Professional Development for Molecular Life Science Educators to Increase Retention and Success of Undergraduate STEM Students

为教授下一代STEM学生做好准备，与以往一样至关重要。事实上，高等教育STEM企业已经看到学生对科学的兴趣下降，这在很大程度上是由于疫情；这些情况给学生的课堂表现带来了新的挑战。教师必须适应并学习如何应对学生不断变化的学习模式。经过几年的远程工作，教师们渴望建立网络，学习令人兴奋和有效的方法来教他们的学生。他们将有机会在为期三天的面对面会议上做到这一点，由该项目提供资金支持。这个项目的一个重要部分是传授最佳实践，以吸引和保持学生对科学的兴趣。演讲者将分享通过课堂和教学实验室的参与来帮助塑造下一代理科学生的方法。会议上的国家专家将指导和培养有前途的教师领导者如何满足多元化一代的需求。由于这个项目，不同的教师群体将有更多的机会接触专家和工具，帮助学生在STEM领域取得成功并坚持下去。本项目将支持和促进来自边缘群体的教师和博士后研究员以及来自资源不足机构的个人参加由美国生物化学和分子生物学学会组织的变革性教育会议。会议旨在1)培养教育领域的领导者，2)向当前和未来的教师介绍正在进行的美国国家科学基金会资助的项目，以鼓励更广泛的参与，以及3)促进多样性，公平性和包容性（DEI）倡议的有效方法，从而产生积极和有影响力的变化。有必要留住来自生命科学各种背景的学生，虽然包容性教学法领域已经发展出一些最佳做法，但这项工作尚未传播给所有生命科学教育工作者。在这次会议上，教师将听取该领域领导者关于成长心态和特定学科教育研究的意见。其次，为了让教师们在专业上继续成长，他们需要有领导技能，发展他们的网络，会议将有一个关于这个主题的会议。教师们还将从七个nsf资助的高影响力项目中学习，这些项目支持学习和吸引学生。智力价值和总体预期结果是教师参与一个或多个高影响力实践的增加，对他们个人和专业发展的自我反思，以及支持他们整合DEI方法以帮助吸引和留住所有学生。该项目更广泛的影响是有可能在STEM学生和教师支持的背景下推动制度变革。由nsf资助的小组提出的方法将有助于传播他们的工作，并鼓励与新参与者的进一步接触。每位参与者都将有机会利用在会议中学到的技能，成为他们所在部门和机构变革的推动者，带来超越单一课堂的影响。会议将通过前后调查和长期跟踪调查进行评估，询问教师会议的影响。会议的结果已经被批准在同行评议的期刊《生物化学与分子生物学教育》上发表。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。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。

Preparing faculty to teach the next generation of STEM students is as essential as ever. Indeed, the higher education STEM enterprise has seen decreasing student interest in science, due in no small part to the pandemic; and these circumstances have brought new challenges in the classroom related to student performance. Faculty must adapt and learn how to address students' changing learning patterns. After several years of working remotely, faculty are eager to network and learn exciting and effective methods to teach their students. They will have the opportunity to do this at a three day in-person conference, supported with funding from this project. An essential part of this project is to impart best practices to capture and retain student interest in science. Speakers will share approaches to help shape the next generation of science students through engagement in both the classroom and teaching laboratory. National experts at the conference will guide and develop up-and-coming faculty leaders on how to address the needs of a diverse generation. As a result of this project, a diverse group of faculty will have increased access to the experts and tools to help students succeed and persist in STEM.This project will support and promote the participation of faculty and post-doctoral fellows from marginalized groups and individuals from under-resourced institutions to attend a transformative educational conference organized by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The conference seeks to 1) develop leaders in education, 2) introduce current and prospective faculty to ongoing NSF-funded projects to encourage broader participation, and 3) promote effective approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that result in positive and impactful changes. There is a need to retain students from all backgrounds in the life sciences, and while the field of inclusive pedagogy has developed some best practices, the work has not been disseminated to all life science educators. At this meeting, faculty will hear from leaders in the field about growth mindset and discipline-specific education research. Secondly, for faculty to continue to grow professionally, they need to have leadership skills and develop their networks, and the conference will have a session on this topic. Faculty will also learn from seven NSF-funded high-impact projects supporting learning and engaging students. The intellectual merit and the general expected outcomes are an increase in faculty involvement in one or more of the high-impact practices, self-reflection on their personal and professional development, and support of their integration of DEI approaches to help engage and retain all students. The broader impacts of the project are the potential to drive institutional change in the context of STEM student and faculty support. The approaches presented by the NSF-funded groups will help disseminate their work and encourage further engagement with new participants. Each participant will have the opportunity to be an agent of change in their department and institution with the skills learned at the conference, bringing about an impact beyond a single classroom. The meeting will be evaluated with a pre- and post-survey and a long-term follow-up survey asking the faculty about the impact of the meeting. The results of the meeting have already been approved to be disseminated in the peer-reviewed journal, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students.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.