Cultivating Scientific Literacy and Action through Place: Using a Campus Farm as an Interdisciplinary Learning Hub

基于地点的体验式(PBE)学习是一种有效的教学方法，可以提高学生的教学知识、课程参与度、批判性思维和公民意识。该项目正在探索PBE学习在学校花园和校园农场的影响。自1992年以来，大学农业空间的数量增加了15倍，但尽管这些空间具有广泛的跨学科潜力，但这些空间仅用于农业或可持续发展专业、独立项目和缺乏学科多样性的联合课程活动。该项目将扩大大学农业空间如何将STEM与人文学科相结合，并培养跨课程的科学素养、公民意识和跨学科合作。该项目将探索努力批判性地评估农业空间对学生、教师和主办机构的影响，以及此类空间如何为学习STEM提供一个整体框架。该项目的目标是实施和评估巴特勒大学四门课程中以城市农业为主题的跨学科PBE模块的衔接计划，使用校园农场作为学习和协作的中心。模块前和模块后的调查、观察和焦点小组将评估对以下方面的影响：1)学生课程参与度、内容知识、批判性思维、场所依恋和公民意识；2)教师教学和研究；3)机构资源分配。未来的应用将在非STEM课程和其他机构测试这种方法的有效性。作为培训未来STEM劳动力的一种手段，该项目将确定跨机构课程实施的主题PBE教学法在培养STEM和非STEM专业的科学素养、公民意识和跨学科合作方面的影响。这种方法将作为资源有限的机构的典范，在这些机构中，主题学习努力可能会刺激教师支持网络、跨学科研究和跨课程努力的机构支持。

Place-based, experiential (PBE) learning is an effective pedagogy that enhances student content knowledge, course engagement, critical thinking, and civic mindedness. This project is exploring the impact of PBE learning in the context of school gardens and campus farms. Since 1992, there has been a 15-fold increase in the number of college agriculture spaces, but, despite their broad interdisciplinary potential, these spaces are used narrowly for agriculture or sustainability majors, independent projects, and co-curricular activities that lack disciplinary diversity. This project will expand how college agriculture spaces can integrate STEM with the humanities, and foster cross-curricular scientific literacy, civic mindedness, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The project will explore efforts to critically assess the impact of agricultural spaces on students, faculty, and host institutions; and how such spaces can provide a holistic framework for learning STEM.This project's goal is to implement and assess a cohesive program of interdisciplinary urban agriculture-themed PBE modules in four Butler University courses using a campus farm as a hub for learning and collaboration. Pre- and post- module surveys, observations, and focus groups will assess impacts to 1) student course engagement, content knowledge, critical thinking, place attachment, and civic mindedness; 2) faculty teaching and research; and 3) distribution of institutional resources. Future applications will test efficacy of this approach in non-STEM courses and at other institutions. As a means to train the future STEM workforce, this project will determine the impacts of a themed PBE pedagogy implemented across institutional curriculum in fostering scientific literacy, civic mindedness, and interdisciplinary collaboration among STEM and non-STEM majors. This approach will serve as a model for resource-limited institutions where themed learning efforts may stimulate faculty support networks, interdisciplinary research, and institutional support of cross-curricular efforts.