RCN-UBE: The River Field Studies Network: Connecting rivers, people, & science through immersive field-based education

河流发挥着广泛的功能，对人类社会和河流流经的景观都是必不可少的。人与河流的关系经常受到损害，这对河流和人都构成了威胁。恢复这些关系将需要一支多元化的跨学科问题解决者队伍。实地考察对于创建这支队伍至关重要，因为它们通过在真实世界环境中身临其境的主动学习，将学生与学习目标、同行、教师和社会联系起来。它们有助于克服成就差距，促进包容性，促进职业兴趣，并培养见多识广、积极参与的公民。然而，要实现这些好处，现场指导员必须克服一系列独特的、日益增长的挑战。除了对STEM学科的了解外，实地研究讲师还需要精通专门的教学方法和评估、筹资、谈判机构官僚机构、多样性、公平和包容性问题以及风险管理的多个层面。掌握这些比许多自学成才的教员自己能够管理的要多。没有支持和指导的网络，讲师将精疲力竭，厌恶风险的机构将退缩，实地考察将继续下降。河流田野研究网络是对河流危机和田野研究的回应。在这个脆弱的时刻，我们必须恢复和扩大通过积极学习使学生和河流接触的能力。河流实地研究网络旨在推进STEM教育，通过身临其境的实地教育将河流、人和科学连接起来，支持健康的河流。为实现这一目标，该网络将建立一个双轨的专业发展结构，包括一个辅导和课程交流网络，以及一个更密集的实地证书方案；为教师开发一个开放源码课程和其他内容的网上图书馆，其特色是设计创新的模块，以促进跨机构和区域的学生合作；有目的地进行招聘，以克服各类多样性的障碍，并对参与者进行促进包容性的教学方法的培训；通过亲自指导和专家辅导视频，解决实地教育中对知情风险管理的迫切需求；通过建立主要的面向公众的河流实地研究网站和创建促进学生交流的结构来接触更广泛的社区；并纳入各级评估，以评估和不断改进我们的规划。这些是在基于河流的教育中形成可持续实践社区所需的基本要素，该社区共享专业知识，传授专业技能，并培养下一代领导人，最终缩小目前威胁该领域未来的机构能力差距。该项目由生物基础设施部生物科学局资助，作为他们应对本科生物学教育愿景与变革：行动呼吁(http://visionandchange/finalreport/).This奖反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，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)中提出的挑战的一部分。

Rivers perform a broad set of functions essential to human societies and the landscapes rivers flow through. The relationship between humans and rivers are often impaired, which threatens both rivers and people. Restoring these relationships will require a diverse workforce of interdisciplinary problem solvers. Field studies are essential to creating this workforce because they connect students to learning objectives, peers, instructors, and society through immersive active learning in real world environments. They help overcome achievement gaps, propel inclusion, catalyze career interest, and create informed and engaged citizens. However, to achieve these benefits, field instructors must overcome a unique and growing set of challenges. In addition to knowledge of their STEM discipline, field studies instructors require a sophisticated grasp of specialized pedagogy and assessment, fundraising, negotiating institutional bureaucracy, issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and multiple dimensions of risk management. Mastering these is more than many self-taught instructors will be able to manage on their own. Without a network for support and guidance, instructors will burn out, risk-averse institutions will shy away, and field studies will continue to decline. The River Field Studies Network is a response to the paired crises of rivers and field studies. At this moment of critical vulnerability, we must restore and expand the capacity to bring students and rivers into contact through active learning. The River Field Studies Network aims to advance STEM education and support healthy rivers by connecting rivers, people, and science through immersive field education. To accomplish this, the network will, create a dual-track professional-development structure, including a network for mentorship and curricular exchange as well as a more intensive field-based certificate program; develop an online library of open-source lessons and other content for instructors, featuring innovative modules designed to enable student collaboration across institutions and regions; recruit intentionally to overcome barriers to diversity of all kinds, and train participants in pedagogical methods that foster inclusivity; tackle the pressing need for informed risk management in field-based education through in-person instruction and expert tutorial videos; reach out to a wider community by building the premier public-facing website for river field studies and creating structures to facilitate student exchange; and incorporate assessment at every level to evaluate and continually refine our programming. These are the essential elements needed to form a sustainable community of practice in river-based education that shares expertise, imparts specialized skills, and cultivates the next generations of leaders, ultimately closing the gaps in institutional capacity that currently threaten the future of the field.This project is funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, 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.