Collaborative Research: Sharing Scientist Role Model Stories to Improve Equity and Success in Undergraduate STEM Education

这个IUSE第三级参与式学生学习项目旨在通过开发和测试课堂材料，最大限度地发挥科学家在本科生生物学中的积极作用，为国家利益服务。这个项目解决了这样一个问题，“榜样成功故事的哪些元素在改善本科STEM教育的公平性和成功方面是有效的？”在今天的本科生课堂上，大多数科学家都没有反映出多样化的科学界，也没有与这些资源所触及的学生的身份相匹配。解决这种不匹配的一种方法是创造新的材料，突出具有不同背景和身份的科学家榜样。在课程中加入科学家榜样是促进处于边缘地位的学生在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域取得成功的一种可扩展的方式。之前的研究发现，榜样的影响可能取决于课堂材料中讲述和分享他们的故事的方式。这项工作检验了这样一种理论，即科学家榜样的成功必须让学生感觉触手可及，才能产生积极影响。该项目将开发和评估将科学家的成功故事与数据素养课堂练习相结合的材料。这项工作的最终目标是深入了解如何有效地将科学家榜样纳入教学材料。它还将为本科生生物学课堂带来一套免费的、以证据为基础的教育资源。这项以学科为基础的教育研究的目标是了解科学家榜样如何在课程中呈现的影响。这个项目将使用一种创新的方法，将数据素养活动与科学家概况相结合，向学生介绍科学家榜样成功故事。项目人员将设计新的教材，解决适合本科生生物学入门课程的科学内容和数据素养目标，并以科学家榜样的研究为特色，这些榜样认同性别、种族/民族或历史上被生物学排除在外的能力。这些新的资源将基于之前建立的两个科学教育项目--数据掘金和生物多样化项目的组合。利用全国各地的生物入门课堂网络，该项目将使学生接触到具有相同数据素养教学但不同处理方式的活动，这些活动涉及关于榜样成功的可达性的不同信息(例如，强调科学家的著名成就或强调科学家如何克服他们在科学追求中遇到的障碍)。利克特量表和开放式回答调查项目将被用来衡量不同治疗对1)科学职业的感知可获得性，2)追求科学职业的动机，3)对数量生物学的兴趣，4)作为科学家的认同感，5)科学自我效能感，以及6)在全国生物入门课堂样本中参与活动的影响。这项研究还将导致开发和测试公开可用的课程资源，用于生物入门本科课程，突出科学家的故事，同时与生物学和数据素养的核心内容相联系。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。通过参与的学生学习跟踪，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。

This IUSE Level 3 Engaged Student Learning project aims to serve the national interest by developing and testing classroom materials that maximize the positive effects of scientist role models in undergraduate biology. This project addresses the question, “Which elements of role model success stories are effective in improving equity and success in undergraduate STEM education?” In undergraduate classrooms today, most of the scientists featured do not reflect the diverse scientific community, nor do they match the identities of students reached by these resources. One way to combat this mismatch is to create new materials that highlight scientist role models with diverse backgrounds and identities. Featuring scientist role models in courses is a scalable way to promote the success of students with marginalized identities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Previous research has found that the impact of role models can depend on the ways their stories are told and shared in classroom materials. This work tests the theory that the success of scientist role models must feel within reach for students in order to create positive impacts. This project will develop and evaluate materials that combine scientist success stories with data literacy classroom exercises. The ultimate goal of this work is to give insight into how to effectively include scientist role models in instructional materials. It will also result in a new set of freely available, evidence-based, educational resources for undergraduate biology classrooms. The goal of this discipline-based education research study is to understand the impacts of how scientist role models are represented in curricula. This project will introduce students to scientist role model success stories using an innovative approach that combines data literacy activities with scientist profiles. Project personnel will design new teaching materials that address scientific content and data literacy objectives appropriate for introductory undergraduate biology courses and feature the research of scientist role models who identify with genders, race/ethnicities, or abilities that are historically excluded in biology. These new resources will be based on a combination of two previously established science education programs, Data Nuggets and Project Biodiversify. Using a network of introductory biology classrooms across the country, this project will expose students to activities featuring the same data literacy instruction but to different treatments that vary in information about the attainability of the role model’s success (e.g., an emphasis on prestigious accomplishments of the scientist or an emphasis on how scientists overcame barriers encountered in their pursuit of science). Likert-scale and open-response survey items will be used to measure the effects of different treatments on 1) perceived attainability of a science career, 2) motivation to pursue a career in science, 3) interest in quantitative biology, 4) identity as scientists, 5) science self-efficacy, and 6) engagement with activities across a national sample of introductory biology classrooms. This research will also result in the development and testing of publicly available curricular resources for introductory undergraduate biology courses that highlight scientists’ stories, while simultaneously linking to core content in biology and data literacy. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students.Through the 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.