Collaborative Research: Development of Learning Progressions for Biochemistry - Concept Linkage through the College Curriculum

生物化学和大学课程中生物化学之前的课程是许多科学和相关职业道路上的职业生涯的基础。这个改进的本科生STEM教育项目将专注于研究，以定义学生必须理解的基本概念和原则，以便成功地从普通化学到有机化学再到生物化学，并绘制出本科生化学和生物化学学生在发展专业知识方面可能采取的路径。通过招募来自两个非常不同的机构(一所高度挑剔的文理学院和一所大型州立大学)的学生参与这项研究，研究结果将适用于广泛的大学生。此外，该项目将建立一个大学教师社区，他们致力于开发工具，帮助学生在他们教授的课程中适当水平地学习关键概念。为了确定在普通化学和有机化学方面的学习进展，以便对生物化学中的概念有深入的理解，韦尔斯利学院和南佛罗里达大学的研究人员将设计、进行和分析对教授相关化学和生物课程的教师以及从初级到高级的100名本科生的半结构化访谈的反应。研究人员将选择两到三个基本概念，通过课程扩展为学习过程，包括识别下锚和上锚。在项目后期，将根据访谈结果制定一项调查。这项调查将对更多的学生进行，并将对回答进行分析，以完善学习进度。这项研究有望有助于理解学生如何将知识从一门课程转移到另一门课程，以及在不同课程之间可以建立哪些类型的联系来帮助学生学习。它还将促进教师在化学、生物和生物化学课程和学科之间的合作。

Biochemistry and the courses that precede it in the college curriculum are foundational for careers in many sciences and related professional pathways. This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education project will focus on research to define the essential concepts and principles that students must understand to successfully navigate from general chemistry to organic chemistry to biochemistry, and to map the paths that undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry students may take in developing expertise. By recruiting students from two very different institutions (a highly selective liberal arts college and a large state university) to participate in the research, the findings will be relevant for a wide range of college students. In addition, the project will build a community of college instructors who are committed to developing tools to help students learn key concepts at the appropriate levels in the courses they teach. To define learning progressions in general chemistry and organic chemistry that allow for sophisticated understanding of concepts in biochemistry, researchers at Wellesley College and the University of South Florida will design, conduct, and analyze responses to semi-structured interviews with faculty who teach the relevant chemistry and biology courses, as well as with 100 undergraduate students from beginning to advanced level. The researchers will select two to three essential concepts to be expanded into learning progressions through the courses, including identification of lower and upper anchors. Later in the project, a survey will be developed based on findings of the interviews. The survey will be administered to larger numbers of students, and the responses will be analyzed to refine the learning progressions. This research is expected to contribute to understandings of how students transfer knowledge from one course to another, and what types of connections can be made across courses to assist student learning. It will also promote faculty collaboration across chemistry, biology, and biochemistry courses and disciplines.