RCN-UBE Incubator: Incorporating Online Biological Data and Data Science into Undergraduate Education in Alaska

RCN-UBE 孵化器：将在线生物数据和数据科学纳入阿拉斯加的本科教育

• 批准号: 2120710
• 负责人: Denise Kind
• 金额: $ 7.48万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-11-01 至 2023-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120710&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; UBE; Incubator; Incorporating; Online

The availability of online biological data has skyrocketed during the past decade, much of it originally funded from public sources, providing a wealth of information on climate, environment, and ecology. These data sets could be a valuable resource for preparing biology students for a future in which quantitative skills and the ability to manipulate, analyze, and interpret data will be increasingly important. However, data repositories are currently underused by undergraduates and educators because accessing and manipulating the data can be challenging for non-specialists. Nowhere is the value of environmental data for biologists and biology students higher than in Alaska, where climate and ecosystems are changing at an unprecedented rate and residents have experienced climate change and its effects on infrastructure and subsistence first-hand. University of Alaska campuses serve a high proportion of rural and Indigenous students; populations that have traditionally experienced equity gaps in undergraduate degree attainment, related in part to limited physical access to the university. Educational tools that facilitate access to online data repositories, placed within a context relevant to rural and Alaska Native students, have the potential to enrich educational outcomes by encouraging inquiry, improving quantitative skills, and encouraging the life-long use of publicly available data as a way to understand the natural world. The goal of this project is to enhance the quantitative skills of undergraduate biology students in Alaska by developing online educational tools focused on the state’s changing environment; a topic relevant to Alaska’s underserved student populations. A network of undergraduate biology instructors, scientists, and data providers will develop educational modules that incorporate online, publicly-available data sources. Modules will include learning objectives, instructions for data access, exercises, and suggested extensions. Centered at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) campus, the network will link university faculty from institutions across Alaska with representatives of the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (LTER), Bonanza Creek (boreal) LTER, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the collaborative collections management program ARCTOS, and other data providers. Working together, network participants will design, create, and distribute online educational materials focused on Alaskan climate, permafrost thaw, forest dynamics, and animal and plant populations in order to assist undergraduate inquiry and learning at levels from non-majors to seniors. This project is funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, as part of 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.

在过去的十年中，在线生物数据的可用性激增，其中大部分最初由公共来源资助，提供了丰富的气候，环境和生态信息。这些数据集可能是一个宝贵的资源，为生物学学生准备的未来，定量技能和操作，分析和解释数据的能力将越来越重要。然而，数据存储库目前未被本科生和教育工作者充分利用，因为访问和操作数据对非专业人士来说可能具有挑战性。对于生物学家和生物学学生来说，环境数据的价值没有比阿拉斯加更高的了，那里的气候和生态系统正在以前所未有的速度变化，居民亲身经历了气候变化及其对基础设施和生计的影响。阿拉斯加大学校园为农村和土著学生提供高比例的服务;传统上经历过本科学位获得公平差距的人口，部分与有限的物理访问大学有关。教育工具，方便访问在线数据存储库，放置在相关的农村和阿拉斯加原住民学生的背景下，有可能丰富教育成果，鼓励查询，提高定量技能，并鼓励终身使用公开可用的数据作为了解自然世界的一种方式。 该项目的目标是通过开发专注于该州不断变化的环境的在线教育工具来提高阿拉斯加本科生物学学生的定量技能;这是一个与阿拉斯加服务不足的学生群体相关的主题。一个由本科生物学教师、科学家和数据提供者组成的网络将开发教育模块，其中包括在线的、公开的数据源。模块将包括学习目标、数据访问说明、练习和建议的扩展。该网络以阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯（UAF）校园为中心，将阿拉斯加各机构的大学教师与北极长期生态研究（LTER）、博南扎溪（北方）LTER、国家生态观测网络（氖）、合作收集管理计划ARCTOS和其他数据提供商的代表联系起来。通过共同努力，网络参与者将设计，创建和分发在线教育材料，重点关注阿拉斯加气候，永久冻土融化，森林动态以及动植物种群，以协助本科生从非专业到高年级的查询和学习。该项目由生物基础设施部生物科学理事会资助，作为应对本科生物学教育中的愿景和变革所带来的挑战的努力的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange/finalreport/）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。