"STEM Fluency": Expanding the Effectiveness, Relevance, Equity, and Accessibility of Online Learning of Essential STEM Skills

该项目旨在通过提高学生在物理入门课程中掌握关键的STEM技能来服务于国家利益。学生们经常难以掌握物理入门中使用的相对基本的STEM技能，如代数、三角和向量数学，这些技能是STEM专业取得成功所必需的。这个项目旨在通过扩展“STEM流利性”来解决这个问题，“STEM流利性”是一个现有的在线学习应用程序，可以帮助学生更流利地掌握这些关键技能。俄亥俄州立大学的教师已经对20,000多名物理学生使用了STEM流利性，并表明它显著提高了学生基本入门物理技能的准确性和速度。这个项目将迈出下一步。使用教育研究方法，调查人员将扩大“STEM流利性”，以接触到更多大学和社区学院的更多学生，并将创建更多内容，以涵盖物理入门序列的两个学期。这项工作将帮助全国更广泛的学生--包括历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)的学生、社区大学的学生、STEM准备较少的学生和残疾学生--在大学一级成功学习STEM入门物理，这是许多STEM职业生涯的关键门户课程。该项目的总体目标是改善、扩展、评估和记录在线掌握STEM基本技能的有效性，通过“STEM流畅性”平台，针对更不同的背景、人群和内容材料。该项目的目标包括(1)在不同的院校(包括南卡罗来纳州立大学、汉普顿大学、哥伦布州立社区学院和俄亥俄州立大学的几个地区校区)的新学生群体中实施“STEM流利性”；(2)扩大平台的内容，以服务于第二学期的物理课程，并纳入认知心理学和以学科为基础的教育研究的有效实践；(3)提高平台和材料的可访问性；以及(4)收集和分析关于学生表现和动机因素的数据，并使用这些数据反复改进平台和材料。《STEM流利》的扩展和改进版本将包括一套完整的两个学期的基于研究的、高效的掌握基于代数和基于微积分的物理入门的作业。扩展还将包括将“STEM流畅性”纳入共同的学习管理系统，如Canvas和Blackboard。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过其参与的学生学习跟踪，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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving students' mastery of critical STEM skills in introductory physics courses. Students often struggle with relatively basic STEM skills used in introductory physics, such as algebra, trigonometry, and vector math, which are necessary for success in STEM majors. This project aims to address this issue by expanding "STEM Fluency," an existing online learning application that helps students become more fluent with such critical skills. Instructors have already used "STEM Fluency" with over 20,000 physics students at Ohio State University and have shown that it significantly improves students' accuracy and speed in basic introductory physics skills there. This project will take the next step. Using education research methods, the investigators will expand "STEM Fluency" to reach more students at more universities and community colleges and will create more content to cover both semesters of the introductory physics sequence. This work will help a broader range of students across the country -- including students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), students at community colleges, students with less STEM preparation, and students with disabilities -- to be successful in university-level introductory physics, which is a key gateway course for many STEM careers.The overall aim of the project is to improve, expand, assess, and document the effectiveness of online mastery learning of basic STEM skills, via the "STEM Fluency" platform, for more diverse contexts, populations, and content material. The project's goals include (1) implementing "STEM Fluency" with new populations of students in different institutional settings (including South Carolina State University, Hampton University, Columbus State Community College, and several regional campuses of Ohio State University); (2) expanding the platform's content to serve second-semester physics courses and to incorporate effective practices from cognitive psychology and discipline-based education research; (3) improving the accessibility of the platform and the materials; and (4) collecting and analyzing data on students' performance and motivational factors and using that data to iteratively improve the platform and materials. The expanded and improved version of "STEM Fluency" will include a full two-semester set of research-based, highly effective mastery assignments for introductory algebra-based and calculus-based physics. The expansion will also include the possibility of integrating "STEM Fluency" into common learning management systems, such as Canvas and Blackboard. The NSF IUSE: EDU 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.