Transforming the Classroom into an Active Learning Environment to Improve Comprehension, Retention, and Graduation Rates

该项目旨在通过显著提高学生保留率来服务于国家利益，从远低于全国平均水平的39%提高到接近全国平均水平（59%）的Prairie View A&amp；M大学工程学院。所采用的方法是从传统的课堂教学模式过渡到一种创新的方法，称为形成性评估的以学生为中心的教学和主动学习（FASCIAL）方法。FASCIAL方法侧重于以学生为中心的教学，通过让学生参与个人和小组活动来测试学生对重要概念的理解，使学习更具互动性。经常寻求关于学生知识和困难的反馈，然后以一种增强学习的方式修改教学。计划改造共15门课程，影响1900名学生。期望FASCIAL方法的使用将提高学生对Prairie View a&m大学概念的理解，并提高留校率和毕业率。Prairie View a&m大学是一所历史悠久的黑人赠地机构。该项目将对以下方面做出重大贡献：(i)通过培训新的FASCIAL战略中的研究生和本科生助理，培养有能力的未来STEM教师；（ii）通过加速毕业减轻学生贷款负担；（iii）降低学生流失率，从而提高保留率和毕业率，以帮助满足未来技术劳动力的迫切劳动力需求。该项目将包括培训一个由九名教师组成的基于学科的教育研究（DBER）实践团队。教师将从化学、土木、计算机、电气和机械工程以及教育学院中抽取。15门工程本科课程将以创新的教学方式进行重组，利用基于dber的主动学习来提高学生的概念理解。六种不同的主动学习活动，包括思考-配对-分享-协作学习和过程导向的指导性探究学习，将被纳入教学材料。将通过严格的数据收集和分析来调查新的教学方法的有效性，此外，将传播调查结果，以便在机构内外更广泛地采用。提出了适当的假设来指导调查，并计划对学生、课程级别的教师和学生学习助理进行全面调查，以评估这些假设。为了帮助教师从传统的讲课方式过渡到FASCIAL方法，将有知名专家进行系统的培训，从而提高教师设计有效学习任务的能力，这些任务对提高学生的学习，保留率和毕业率至关重要。此外，为了促进以学生为中心的教学和主动学习，教室空间的重新设计和重新安排将按照著名的以学生为中心的主动学习环境与倒立教学法（SCALE-UP）方法进行。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 significantly increasing student retention rate from 39%, well below the national average, to about the national average (59%) at the College of Engineering at Prairie View A&M University. The approach to be employed is the transitioning of instruction from traditional lecture mode to an innovative approach called the Formatively Assessed Student Centered Instruction and Active Learning (FASCIAL) approach. The FASCIAL approach is focused on greater student-centered instruction in which learning is made more interactive by engaging students in individual and small group activities which test students’ understanding of important concepts. Frequent feedback is sought with regard to student knowledge and difficulties, teaching is then modified in a way that enhances learning. Transformation of a total of fifteen courses impacting 1900 students is planned. The expectation is that the use of the FASCIAL approach will result in improved student conceptual understanding as well as enhanced retention and graduation rates at Prairie View A&M University, a public, historically black land grant institution. The project will contribute significantly to the (i) production of competent future STEM faculty through training of graduate and undergraduate student assistants in the new FASCIAL strategy, (ii) lessening of student loan burdens through accelerated graduation, and (iii) reduction in student attrition rate, hence increased retention and graduation rates to help meet the urgent labor demand for the future technological workforce. The project will involve the training of a team of nine faculty members in Discipline Based Educational Research (DBER) practices. Faculty will be drawn from Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering as well as the College of Education. Fifteen engineering undergraduate courses are to be re-structured for an innovative instructional delivery approach which uses DBER-based active learning to improve students’ conceptual understanding. Six different active learning activities including, Think-Pair-Share collaborative learning and process oriented guided inquiry learning, are to be incorporated in the instructional materials. The effectiveness of the new instructional approach will be investigated through rigorous data collection and analysis, furthermore, findings will be disseminated for broader adoption within the institution and beyond. Appropriate hypotheses are posited to guide the investigations, and there are plans to develop comprehensive surveys for students, program level instructors and student learning assistants to assess the hypotheses. To help faculty transition from traditional lectures to the FASCIAL approach, there will be systematic training by renowned experts, thereby improving instructors’ ability to design effective learning tasks that are critical to enhanced student learning, retention and graduation rates. Additionally, to facilitate student-centered instruction and active learning, the redesign and re-arrangement of classroom spaces will be carried out as per the well known Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP) approach. 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.