Building Capacity to Develop a Collaborative Research Agenda on Project-Based Learning as a Mechanism for Program and Institutional Transformation

该项目旨在通过建设STEM社区的能力来服务于国家利益，以设计和进行严格的研究，以调查以问题为基础的学习(PBL)。PBL是一种教育方法和教学实践，学生通过解决复杂的、现实的问题来学习。PBL在高等教育中的推广超过了对这种体验式学习方式的研究。作为回应，该项目旨在发展和培养STEM社区调查PBL的研究能力。该项目将解决PBL研究中的一个重大空白：大多数关于PBL的研究都集中在它在课程层面上的影响。相反，该项目将把重点放在PBL上，将其作为转变STEM项目和高等教育机构的一种机制。这一重点利用了项目团队在教师专业发展方面的专业知识和经验，包括在STEM中促进PBL的传播。该项目预计将有助于检验PBL作为一种机制在项目和机构层面上转变本科生STEM教育的有效性。该项目认识到需要调查的研究课题和需要检验的假设多种多样，该项目旨在通过使用不同的研究方法，从准实验和分析研究到现象学和多地点案例研究，建设合作机构从事研究的能力。活动将包括参加专业学习社区，通过参加为期一学期的培训、自动人种学、系统研究综合/元人种学，以及应用发展性评估来评估创新和使用(巴顿，2010年)。自我反思和自动人种志作为记录和调查专门知识发展的一种手段，以现象学方法为基础进行研究和知识生成。由万花筒项目管理的STEM Central将提供一个易于访问的网站，用于共享项目交付成果，包括PBL文献回顾、实施PBL的机构的普查/现场扫描、关于组织变革理论的MOOC和逻辑模型。它还将支持在实施和研究PBL的机构之间建立一个全国性的实践社区。合作机构包括伍斯特理工学院、德克萨斯农工大学、贝尔维尤学院和美国学院和大学协会。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持高等教育机构和学科社区转变和改进STEM教育的努力。该奖项反映了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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by building the capacity of the STEM community to design and conduct rigorous research studies to investigate Problem-Based Learning (PBL). PBL is an educational approach and instructional practice in which students learn by solving a complex, real world problem. The propagation of PBL in higher education outpaces research on this experiential learning approach. In response, this project aims to develop and foster the research capacity of the STEM community to investigate PBL. The project will address a significant gap in the research on PBL: most research on PBL has focused at its impacts at the course level. This project will instead focus on PBL as a mechanism to transform STEM programs and higher education institutions. This focus draws on the project team’s expertise and experience in faculty professional development, including in fostering the propagation of PBL in STEM. The project is expected to contribute to examination of the efficacy of PBL as a mechanism for transforming undergraduate STEM education at the program and institutional levels.Cognizant that there are a multitude and variety of research topics to investigate and hypotheses to test, this project aims to build the capacity of partner institutions to engage in research through the use of different research methods, from quasi-experimental and analytic studies to phenomenological and multi-site case studies. Activities will include participation in professional learning communities augmented by engagement in semester-long training, auto-ethnography, systematic research syntheses/meta-ethnography, and the application of developmental evaluation for assessing innovation and use (Patton, 2010). Self-reflection and auto-ethnography, as a means to document and investigate the development of expertise, is grounded in a phenomenological approach to research and knowledge generation. STEM Central, administered by Project Kaleidoscope, will provide an easily accessible site for sharing project deliverables including a PBL literature review, a census/field scan of institutions implementing PBL, MOOCs on organizational change theories, and logic models. It will also support development of a national community of practice among institutions implementing and researching PBL. The collaborating institutions include Worcester Poly Technic, Texas A&M University, Bellevue College, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.