Investigating the Differential Impacts of Collaborative Learning Environments on At-Risk Students in General Chemistry Courses

在大规模招生的本科科学课程中，来自历史上被排除在外的人口群体的学生的失败率不成比例地高。在各科学学科中，人们对合作活动的潜力达成了强烈的共识，以最大限度地减少结果差异。然而，我们并不完全了解这些环境的具体特征，或者它们是如何做到这一点的。该项目旨在通过调查大学普通化学教学中可能导致学生成绩不平等的方面来服务于国家利益。该项目小组将确定协作学习环境的特点，独特的影响学生的成功最大的失败风险在一个大招生普通化学课程。这项工作的调查结果将为本科科学教育以公平为导向的课程资源的开发和传播提供信息。协作学习环境的设计符合社会文化理论的原则。学生在解决问题和向同龄人解释他们的想法时理解化学思想。然而，这些意义建构事件发生的协作学习环境通常是为大多数成功的学生设计的，而最有失败风险的学生的课程成果的改善在很大程度上是巧合。因此，目前尚不清楚这些教育环境的具体特点是什么、如何或为什么可以消除学生成绩的不平等。这个项目将调查斯托尼布鲁克大学第一学期普通化学合作学习环境的各个方面，这些方面有助于记录学生成功率的不平等。为了实现这一目标，项目组将记录学生在普通化学课堂活动中的协作。录音，然后进行分析，以确定活动设计和教师促进方法对学生话语的两个样本的普通化学学生的影响。这两个样本将从大多数学生和根据即将到来的数学能力预测失败率较高的学生中抽取。这些数据将辅以学习者访谈，以在分析过程中捕捉学生的声音和观点。项目的成功与否将通过外部咨询委员会的提问和审查周期进行评估。这项工作的结果将为开发和传播以公平为导向的课程资源提供信息，包括为本科生教师和助教提供的教学活动和便利指南。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF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。

Failure rates for students from historically-excluded demographic groups are disproportionately high in large-enrollment undergraduate science courses. Across scientific disciplines, there is strong consensus about the potential for collaborative activities to minimize outcome differences. However, we do not fully understand the specific features of these environments that do so or how they do so. This project seeks to serve the national interest by investigating aspects of college general chemistry instruction that may contribute to inequalities in student outcomes. The project team will identify features of collaborative learning environments that uniquely impact the success of students most at risk of failure in a large-enrollment general chemistry course. Findings from this work will inform the development and dissemination of equity-oriented curricular resources for undergraduate science education. The design of collaborative learning environments is aligned with tenets of Sociocultural Theory. Students make sense of chemical ideas when solving problems and explaining their thinking to their peers. However, the collaborative learning environments in which these sensemaking events occur are typically designed for the majority population of successful students and improvements in course outcomes for students most at risk of failure are largely coincidental. As a result, it is not clear what, how, or why specific features of these educational settings may combat inequities in student outcomes. This project will investigate aspects of collaborative learning environments in first-semester general chemistry at Stony Brook University that contribute to documented inequities in student success rates. To accomplish this goal, the project team will record students working collaboratively on general chemistry classroom activities. The recordings will then be analyzed to determine the impacts of activity design and instructor facilitation approaches on student discourse for two samples of general chemistry students. The two samples will be drawn from the majority population of students and a population of students predicted to have higher rates of failure based on incoming mathematics proficiency. These data will be supplemented with learner interviews to capture students’ voices and perspectives in the analytical process. The success of the project will be evaluated through cycles of questioning and review by an external advisory board. Findings from this work will inform the development and dissemination of equity-oriented curricular resources, including instructional activities and facilitation guides for undergraduate instructors and teaching assistants. The NSF IUSE: EHR program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.