Fostering Ideological Awareness in the Context of Postsecondary Biology through Open-source Course Modules

这个项目旨在通过开发和测试一个将意识形态意识模块整合到现有科学内容中的课程来服务于国家利益——最初的重点是生物学入门。意识形态意识是对影响当代和历史科学的偏见、刻板印象和假设的理解。科学常常被认为是一门纯粹客观的学科，远离社会问题。然而，通过将社会和伦理考虑纳入生物学课程，我们强调了个别科学家和意识形态的关键不容置疑的假设，这些假设可能会影响研究。关于这些话题的讨论的缺失传达了生物学是客观和开明的愿景；然而，这门学科和其他学科一样，也会受到人类偏见的影响。思想意识的培养使学生能够挑战主流的世界观和现状。本研究将评估教材中纳入意识形态意识如何影响学生的科学学习和经验，以及如何使用科学。在这个项目中开发和测试的教材将免费提供给STEM教育界，用于强调思想意识的生物课堂。这项以学科为基础的教育研究将评估引入内容模块的影响，这些内容模块明确关注多所院校的本科生的思想意识。项目人员将设计新的教材，论述不道德的实验及其与人权演变的关系；生物科学如何塑造社会对身份的看法；以及由生物学的历史信念形成的持续的社会偏见。这项研究将涉及三个研究目标。首先，以全国范围内的生物教师为样本，探讨课堂上思想意识教学的障碍和教学方法。其次是对教师进行课前/课后半结构化访谈，以了解他们对障碍、舒适和教学方法的看法，以了解模块如何影响教师在课堂上讨论意识形态意识的方式。第三是评估将注重意识形态意识的模块纳入生物课程如何影响学生的科学体验（即认知、情感和社会参与）；科学学习（即STEM职业的留存指标）；学习运用科学（即情感能力）。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。通过其参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing and testing a curriculum that integrates ideological awareness modules into existing science content – with an initial focus on introductory biology. Ideological awareness is an understanding of biases, stereotypes, and assumptions that shape contemporary and historical science. Science is often presented as a purely objective discipline, far removed from societal issues. However, by contextualizing societal and ethical considerations into biology curricula, we highlight critical unquestioned assumptions of individual scientists and ideologies that can bias research. The absence of discussions on these topics communicates a vision of biology as objective and enlightened; however, the discipline is subject to the same human biases as any other entity. Teaching ideological awareness enables students to challenge prevailing worldviews and the status quo. This research will evaluate how the inclusion of ideological awareness in instructional materials affects student learning and experiences in science, as well as how to use science. Teaching materials developed and tested in this project will be freely available to the STEM education community for use in biology classrooms that highlight ideological awareness.This discipline-based education research study will evaluate the impact of introducing content modules with an explicit focus on ideological awareness to undergraduate students across multiple institutions. Project personnel will design new teaching materials that address unethical experimentation and its relation to human rights evolution; how biological science shapes societal views on identities; and persisting societal biases shaped by historical beliefs in biology. The study will address three research aims. First is to research a national sample of biology instructors to explore perceived barriers to ideological awareness instruction in class and pedagogical approaches to teaching ideological awareness. Second is to conduct pre/post-course semi-structured interviews with instructors to address their perceptions of barriers, comfort, and pedagogical approaches to understand how modules impact how instructors discuss ideological awareness in their classroom. Third is to assess how incorporating modules focused on ideological awareness into biology courses affects student experiences in science (i.e., cognitive, emotional, and social engagement); learning in science (i.e., indicators of retention in STEM careers); and learning to use science (i.e., emotional competency). The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its 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.