Project NEURON (Novel Education for Understanding Research On Neuroscience)

描述(由申请者提供)：项目神经元：新颖的理解教育神经科学研究将把科学家、科学教育工作者、教师和学生聚集在一起，开发和传播将前沿科学与国家和国家科学标准联系起来的课程材料。美国国立卫生研究院资助的伊利诺伊大学香槟分校(UIUC)研究的广度和深度将使我们能够将尖端的NIH资助的神经科学研究与考察教师和学生如何学习的教育研究联系起来。神经元项目还将帮助教师将新开发的材料整合到现有的州课程框架中，以有意义和有吸引力的方式扩大学生对科学的理解。 神经元项目通过将教师和学生对科学的学习与最近的科学研究成果联系起来，满足了大量文献(例如，AAAS，1993；CPGE，2005；NRC，1996；和NRC，2007)和学术报告(例如，MacNabb等人，2006)中确定的关键需求。利用当前教与学研究的课程设计框架，开发一系列课程模块，将国家和国家科学标准与神经科学内容联系起来。通过这样做，我们响应了“全民科学”的号召(美国科学促进会，1989)。然而，教育研究表明，仅仅开发探究性材料是不够的；还需要包括教师的专业发展，才能按照开发材料的精神成功地使用这些材料(Putman&Borko，2000)。因此，神经元项目的一个大目标是为专注于教学内容和教学内容知识发展的教师提供扩展的专业发展。神经元计划的三个具体目标是： 开发和传播课程模块，将最新的科学研究和当前的 中学科学教室使用的科学标准； 通过提供专业发展来改善中学理科教师的教学实践 对于神经科学方案(NSP)和课程与教学(CI)研究生方案的教师和研究生，侧重于关键神经科学思想和基本科学概念的内容知识和教学内容知识； 通过以探究为基础的方法提高学生对关键科学概念的参与度和学习 以前沿神经科学为背景。 为达致这些具体目标，我们会： 1.开发一系列课程模块，包括与当前状态相关的课堂材料 和国家科学课程标准，使用在UIUC校园进行的神经科学研究和评估工具，以评估学生对关键概念和实践的理解。 2.为教师提供一系列持续的专业发展机会，包括暑期专业发展学院和学年期间的专业发展机会；以及神经科学课程(NSP)和课程与教学(CI)研究生课程的研究生。 3.制定和实施同时提供形成性和总结性评估的项目评估 关于神经元项目的有效性，以及提出和回答侧重于科学教与学的研究问题的背景。 4.建立传播机制，确保通过神经元项目网站以及伊利诺伊大学全球校园在线专业发展努力和伊利诺伊大学公众参与办公室提供的机会获取材料和调查结果。 5.出席科学和科学教育会议并在同行评议的期刊上提交论文以供发表。 公共卫生相关性(由申请者提供)：通过使用创新的教育方法，神经元项目将把神经科学带入高中科学课堂。神经科学研究对所有人来说都是至关重要的，因为它以各种方式影响公众的健康和福祉。虽然神经科学似乎是生物学中一个高度集中的分支学科，但它实际上涵盖了一系列科学学科，如发育生物学、细胞生物学、遗传学、化学、心理学，以及研究方法，如药理学、分子生物学、行为学、细胞培养和基因组学。通过利用神经科学的背景，我们将能够将目前在初中和高中科学课程中教授的关键科学标准和基准与当前的研究和学生的日常生活相结合。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project NEURON: Novel Education for Understanding Research On Neuroscience will bring together scientists, science educators, teachers, and students to develop and disseminate curriculum materials that connect frontier science with national and state science standards. The breadth and depth of the NIH-funded research at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) will allow us to link cutting-edge NIH-funded neuroscience research with educational research examining how teachers and students learn. Project NEURON will also help teachers integrate the newly-developed materials into existing state curriculum frameworks to extend students' understanding of science in meaningful and engaging ways. Project NEURON fills a critical need identified in numerous documents (e.g., AAAS, 1993; CPGE, 2005; NRC, 1996; and NRC, 2007) and scholarly reports (e.g., MacNabb et al., 2006) by connecting teachers' and students' learning of science with recent scientific research findings. Using a curriculum design framework developed from current research on teaching and learning, we will develop a series of curriculum modules that link national and state science standards with neuroscience content. In doing so, we respond to the call for "science for all" (AAAS, 1989). However, educational research has shown that it is not enough to simply develop inquiry-materials; professional development for teachers needs to be included for successful use of the materials in the spirit in which they were developed (Putman & Borko, 2000). Thus, a large goal of Project NEURON is extended professional development for teachers focused on both content and pedagogical content knowledge development. The three specific aims of Project NEURON are to: Develop and disseminate curriculum modules that integrate up-to-date science research and current science standards for use in secondary science classrooms; Improve instructional practices of secondary science teachers by providing professional development for teachers and graduate students in the Neuroscience Program (NSP) and the Curriculum and Instruction (CI) graduate program focused on content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in key neuroscience ideas and basic science concepts; Improve student engagement and learning of key science concepts through inquiry-based approaches using frontier neuroscience as a context. To achieve these specific aims, we will: 1. Develop a series of curriculum modules that will include in-class materials connected to current state and national science curriculum standards using neuroscience research performed on the UIUC campus and assessment instruments to evaluate student understanding of key concepts and practices. 2. Develop an on-going series of professional development opportunities for teachers, including summer professional development institutes and professional development opportunities during the school year; and graduate students in the Neuroscience Program (NSP) and the Curriculum and Instruction (CI) graduate program. 3. Develop and implement a project evaluation that provides both formative and summative evaluation about the effectiveness of Project NEURON and a context to ask and answer research questions focusing on the teaching and learning of science. 4. Develop a dissemination mechanism that will ensure materials and findings are accessible through a Project NEURON website as well as through opportunities provided by the University of Illinois Global Campus On-line professional development effort and the University of Illinois Office of Public Engagement Office. 5. Present at science and science education conferences and submit articles in peer-reviewed journals for publication. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): By using innovative educational approaches, the NEURON project will bring neuroscience to the high school science classroom. Neuroscience research is critical for all to understand as it impacts the health and well-being of the public in a variety of ways. While neuroscience may seem to be a highly focused sub-discipline in biology, it actually embraces a range of scientific disciplines such as developmental biology, cell biology, genetics, chemistry, psychology, and research approaches, such as pharmacology, molecular biology, behavior, cell culture, and genomics. By using the context of neuroscience, we will be able to integrate key science standards and benchmarks currently taught in the middle and high school science curriculum to current research and students' everyday lives.