An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Student Engagement in Scientific Practices in Undergraduate Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Laboratory Courses

该项目旨在通过检查学生在实验室课程中的学习情况来服务于本科STEM教育的国家利益。许多学生同时报名参加多个学科的实验室入门课程。因此，有必要对学生在这类课程中如何体验科学实践进行跨学科调查。该项目侧重于K-12教育框架中描述的并嵌入下一代科学标准中的八项科学实践。科学实践很重要，因为它们是科学发现的基础，本质上是跨学科的，适用于高等教育中的各种科学背景。这个项目将调查生物、化学和物理的实验室入门课程中的科学实践的异同。它将集中于学生、教职员工和助教如何重视被认为更技术性(如分析数据)或更具社会性(如交流信息)的科学实践。这个项目将决定学生是否以及如何参与生物、化学和物理实验室课程的具体科学实践，以及如何鼓励和奖励这种参与。这个项目的发现将扩大目前对科学入门课程中科学实践的理解。通过这样做，这项工作将为使这些实验室课程更加公平和支持更多多样化的学习者奠定基础。这个跨学科项目的目标是探索在一个主要是本科院校的生物、化学和物理实验室入门课程中的科学实践的整合和性别划分，使用比较案例研究设计。该项目将融合三个理论镜头：K-12科学教育框架、负责任的学科知识(ADK)和技术-社会二元论(TDS)。这三个镜头体现了什么是科学实践(框架)，什么是学生参与实践的责任(ADK)，以及被认为更具技术性/男性化而不是更具社会性/女性化的科学实践的性别划分(TDS)。比较案例研究方法将能够对来自各种来源的数据进行批判性分析，包括调查、访谈、课堂观察和人工制品。生物、化学和物理实验室课程的案例研究将提供关于如何评价科学实践的结构和人际公平的洞察力，以及检查科学实践是如何以及由谁跨学科实施的。结构性观点包括部门和教师学习目标所针对的实践，以及如何评估这些实践。人际视角包括教师和助教促进学生参与科学实践的方式，以及学生如何参与其中。这项工作将有助于填补以学科为基础的教育研究文献中的一个重大空白，即本科生缺乏跨越生物、化学和物理的跨学科研究。此外，该项目将深入了解实验室课程中的结构和人际机制如何有助于人们认为某些科学学科比其他学科更社交化/女性化或技术化/男性化。最后，这项工作的发现将为支持教职员工和其他教师努力改善他们在学生科学生涯早期阶段的互动、指导和指导提供指导。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。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。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 in undergraduate STEM education by examining student learning in laboratory courses. Many students enroll in introductory laboratory courses for multiple disciplines at the same time. As a result, there is a need for interdisciplinary investigation into how students experience scientific practices in such courses. This project focuses on the eight scientific practices described in the Framework for K-12 Education and embedded in the Next Generation Science Standards. Scientific practices are important because they are fundamental to scientific discovery, inherently interdisciplinary, and applicable across scientific contexts in higher education. This project will investigate similarities and differences in the scientific practices incorporated into introductory laboratory courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. It will focus on how students, staff, faculty, and teaching assistants value scientific practices that are perceived as more technical (such as analyzing data) or more social (such as communicating information). This project will determine whether and how students engage with specific scientific practices in biology, chemistry, and physics laboratory courses and how that engagement is encouraged and rewarded. The findings from this project will expand current understanding of scientific practices in introductory science courses. In doing so, this work will lay a foundation for making these laboratory courses more equitable and supportive of a greater diversity of learners. The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to explore the incorporation and gendering of scientific practices in introductory biology, chemistry, and physics lab courses at a primarily undergraduate institution using a comparative case study research design. This project will blend three theoretical lenses: the Framework for K-12 Science Education, accountable disciplinary knowledge (ADK), and technical-social dualism (TDS). These three lenses operationalize what counts as a scientific practice (the Framework), what it means for students to be accountable for engaging in a practice (ADK), and the gendering of scientific practices that are perceived to be more technical/masculine versus more social/feminine (TDS). The comparative case study approach will enable critical analyses of data from a variety of sources, including surveys, interviews, and classroom observations and artifacts. Case studies of biology, chemistry, and physics lab courses will provide insight into structural and interpersonal equity with regard to how scientific practices are valued, as well as examine how and by whom scientific practices are enacted across disciplines. Structural perspectives include those practices that are targeted by departmental and instructor learning goals, as well how those practices are assessed. Interpersonal perspectives include the ways that instructors and teaching assistants facilitate student engagement in scientific practices, and how students participate in them. This work will help to fill a significant gap in the discipline-based education research literature, namely the lack of interdisciplinary studies across biology, chemistry, and physics at the undergraduate level. Further, this project will provide insight into how structural and interpersonal mechanisms in laboratory courses may contribute to perceptions of some scientific disciplines as more social/feminine or technical/masculine than others. Finally, the findings from this work will provide guidance to support faculty, staff, and other instructors in their efforts to improve their interactions, instruction, and mentorship of students in the early stages of their science careers. 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.