NRT-IGE: Flipping a Foundational Interdisciplinary Graduate Curriculum While Strengthening Connections Outside Academia

在跨学科领域培养一年级研究生的传统方法通常使用的教学方法不能反映学生的个性化需求。此外，课程结构将实验室和现场方法分开教授，将背景与理论和技能分开。明尼苏达大学德卢斯分校研究生教育创新（IGE）轨道上的国家科学基金会研究培训（NRT）奖将试点和测试湖泊学一年级研究生课程的重新设计。湖沼学是一个跨学科的领域，吸引了具有化学、物理、生物、地质学和其他学科背景的研究生。因此，需要一种从基本概念构建到这些专业的综合方法。多层面的模式将包括翻转课堂的主动学习环境、队列建设和涉及社区合作伙伴的研究经验。该项目将免费提供在线材料，以便其他针对一年级研究生教学的改革工作，特别是跨学科课程，能够对其进行调整和利用。一个由专业科学家和大湖天文台的教育教员组成的团队将合作建立可衡量的学习目标，包括科学知识和更广泛的专业技能。基于这些学习目标，将创建并使用各种形成性和总结性评估措施来帮助指导本项目研究生课程材料的实施。学生将在课外访问课程材料和资源，包括视频讲座、互动网站内容和其他在线材料。将为学生设计不同持续时间和范围的项目，让他们在课堂上完成，作为应用从在线课程材料中学到的信息的一种手段。最终的顶点项目将由水资源或水质领域的一个或多个社区合作伙伴创建，包括私人公司、政府实验室和非营利组织。这些社区合作伙伴将提出一个现实世界的挑战，学生们将作为一个团队来设计解决方案并开发可交付成果。这种新的教育模式将有助于整合和改善基本概念的传授，培养学生之间的团队合作和沟通技巧，并进一步将学术界与当地合作伙伴联系起来。NSF研究培训（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、新的、具有潜在变革性和可扩展的STEM研究生教育培训模式。研究生教育创新轨道专门用于试点，测试和评估新颖，创新和潜在的变革性研究生教育方法。

NRT-IGE: Flipping a Foundational Interdisciplinary Graduate Curriculum While Strengthening Connections Outside Academia Traditional approaches to training first-year graduate students in interdisciplinary fields typically use instructional methods that do not reflect the individualized needs of the students. The course structure additionally teaches laboratory and field methods separately, divorcing context from theory and skills. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award in the Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) Track to the University of Minnesota Duluth will pilot and test a re-design of the first-year graduate studies in limnology. Limnology is an interdisciplinary field that draws graduate students with backgrounds in chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and other disciplines. Thus, an integrated approach that builds from basic concepts toward each of these specialties separately and together is needed. The multi-faceted model will include a flipped-classroom active-learning environment, cohort building, and research experience that involves community partners. This project will make online materials freely available so they can be adapted and utilized by other reform efforts targeting first-year graduate instruction, particularly in interdisciplinary programs. A team of professional scientists and educational faculty members with the Large Lakes Observatory will collaborate to establish measurable learning targets involving both scientific knowledge and broader professional skills. Based upon these learning targets, a variety of formative and summative assessment measures will be created and used to help guide the implementation of this project's graduate course material. Students will access course materials and resources outside of class hours, including videotaped lectures, interactive website content, and other online materials. Projects of different durations and scopes will be designed for students to work on inside the classroom as a means to apply information learned from the online course materials. A final capstone project will be created by involving one or more community partners in the field of water resources or water quality, including private companies, government laboratories, and non-profit organizations. These community partners will propose a real-world challenge that students will work on as a team to design solutions and develop deliverables. This new educational model will serve to integrate and improve delivery of basic concepts, build teamwork and communication skills among the students, and further connect the academic community to local partners. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative, and scalable models for STEM graduate education training. The Innovations in Graduate Education Track is dedicated solely to piloting, testing, and evaluating novel, innovative, and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education.