RCN-UBE Incubator: Undergraduate Learning Environments in Biology

越来越多地使用主动学习教学法，定义为通过让学生参与课堂活动和/或讨论来使学生参与自己的学习，这对一些学生提出了独特的挑战。例如，主动学习可能会给焦虑的学生带来额外的压力。该项目将汇集来自不同领域的专家，以确定主动学习生物课堂中焦虑的来源，设计干预措施以帮助减轻学生的焦虑，并在这一独特背景下促进与学生焦虑相关的新研究。该项目将计划建立一个网络，汇集生物教育研究、精神病学、心理学和学生服务方面的跨学科专家。该网络将利用其成员的综合知识和经验，帮助为焦虑学生创建更具包容性的主动学习生物学课程。具体来说，该网络将利用主动学习教学法确定生物学课程中焦虑的来源，阐明最佳实践，设计大规模、可持续的干预措施，以减轻学生的焦虑，并协调未来的研究。尽管该网络将专注于生物学，但其努力的结果可能适用于STEM内外的其他学科。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学司和教育和人力资源司本科教育司共同资助，作为其应对“本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁”（http://visionandchange/finalreport）所提出的挑战的努力的一部分。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。

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.