Integrating an Artificial Intelligence-Driven, Culturally Responsible Digital Graphic Novel Curriculum into STEM Introductory Biology Courses

将人工智能驱动、对文化负责的数字图画小说课程融入 STEM 生物学入门课程

• 批准号: 2234281
• 负责人: Shayla Williams
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Albany State 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: 2023-03-01 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234281&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Integrating; Artificial; Intelligence; Driven; Culturally

This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing a novel approach to engage and retain students in STEM. Traditional classroom-focused programs often fail to adequately stimulate interest in STEM and STEM-based research, especially for minority groups underrepresented in their pursuit of STEM fields of study. However, hands-on focused classrooms have been shown to increase minority and female participation in STEM. The use of graphic novels is another hands-on, practical proven technique, as such artifacts are a learning medium that combines both text and visuals to improve student performance. However, the creation of a custom graphic novel can be time-consuming. Thus, this project will focus on using an artificial intelligence/natural language processing (AI/NLP) approach to develop a digital graphic novel curriculum that is personalized to the cultural background and challenge level of the user. The target group of students comprises freshman and sophomores taking a Principles of Biology course because the first two years of college are considered potential “leaks” in the STEM pipeline. The proposed research will develop a prototype of the front-end student experience and workflows for digital interaction with a graphic novel curriculum through an intuitive, web-based interface design. An educational curriculum, content, and engaging humor will be integrated with navigation tools to enable transitions into, within, and between different graphical-comedic lessons. The envisioned web app will be developed, tested, and produced on Amazon Web Services. Platform architecture will be composed of three components: electronic data sourcing, student web interface, and a back-end AI engine. This approach will address a paucity of data on the impact of using an effective learning modality such as graphic novels with a predominately historically disadvantaged population in the STEM fields. The success of this project will create a reproducible method for effectively designing, producing, and integrating a customized, culturally responsive graphic novel using an AI/NLP-driven platform into inquiry-based STEM classes, as well as determining its efficacy and impact on student learning gains and STEM course retention. Project findings may have additional implications for increasing minority STEM participation in upper class biology courses and for disciplines outside of biology. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在通过实施一种新颖的方法来吸引和留住STEM学生，从而为国家利益服务。传统的以课堂为中心的课程往往不能充分激发人们对STEM和基于STEM的研究的兴趣，尤其是对那些在STEM研究领域中代表性不足的少数群体。然而，注重实践的课堂已被证明可以提高少数民族和女性对STEM的参与。使用图画小说是另一种实际可行的技术，因为这种人工制品是一种学习媒介，它结合了文本和视觉效果来提高学生的表现。然而，创建自定义图形小说可能非常耗时。因此，该项目将侧重于使用人工智能/自然语言处理（AI/NLP）方法来开发数字图形小说课程，该课程根据用户的文化背景和挑战水平进行个性化。目标学生群体包括参加生物学原理课程的大一和大二学生，因为大学的前两年被认为是STEM管道的潜在“泄漏”。拟议的研究将通过一个直观的、基于网络的界面设计，为图形小说课程开发一个前端学生体验和数字交互工作流程的原型。教育课程、内容和引人入胜的幽默将与导航工具相结合，以便在不同的图形喜剧课程中进行转换。设想的网络应用程序将在亚马逊网络服务上开发、测试和生产。平台架构将由三个部分组成：电子数据源、学生网络界面和后端人工智能引擎。这种方法将解决关于使用有效的学习方式（如图形小说）对STEM领域中主要历史弱势群体的影响的数据缺乏的问题。该项目的成功将创造一种可重复的方法，有效地设计、制作和集成定制的、文化响应的图形小说，使用人工智能/自然语言处理驱动的平台到基于探究的STEM课程中，并确定其有效性和对学生学习收益和STEM课程保留的影响。项目研究结果可能对增加少数民族参与高等生物课程和生物学以外的学科有额外的影响。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过其参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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。