Supporting Active Learning in Introductory STEM Courses with Extended Reality

通过扩展现实支持 STEM 入门课程中的主动学习

• 批准号: 2126723
• 负责人: Wei Wu
• 金额: $ 64.51万
• 依托单位: California State University-Fresno Foundation
• 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: 2021-10-15 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126723&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Supporting; Active; Learning; Introductory; STEM

California has the largest STEM workforce in the country and anticipates rapid growth in STEM careers. Despite its size and growth capacity, minority groups, especially Latinx workers, represent less than 15% of the California STEM workforce while making up nearly 40% of the working-age population. This imbalance presents a key opportunity which this project seeks to address. Supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), California State University-Fresno, San Jose State University, Sonoma State University, and Fresno City College are collaborating to provide training for 30 STEM educators to integrate active learning into introductory STEM courses in chemistry, physics, civil engineering, and construction management. In particular, the project team will explore the use of extended reality (XR), which represents three technologies (virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality) that will enable students to engage with course materials in ways that cannot be accomplished in a traditional classroom setting. Building from prior NSF-funded work that resulted in positive outcomes for students using XR in early STEM courses, the project will impact more than 15,000 undergraduates and will establish a community of practice centered on XR-enhanced active learning. The project research plan will generate new knowledge about faculty implementation of XR technology, techniques for implementing XR effectively, and the impact of these approaches on student learning outcomes. The involvement of the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s office will support institutional and community transformation, and the collaboration with Fresno City College. This is part of a more extensive relationship which introduces a new connection between the CSU system and the California Community College (CCC) system, which serves more than 2 million students annually throughout its 116 colleges.The goal of this project is to design, implement, and evaluate XR-supported active learning strategies to narrow achievement gaps and promote systemic transformation at the collaborating institutions to achieve equitable STEM education. Using a mixed-method research design, the project team will investigate three research questions. 1) What are the barriers and pathways for STEM instructors across disciplines when adopting XR in active learning for introductory courses? 2) What factors and strategies influence XR's effectiveness for achieving learning outcomes in introductory STEM courses? and 3) What are the pedagogical impacts of XR on learning and achievement gaps for minority students whose participation in STEM fields of study lags behind their representation in the general population? The project team will collaborate closely with key partners and external advisory board members to pursue four goals. First is to develop a community of practice to support STEM faculty efforts to adopt and sustain XR-enhanced, student-centered active learning. Second is to create an online repository of XR open educational resources. Third is to conduct in-class trials and pilots to compare the effectiveness and pedagogical impacts of different types of XR technologies and active learning experiences. Fourth is to lead faculty professional development to engage a broader education community in developing and disseminating pedagogical uses of XR in STEM. The findings of this project will ultimately advance the understanding of a systemic, inclusive approach that leverages XR technologies for active learning in STEM to meet the diverse needs of a diverse population of students. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.

加州拥有全国最大的 STEM 劳动力，预计 STEM 职业将快速增长。尽管其规模和增长能力很强，少数族裔，尤其是拉丁裔工人，在加州 STEM 劳动力中所占比例不到 15%，但占劳动年龄人口的近 40%。这种不平衡提供了本项目寻求解决的关键机遇。在“改善本科 STEM 教育：西班牙裔服务机构”（HSI 计划）的支持下，加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校、圣何塞州立大学、索诺玛州立大学和弗雷斯诺城市学院正在合作为 30 名 STEM 教育工作者提供培训，将主动学习融入化学、物理、土木工程和建筑管理等入门 STEM 课程中。特别是，项目团队将探索扩展现实 (XR) 的使用，它代表三种技术（虚拟现实、增强现实和混合现实），使学生能够以传统课堂环境中无法完成的方式参与课程材料。该项目以之前 NSF 资助的工作为基础，为学生在早期 STEM 课程中使用 XR 带来了积极成果，该项目将影响超过 15,000 名本科生，并将建立一个以 XR 增强主动学习为中心的实践社区。该项目研究计划将产生关于教师实施 XR 技术、有效实施 XR 的技术以及这些方法对学生学习成果的影响的新知识。加州州立大学 (CSU) 校长办公室的参与将支持机构和社区转型以及与弗雷斯诺城市学院的合作。 这是更广泛关系的一部分，引入了科罗拉多州立大学系统和加州社区学院 (CCC) 系统之间的新联系，该系统每年为 116 所学院的超过 200 万学生提供服务。该项目的目标是设计、实施和评估 XR 支持的主动学习策略，以缩小成绩差距并促进合作机构的系统转型，以实现公平的 STEM 教育。使用混合方法研究设计，项目团队将调查三个研究问题。 1）跨学科STEM教师在入门课程中采用XR主动学习时的障碍和途径是什么？ 2) 哪些因素和策略会影响 XR 在 STEM 入门课程中实现学习成果的有效性？ 3) XR 对少数族裔学生的学习和成绩差距有何影响？这些学生在 STEM 学习领域的参与程度落后于他们在一般人群中的代表性？项目团队将与主要合作伙伴和外部顾问委员会成员密切合作，以实现四个目标。首先是建立一个实践社区，支持 STEM 教师采用和维持 XR 增强型、以学生为中心的主动学习。二是创建XR开放教育资源在线存储库。第三是进行课堂试验和试点，以比较不同类型的 XR 技术和主动学习体验的有效性和教学影响。第四是引导教师专业发展，让更广泛的教育界参与开发和传播 XR 在 STEM 中的教学用途。该项目的研究结果最终将促进人们对系统性、包容性方法的理解，该方法利用 XR 技术进行 STEM 主动学习，以满足不同学生群体的多样化需求。 HSI 计划旨在加强本科 STEM 教育、扩大 STEM 参与并建设 HSI 的能力。鉴于 HSI 的多样化性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型并促进基础研究 (i) 关于学生的参与学习，(ii) 如何有效地实现 STEM 多样化和增加参与，以及 (iii) 提高我们对如何建设 HSI 机构能力的理解。 HSI 计划支持的项目也将从这些方法中汲取灵感，以产生有关如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Barriers and pathways to use extended reality in stem classrooms: perspectives of key stakeholders

在干课堂中使用扩展现实的障碍和途径：主要利益相关者的观点

• DOI: 10.35490/ec3.2023.305
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Computing in Construction
• 作者: Wu, Wei;Luo, Yupeng;Castronovo, Fadi;Liang, Arlo;Gomez, Frank;Kassis, Sara;Wolcott, Abraham
• 通讯作者: Wolcott, Abraham

COMPARING COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN VARIOUS LEARNING MODALITIES

比较各种学习方式中的协作学习

• DOI: 10.35490/ec3.2023.306
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Computing in Construction
• 作者: Suwal, Ashma;Wu, Wei;Luo, Yupeng
• 通讯作者: Luo, Yupeng