Collaborative Research: Navigating from Vision to Change with Bio-MAPS

这个项目朝着具体定义NSF-AAAS报告《愿景与变革》中概述的核心概念和能力迈出了重要的一步，并提供了允许在本科生物学教育中进行程序性评估的工具。这个项目的智力价值来自于被称为Bio-Maps(生物学-衡量科学成就和进步)的工具的开发、验证和实地测试。具体而言，正在编制四项生物地图评估：分子和细胞生物学、生理学和神经科学、生态学和进化论，以及一项全面的衡量标准。研究团队正在与跨越高等教育广度的不同机构的生物学教师合作，制定一个框架，概述学生在不同大学级别应该知道和能够做的事情的期望。来自Bio-map的数据预计将提供戏剧性的更广泛的影响，并通过以下方式催化课程改革：1)诊断学生在接受指导的情况下仍在挣扎的领域，2)允许两年制社区大学评估他们为学生转到四年制院校做好了准备的情况，3)激励和指导教职员工和机构就在计划层面上实施变革进行对话，4)帮助管理人员将有限的资源集中在需要修订的课程方面，以及5)挑战教职员工重新设计课程，以支撑学生的学习。生物系还可以使用生物地图评估来证明学生学习的证据用于认证过程。许多机构现在要求学生学习的证据，以及项目满足不同学生群体需求的程度的数据。这种对有形学习成果的关注要求各机构拥有通过课程对学生进步进行量化衡量的手段。生物地图可以提供一种通过课程来衡量学生进步的方法。其他科学学科可能有兴趣为他们的学生开发类似的评估。这个项目由生物科学局和本科教育司教育和人力资源局联合资助，作为他们支持本科生物学教育愿景与变革的努力的一部分。

This project takes major steps towards concretely defining core concepts and competencies outlined in the NSF-AAAS report, Vision and Change, and provides tools to allow programmatic assessment in undergraduate biology education. The intellectual merit of this project derives from the development, validation, and field-testing of tools called Bio-MAPS (Biology-Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science). Specifically, four Bio-MAPS assessments are being produced: molecular and cellular biology, physiology and neuroscience, ecology and evolution, and an overall comprehensive measure. The research team is working with biology faculty at diverse institutions that span the breadth of higher education to develop a framework that outlines expectations for what students should know and be able to do at different collegiate levels. Data from Bio-MAPS are expected to provide dramatic broader impacts and catalyze curricular reform by: 1) diagnosing areas in which students struggle despite instruction, 2) allowing two-year community colleges to evaluate how well they are preparing students for transfer to four-year institutions, 3) inspiring and directing faculty and institutional conversations about enacting change at the programmatic level, 4) helping administrators focus limited resources on aspects of the curricula needing revision, and 5) challenging faculty to re-design courses to scaffold student learning. Biology departments can also use Bio-MAPS assessments to demonstrate evidence of student learning for accreditation processes.Many agencies now require evidence of student learning and data on how well programs meet the needs of diverse student populations. This focus on tangible learning outcomes requires that institutions have a means of quantitatively measuring student progression through a curriculum. Bio-MAPS can provide a means of measuring student progress through a curriculum. Other science disciplines may be interested in developing similar assessments for their students.This project is being funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate of Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to support Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education.