, this project aims to develop and foster the research capacity of the STEM community to investigate PBL. The project will address a significant gap in the research on PBL: most research on PBL has focused at its impacts at the course level. This project will instead focus on PBL as a mechanism to transform STEM programs and higher education institutions. This focus draws on the project team’s expertise and experience in faculty professional development, including in fostering the propagation of PBL in STEM. The project is expected to contribute to examination of the efficacy of PBL as a mechanism for transforming undergraduate STEM education at the program and institutional levels.Cognizant that there are a multitude and variety of research topics to investigate and hypotheses to test, this project aims to build the capacity of partner institutions to engage in research through the use of different research methods, from quasi-experimental and analytic studies to phenomenological and multi-site case studies. Activities will include participation in professional learning communities augmented by engagement in semester-long training, auto-ethnography, systematic research syntheses/meta-ethnography, and the application of developmental evaluation for assessing innovation and use (Patton, 2010). Self-reflection and auto-ethnography, as a means to document and investigate the development of expertise, is grounded in a phenomenological approach to research and knowledge generation. STEM Central, administered by Project Kaleidoscope, will provide an easily accessible site for sharing project deliverables including a PBL literature review, a census/field scan of institutions implementing PBL, MOOCs on organizational change theories, and logic models. It will also support development of a national community of practice among institutions implementing and researching PBL. The collaborating institutions include Worcester Poly Technic, Texas A&M University, Bellevue College, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.