Refinement and Expansion of the Community College Anatomy and Physiology Education Research (CAPER) Program

该项目旨在通过增加社区学院提供的解剖学和生理学（AP）课程中基于证据的教学实践的普及来服务于国家利益。在全国范围内，近二分之一的学生在通往健康科学职业的道路上失败或退出所需的人类AP课程，危及我们未来的劳动力。导致这种低成功率的原因是传统的基于讲座的教学方法占主导地位，这种方法破坏了学生的积极参与，无法实现深度学习。值得注意的是，这些方法可能会使课堂不平等永久化，使许多来自STEM代表性不足社区的社区大学生处于不利地位，包括女性，有色人种学生和第一代大学生。有效实施基于证据的教学实践，如小组工作和点对点教学，可以提高学生在STEM教育中的成功率。社区学院的教师将接受教学实践和教育研究方面的培训，并在短时间内成为研究对学生成绩影响的共同研究者。然后，这些教师将在他们的学校和专业协会中担任AP教育的领导者，以更广泛地传播这些实践。 该项目建立在以前的试点项目，旨在提高社区学院的AP教学质量，并评估干预措施对教师和学生的影响。该项目采取了以证据为基础的方法，以促进学生学习和保留的转变。在五年的时间里，四批10名社区大学教师将完成两个专业发展课程，设计和实施一个小规模的教育研究项目，调查以学生为中心的教学策略对学生成功的影响。除了他们的个人项目，教师将在一个多机构的努力检查的假设，基于证据的教学实践可以减轻焦虑对学生的表现和保留通过改善学习和建设社区的负面影响合作。教师对该项目的贡献将成为课堂上学生焦虑这一日益相关的话题的基础。最后，研究小组将使用经过验证的调查工具，访谈和课堂观察协议的组合来监测教师的看法和做法。评估措施将确定该项目是否能够促进教师过渡到更多的以学生为中心的教学实践。会议演讲，博客和文章的传播策略将确保我们的研究结果达到关键的最终用户，促进教育变革的第一步。特别是，教师将处于有利地位，以影响其他社区学院教师的做法，无论是在他们的机构和专业组织，如人体解剖学和生理学学会和生理学教育工作者的实践社区。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。该奖项反映了NSF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 increasing the prevalence of evidence-based instructional practices in Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) courses offered at community colleges. Across the country, nearly one in two students fail or withdraw from the required Human A&P course on the path to careers in health sciences, jeopardizing our future workforce. Contributing to this low success rate is the predominance of traditional, lecture-based teaching approaches that undermine active student participation and fail to result in deep learning. Notably, these approaches may perpetuate classroom inequities that disadvantage the many community college students from underrepresented communities in STEM including women, students of color, and first-generation college students. Effective implementation of evidence based instructional practices such as group work and peer-to-peer teaching can improve student success in STEM education. Community college instructors will receive training in both teaching practices and educational research, and within a short time period will become co-investigators in studies examining the impact on student performance. These instructors will then act as leaders in A&P education within their schools and their professional societies, to spread these practices more broadly. The project builds on a previous pilot project that aimed to improve the quality of A&P instruction in community colleges and assess the impact of the interventions on both faculty and students. This project takes an evidence-based approach to fostering transformation in student learning and retention. Over a period of five years, four cohorts of 10 community college instructors will complete two professional development courses, design and implement a small-scale educational research project investigating the impact of a student-centered teaching strategy on student success. In addition to their individual projects, instructors will collaborate in a multi-institutional effort examining the hypothesis that evidence based instructional practices could alleviate the negative impacts of anxiety on student performance and retention by improving learning and building community. The instructors' contributions to this project will be foundational to the increasingly relevant topic of student anxiety in the classroom. Finally, the research team will monitor instructor perceptions and practices using a combination of validated survey instruments, interviews, and classroom observation protocols. The evaluation measures will determine if the project is able to promote instructor transition to more student-centered instructional practices. A dissemination strategy of conference presentations, blogs, and articles will ensure that our findings reach key end users, the first step in promoting educational change. In particular, the instructors will be well-situated to influence the practices of other community college instructors, both within their institutions and within professional organizations such as the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society and the Physiology Educators Communities of Practice. 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.