NRT-IGE: Enhancing Learning and Retention in Graduate Physics

近年来，教育研究给本科STEM教育特别是物理教育带来了革命性的变化。然而，许多对教学实践和成功衡量标准的积极变化并没有在研究生层面上实施。随着国民经济越来越依赖训练有素的技术领域专家，这是一个与国家相关的问题。同样普遍的问题是，物理学研究生课程的高流失率(全国约为50%)，以及女性、非裔美国人、拉美裔和其他群体在物理学和STEM领域的代表性持续不足。这些在多样性和保留率方面的长期缺陷突出表明，有必要改进研究生阶段的STEM教育战略。确定的重大障碍之一是传统上教授的研究生核心物理课程。在俄亥俄州立大学的研究生教育创新(IGE)轨道上，这个国家科学基金会研究培训(NRT)奖将寻求开发、采用和评估研究生级物理课程中创新的、基于研究的教学最佳实践，特别是关注影响保持和多样性的因素。特别是，该项目的目的是确保所制定的方法和材料具有广泛的适用性和可采纳性，方法是让多个地点参与制定过程(最初是四所中西部大型研究型大学)，并收集每个地点的成效数据。该项目的一个关键战略是直接与每个参与机构的研究生核心课程讲师接触。该方法适用并适应了建立和维持教师学习社区的成功模式，以促进教师的专业发展和采用基于研究的教学材料和方法。该项目还将促使各部研究生研究委员会促进政策和做法的积极变化，以确保系统和持久的变化。在根据教师学习社区的需求而产生的自下而上的过程中，将通过高效的基于研究的迭代模式来开发教学材料，包括识别学生的困难和构建材料，以使学生在包容和欢迎的环境中解决这些困难。该方法包括通过内容测试、课程作业、课堂表现、学生调查(例如，态度、归属感、动机)以及学生和教职员工调查和访谈的表现向教师和项目研究人员提供反馈。这项计划将增进我们对特定主题的教学材料和方法的了解，以改善目前几乎不存在的研究生水平的学生学习，并可以作为其他STEM研究生计划的典范。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、新的、潜在的变革性STEM研究生教育培训模式。研究生教育创新轨道专门致力于试验、测试和评估新的、创新的和潜在的变革性研究生教育方法。该项目由研究生教育联盟和教授项目(AGEP)共同资助。AGEP资助科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)和/或STEM教育研究领域历史上代表性不足的少数群体(URM)的研究和开发、实施和调查模型，以改变博士教育的论文阶段、博士后培训和/或教师晋升。

In recent years, education research has revolutionized undergraduate STEM education and physics education in particular. However, many of the positive changes to instructional practices and metrics for success have not been implemented at the graduate level. With a national economy increasingly dependent on highly-trained specialists in technical fields, this is a nationally-relevant problem. Similarly widespread are the problems of high attrition rates in physics graduate programs (on the order of 50%, nationally) and persistent underrepresentation of women, African Americans, Hispanics and other groups in Physics and STEM. These chronic shortcomings in diversity and in retention highlight the need for improved strategies in STEM education at the graduate level. One of the significant barriers identified is the traditionally-taught graduate core physics courses. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award in the Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) Track to The Ohio State University will seek to develop, adopt, and assess innovative, research-based instructional best practices in graduate-level physics courses, especially focusing on factors affecting retention and diversity. In particular, the project is aimed at ensuring that the developed methods and materials are widely-applicable and adoptable by engaging multiple sites in the development process (initially four large Midwestern research universities), and collecting data on effectiveness at each site. A critical strategy of the project is to directly engage the graduate core course instructors of each participating institution. The approach applies and adapts a successful model for establishing and maintaining faculty learning communities to facilitate the professional development of instructors and the adoption of research-based instructional materials and methods. The project will also engage the department graduate studies committees to facilitate positive change in policies and practices in order to ensure systemic and lasting change. In a bottom-up process emerging from the needs of the faculty learning communities, instructional materials will be developed via a highly effective research-based iterative model including the identification of student difficulties and construction of materials to engage students in addressing those difficulties in an inclusive and welcoming environment. The approach includes feedback to the instructors and the project researchers via performance on content tests, course assignments, in-class performance, student surveys (e.g., attitude, belonging, motivation) and student and faculty surveys and interviews. This program will advance our knowledge of topic-specific instructional materials and methods to improve student learning at the graduate level, which is currently virtually non-existent, and can serve as a model for other STEM graduate programs.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative 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.This project is co-funded by the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. AGEP funds research and the development, implementation, and investigation of models to transform the dissertation phase of doctoral education, postdoctoral training and/or faculty advancement of historically underrepresented minorities (URMs) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and/or STEM education research.