RCN-UBE: The Research on STEM Education Network: Improving Research Inclusivity through a Grassroots Culture of Scientific Teaching

在STEM专业开始大学生涯的学生中，只有不到一半的人最终获得STEM学位，而对于代表性不足的少数民族（URM）来说，这一数字甚至更低。采用积极的，基于探究的活动的教育方法已被证明可以提高STEM专业的持久性，但这些方法在STEM入门课程中很少见，特别是在卫星学院（例如，社区学院和技术学校），许多URM和低收入家庭的学生开始他们的大学生涯。ROSE网络将寻求通过创建一个来自研究型大学和卫星学院的教师的社交网络来解决这一缺陷，这些教师对STEM教育改革有共同的兴趣。ROSE将专门致力于在卫星学院的生物学入门课程中引入主动学习和研究驱动的课程，并增加卫星学院教师的专业发展机会。通过在URM人口较多的地区实施这些改革，ROSE将努力提高这些群体的学术成果，并增加毕业后选择研究生院或研究职业的URM的比例。ROSE网络将在其存在的头五年内承担三项主要任务。首先，它将组织会议，将来自3所研究密集型大学的STEM教育感兴趣的教师以及与他们相关的一些卫星学院联系起来。预计这些会议将促进STEM教育改革合作，并为希望改革课程的卫星学院教师提供关键的支持网络。其次，ROSE将创建一个网站和社交媒体，旨在提高对STEM教育研究的认识，并为希望改革课程的教师提供资源。最后，将任命一名ROSE博士后研究员，他将为卫星学院的教师提供关键帮助，这些教师将提交设计和实施课堂积极学习改革的建议。通过在卫星大学教师的“基层”层面播种STEM教育研究和改革的文化，ROSE希望对本科生物教育产生越来越大和持久的影响。该项目由生物科学理事会，生物基础设施司和教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，本科生教育司作为他们努力解决在本科生物学教育的愿景和变化所带来的挑战的一部分：行动呼吁（http：//visionandchange/finalreport/）。共同资助是由既定的计划，以刺激竞争力的研究（EPSCoR）。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Less than half of the students who begin their university careers in STEM majors ultimately graduate with a STEM degree, and this number is even lower for underrepresented minorities (URMs). Educational approaches that employ active, inquiry-based activities have been shown to improve persistence in STEM majors, but these methods are rare in introductory STEM classes, especially in the satellite colleges (e.g., community colleges and technical schools) where many URM and lower income students start their university career. The ROSE Network will seek to address this deficiency by creating a social network of faculty from both research universities and satellite colleges who share an interest in STEM education reform. ROSE will specifically work to introduce active learning and research-driven coursework to introductory biology courses at satellite colleges, and to increase the professional development opportunities for satellite college faculty. By implementing these reforms in areas with high URM populations, ROSE will seek to improve academic outcomes for these groups as well as to increase the proportion of URMs who choose graduate school or research careers after graduation.The ROSE Network will undertake three primary tasks in its first five years of existence. First, it will organize meetings linking STEM-education interested faculty from 3 research-intensive, URM-serving universities as well as a number of satellite colleges associated with them. These meetings are expected to nurture STEM education reform collaborations as well as to provide a critical support network for satellite college faculty looking to reform their courses. Second, ROSE will create a website and social media presence designed to increase awareness of STEM education research and resources available for faculty who wish to reform their courses. Finally, a ROSE postdoctoral fellow will be appointed who will provide critical assistance to satellite college faculty who submit proposals to design and implement active learning reforms in their classrooms. By seeding a culture of STEM education research and reform at the "grassroots" level of satellite college faculty, ROSE hopes to create a growing and persistent impact on undergraduate biology education.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, 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/finalreport/). Co-funding was provided by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.