Student Noticing of Quantitative Data in Introductory Biology Labs

学生在入门生物学实验室中对定量数据的注意

• 批准号: 2225255
• 负责人: Jeremy Hsu
• 金额: $ 34.9万
• 依托单位: Chapman University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225255&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Student; Noticing; Quantitative; Data; Introductory

Many skills are typically taught in introductory biology lectures and labs and are important for success as a biologist. One of these skills is quantitative reasoning. Quantitative reasoning is the ability to use mathematical concepts in biological contexts, which encompasses processing and interpreting numerical and graphical data. However, many students in introductory biology struggle to apply quantitative reasoning skills taught in math classes and other classes to these biological contexts. The proposed project seeks to understand how students learn and apply quantitative skills in introductory biology labs by using interviews and observations to characterize what students notice and attend to when learning quantitative reasoning, generating new knowledge into how students transfer quantitative skills from other classes to biological contexts. These results will provide insight into how to best support student learning of quantitative reasoning in biology classes. In addition, through attending conferences and workshops and working with the mentor and advisory board, the project will provide the investigator with professional development and support for learning qualitative methods for STEM education research.The seminal Vision & Change report identified quantitative reasoning as one of the core competencies for undergraduate biology students. Despite its importance, there have been very few works examining how students learn quantitative reasoning in biological contexts, with most past work instead assessing specific interventions or measuring student attitudes towards quantitative reasoning. This project will examine how students learn quantitative reasoning by exploring students’ transfer of knowledge from mathematics to biology classes. The project will use the student noticing framework to investigate what students recognize and perceive when creating, analyzing, and interpreting graphical data in introductory biology labs, and explore how such differences in student noticing shape the transfer of knowledge. The project will address the following two research questions: 1) What themes, patterns, and processes are students noticing (i.e., recognizing, recalling, and applying to other contexts) when learning quantitative skills in introductory biology labs? 2) How do differences in this student noticing influence students’ learning of quantitative skills? The proposed project will involve running record observations of students working with the quantitative data they collect in introductory biology labs, allowing for characterization of students’ centers of focus. The project will also involve semi-structured interviews, allowing for more exploration of students’ centers of focus. Validated instruments will be used to measure students’ quantitative reasoning ability and interest, and changes will be tracked to see how differences in centers of focus may influence learning of quantitative reasoning. Think aloud interviews will be held to further determine students’ centers of focus when working with quantitative data. These data will generate valuable insight on what students perceive when creating and analyzing graphical data, leading to more information on how students transfer knowledge into biology. Finally, the project will allow the PI to develop key qualitative skills through targeted mentoring and participation in workshops and conferences. The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education 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.

生物学入门讲座和实验室通常会教授许多技能，这些技能对生物学家的成功至关重要。其中一项技能是定量推理。定量推理是在生物学背景下使用数学概念的能力，包括处理和解释数值和图形数据。然而，许多生物学入门课程的学生很难将数学课和其他课程中教授的定量推理技能应用到这些生物学背景中。拟议的项目旨在通过访谈和观察来描述学生在学习定量推理时注意到和注意到的内容，从而了解学生如何在入门生物学实验室中学习和应用定量技能，从而为学生如何将其他课程的定量技能转移到生物学环境中提供新的知识。这些结果将为如何最好地支持学生在生物课上学习定量推理提供见解。此外，通过参加会议和研讨会以及与导师和顾问委员会合作，该项目将为研究者提供专业发展和支持，以学习STEM教育研究的定性方法。开创性的《愿景与变化》报告将定量推理确定为生物学本科生的核心能力之一。尽管它很重要，但很少有研究研究学生如何在生物学背景下学习定量推理的工作，大多数过去的工作都是评估具体的干预措施或测量学生对定量推理的态度。这个项目将通过探索学生从数学到生物课的知识转移来研究学生如何学习定量推理。该项目将使用学生注意框架来调查学生在创建、分析和解释入门生物学实验室中的图形数据时认识和感知的内容，并探索学生注意的这种差异如何影响知识的转移。该项目将解决以下两个研究问题：1)学生在入门生物学实验室学习定量技能时注意到什么主题、模式和过程（即识别、回忆和应用于其他环境）？2)这种学生注意的差异如何影响学生对定量技能的学习？拟议中的项目将包括对学生在入门生物学实验室收集的定量数据进行记录观察，从而对学生关注的中心进行表征。该项目还将包括半结构化访谈，允许更多地探索学生关注的中心。经过验证的工具将用于测量学生的定量推理能力和兴趣，并将跟踪变化，以了解焦点中心的差异如何影响定量推理的学习。在处理定量数据时，将举行“大声思考”访谈，以进一步确定学生关注的中心。这些数据将对学生在创建和分析图形数据时的感知产生有价值的见解，从而为学生如何将知识转移到生物学中提供更多信息。最后，该项目将允许PI通过有针对性的指导和参加讲习班和会议来发展关键的定性技能。该项目由美国国家科学基金会EHR STEM教育研究核心研究能力建设项目（ECR: BCSER）支持，该项目旨在培养研究人员开展高质量STEM教育研究的能力。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。