RCN-UBE: Statistical Thinking in Undergraduate Biology (STUB) Network: A network for coordinating the teaching and assessment of statistical thinking in introductory biology

在过去的二十年里，生物学的实践已经转变，变得越来越依赖于从数据中得出结论的量化方法。因此，对描述性和推断性统计思维的介绍现在是本科生物学课程“生物101”的标准练习--这门课程每年在美国有超过120万名学生参加。尽管生物导论课程的学生人数众多，但在将统计思维融入生物课程的过程中，关于教学和评价的积极讨论却很少。最近，统计教育界为教授统计学时的评估和教学最佳做法制定了指导方针。此外，一个突出的趋势是使用现代的、计算密集的统计方法(模拟、随机测试和自举)，这些方法利用积极的学习教学策略，并有初步证据改善学生的学习。尽管最近发生了这些变化，但讨论和协调生物学学生统计思维教学和评估的最佳做法的场所有限--他们中的许多人可能永远不会参加统计学入门课程，或者将在与他们的生物入门课程非常不同的时间参加这样的课程。为了应对这些挑战，将建立本科生生物统计思维(STUB)网络，由500多名生物学和统计教师组成。该网络将在该奖项的五年期间直接影响100,000多名学生，并在接下来的几年中影响数千人。由于特别关注不同的机构、背景和学习环境(例如，为大量代表不足和服务不足的学生提供服务的机构，包括两年制大学)，该项目有可能对全国本科生物学统计思维教学的内容和重点产生重大变化。作为网络的一部分，参与者将参与研讨会和在线学习社区，致力于讨论和分享想法、资源和技术。讲习班和在线学习社区的一个关键切实成果将是生物学家和统计学家共同开发的用于教授统计思想的免费提供、课堂测试和编辑的模块。存根网络还将协助协调对生物学入门课程中的统计思维和学生态度的评估。该网络将分享评估的最佳做法，审查潜在的评估项目，分享评估结果，以及评估讲习班和在线学习社区在改善教师和学生成绩方面的成效。存根网络将提供一个论坛，就生物学入门课程中的统计学教学进行认真和有影响力的讨论，结果是：(A)开发和广泛传播许多免费提供的教学模块和评估项目，(B)发表同行评议的文章，讨论本科生物学课程中与统计思维有关的教学最佳做法和评估结果，(C)长期改进本科生物学课程中的统计思维教学，以及(D)反映生物学(和其他数量科学)学生的需求和观点的统计学入门课程。该项目由生物科学局(BIO)、生物基础设施司、和教育与人力资源局，本科教育司，作为他们努力应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》(http://visionandchange/finalreport/).)中提出的挑战的一部分该项目还由生物理事会的分子和细胞生物科学部(MCB)和数学和物理科学局(MPS)的数学科学部(DMS)共同资助。

The practice of biology has transitioned over the last two decades to become increasingly reliant on quantitative approaches to drawing conclusions from data. Consequently, an introduction to both descriptive and inferential statistical thinking is now standard practice for the undergraduate biology course "Bio 101" - a course taken by over 1.2 million students in the U.S. annually. Despite the large numbers of students in introductory biology courses, there is a dearth of active discussion about teaching and assessment when integrating statistical thinking into biology courses. Recently, the statistics education community has established guidelines for assessment and instructional best practices when teaching statistics. Furthermore, there is a prominent movement to use modern, computationally-intensive statistical methods (simulation, randomization tests, and bootstrapping) that utilize active learning pedagogical strategies and have preliminary evidence of improving student learning. Despite these recent changes, there are limited venues to discuss and coordinate best practices for the teaching and assessment of statistical thinking for biology students - many of whom may never take an Introductory Statistics course or will take such a course at a very different time than their introductory biology course. To address these challenges, the Statistical Thinking in Undergraduate Biology (STUB) network will be formed, consisting of over 500 biology and statistics instructors. The network will directly impact over 100,000 students during the five-year period of the award, with many thousands impacted in the following years. With particular focus on a diverse set of institutions, backgrounds, and learning environments (e.g., institutions serving large numbers of underrepresented and underserved students, including two-year colleges), the project has the potential for effecting a substantial change in the content and focus of the teaching of statistical thinking in undergraduate biology across the country.As part of the network, participants will engage in workshops and an online learning community dedicated to the discussion and sharing of ideas, resources, and techniques. A key tangible outcome of the workshops and online learning community will be freely available, class-tested, and edited modules co-developed by biologists and statisticians for use in teaching statistical ideas. The STUB network will also serve to assist in coordinating the assessment of statistical thinking and student attitudes in introductory biology courses. The network will share best practices on assessment, vet potential assessment items, and share assessment results, as well as evaluate the efficacy of the workshops and the online learning community in improving instructor and student outcomes. The STUB network will provide a forum for serious and impactful discussions about teaching statistics in introductory biology courses, resulting in (a) the development and wide dissemination of numerous freely available modules and assessment items for teaching, (b) published peer-reviewed articles on teaching best practices and assessment results related to statistical thinking in undergraduate biology courses, (c) a long-lasting improvement in the teaching of statistical thinking in the undergraduate biology curriculum, and (d) introductory statistics courses reflecting the needs and perspective of biology (and other quantitative science) students.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/). This project is also co-funded by the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) in the BIO directorate and the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) in the Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS).