Using Science Communication Instruction to Improve Undergraduate Science Literacy Skills

利用科学传播教学提高本科生科学素养技能

• 批准号: 2142208
• 负责人: Angel Kaur
• 金额: $ 29.99万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Asheville
• 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: 2021-12-01 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2142208&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Science; Communication; Instruction; Improve

This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing teaching practices that increase the science literacy of undergraduate students, especially for non-STEM majors. Greater scientific literacy in the general population is critical to the United States successfully navigating global crises such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and worsening climate change. With the increasingly significant role played by science and technology in everyday life, building students’ science literacy skillset is of urgent importance to the nation's continued health, wellbeing, and economic prosperity. This Level 1 Institutional and Community Transformation project will provide 15 STEM faculty at the University of North Carolina Asheville with the knowledge, skills, and support to implement a broadly-oriented science communication assignment designed to promote students’ science literacy skills. Faculty will participate in a multi-part professional development experience and receive ongoing mentoring support to transform their classroom practices. The project will use a novel integration of research-based education practices in order to implement a science communication assignment aimed at a general audience. The project's research and evaluation have potential to contribute new knowledge about effective teaching practices that promote student motivation, engagement, science literacy skills, and science communication skills. An additional outcome is the potential to examine how aspects of the proposed faculty development experience and ongoing mentoring contribute to faculty motivation, engagement, and rate of adoption of high-impact teaching practices in the classroom. If successful, this project may serve as a model to increase students’ science literacy skills in STEM and non-STEM courses alike. It has the potential to generalize to other institutions to enhance science literacy and STEM education nationwide.The proposed work is grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) which posits that meeting learners’ psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness can positively impact their intrinsic motivation and psychological wellness, leading to increased engagement, academic achievement, and long-term retention of skills and knowledge. This theory will be applied to both faculty (through the proposed professional development) and their students (in revised target courses). As such, the first goal of this project is to create, implement, and assess a novel, integrative professional development program designed to (a) increase faculty feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness to facilitate adoption of teaching practices that promote student engagement and learning; and (b) provide faculty with necessary skills, knowledge, and support to implement a broadly-oriented science communication assignment and promote student feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness in order to enhance students’ science literacy skills. The effectiveness of the professional development program will be measured through surveys, teaching observations, and submitted teaching artifacts. The second goal of this project is to assess the impact of the revised course instruction and the science communication assignment on: (a) students’ feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness; and (b) students’ science literacy and communication skills. Multiple measures (including faculty self-reports, student surveys, student projects and artifacts, and classroom observations) will be used to assess the degree to which suggested teaching strategies lead to changes in students’ motivation, engagement, and science literacy. Materials and research findings will be disseminated via publications in pedagogical and scientific journals, and presentations at STEM education and faculty development conferences. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.

该项目旨在通过建立提高本科生科学素养的教学实践来服务于国家利益，特别是对于非STEM专业的学生。提高普通民众的科学素养对于美国成功应对全球危机至关重要，例如正在进行的COVID-19大流行和日益恶化的气候变化。随着科学技术在日常生活中发挥越来越重要的作用，培养学生的科学素养技能对国家的持续健康，福祉和经济繁荣至关重要。这个1级机构和社区转型项目将为北卡罗来纳州阿什维尔大学的15名STEM教师提供知识，技能和支持，以实施旨在促进学生科学素养技能的广泛科学传播任务。教师将参与多部分的专业发展经验，并获得持续的指导支持，以改变他们的课堂实践。该项目将采用一种新颖的研究型教育实践整合，以实施针对普通受众的科学传播任务。该项目的研究和评估有可能为有效的教学实践提供新的知识，促进学生的动机，参与，科学素养技能和科学沟通技能。另一个结果是，有可能研究拟议的教师发展经验和正在进行的指导方面如何有助于教师的动机，参与度和在课堂上采用高影响力的教学实践的速度。如果成功的话，这个项目可以作为一个模型，以提高学生的科学素养技能，在干和非干课程一样。它有可能推广到其他机构，以提高全国的科学素养和STEM教育。拟议的工作以自决理论（SDT）为基础，该理论认为满足学习者对自主性、能力和相关性的心理需求可以积极影响他们的内在动机和心理健康，从而提高参与度、学术成就以及技能和知识的长期保留。这一理论将适用于教师（通过拟议的专业发展）和他们的学生（在修订后的目标课程）。因此，本项目的第一个目标是创建、实施和评估一个新颖的、综合性的专业发展计划，该计划旨在（a）提高教师的能力感、自主性和相关性，以促进采用促进学生参与和学习的教学实践;和（B）为教师提供必要的技能，知识，支持实施广泛的科学交流任务，促进学生的能力，自主性和相关性，以提高学生的科学素养技能。专业发展计划的有效性将通过调查，教学观察和提交的教学工件来衡量。本研究的第二个目的是评估修订后的课程教学和科学沟通作业对以下方面的影响：（a）学生的能力感、自主性和相关性;（B）学生的科学素养和沟通技能。多项措施（包括教师自我报告，学生调查，学生项目和文物，课堂观察）将被用来评估在何种程度上建议的教学策略导致学生的动机，参与和科学素养的变化。材料和研究成果将通过在教学和科学期刊上的出版物以及在STEM教育和教师发展会议上的演讲进行传播。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。 通过机构和社区转型的轨道，该计划支持的努力，以改变和改善高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育.这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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支持.