RCN-UBE Incubator: Incorporating Online Biological Data and Data Science into Undergraduate Education in Alaska

在线生物数据的可用性在过去十年中飞速发展，其中大部分最初由公共资源资助，提供了丰富的气候、环境和生态信息。这些数据集可以成为培养生物学学生的宝贵资源，因为在未来，定量技能和操作、分析和解释数据的能力将变得越来越重要。然而，数据存储库目前没有被大学生和教育工作者充分利用，因为访问和操作数据对非专业人员来说可能是一个挑战。对于生物学家和生物学专业的学生来说，没有哪个地方的环境数据比阿拉斯加更有价值了，那里的气候和生态系统正在以前所未有的速度变化，居民们已经亲身经历了气候变化及其对基础设施和生存的影响。阿拉斯加大学（University of Alaska）的校园里有很大比例的农村和土著学生；传统上在获得本科学位方面存在平等差距的人口，部分原因与进入大学的实际机会有限有关。在与农村和阿拉斯加土著学生相关的背景下，方便访问在线数据库的教育工具有可能通过鼓励探究、提高定量技能和鼓励终身使用公开可用数据作为了解自然世界的一种方式来丰富教育成果。该项目的目标是通过开发专注于该州不断变化的环境的在线教育工具，提高阿拉斯加生物学本科生的定量技能；这个话题与阿拉斯加服务不足的学生群体有关。一个由本科生物学讲师、科学家和数据提供者组成的网络将开发包含在线、公开可用数据源的教育模块。模块将包括学习目标、数据访问说明、练习和建议的扩展。该网络以阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学（UAF）校园为中心，将把阿拉斯加各机构的大学教师与北极长期生态研究（LTER）、Bonanza Creek（北方）LTER、国家生态观测网络（NEON）、合作收集管理计划ARCTOS和其他数据提供者的代表联系起来。通过共同努力，网络参与者将设计、创建和分发以阿拉斯加气候、永久冻土融化、森林动态和动植物种群为重点的在线教育材料，以帮助从非专业到高年级的本科生进行探究和学习。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学理事会资助，作为应对《本科生物学教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》（http://visionandchange/finalreport/）所提出的挑战的一部分。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The availability of online biological data has skyrocketed during the past decade, much of it originally funded from public sources, providing a wealth of information on climate, environment, and ecology. These data sets could be a valuable resource for preparing biology students for a future in which quantitative skills and the ability to manipulate, analyze, and interpret data will be increasingly important. However, data repositories are currently underused by undergraduates and educators because accessing and manipulating the data can be challenging for non-specialists. Nowhere is the value of environmental data for biologists and biology students higher than in Alaska, where climate and ecosystems are changing at an unprecedented rate and residents have experienced climate change and its effects on infrastructure and subsistence first-hand. University of Alaska campuses serve a high proportion of rural and Indigenous students; populations that have traditionally experienced equity gaps in undergraduate degree attainment, related in part to limited physical access to the university. Educational tools that facilitate access to online data repositories, placed within a context relevant to rural and Alaska Native students, have the potential to enrich educational outcomes by encouraging inquiry, improving quantitative skills, and encouraging the life-long use of publicly available data as a way to understand the natural world. The goal of this project is to enhance the quantitative skills of undergraduate biology students in Alaska by developing online educational tools focused on the state’s changing environment; a topic relevant to Alaska’s underserved student populations. A network of undergraduate biology instructors, scientists, and data providers will develop educational modules that incorporate online, publicly-available data sources. Modules will include learning objectives, instructions for data access, exercises, and suggested extensions. Centered at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) campus, the network will link university faculty from institutions across Alaska with representatives of the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (LTER), Bonanza Creek (boreal) LTER, National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the collaborative collections management program ARCTOS, and other data providers. Working together, network participants will design, create, and distribute online educational materials focused on Alaskan climate, permafrost thaw, forest dynamics, and animal and plant populations in order to assist undergraduate inquiry and learning at levels from non-majors to seniors. This project is funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, as part of 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.