CAREER: Retrieval-Enhanced Learning of Foundational Conceptual Knowledge

本研究将最新的研究结果应用于科学教育中，以确定提取练习对学生在生物学入门课程中学习的影响。检索练习是让学生主动重建其知识的实践，已被证明对有意义的学习和长期保留具有强大的影响。该项目将检索实践中最健壮和有效的策略与生物学中的科学概念相结合，以测试有意义的学习和长期保留知识收益的能力。该项目组建了一个跨学科的研究顾问委员会，成员包括认知科学家和科学教育工作者，以帮助为研究提供信息和指导。这项研究涉及大约150-200名生物学本科生。两个目标包括：-确定最好的方法来支撑检索练习，并使用积极的合作来为不同学习特征的学生产生有意义的STEM学习。-在一门大型生物学入门课程中建立支架检索练习策略的有效性。工作将理论驱动、经验为基础的心理学领域与教学设计联系起来。目标1侧重于多种因素(如线索生成、个体提取与协作提取、学习风格、语言或视觉形式)，而目标2侧重于如果学生在不同情景下进行提取，提取练习是否更有效。数据收集包括简答题测试、探路者分析和调查。数据分析包括方差分析、析因设计和特殊后t检验，以进行成对比较和估计效应量。这项研究的结果和影响为加强生物概念的概念学习建立了有效的检索练习策略，显示了基于阅读理解的个体差异，确定了学习风格在检索中的作用，并概述了检索练习在提高学生进入更高水平的理科课程时成功的可行性和有效性。

This research applies recent findings about the effectiveness of retrieval practice to science education to determine the impact on students' learning in introductory undergraduate biology. Retrieval practice is the practice of having students engage in active reconstruction of their knowledge and has been shown to have powerful effects on meaningful learning and long-term retention The project integrates the most robust and effective strategies characteristic of retrieval practices with science concepts in biology to test for meaningful learning and long-term retention of knowledge gains. The project assembles an interdisciplinary Research Advisory Board that includes cognitive scientists and science educators to help inform and guide the study. It involves approximately, 150-200 undergraduate introductory biology students in the study.The two aims include:-Identifying the best ways to scaffold retrieval practice and use active collaboration to produce meaningful STEM learning for students with different learning characteristics.-Establishing the effectiveness of scaffolded retrieval practice strategies in a large introductory biology course.The work connects areas of theory-driven empirically-grounded psychology with instructional design. Aim 1 focuses on multiple factors (e.g. cue generation, individual versus collaborative retrieval, learning styles, and verbal or visual formats), while Aim 2 focuses on whether retrieval practice is more effective if students engage in retrieval under different scenarios. Data collection includes short-answer tests, Pathfinder analysis, and surveys. Data analysis involves analysis of variance, factorial designs, and post-hoc t-tests to perform pairwise comparisons and estimates of effect sizes. The outcomes and impacts of this research establish effective retrieval practice strategies for enhancing conceptual learning of biology concepts, show individual differences based on reading comprehension, identify the role of learning styles in retrieval, and outline the feasibility and effectiveness of retrieval practices in increasing students' success as they progress to higher-level courses in science.