Bridging Science Education and Psychology Perspectives to Support Science Literacy Theory & Instruction

对公民来说，培养科学素养至关重要，这使他们能够就挑战现实世界的问题做出明智的决定。科学素养是一个复杂的过程，包括学习理解来自多个来源的信息，考虑社会、文化和经济价值，以及评估行动的选择。为了有效地提高学生的科学素养，科学教师还需要整合心理学研究的成果，这些研究成果可能有助于学生学会调节自己的情绪，并在就有争议的问题做出决定时消除潜在的参与障碍。这个项目将系统地研究可能影响大学生对复杂的社会科学问题进行推理的思维过程和情感过程。在此过程中，该项目还将发展主要研究人员在教育心理学方面的能力，以补充她在生态学、科学教育和定性研究方法方面的专业知识。通过在领导这个项目时参与有针对性的专业发展经验，PI将建立她在未来进行关于培养科学素养的基础研究的能力。这个项目将把研究和专业发展目标结合起来，支持首席研究员发展她对教育心理学理论和方法的知识，以实现她的长期研究目标。该项目团队，包括一名博士后学者，将调查几个认知和情感结构之间的关系，这些结构被认为对本科生关于社会科学问题的决策很重要。研究问题是：(1)学生对特定社会科学问题的情绪和动机，以及他们的个人认识论、元认知技能和开放思维在多大程度上预测了决策技能的成就？以及(2)元认知和推理指南在多大程度上为招生的科学素养课程提高了学生在个人认识论、开放思维和决策技能方面的成熟？为了回答研究问题1，该团队将比较学生对许多学生是个人利益相关者的问题的决策，与他们对大多数学生有较远关联的问题的决策。为了回答研究问题2，研究人员将比较学生在有和没有元认知和推理指导的情况下的结果，这些指导整合到科学素养课程中。认知和情感结构将使用既定的工具进行测量。在整个研究过程中，项目团队将由南加州大学研究员盖尔·西纳特拉博士指导，他在教育心理学和有争议的社会科学问题方面拥有专业知识。项目团队将经常与导师进行虚拟和面对面的会议，讨论有针对性的阅读以及研究项目的进展和计划。PI还将参加专业会议，并在内布拉斯加州大学林肯分校(UNL)完成高级认知心理学教育课程，以加深她对教育心理学的理论理解。最终，项目团队对科学文学课程教学的改进方法，包括他们将开发的元认知和推理指南以及其他资源，预计将对其他STEM课程的广泛范围有用。PI将通过UNL的全州科学素养倡议和多州食品、能源和水教育研究合作等场所，分享她从研究和专业发展经验中学到的东西。导师和一个由学生推理和社会科学问题批判性思维专家组成的三人顾问委员会将评估该项目的成功，并支持PI创建一个未来五年的研究计划。该项目得到NSF的STEM教育研究的EHR核心研究能力建设(ECR BCSER)计划的支持，该计划旨在建立个人在STEM学习和学习环境的核心领域开展高质量基础STEM教育研究的能力，扩大对STEM领域的参与，这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

It is essential for citizens to develop the science literacy that empowers them to make informed decisions about challenging real-world issues. Science literacy is a complex process that involves learning to make sense of information from multiple sources, to consider social, cultural and economic values, and to evaluate options for action. To effectively enhance the scientific literacy of their students, science instructors also need to integrate results of psychology research that may help students learn to regulate their emotions and remove potential barriers to engagement when making decisions about controversial issues. This project will systematically study the thinking processes and the emotional processes that may influence undergraduate students' reasoning about complex socioscientific issues. In the process, the project will also develop the principal investigator's competencies in educational psychology to complement her expertise in ecology, science education, and qualitative research methods. By participating in targeted professional development experiences as she leads this project, the PI will build her capacity to conduct fundamental research about fostering scientific literacy in the future.This project will integrate research and professional development objectives to support the principal investigator in developing her knowledge of the theories and methods of educational psychology needed to achieve her long-term research goals. The project team, including a postdoctoral scholar, will investigate the relationships among several cognitive and emotional constructs thought to be important for undergraduate students' decision-making regarding socioscientific issues. The research questions are: (1) To what extent is achievement of decision-making skills predicted by students' emotions and motivation with respect to a particular socioscientific issue, as well as their personal epistemologies, metacognitive skills and open-minded thinking? and (2) To what extent do metacognitive and reasoning guides developed, for a large-enrollment scientific literacy course enhance students' sophistication with respect to personal epistemologies, open-minded thinking, and decision-making skills? To address research question 1, the team will compare student decision-making regarding issues in which many students are personal stakeholders to their decision-making regarding issues in which most students have distant relevance. To address research question 2, the researchers will compare student outcomes with and without the metacognitive and reasoning guides integrated into the science literacy course. Cognitive and emotional constructs will be measured using established instruments. Throughout the process of conducting the research, the project team will be mentored by Dr. Gale Sinatra, a researcher at the University of Southern California with expertise in educational psychology and controversial socioscientific issues. The project team will have frequent virtual and in-person meetings with the mentor to discuss targeted readings as well as progress and plans for the research project. The PI will also attend professional conferences and complete the Advanced Cognitive Psychology in Education course at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL) to deepen her theoretical understanding of educational psychology. Ultimately, the project team's refined approach to teaching the scientific literary course, including the metacognitive and reasoning guides and other resources they will develop, are expected to be useful for a broad range of other STEM courses. The PI will share what she has learned from her research and professional development experiences via venues such as the UNL's state-wide Science Literacy Initiative and the Multistate Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy and Water Education. The mentor and a three-member advisory board of experts in student reasoning and critical thinking regarding socioscientific issues will assess the success of the project and support the PI in creating a five-year future research plan.This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR BCSER) program, which is designed to build individuals' capacity to carry out high quality fundamental STEM education research in the core areas of STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.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.