A Simulation-Based Pedagogical Approach in Chemistry Education

在改进的本科生STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，该项目旨在开发、实施、验证和传播一项研究计划，该计划将支持对化学反应的基本理解及其在使用计算模型解决高级科学问题中的应用。许多院校要求工科学生选修一门化学必修课，然而，这样的课程往往与学生所追求的专业知识和技能不相适应，并不能立即适用于解决高级工程问题。此外，由于化学的抽象性和缺乏以学生为中心的学习策略，学生在学习化学时可能会遇到困难。为了应对这些挑战，STEM(SPACE)项目旨在通过集成先进的工程技术，为学生提供分子和原子水平上抽象和不可观察的现象的动态表示，旨在填补这一研究空白。该项目旨在将循证实践嵌入到入门课程中，以改善学生的长期学习，并创建一个培养他们科学认同感的社区。项目空间的目标是开发和测试一套共同课程活动，以支持对化学反应的基本理解及其在解决高等科学问题中的应用，为工科专业的本科生提供支持。该项目将利用计算建模和模拟技能方面的培训，纳入循证学习策略，并通过基于资产的教学工具进一步培养学生的科学认同感。该项目将招收加州州立大学洛杉矶分校一门必修化学课程的工程本科生，他们将使用各种方法。在两年的时间里，团队将在三个不同的实现中对学习过程进行试点测试和改进。在每一项实施中，学生将在四个主要领域进行评估：化学反应知识、基于情景的科学问题解决技能、对科学的动机和科学认同感。通过这三项实施，将使用一套工具对该项目进行全面评估，以审查其在机构一级对未来适应和推广的承诺。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育，扩大对STEM的参与，并建设HSIS的机构转型能力。考虑到HSIS的不同性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区的变革，并促进基础研究(I)关于参与式学生学习，(Ii)关于如何有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)提高我们对如何在HSI建设机构能力的理解。这一奖项反映了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。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project aims to develop, implement, validate, and disseminate a program of study that will support the fundamental understanding of chemical reactions and their application in solving advanced science problems by using computational modeling. Many institutions require engineering students to take a prerequisite chemistry course, however, such a course is often not aligned with knowledge and skills that students seek for their majors and is not immediately applicable to solving advanced engineering problems. Additionally, students may experience difficulties in learning chemistry due to its abstract nature and a lack of student-centered learning strategies. To address these challenges the Simulation-Based Pedagogical Approach in Chemistry Education for All Students to Succeed in STEM (SPACE) project aims to fill a gap in the research by integrating advanced engineering techniques to give students dynamic representation of abstract and unobservable phenomena at molecular and atomic levels using real-time simulations. This project intends to embed evidence-based practices in entry level courses to improve long-term student learning and create a community that will cultivate their science identity.The goals of Project SPACE are to develop and test a co-curricular set of activities that will support the fundamental understanding of chemical reactions and their application in solving advanced science problems for undergraduate students in engineering majors. The project will use training in computational modeling and simulation skills, incorporate evidence-based learning strategies, and further develop students’ science identity through an asset-based pedagogical tool. The project will recruit engineering undergraduate students who are enrolled in a prerequisite chemistry course at California State University, Los Angeles using a variety of methods. Over the course of two years in three distinct implementations the team will pilot-test and refine the course of study. In each implementation, students will be assessed before, during, immediately after, and one semester later in four main areas: chemical reaction knowledge, context-based science problem-solving skills, motivation toward science, and science identity. Through the three implementations, the project will be comprehensively evaluated using a set of instruments to examine its promises for future adaptation and replication at an institutional level. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity for institutional transformation at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs are supported by this program.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.