ION/Teach: A Summer Research Immersion for High School Students and Teachers

描述(申请人提供)：神经科学研究所暑期沉浸式研究。让优秀的高中生参与真实和有益的实验室研究可能会吸引他们从事研究事业。密集的暑期研究体验为学生提供了一个理想的环境，让他们体验以实践为基础的探究式科学学习，这可能会增强他们的内容知识、技术技能和对自己进行科学研究的能力(科学研究自我效能)的信心。反过来，科学自我效能感预示着坚持科学相关学术和职业道路的意图。同样，对于高中教师来说，参加暑期研究可能会提高知识、技能和教学效能，最终影响对教学的承诺和对教师职业生涯的保留。此外，通过将研究经验转化为未来学生的探究式学习机会，教师可以成倍增加在暑期项目中获得的知识和技能的分布。因此，我们将通过名为ION/Teach的计划促进学生和教师融入神经科学研究团队。我们的第一个目标是让高中生和老师参与一个密集的暑期研究项目，该项目名为神经科学与教学研究所(ION/Teach)。一群不同的学生和教师将以为期一周的基本神经科学概念和方法研讨会开始这个暑假，然后在亚特兰大大都会大学与活跃的研究人员一起进行为期七周的指导实验室研究。每周的专业发展研讨会将集中在科学交流、大学准备和研究的道德行为等主题上。教师参与者将把他们的暑期研究转化为基于标准的教案。暑期研究经验将在一次研究研讨会上达到高潮。我们的第二个目标是以ION/Teach计划为基础来检验这样一个假设，即参与真实的实验室研究可以提高外部可证明的研究技能(例如神经科学内容知识、在工作台或临床上的能力和科学交流)，和/或与在科学或教学事业中的成功相关的内部结构(例如研究或教学自我效能、较低的科学焦虑、科学认同感)。除了参与者的个人结果之外， 教师参与者制定教案的有效性将通过评估工具进行监测，评估工具将调查学生在课堂上的学习结果。这项研究将填补目前关于如何最好地为年轻人做好准备以帮助满足当前的生物医学、行为和临床研究需求的知识空白。对于教师来说，我们的结果也将有助于确定提高科学课堂记忆力的方法。最终，该项目不仅将产生具有研究技能和成功职业倾向的学生和教师，还将产生向国际科学教育界传播的教育研究数据。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Institute On Neuroscience Summer Research Immersion. Engaging outstanding high school students in authentic and rewarding laboratory research may attract them to research careers. An intensive summer research experience provides an ideal environment for students to experience hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, which will likely enhance their content knowledge, technical skills, and confidence in their ability to conduct scientific research (scientific research self-efficacy). In turn, science elf-efficacy predicts intent to persist in science-related academic and career paths. Likewise for high school teachers, participating in summer research may improve knowledge, skills, and teaching efficacy, ultimately affecting commitment to teaching and retention in teaching careers. Moreover, by translating research experiences into inquiry-based learning opportunities for future students, teachers can exponentially increase the distribution of knowledge and skills acquired in a summer program. Thus, we will facilitate integration of students and teachers into neuroscience research teams through our program called ION/Teach. Our first aim is to engage high school students and teachers in an intensive summer research program, called the Institute on Neuroscience & Teaching (ION/Teach). A diverse group of students and teachers will start the summer with a week-long seminar on basic neuroscience concepts and methods, then engage in seven weeks of mentored lab research with active investigators at metro-Atlanta universities. Weekly professional development workshops will focus on topics such as scientific communication, college prep, and ethical conduct of research. Teacher participants will translate their summer research into standards-based lesson plans. The summer research experience will culminate in a research symposium. Our second aim is to use the ION/Teach program as a basis to test the hypothesis that participation in authentic laboratory research can improve externally demonstrable research skills (e.g. neuroscience content knowledge, competency at the bench or in the clinic, and scientific communication), and/or internal constructs associated with success in science or teaching careers (e.g. research or teaching self-efficacy, low science anxiety, science identity). Beyond individual outcomes for participants, the effectiveness of lesson plan development by the teacher participants will be monitored by assessment instruments that probe student learning outcomes in their classrooms. This research will fill a gap in current knowledge about how best to prepare young people to help address current biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. For teachers, our results will also help identify ways to enhance retention in science classrooms. Ultimately, this project will produce not only students and teachers with research skills and dispositions toward successful careers, but also education research data for dissemination to the international science education community.