Ecological Sciences Education for All: Engaging Non-science Majors, Connecting Curriculum and Current events, Incorporating Cultural Relevance, and Advancing Systemic Change

该奖项将支持第七届生命发现生物学教育大会，重点是全民生态科学。会议将由美国生态学会（ESA），美国植物学会和进化研究学会共同组织。 该项目将支持来自社区学院、主要是本科院校和少数民族服务机构的50名参与者以及本科生和副高中生物教师参加。 会议将帮助与会者了解实用的想法和创新，可以随时应用于教室，实验室和现场。 它还将促进对多层次生态科学教育有效改进的理解。总体目标是将科学和非科学专业的生物学教育置于社会人口，经济和环境变化的背景下。在这样做的过程中，它试图帮助解决可能发生在课堂上的对科学的矛盾心理或敌意。会议将扩大教育改革的努力，十年前在本科生物学教育的愿景和变化推动，并强调最近的进展，通过欧空局的四维生态教育框架提供一个有凝聚力的和现代的方法来生态教育。 它将鼓励在任何发展阶段分享教学理念，以获得建设性的同行反馈，从而为教育实践的创新提供专业环境。它还将为与会者提供一个机会，通过会后教师辅导网络加入实践社区，将会议获得的想法纳入课堂。 与会者的评价将评估会议的三个关键方面。首先是与会者认为他们的目标在参加会议时达到的程度。第二个问题是专题轨道的帮助程度，以及与会者是否找到了结合会议主题的实用教学思路和策略。第三是参与者能够发展新合作的程度。组织会议的三个专业协会和会议合作者将在其多个影响领域提升会议的主题。 在生物学课堂上增加使用更有效、更包容的教学实践，可以推动国家走向多样化和生态素养的劳动力和公民的愿景，他们能够为科学研究、管理、该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估来支持。影响审查标准。

This award will support the 7th Life Discovery Conference on biology education, with a focus on Ecological Sciences for All. The Conference will be co-organized by the Ecological Society of America (ESA), the Botanical Society of America, and the Society for the Study of Evolution. The project will support attendance of 50 participants from community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, and minority-serving institutions, as well as undergraduate preservice high school biology teachers. The Conference will help participants learn about practical ideas and innovations that can be readily applied in classrooms, laboratories, and field sites. It will also advance understanding of effective improvements in ecological sciences education at multiple levels. The overall goal is to place the biology education of science and non-science majors into the context of demographic, economic, and environmental changes in society. In doing so, it seeks to help to address ambivalence or hostility toward science that may occur in the classroom. The conference will extend education reform efforts propelled by Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education a decade ago and highlight recent advances to provide a cohesive and modern approach to ecology education through ESA’s Four-Dimensional Ecology Education framework. It will encourage the sharing of teaching ideas at any stage of development for constructive peer feedback, thus providing a professional environment for innovation in education practice. It will also offer participants an opportunity to join a community of practice through the post-conference Faculty Mentoring Network to incorporate ideas gained from the conference into the classroom. Participant evaluations will assess three key aspects of the conference. First is the degree to which participants felt their goals were met in attending the conference. Second is how helpful the thematic tracks were and if participants found practical teaching ideas and strategies to incorporate the themes of the conference. Third is the degree to which participants can develop new collaborations. The three professional societies organizing the conference and conference collaborators will elevate the themes of the conference throughout their multiple fields of influence. Increasing the used of more effective, inclusive teaching practices in biology classrooms can advance the nation toward the vision of a diverse and ecologically literate workforce and citizenry capable of contributing to the scientific study, management, and informed dialogue about our changing ecological systems.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.