Do Linked International Curricula in Biology Enhance Science Literacy and Engagement in Non-Science and Pre-major Students?

生物科学(61)美国研究艾滋病毒/艾滋病生物学的非理科专业和早期预科专业的学生通过电子方式与肯尼亚Njoro的埃格顿大学的学生联系，组成国际合作工作组。利用美国和肯尼亚教职员工共同设计的活动，这两组学生共同研究与艾滋病毒/艾滋病的科学和社会后果有关的问题。他们正在共同编写关于艾滋病毒/艾滋病的教育材料，埃格顿的学生将利用这些材料加快他们所在社区的变革。这个项目的学术价值在于它采用了一种新颖的方法，让非理科学生在智力和情感上都参与到一个由科学提供信息的重要问题上，即非洲艾滋病流行。学生们正在学习通过分析围绕艾滋病毒/艾滋病的争议来评估科学数据的质量。与此同时，他们正在对科学和全球发展问题的相互关联性形成多学科的理解，同时努力解决围绕发达国家和发展中国家不同的科学技术利益的伦理复杂性。参与该项目的学生正在接受评估，以确定国际因素、情感联系和人道主义效用工作如何影响对学习科学的认知和情感反应。这一对生物教育研究的贡献，以及参与的学生的全球联系，构成了该项目的更广泛的影响。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Biological Sciences (61) Nonscience majors and early premajors studying the biology of HIV/AIDS in the United States are electronically linked to students at Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya to form international, collaborative working groups. Using activities jointly designed by American and Kenyan faculty members, these two groups of students work together on issues relating to the scientific and social consequences of HIV/AIDS. Together they are generating educational materials on HIV/AIDS that Egerton students will use to expedite change in their communities. The intellectual merit of this project is its novel approach to engaging nonscience students, both intellectually and emotionally, in an important issue that is informed by science, the African AIDS epidemic. Students are learning to evaluate the quality of scientific data by analyzing the controversies surrounding HIV/AIDS. At the same time, they are forging a multidisciplinary understanding of the interconnectedness of science and global development issues, while grappling with the ethical complexities surrounding the disparate benefits of science and technology in developed and developing countries. Students who participate in this project are being evaluated to determine how an international component, emotional connectivity, and work of humanitarian utility influence cognitive and affective responses to learning science. This contribution to research in biology education, as well as the global connectedness of students who participate, form the broader impacts of the project. This award was cofunded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.