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

CAREER DBER：内部注意力在本科生物学学习中的作用

• 批准号: 2145551
• 负责人: Ido Davidesco
• 金额: $ 132.58万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145551&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; DBER; Role; Internal; Attention

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.

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。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科学课程的教师身上是非常繁重的。而外部注意，选择和调制的感觉信息（例如，集中于指导者的声音而忽略背景噪声），已经被广泛研究，但是对于内部注意力的功能意义，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心的想法）。一些研究人员和实践者认为，“思考”时期可以促进学生思想的发展，而另一些人则认为，内部产生的想法主要是脱离任务，导致学习效果不佳。康涅狄格大学目前的职业项目将试图通过探索在生物学讲座期间内部集中注意力的机会如何支持或危害学生的学习来调和这些相互竞争的主张。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多久，因此本项目将操纵讲座期间“思考”时间段的频率和持续时间，并检查对学生核心生物学概念的概念理解的影响。鉴于大多数关于学生注意力的先前研究依赖于自我报告，该项目将探索和验证注意力的神经指标，用脑电图（EEG）测量，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，让本科生物学学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。总之，该项目将推动认知科学和基于学科的教育研究的研究，并为利用注意力波动的本科科学教育中的学习体验设计提供信息。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助，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。关于内部注意力以及它如何支持或阻碍学生学习，我们知之甚少。一些基于网络的教育研究者（DBER）和实践者提出，在课堂上为学生提供集中注意力的机会（例如“思考-分享-分享”课堂活动的第一步）可以促进学生的学习，但认知科学对这一主题的研究结果并不确定。一些研究将内部产生的想法与学习不良联系起来，而其他研究则将其与创造力，解决问题和目标设定的增加联系起来。当前项目将试图通过以下方式来调和文献中的这一分歧：（1）调查内部注意力如何生物学讲座中的（“思考”）时段可以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来促进或阻碍学生的学习;（2）利用EEG识别生物学习过程中注意波动的神经特征（更具体地说，将提取不同频带的EEG频谱功率和学生之间的脑-脑同步性，并在内部和外部注意力期间进行比较）;以及（3）开发基于课程的本科生研究体验（CURE），其中生物学学生将使用低成本的便携式EEG技术调查他们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调查学生的注意力，并通过开发和传播创新的CURE，该项目将有助于本科STEM教育，并为未来DBER-认知科学交叉铺平道路，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的知识产权的支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。