CAREER DBER: The Role of Internal Attention in Undergraduate Biology Learning

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。注意力是动态的，往往在外部和内部状态之间波动，因此，长时间将注意力集中在本科理科课程的教师身上是非常繁重的。虽然外界注意对感觉信息的选择和调节(例如，关注教师的声音，而忽略背景噪音)已经进行了广泛的研究，但对内部注意的功能意义、内部产生的想法的选择和调节(例如，安静地思考提示，而忽略分心的想法)知之甚少。一些研究人员和实践者提出，“思考”阶段可以促进学生想法的发展，而另一些人则认为，内部产生的想法主要是在任务外产生的，会导致糟糕的学习。康涅狄格大学目前的职业项目将试图调和这些相互矛盾的说法，探索在生物课上内部集中注意力的机会如何支持或危及学生的学习。此外，由于目前尚不清楚学生在内部和外部注意力状态之间切换的频率和持续时间，本项目将操纵课堂中“思考”时段的频率和持续时间，并检查对学生对核心生物学概念的概念理解的影响。以前对学生注意力的研究大多依赖于自我报告，而这个项目将探索和验证通过脑电(EEG)测量的神经注意力指标，这些指标可以连续收集，而不会干扰自然发生的学习活动。最后，该项目将探索一种创新的方法，让本科生作为研究参与者，并调查他们自己的注意力状态和相关的大脑活动。总而言之，该项目将推动认知科学和基于学科的教育研究的研究，并为本科科学教育中利用注意力波动的学习体验的设计提供信息。该项目是由EHR核心研究(ECR)计划资助的职业奖项，该计划支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作，并由SBE的感知、行动、认知(PAC)计划共同资助。人们对内部注意力以及它如何支持或阻碍学生学习知之甚少。一些以学科为基础的教育研究者和实践者提出，在课堂上为学生提供内部集中注意力的机会(例如第一步的思考-配对分享课堂活动)可以促进学生的学习，但认知科学对这一主题的研究结果一直没有定论。一些研究将内部产生的想法与糟糕的学习联系在一起，而另一些研究则将其与提高创造力、解决问题和设定目标联系在一起。目前的项目将试图通过以下方式调和文献中的这种分歧：(1)通过操纵这些时段的频率和持续时间以及向学生提供的指导，调查生物课堂中的内部注意力(“思维”)时段如何促进或阻碍学生的学习；(2)使用脑电识别生物学习期间注意力波动的神经特征(更具体地说，将提取不同频段的学生的脑电频谱功率和脑与脑的同步性，并在内部和外部注意力时段之间进行比较)；以及(3)开发基于课程的本科生研究体验(CURE)，在该体验中，生物学学生将使用低成本、便携式脑电技术调查自己的注意力状态和相关的大脑活动。通过使用生态有效的生物材料和EEG技术调查学生的注意力，并开发和传播一种创新的治疗方法，该项目将有助于本科生的STEM教育，并为未来的DBER-认知科学跨学科研究铺平道路。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Attention is dynamic and tends to fluctuate between external and internal states, and thus focusing attention on an instructor in undergraduate science courses for a long period of time is extremely taxing. While external attention, the selection and modulation of sensory information (e.g., focusing on an instructor’s voice while ignoring background noise), has been studied extensively, very little is known about the functional significance of internal attention, the selection and modulation of internally generated thoughts (e.g., quietly thinking about a prompt while ignoring distracting thoughts). Some researchers and practitioners have suggested that “thinking” periods can promote the development of student ideas, while others argue that internally-generated thoughts are primarily off-task and lead to poor learning. The current CAREER project at the University of Connecticut will attempt to reconcile these competing claims by exploring how opportunities to focus attention internally during a biology lecture can support or jeopardize student learning. Further, since it is currently unknown how often students switch between internal and external states of attention and how long these states last, this project will manipulate the frequency and duration of “thinking” periods during a lecture and examine the impact on students’ conceptual understanding of core biology concepts. Whereas most prior research on student attention relies on self-reports, this project will explore and validate neural indicators of attention, measured with electroencephalography (EEG), which can be collected continuously without interfering with naturally occurring learning activities. Finally, the project will explore an innovative method of engaging undergraduate biology students as study participants as well as investigators of their own attentional states and associated brain activity. Taken together, this project will propel research both in the cognitive sciences and in discipline-based education research and inform the design of learning experiences in undergraduate science education that leverage attention fluctuations. The project is funded as a CAREER award from the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning, with co-funding from the Perception, Action, Cognition (PAC) program in SBE. Little is known about internal attention and how it can support or hinder student learning. Some Discipline-Based Education Researchers (DBER) and practitioners have proposed that providing students with opportunities to focus their attention internally during a lecture (such as the first step in the “think-pair-share” classroom activity) can promote student learning, but the results of cognitive science research on the topic has been inconclusive. Some studies link internally-generated thoughts to poor learning, whereas other studies have linked it to increased creativity, problem solving, and goal setting. The current project will attempt to reconcile this divide in the literature by: (1) investigating how internal attention (“thinking”) periods during a biology lecture can promote or hinder student learning by manipulating the frequency and duration of these periods as well as the guidance provided to students; (2) identifying neural signatures of attention fluctuations during biology learning using EEG (more specifically, EEG spectral power and brain-to-brain synchrony across students at different frequency bands will be extracted and compared between periods of internal and external attention); and (3) developing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) in which biology students will investigate their own attention states and associated brain activity with low-cost, portable EEG technology. By investigating student attention using ecologically-valid biology materials and EEG technology that can be later deployed in classrooms, and by developing and disseminating an innovative CURE, the project will contribute to undergraduate STEM education and pave the way for future DBER-cognitive science cross-disciplinary research.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.