"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对关键STEM技能的掌握，为国家利益服务。学生们通常很难掌握在入门物理中使用的相对基本的STEM技能，如代数、三角函数和矢量数学，这些都是在STEM专业取得成功所必需的。该项目旨在通过扩展现有的在线学习应用程序“STEM流利”来解决这一问题，该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（Ohio State University）的教师已经对2万多名物理系学生使用了“STEM流利”课程，结果表明，该课程显著提高了学生在基本物理入门技能方面的准确性和速度。这个项目将进行下一步。利用教育研究方法，研究人员将扩大“STEM流畅性”，让更多大学和社区学院的更多学生参与，并将创建更多内容，以涵盖两个学期的入门物理课程。这项工作将帮助全国范围内更广泛的学生——包括传统黑人学院和大学（HBCUs）的学生、社区学院的学生、STEM准备较少的学生和残疾学生——在大学水平的物理入门课程中取得成功，这是许多STEM职业的关键门户课程。该项目的总体目标是通过“STEM流畅性”平台，针对更多样化的背景、人群和内容材料，改进、扩展、评估和记录STEM基本技能在线掌握学习的有效性。该项目的目标包括：(1)在不同机构环境（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流畅性”；(2)拓展平台内容，服务于第二学期物理课程，并纳入认知心理学和学科教育研究的有效实践；(3)提高平台和材料的可达性；(4)收集和分析学生表现和动机因素的数据，并利用这些数据迭代改进平台和材料。“STEM流畅性”的扩展和改进版本将包括一套完整的两个学期的研究型、高效的掌握作业，用于介绍基于代数和微积分的物理。扩展还将包括将“STEM流畅性”整合到通用学习管理系统（如Canvas和Blackboard）中的可能性。NSF IUSE: EDU项目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。

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.