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大学提供的解剖学和生理学(A&P；)课程中基于证据的教学实践的普及率来服务于国家利益。在全国范围内，近每两名学生中就有一名未能通过或退出在健康科学职业道路上必修的人类A&P课程，这危及我们未来的劳动力。造成这种低成功率的一个原因是，传统的、以讲授为基础的教学方法占据了主导地位，这些方法削弱了学生的积极参与，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STEM中许多社区大学生处于不利地位，这些社区大学生来自STEM中代表性不足的社区，包括女性、有色人种学生和第一代大学生。在STEM教育中，有效地实施循证教学实践，如小组活动和点对点教学，可以提高学生的成功。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表现影响的联合调查员。然后，这些讲师将在他们的学校和专业协会内担任A&P教育的领导者，以更广泛地传播这些做法。该项目建立在之前一个试点项目的基础上，该试点项目旨在提高社区大学的A&P教学质量，并评估干预措施对教职员工和学生的影响。这个项目采用循证的方法来促进学生学习和保留方面的转变。在五年的时间里，由10名社区学院教师组成的四个队列将完成两个专业发展课程，设计并实施一个小规模教育研究项目，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外，教师还将在一个多机构的努力中合作，检验基于证据的教学实践可以通过改善学习和建立社区来缓解焦虑对学生表现和保持的负面影响这一假设。教师对这一项目的贡献将为课堂上日益相关的学生焦虑这一话题奠定基础。最后，研究团队将结合使用经过验证的调查工具、访谈和课堂观察协议来监控教师的看法和实践。评估措施将决定该项目是否能够促进教师过渡到更多以学生为中心的教学实践。会议演示文稿、博客和文章的传播策略将确保我们的发现到达关键的最终用户，这是促进教育变革的第一步。特别是，教师将处于有利地位，以影响其他社区大学教师的实践，无论是在他们的机构内，还是在专业组织内，如人体解剖学和生理学学会和生理学教育工作者实践社区。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.