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

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。注意力是动态的，倾向于在外部和内部状态之间波动，因此，在本科科学课程中，长时间集中注意力在讲师身上是非常费力的。外部注意，即感觉信息的选择和调节（例如，专注于教师的声音而忽略背景噪音），已经得到了广泛的研究，而内部注意，即内部产生的思想的选择和调节（例如，安静地思考提示而忽略分散注意力的思想）的功能意义却知之甚少。一些研究人员和实践者认为，“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偏离任务的，会导致学习效果不佳。康涅狄格大学（University of Connecticut）目前的职业项目（CAREER project）将试图调和这些相互矛盾的说法，探索在生物学课堂上集中注意力的机会是如何支持或危害学生的学习的。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以及这些状态持续的时间，本项目将在讲座中操纵“思考”阶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性理解的影响。鉴于之前大多数关于学生注意力的研究都依赖于自我报告，本项目将探索和验证用脑电图（EEG）测量的注意力神经指标，这些指标可以在不干扰自然发生的学习活动的情况下连续收集。最后，该项目将探索一种创新的方法，让生物学本科生作为研究参与者，以及他们自己的注意力状态和相关大脑活动的调查者。综上所述，该项目将推动认知科学和基于学科的教育研究的研究，并为利用注意力波动的本科科学教育学习体验的设计提供信息。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）项目的CAREER奖资助，该项目支持推进STEM学习基础研究文献的工作，并由SBE的感知、行动、认知（PAC）项目共同资助。人们对内部注意力以及它如何支持或阻碍学生的学习知之甚少。一些学科基础教育研究者（DBER）和实践者提出，在课堂上为学生提供集中注意力的机会（如“思考-配对-分享”课堂活动的第一步）可以促进学生的学习，但关于这一主题的认知科学研究结果尚无定论。一些研究将内心产生的想法与学习不良联系起来，而另一些研究则将其与创造力、解决问题能力和目标设定能力的增强联系起来。当前的项目将试图调和文献中的这种分歧：(1)调查生物学讲座中的内部注意力（“思考”）阶段如何通过操纵这些阶段的频率和持续时间以及提供给学生的指导来促进或阻碍学生的学习；(2)利用脑电图识别生物学习过程中注意波动的神经特征（更具体地说，提取不同频带学生的脑电图频谱功率和脑对脑同步，并比较内外注意时期）；(3)开发基于课程的本科研究体验（CURE），让生物学专业的学生利用低成本、便携式脑电图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脑电图技术来调查学生的注意力，这些材料和脑电图技术可以在课堂上使用，并通过开发和传播创新的CURE，该项目将为本科STEM教育做出贡献，并为未来的dber认知科学跨学科研究铺平道路。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，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.