Applying Cognitive Theories of Learning to Improve Graduate Training in STEM Communication

为了成功应对全球社会面临的挑战，STEM研究人员必须具备将他们的工作传达给政策制定者、记者、商业领袖、公众和其他科学家的能力。然而，STEM研究生教育中的沟通培训仍然不足，特别是在公立、非旗舰或少数族裔服务机构。尽管STEM学生毕业时在各自领域拥有高水平的专业知识，但他们往往缺乏以普通受众可以理解的有效、清晰和文化敏感的方式分享他们工作的技能。这项授予北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖将通过创建和提供创新的STEM交流研究生培训课程来解决这一问题，该课程将测试认知科学理论的基础培训将提高学生交流STEM的能力的假设。并将导致尖端STEM交流课程的发展，该课程将公开提供给其他机构实施。项目的参与者和最终课程的学生将成为更好的合作者，对他们的沟通能力更有信心，在就业市场上更有竞争力，并更好地利用他们工作的重要性影响公众。该项目将招募北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校的STEM研究生，他们将被随机分为两组，以测试在STEM交流课程中提供与不提供认知科学理论教育的有效性。第一组将参加一个基础短期课程，专门研究与通信相关的人类认知理论（例如，信息处理，选择框架，决策和文化对认知的影响），然后开始五个顺序交付的STEM通信短期课程。第二组将只参加5个STEM通信短期课程。这些课程将不含学分，并以混合形式提供，并将讨论诸如非学术写作，外行听众演讲以及与不同团队成员沟通等主题。对小组作业视而不见的评分者将根据个别课程顶点项目来评估学生对学习成果的掌握程度。学生还将与社区成员和行业专业人士一起参加体验式学习活动，这将使他们能够在实地环境中展示他们的知识和技能，并让公众参与STEM主题。与会者将接受调查，以评估学生的沟通技巧。盲评员和活动参与者提供的数据将用于回答我们的教育研究问题，该问题评估接受基础认知科学训练的学生比未接受认知科学训练的学生表现出更好的STEM沟通学习和技能。项目课程、实施指南和结果将公开共享，以便STEM教育工作者和研究人员、学习科学家和公众可以访问研究结果并实施课程。传播这种创新的STEM通信研究生培训方法将支持STEM研究生教育的变革性改进。研究生教育创新（IGE）项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。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。

In order to successfully address the challenges facing the global community, STEM researchers must possess the ability to convey their work to policymakers, journalists, business leaders, the general public, and to other scientists. Yet communication training in graduate STEM education remains inadequate, particularly at public, non-flagship or minority-serving institutions. Though STEM students graduate with a high level of expertise in their field, they often lack the skills to share their work in an effective, clear, and culturally sensitive manner that a general audience can understand. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to UNC Charlotte will address this problem by creating and delivering an innovative STEM communication graduate training curriculum that will test the hypothesis that foundational training in cognitive science theories will improve students’ ability to communicate STEM, and will lead to the development of a cutting-edge STEM communication curriculum that will be made publicly available for other institutions’ implementation. Participants in the program and students of the resulting curriculum will become better collaborators, more confident in their communication abilities, more competitive on the job market, and better equipped to impact the general public with the significance of their work.This project will recruit UNC Charlotte STEM graduate students, who will be randomized into one of two groups in order to test the effectiveness of providing versus not providing education in cognitive science theories in a STEM communication curriculum. Group one will participate in a foundational short course devoted to theories of human cognition relevant to communication (e.g., information processing, choice framing, decision-making, and cultural impacts on cognition), before launching into five sequentially-delivered STEM communication short courses. Group two will participate only in the five STEM communication short courses. These courses will be non-credit bearing and delivered in a hybrid format, and will address topics such as non-scholarly writing, speaking to lay audiences, and communicating with diverse teammates. Raters blind to group assignment will assess students’ mastery of learning outcomes based on individual course capstone projects. Students will also participate in experiential learning events with community members and industry professionals, which will allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a field setting and to engage the public in STEM topics. Attendees will be surveyed to assess students’ communication skills. The data provided by the blind raters and the event attendees will be used to answer our educational research question, which evaluates the hypothesis that students undergoing the foundational cognitive science training will demonstrate better STEM communication learning and skills than students not receiving cognitive science training. The project curriculum, implementation guide, and results will be shared publicly so that STEM educators and researchers, learning scientists, and the public can access the findings and implement the curriculum. The dissemination of this innovative approach to STEM communication graduate training will support transformative improvements in graduate STEM education.The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.