Biotechnology in American High Schools: Continuing Research

1998年，冷泉港DNA学习中心（dalc）对美国高中生物教师进行了一项全国性的调查，以收集有关生物技术/分子遗传学在美国高中普及程度的数据。dalc拥有其他相关的独特数据集，这些数据集代表了已经退休的生物教师。拟议的调查提供了一个比较两代生物教师在实验室教学和学生接触四种主要技术方面的机会：细菌转化，DNA限制性分析，聚合酶链反应（PCR）和DNA测序。1998年的研究表明，早期采用生物技术实验室教学的学校主要集中在富裕的郊区。重要的是要看到，今天，动手操作的生物技术教学是否已经扩大到包括经济困难和更多样化的城市人口。在这段时间里，教师态度和行为的变化也可能与资金和教育趋势有关，包括国家科学基金会和HHMI从教师专业发展机构的转变，以及在“不让一个孩子掉队”计划下增加的标准化测试。通过这种方式，研究结果可以为教育政策和教师专业发展的未来努力提供见解。2018年第一季度进行了一项电子邮件调查，目的是再现1998年研究的样本量、受访者人数和回复率。尽管样本量相当（约12,000名教师），但基于电子邮件的方法的回复率要低得多（2018年为10%，而1998年为30%）。为了确保该研究能够捕捉到美国生物教师的代表性快照，该项目将通过美国邮政服务重新管理调查，目的是提高回复率，并增加样本量，以确认电子邮件调查的初步发现。初步调查结果包括：在过去的20年里，生物技术的实验室教学在美国的一些学校已经“规模化”，这两类生物教师对限制他们将新概念和新技术融入课堂的限制有不同的看法，目前提供分子生物学选修课的学校似乎很少参与到由ATE计划倡导的从学校到工作的运动中。与1998年的学生相比，目前的学生似乎不那么专业，也不那么投入，而暑期学院和讲习班仍然是教师专业知识的最重要贡献者；然而，正规教育对当前这批人来说更为重要。该项目将使用美国邮政发送的信件和提醒来重新管理调查，以增加受访者数量，并收集1988年至2018年接受强化讲习班培训的教师数量的回顾性数据，以分析自2012年以来由美国国家科学基金会和HHMI支持的教师专业发展讲习班数量减少的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center (DNALC) conducted a nationwide survey of high school biology teachers in 1998 to collect data on the penetration of biotechnology/molecular genetics in American High Schools. The DNALC possesses other related unique datasets that represent biology teachers who have since retired. The proposed survey provides an opportunity to compare two generations of biology teachers with respect to laboratory instruction and students exposure to four major techniques: bacterial transformation, DNA restriction analysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing. The 1998 study showed that the early adoption of biotechnology lab instruction was concentrated in schools located in high wealth, suburban zip codes. It is important to see if, today, hands-on biotechnology instruction has broadened to include economically challenged and more diverse urban populations. It may also be possible to correlate changes in teacher attitudes and behavior with funding and educational trends over this period of time, including NSF's and HHMI's shift away from teacher professional development institutes and the increased standardized testing under No Child Left Behind. In this way, the study results may provide insights for educational policy and future efforts in teacher professional development.In the first quarter of 2018 an email survey was conducted with the goal of reproducing the sample size, number of respondents, and response rate from the 1998 study. Although the sample size was comparable (approximately 12,000 teachers), the email-based method yielded a much lower response rate (10% in 2018 versus 30% in 1998). To ensure that the study will capture a representative snapshot of U.S. biology teachers, this project will re-administer the survey via the U.S. Postal Service, with the objective of improving the response rate, and increasing the sample size to confirm the initial findings from the email survey. Initial findings include: laboratory teaching in biotechnology has been brought "to scale" in a number of U.S. schools over the last 20 years, the two cohorts of biology teachers have different perceptions of constraints that limit their ability to incorporate new concepts and techniques into their classes, relatively few schools that currently offer molecular biology electives seem to be involved in the school-to-work movement advocated by the ATE program, the current cohort appears to be less professional and less involved than the 1998 cohort, and summer institutes and workshops remain the most important contributors to teacher expertise; however, formal education is much more significant for the current cohort. The project will re-administer the survey using letters and reminders sent by U.S. Postal Service to increase number of respondents and collect retrospective data on the numbers of teachers trained in intensive workshops from 1988 to 2018 to analyze the impact of the reduced numbers of teacher professional development workshops supported by the NSF and HHMI since 2012.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.