RCN-UBE Incubator: Building a framework for the River-based ImmersiVe Education & Research (RIVER) Field Studies Network

实地研究将积极的学习实践结合在身临其境的环境背景下，创造激发学生的体验，并催化他们从学生到科学家的转变。尽管具有这种形成作用，但由于真实存在的学生、教师和制度障碍，本科生物学教育中的实地研究机会正在减少。该项目将河流生态系统作为沉浸式环境，通过建立“基于河流的沉浸式教育与研究（river）实地研究网络”来识别并克服这些障碍。该网络将重点放在河流及其周边地区的本科教育上，原因有三。(1)河流是STEM跨学科学习的天然课堂；它们的过程整合了生物学、水文学、地质学以及耦合的人类和自然系统。(2)河流为沉浸式实地研究的许多障碍提供了独特的后勤解决方案。(3)河流为社会提供基本服务，但也是最危险的生态系统之一。解决河流生态系统面临的当前和新出现的挑战需要经过跨学科、技术和景观培训的科学家和专业人员。在本科生物学教育中培养对这些关键生态系统进行沉浸式实地研究的能力，将促进STEM培训，并激励未来的问题解决者应对21世纪河流生态系统面临的挑战。河流实地研究网络孵化器项目将建立积极学习教学法和比较河流生物学的人力和机构能力。它将通过支持跨学科、机构和地理边界的教育和研究活动的交流和协调，在多个尺度上推进本科生物学教育，从而提高当前项目的质量和能力。它将努力为代表性不足的人口和能力不同的学生克服进入障碍，同时开发工具，支持在新机构开展河流实地研究。它将利用个别学术项目和专业合作伙伴的资源，开始为河流实地研究中主动学习的变革性网络规模能力奠定基础。变革性网络规模能力的例子包括：为跨网络的学生交换建立合作协议；创建全国比较河流田野研究课程；并制定一项计划，将该网络转变为一个自给自足的国家组织，支持跨学科的河流实地研究。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会和本科教育司教育和人力资源理事会共同资助，作为其应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》（http://visionandchange/finalreport/）所提出的挑战的努力的一部分。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。

Field studies combine active learning practices in an immersive environmental context to create experiences that inspire students and catalyze their transition from student to scientist. Despite this formative role, field study opportunities in undergraduate biology education are declining due to real and perceived student, faculty, and institutional barriers. This project, using river ecosystems as the immersive context, will identify and overcome these barriers by establishing the "River-based ImmersiVe Education & Research (RIVER) Field Studies Network." This network focuses on undergraduate education in and around rivers for three reasons. (1) Rivers are natural classrooms for interdisciplinary STEM learning; their processes integrate across biology, hydrology, geology, and coupled human and natural systems. (2) Rivers offer unique logistical solutions for many barriers to immersive field studies. (3) Rivers provide essential services to society but are among the most imperiled ecosystems. Addressing current and emerging challenges facing river ecosystems requires scientists and professionals trained to work across disciplines, technologies, and landscapes. Creating capacity within undergraduate biology education for immersive field studies in these critical ecosystems will advance STEM training and inspire future problem-solvers to address the challenges facing river ecosystems in the twenty first century.The RIVER Field Studies Network Incubator project will build human and institutional capacity for active learning pedagogy and comparative river biology. It will enhance the quality and capacity of current programs by supporting communication and coordination of educational and research activities across disciplinary, institutional, and geographic boundaries to advance undergraduate biology education at multiple scales. It will work to overcome barriers of entry for underrepresented populations and students with differing abilities while developing tools to support the creation of river field studies at new institutions. It will leverage the resources of individual academic programs and professional partners to begin building the foundation for transformative network-scale capacity for active learning in river field studies. Examples of transformative network-scale capacity include: establishing cooperative agreements for student exchange across the network; creating a national comparative river field studies curriculum; and developing a plan to transition the network into a self-sustaining national organization supporting interdisciplinary river field studies. 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/).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.