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

准备教师教STEM学生的下一代是一如既往的重要。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大流行病;这些情况在课堂上带来了与学生表现有关的新挑战。教师必须适应并学会如何应对学生不断变化的学习模式。经过几年的远程工作，教师渴望网络和学习令人兴奋的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这样做，并得到该项目的资助。该项目的一个重要组成部分是传授最佳实践，以捕捉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科学学生的方法。参加会议的国家专家将指导和培养崭露头角的教师领导人，以满足多样化一代的需求。作为该项目的结果，一个多元化的教师群体将有更多的机会接触到专家和工具，以帮助学生成功和坚持STEM。该项目将支持和促进教师和博士后研究员从边缘化群体和个人从资源不足的机构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）培养教育领导者，2）将当前和未来的教师介绍给正在进行的NSF资助的项目，以鼓励更广泛的参与，3）促进有效的方法来实现多样性，公平和包容性（DEI）倡议，从而产生积极和有影响力的变化。有必要留住生命科学领域各种背景的学生，虽然包容性教学法领域已经形成了一些最佳做法，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，教师将听取该领域的领导者关于成长心态和特定学科的教育研究。其次，教师要继续专业成长，他们需要有领导技能和发展自己的网络，会议将有一个关于这个主题的会议。教师还将学习七个NSF资助的高影响力项目，支持学习和吸引学生。智力价值和一般预期成果是教师参与一个或多个高影响力的实践，对他们的个人和专业发展的自我反思，并支持他们整合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在STEM学生和教师支持的背景下推动机构变革的潜力。由国家科学基金资助的团体提出的方法将有助于传播他们的工作，并鼓励与新的参与者进一步接触。每个参与者将有机会成为他们部门和机构的变革代理人，并在会议上学到的技能，带来超越单一教室的影响。会议将进行评估与前和后的调查和长期的后续调查，询问教师会议的影响。会议的结果已被批准在同行评审期刊《生物化学和分子生物学教育》上传播。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。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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.