RCN-UBE Incubator: Diversifying and integrating marine education at field stations along a latitudinal gradient

在实地工作站的实践学习具有变革性，对学生的知识和长期参与科学具有积极的成果。抽象的概念被带到生活中的领域，因为自然世界激发学生的好奇心，鼓励积极参与，并建立团队友爱。出于这些原因和更多的原因，实施本科生物学教育改革的建议（例如，“整合核心概念”，“注重以学生为中心的学习”; AAAS 2011）通过实地课程和研究来体现。尽管它们被证明是有益的，但在本科生物学教育中进行实地考察的机会正在减少。鉴于人类对生态系统的影响迅速增加，人与自然之间的脱节日益严重，这一点令人担忧。为了解决这一“自然赤字”，多样化和综合海洋教育站（DIMES）网络将从事科学家和学习者在海洋站沿着北美西海岸创建一个统一的课程，文件在生物多样性的变化，同时结合实地考察和计算扫盲本科教育。通过连接来自各种学术机构的参与者，DIMES网络将使海洋站所服务的本科生受众多样化。通过整合北美西部的实地课程，教育工作者将在生物学快速变化的时代让学生参与紧迫的科学问题。该网络将利用参与海洋实验室的现有本科教学，并将其扩展到缺乏体验式学习的新生。实地课程共享以当地自然历史和体验式学习为中心的共同理念，但这些知识很少以明确的定量方式置于更广泛的背景下-这是全球人类影响时代的一个缺点。拟议的统一实地课程将把传统的基于地点的方法纳入地理学框架，开发创新模块，将整个网络的数据联合收割机结合起来，以解决更大的时空尺度上的问题。通过将环境变化、地理学和自然历史明确联系起来，DIMES网络将保持这些站点提供的课程的相关性，并将模块输出到其他机构。此外，该网络将发展来自不同机构的教育工作者的伙伴关系，这些机构从R1到社区大学，在海岸访问方面各不相同，以扩大海洋站的覆盖范围。这一教员网络将开发可在课堂上使用的课程和评估工具，其实地活动时间各不相同，目的是确定各种机制，以尽量缩小有海岸通道和无海岸通道的学生之间假定的学习差距，这一项目由生物科学局、生物基础设施司和教育和人力资源局联合资助，本科生教育部，作为他们努力解决在本科生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/）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Hands-on learning at field stations is transformative and has positive outcomes on student's knowledge and long-term engagement with science. Abstract concepts are brought to life in the field because the natural world stimulates students’ curiosity, encourages active participation, and builds team camaraderie. For these reasons and more, the recommendations for implementing change in undergraduate biology education (e.g., ‘integrating core concepts’, ‘focus on student-centered learning’; AAAS 2011) are exemplified by field coursework and research. Despite their proven benefits, opportunities for fieldwork in undergraduate biology education are waning. This is alarming in light of rapidly increasing human impacts on ecosystems, and the growing disconnect between people and nature. To address this ‘nature deficit’, the Diversify and Integrate Marine Education at Stations (DIMES) network will engage scientists and learners at marine stations along the west coast of the North America to create a unified curriculum that documents change in biodiversity while combining fieldwork and computational literacy in undergraduate education. By connecting participants from a variety of academic institutions, the DIMES network will diversify the undergraduate audience served by marine stations. By integrating a field curriculum across western North America, educators will engage students with pressing scientific questions in an age of rapid biological change. This network will leverage the existing undergraduate teaching at participating marine laboratories and expand their reach to new students who lack access to experiential learning.Field courses share a common philosophy centered on local natural history and experiential learning, but this knowledge is rarely placed within a broader context in an explicit, quantitative manner – a shortcoming in an era of global human impacts. The proposed unified field curriculum will integrate the traditional place-based approach within a biogeographic framework by developing innovative modules that combine data across the network to address questions at larger spatial and temporal scales. By linking explicitly environmental change, biogeography, and natural history, the DIMES network will maintain the relevance of curricula offered at these stations and export the modules to other institutions. Moreover, the network will develop a partnership of educators from diverse institutions that span R1 to community college, and that vary in their shore access, to expand the reach of marine stations beyond their walls. This network of instructors will develop curricula and assessment tools that can be implemented in classrooms with varying levels of field time, with the goal of identifying mechanisms to minimize the hypothesized learning gap between students with and without shore access.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.