Improving Learning Outcomes Via Enhancement of Biology Research (iLOVE Biology Research)

西阿拉巴马大学(UWA)通过加强生物学研究来改善学习结果(UWA Ilove Biology Research)项目的目标是通过一系列以发现为基础的课程和研究项目为生物学学生提供实践经验。让学生有机会参与本科生的研究，激发了他们对知识的好奇心，满足了他们对发现的渴望，并为他们的创造力提供了一个出口。该奖项将支持西澳大学的学生，这些学生传统上来自代表性不足的群体，包括妇女、少数民族和第一代大学生。华盛顿大学位于美国最贫穷的县之一，因此该项目将对低收入学生群体产生重大影响，他们在成功完成学位方面遇到了许多障碍。该项目将为学生提供成功进入劳动力市场或进入研究生院学习所需的培训和基本技能。该项目将有助于扩大未得到充分代表的群体在生物学领域的参与，从而有助于解决该地区严重缺乏合格的生物学和科学教育工作者的问题。西澳大学的ILOVE生物学研究项目试图从现有的研究基础设施出发，成功地吸引、留住和毕业受过良好培训的生物学专业本科生。西澳大学生物学研究计划的最终目标是帮助学生发展技能，使他们能够在日常生活中适当地应用科学过程，并通过实施以证据为基础、以学生为中心的教学作为西澳大学的文化规范，改变西澳大学教授生物学和其他STEM相关领域的方式。该项目的具体目标是为生物学专业的本科生提供严格、全面的研究经验，并与传统课程注册的学生相比，检验本科生研究经验对西澳大学学生的影响。学生将参与基于发现的实践课程和长期研究项目，这将为他们提供更多的实践经验和许多与研究相关的技能知识。预计该项目将改善学生对生物的态度，增强对学生进行研究的能力的信心，增强学生的科学过程和批判性思维能力，并增加学生在生物学方面的成功和留存，以及对STEM职业生涯的坚持不懈。该项目由美国国家科学基金会本科教育部门和美国国家科学基金会生物基础设施部门共同支持，因为它与两个部门的目标的一个重要子集保持一致，这两个部门的目标在《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革》工作中表达了出来(见http://visionandchange.org/).

The University of West Alabama (UWA) Improving Learning Outcomes Via Enhancement of Biology Research (UWA iLOVE Biology Research) project goal is to provide biology students with hands-on experience through a series of discovery-based courses and research projects. Allowing students the opportunity to participate in undergraduate research engages their intellectual curiosity, satisfies their thirst for discovery, and gives them an outlet for their creativity. This award will support UWA students, traditionally students from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, and first-generation college students. UWA is located in one of the poorest counties in the United States, therefore the project will have a significant impact on a low-income student population that encounters many barriers to successful degree completion. The project will provide students with the necessary training and essential skills to successfully join the workforce or enroll in graduate schools. The project will be instrumental in broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in biology and thus, contribute to solving the significant shortage of qualified biology and science educators in the area.The UWA iLOVE Biology Research project is an attempt to build from the existing research infrastructure to successfully attract, retain, and graduate well-trained undergraduates majoring in biology. The UWA iLOVE Biology Research program's ultimate goals are to help students develop skills that enable them to apply scientific processes appropriately in their daily lives, and to change how biology and other STEM related fields are taught at UWA by implementing evidence-based, student centered teaching as a cultural norm at UWA. The specific goals of the project are to provide undergraduate students majoring in biology with a rigorous, comprehensive research experience, and to examine the impact of undergraduate research experiences on UWA students compared to students enrolled in traditional coursework. Students will be engaged in hands-on discovery based courses and long-term research projects, which will provide them with increased hands-on experience and knowledge of many research-associated skills. It is expected that the project will improve student attitudes towards biology, increase confidence in students' abilities to do research, enhance students' scientific process and critical thinking skills, and increase student success and retention in biology and persistence in STEM careers. The iLOVE Biology Research program approach will provide an attractive, feasible model for providing research experiences to undergraduates that will generate the necessary data to become a model approach that can be readily implemented campus wide.This project is being jointly supported by the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education and the NSF Division of Biological Infrastructure as it aligns with an important subset of the objectives of both divisions that is expressed in the "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education" effort (see http://visionandchange.org/).