RCN-UBE: Building capacity for evidence-based undergraduate field experiences

由于对野外考察站和海洋实验室的巨大投资，以及接触到美国和世界各地范围广泛的本科生的潜力，考虑如何最好地在这些场地和其他扩展的野外项目中提供有效的教育体验是至关重要的。这些课程通常提供本科教育系统中其他地方没有提供的特定类型的培训。本科生实地体验研究网络(U-FERN)试图了解这些类型的体验的影响，并建立一个实践者社区，与教育研究人员合作，分享和发展涵盖所有学生的有效实践。该网络将把科学技术工程数学(STEM)中未被充分代表的学生的现有知识与本科生现场经验的实践者联系起来，以利用主动学习的力量，作为增加对基于现场的科学的参与和坚持的潜力。U-Fern寻求建立一个充满活力、支持性和可持续的协作网络，通过以下方式促进有效的本科生现场经验：1)识别和共享基于证据的模型和实践，让不同的本科生参与有效的现场和海洋学习经验；2)识别、修改、开发和共享评估工具，以了解现场和海洋学习经验对本科生学习、STEM身份和职业轨迹的影响，3)调查本科生实地经验如何有助于扩大在海洋生态学、生态学和地球科学等实地科学领域任职人数不足和未得到充分服务的学生的参与度和留存率；4)在外勤站和海洋实验室建立本科生学习经验，作为研究本科生研究、服务学习和地方教育中循证实践的“跨学科实验室”。U-FERN将建设野外站和海洋实验室(FSML)和其他包括现场经验本科生在内的能力，同时聘请来自社会科学和学习科学的新合作者进行项目评估和研究，以促进学生的学习、有效实践和广泛参与。在外勤站和海洋实验室实施的做法多种多样，为测试有效培训模式创造了独特的机会，以便产生可为FSML社区以外的教育做法提供信息的见解。拟议的网络将探索从野外站和海洋实验室的本科生经历中获得的见解如何帮助改善本科生的STEM教学和学习。该项目由生物科学局(BIO)、生物基础设施部和教育与人力资源局(EHR)、本科生教育司共同资助，作为他们应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》(http://visionandchange.or/finalreport/).)中提出的挑战的努力的一部分该项目还由生物信息学委员会的环境生物学司(DEB)共同资助。

Because of the tremendous investment in field stations and marine labs and the potential for reaching a broad range of undergraduates across the U.S. and the world, it is critical to consider how to best provide effective educational experiences at these venues and other extended field programs. These programs often provide specific types of training not provided anywhere else in the undergraduate education system. The Undergraduate Field Experiences in Research Network (U-FERN) seeks to understand the impacts of these types of experiences and to build a community of practitioners working together with education researchers to share and develop effective practices that are inclusive of all students. The network will connect current knowledge about persistence of underrepresented students in Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) with practitioners of undergraduate field experiences to harness the power of active learning as a potential for increasing participation and persistence in the field-based sciences.U-FERN seeks to build a vibrant, supportive, and sustainable collaborative network that fosters effective undergraduate field experiences by: 1) identifying and sharing evidence-based models and practices for engaging a diverse range of undergraduates in effective field and marine learning experiences, 2) identifying, modifying, developing, and sharing assessment tools for understanding the impact of field and marine learning experiences on undergraduate student learning, STEM identity, and career trajectories, 3) investigating how undergraduate field experiences may help broaden the participation and retention of underrepresented and underserved students in field-based sciences such as marine ecology, ecology and geosciences, and 4) establishing undergraduate learning experiences at field stations and marine labs as "interdisciplinary laboratories" for researching evidence-based practices in undergraduate research, service learning, and place-based education. U-FERN will build capacity of field station and marine labs (FSMLs) and others including undergraduates in field experiences while engaging new collaborators from the social and learning sciences in program assessment and research into student learning, effective practices, and broad engagement. The wide diversity of practices implemented at field stations and marine labs creates a unique opportunity to test models of effective training in order to generate insights that can inform educational practices beyond the FSML community. The proposed network will explore how insights from undergraduate experiences at field stations and marine labs can help improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning in general.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO), Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.or/finalreport/). This project is also co-funded by the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) in the BIO directorate.