Biology Meets Engineering: Expanding Transdisciplinary STEM Education

生物学与工程学的结合：扩展跨学科 STEM 教育

• 批准号: 2342578
• 负责人: Stephanie Rollmann
• 金额: $ 342.83万
• 依托单位: University of Cincinnati Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-08-01 至 2029-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342578&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Biology; Meets; Engineering; Expanding; Transdisciplinary

The University of Cincinnati will scale a unique model for transdisciplinary learning inspired by cross-innovation in both biology and robotics. The project will expand the University of Cincinnati’s transdisciplinary innovation hub to student populations across three states (Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana), which will increase student participation from two local high schools and one University-associated internship site to 10 schools and four internship sites at the University of Cincinnati, Bowling Green State University, University of Akron, and Ohio University. Scaling within each state will extend transdisciplinary instruction and learning to different student and teacher populations both rural and urban with underrepresented and underserved populations, and to new regions within a state-wide educational system. The modern STEM workforce needs diverse, cross-trained professionals with both strength in their discipline and the ability to address complex scientific problems. To meet the needs of the scientific and technological workforce, the project will educate students and train teachers in concepts that bridge biology, technology, and engineering disciplines, demonstrating the interrelatedness between science and engineering using innovative technological advances. Participating high school students will study the behavior of biological organisms and learn how to apply animal behavior to the design of their own autonomous robots (animal-robot sensorimotor systems). Student interns will work with near-peer undergraduate and graduate student researchers and faculty mentors to actively engage in ongoing research in biology and/or engineering laboratories where they will participate in the design and execution of experiments and the collection, management, and analysis of collected data. The project connects students and teachers with locally-relevant science, engineering, and technology industry partners to see how science and engineering are applied to solve critical problems for the benefit of society. In parallel, the project will create school-to-university internship sites that connect the transdisciplinary knowledge gained by students with real-world experience. Project activities will provide students with conceptual knowledge, practical research skills, and awareness of career pathways in the biological sciences and robotics industries. With the introduction of the curriculum across states, researchers will test the robustness and replication of the intervention across state boundaries that differ in their educational standards. Researchers will study the impacts of the transdisciplinary curriculum and research internships on students’ learning, interest, and self-efficacy in STEM, and teachers’ implementation of a transdisciplinary curriculum in ways that are responsive to local school contexts. Investigators will study, (1) What is the impact of transdisciplinary learning and real-world application via research internships on students’ scientific inquiry practices?, (2) What is the impact of transdisciplinary learning and real-world application on students’ interest and self-efficacy in STEM?, and (3) What changes do teachers make in how they teach through a transdisciplinary curriculum in ways that are responsive to their local school contexts? Researchers will use written science inquiry assessments and surveys of students’ STEM interest and self-efficacy to document the impact of the transdisciplinary curriculum on student outcomes through a multilevel design to account for variation among teachers, classrooms, and schools. Additionally, the project will provide a scaled model of how science, technology, and engineering practices can be cultivated through culturally responsive teaching, and evidence of how teachers learn how to implement transdisciplinary learning. This project will have broader impacts by documenting how transdisciplinary learning can impact students’ interest and self-efficacy in STEM, informing the design of future interventions to incorporate more features of transdisciplinary practice. Findings will impact transdisciplinary education research and practice in areas of teacher practice, teacher preparation, and professional development. Beyond its immediate impacts, the project scales, extends, and implements a set of experiences in transdisciplinary thought and problem solving to prepare students for modern STEM careers in rapidly emerging transdisciplinary areas of biology, technology, and engineering. The study of the curriculum across states will test the robustness and replication of the innovation across state boundaries that differ in their educational standards. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating (SEI) project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.

辛辛那提大学将扩展一个独特的跨学科学习模型，其灵感来自生物学和机器人技术的跨创新。该项目将将辛辛那提大学的跨学科创新枢纽扩展到三个州（俄亥俄州，肯塔基州和印第安纳州）的学生人群，这将使从两家当地高中和一个与大学相关的实习地点到10个学校和四个实习地点的学生参与，辛辛那提大学，辛辛那提大学，北堡绿色州立大学，鲍林绿色州立大学，大学，大学和大学。在每个州内的扩展将扩展跨学科的指导和学习向不同的学生和教师人群扩展，既有代表性的人群，又有代表性不足和服务不足的人群，以及在州范围内的教育体系中的新地区。现代的STEM劳动力需要潜水员，跨训练的专业人员，既有学科的力量又需要解决复杂的科学问题的能力。为了满足科学和技术劳动力的需求，该项目将教育学生和培训教师，以弥合生物学，技术和工程学科的概念，并使用创新的技术进步来证明科学与工程之间的相互关系。参加的高中生将研究生物生物体的行为，并学习如何将动物行为应用于自己的自主机器人（动物机器人感觉运动系统）的设计。学生实习生将与近专业的本科生和研究生研究人员和教师指导者合作，以积极参与生物学和/或工程实验室的持续研究，他们将参与实验的设计和执行以及收集数据的收集，管理和分析。该项目将学生和教师与本地科学，工程和技术行业合作伙伴联系起来，以了解如何应用科学和工程来解决社会利益的关键问题。同时，该项目将创建学校到大学的实习站点，以连接具有现实世界经验的学生获得的跨学科知识。项目活动将为学生提供概念知识，实践研究技能以及对生物科学和机器人行业中职业途径的认识。随着整个州的课程的引入，研究人员将测试跨州边界的干预措施的鲁棒性和复制，这些国家的教育标准有所不同。研究人员将研究跨学科课程和研究国际对STEM中学生学习，有趣和自我效能的影响，以及教师以对当地学校环境响应的方式实施跨学科课程的影响。研究人员将研究，（1）通过研究实习对学生的科学探究实践的跨学科学习和现实世界应用的影响？研究人员将使用书面科学探究评估和对学生的茎兴趣和自我效能的调查，以通过多层次设计来记录跨学科课程对学生成果的影响，以说明教师，教室和学校之间的差异。此外，该项目将提供一个规模的模型，即科学，技术和工程实践如何具有文化响应式教学，以及教师如何学习如何实施跨学科学习的证据。该项目将通过记录跨学科学习如何影响学生对STEM的兴趣和自我效能，从而为未来的干预措施设计以纳入跨学科实践的更多特征，从而产生更广泛的影响。调查结果将影响跨学科的教育研究和教师实践，教师准备和专业发展领域。除了直接产生影响之外，项目规模，扩展并实现了跨学科思维和解决问题的一系列经验，以使学生在迅速新兴的生物学，技术和工程学的跨学科领域为现代STEM职业做好准备。对整个州的课程的研究将测试各州界限的鲁棒性和复制，这些创新在其教育标准上有所不同。这个扩展，扩展和迭代（SEI）项目由学生和教师（ITEST）计划的创新技术经验提供资金，该计划支持对实践，计划要素，上下文，环境，环境和过程的理解的项目，从而有助于增加学生对科学，技术，技术，工程和数学（STEM和信息统计）的知识和兴趣，并宣布了PRIECTER（ICT）。通过使用基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评论标准来通过评估来支持。