Transdisciplinary Convergence in Educational Neuroscience Doctoral Training Program

国家教育系统面临的两个重大挑战是：1)设计和提供帮助所有学生充分发挥其潜力的教育；2)缩小成绩差距，这种差距对参加STEM学习领域的个人相对于他们在普通人口中的代表性不足产生了负面影响。通过对学习和教学的神经生物学机制的研究，教育神经科学(EdNeuro)有望给教育带来革命性的变化。EdNeuro方法超越了一刀切的方法，使学习个性化，从而充分利用个别学习者的优势，同时还解决了他们的学习可以改进的领域。这一NSF研究培训(NRT)奖--“教育神经科学博士(Transcend)培训项目中的跨学科融合”--将实现EdNeuro的潜力。该项目将把认知神经科学、教育学、工程学、计算机科学和数学的跨学科研究培训结合在一起，目前这些培训分散在不同的学位课程中，以改变博士培训。Beyond预计将培养50名博士生，其中包括25名资助的实习生。他们中的许多人将是不同神经的学习者--这是高等教育中的一个群体，他们在STEM研究领域的参与度相对较低，特别是被忽视。TRANSCEND非常重视神经多样性、团队科学以及与社区利益相关者共同创造研究和培训机会，将培养不同的受训人员，他们拥有在21世纪STEM工作队伍中脱颖而出所需的技术和可转移的专业技能。TRANSCEND的统一主题包括(1)EdNeuro的创新：双向学习方法和三阶段实验室到学校循环模式将导致以实践为基础的实验严谨和生态有效的研究，其发现有可能迅速转化为实践。(2)神经多样性：将神经多样性学习者(例如，患有ADHD、阅读障碍或自闭症谱系障碍)作为重点研究人群和受训者的超越中心。Transcend将优先招聘和留住不同神经质的受训人员，利用包括NSF在内的庞大合作伙伴网络。(3)团队科学：Transcend在促进多样性的同时，增加了对团队科学方法的深思熟虑和正式实施，以提高团队的创造力和生产力。(4)社区：该计划将通过实习、接受和提供指导以及合作伙伴、社区利益相关者、学员家庭以及其他机构的教职员工和学生参与计划活动来培养支持和归属感的文化。除了NSF的资助外，对研究生培训和研究的转变将通过计划中的EdNeuro研究生证书来维持。将广泛传播实践和战略，让其他机构效仿超越模式。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革意义的STEM研究生教育培训模式。该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合实习生模式，在高度优先的跨学科或趋同研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。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。

Two significant challenges facing the Nation's educational system are: 1) designing and delivering education that helps all students reach their full potential and 2) closing the achievement gap that negatively impacts individuals who are members of groups underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study relative to their representation in the general population. Through investigations of the neurobiological mechanisms of learning and teaching, Educational Neuroscience (EdNeuro) promises to revolutionize education. The EdNeuro approach transcends the one-size-fits-all approach and personalizes learning, thereby capitalizing on the strengths of individual learners while also addressing areas where their learning can be improved. This NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) award, "TRANSdisciplinary Convergence in Educational Neuroscience Doctoral (TRANSCEND) Training Program," will realize EdNeuro's potential. The project will bring together transdisciplinary research training in Cognitive Neuroscience, Education, Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics, currently siloed within distinct degree programs, to transform doctoral training. TRANSCEND anticipates preparing 50 Ph.D. students, including 25 funded trainees. Many of them will be neurodiverse learners — a group in higher education whose relatively low participation in STEM fields of study is particularly under-recognized. With a strong emphasis on neurodiversity, team science, and co-creation of research and training opportunities with community stakeholders, TRANSCEND will prepare diverse cohorts of trainees with the technical and transferable professional skills needed to excel in the 21st century STEM workforce within and outside of academia.TRANSCEND's unifying themes include (1) Innovation in EdNeuro: A bidirectional learning approach and a three-stage lab-to-school cyclical model will lead to experimentally rigorous and ecologically valid research grounded in practice, with the potential for its discoveries to translate to practice rapidly. (2) Neurodiversity: TRANSCEND centers neurodiverse learners (e.g., with ADHD, dyslexia, or autism spectrum disorder) both as a key investigation population and as trainees. TRANSCEND will prioritize recruitment and retention of neurodiverse trainees, capitalizing on an expansive partner network including NSF INCLUDES partners. (3) Team Science: TRANSCEND adds a deliberate and formal implementation of team science approaches while promoting diversity to enhance team creativity and productivity. (4) Community: The program will cultivate a culture of support and a sense of belonging through internships, receiving and providing mentorship, and participation of partners, community stakeholders, trainees' families, and faculty and students from other institutions in program activities. Transformations to graduate training and research will be sustained beyond NSF funding by a planned graduate certificate in EdNeuro. Practices and strategies will be disseminated widely for other institutions to follow the TRANSCEND model. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.