Transdisciplinary Convergence in Educational Neuroscience Doctoral Training Program

美国教育系统面临的两个重大挑战是：1)设计和提供帮助所有学生充分发挥潜力的教育；2)缩小成绩差距，这种差距对参与STEM研究领域的群体成员产生了负面影响，相对于他们在普通人群中的代表性而言。通过对学习和教学的神经生物学机制的研究，教育神经科学（EdNeuro）有望彻底改变教育。EdNeuro的方法超越了一刀切的方法，实现了个性化学习，从而充分利用了个体学习者的优势，同时也解决了他们的学习可以改进的领域。这个NSF研究培训（NRT）奖，“教育神经科学跨学科融合博士（TRANSCEND）培训计划”，将实现EdNeuro的潜力。该项目将汇集认知神经科学、教育学、工程学、计算机科学和数学等学科的跨学科研究培训，这些学科目前分散在不同的学位项目中，以改变博士培训。TRANSCEND预计将培养50名博士生，其中包括25名受资助的实习生。他们中的许多人将是神经多样性的学习者——这是一个在高等教育中相对较低的STEM研究领域参与度的群体，尤其没有得到充分认识。TRANSCEND非常强调神经多样性、团队科学以及与社区利益相关者共同创造研究和培训机会，将为不同的学员群体提供技术和可转移的专业技能，以在学术界内外的21世纪STEM劳动力中脱颖而出。TRANSCEND的统一主题包括(1)EdNeuro的创新：双向学习方法和实验室到学校的三阶段循环模型将导致实验严谨和生态有效的基于实践的研究，其发现有可能迅速转化为实践。(2)神经多样性：TRANSCEND将神经多样性学习者（例如，患有多动症、阅读障碍或自闭症谱系障碍）作为关键调查人群和受训人员。TRANSCEND将优先招聘和保留神经多样性的受训者，利用包括NSF INCLUDES合作伙伴在内的广泛合作伙伴网络。(3)团队科学：TRANSCEND在促进多样性的同时，增加了团队科学方法的深思熟虑和正式实施，以提高团队的创造力和生产力。(4)社区：该项目将通过实习、接受和提供指导，以及合作伙伴、社区利益相关者、学员家属和其他机构的教师和学生参与项目活动，培养一种支持和归属感的文化。研究生培训和研究的转变将通过EdNeuro计划的研究生证书来维持NSF资助。将广泛传播实践和策略，以供其他机构效仿TRANSCEND模式。美国国家科学基金会研究实习生（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革性的STEM研究生教育培训新模式。该项目致力于通过创新、循证、适应不断变化的劳动力和研究需求的综合培训模式，在高优先级跨学科或融合研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。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。

Two significant challenges facing the Nation's educational system are: 1) designing and delivering education that helps all students reach their full potential and 2) closing the achievement gap that negatively impacts individuals who are members of groups underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study relative to their representation in the general population. Through investigations of the neurobiological mechanisms of learning and teaching, Educational Neuroscience (EdNeuro) promises to revolutionize education. The EdNeuro approach transcends the one-size-fits-all approach and personalizes learning, thereby capitalizing on the strengths of individual learners while also addressing areas where their learning can be improved. This NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) award, "TRANSdisciplinary Convergence in Educational Neuroscience Doctoral (TRANSCEND) Training Program," will realize EdNeuro's potential. The project will bring together transdisciplinary research training in Cognitive Neuroscience, Education, Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics, currently siloed within distinct degree programs, to transform doctoral training. TRANSCEND anticipates preparing 50 Ph.D. students, including 25 funded trainees. Many of them will be neurodiverse learners — a group in higher education whose relatively low participation in STEM fields of study is particularly under-recognized. With a strong emphasis on neurodiversity, team science, and co-creation of research and training opportunities with community stakeholders, TRANSCEND will prepare diverse cohorts of trainees with the technical and transferable professional skills needed to excel in the 21st century STEM workforce within and outside of academia.TRANSCEND's unifying themes include (1) Innovation in EdNeuro: A bidirectional learning approach and a three-stage lab-to-school cyclical model will lead to experimentally rigorous and ecologically valid research grounded in practice, with the potential for its discoveries to translate to practice rapidly. (2) Neurodiversity: TRANSCEND centers neurodiverse learners (e.g., with ADHD, dyslexia, or autism spectrum disorder) both as a key investigation population and as trainees. TRANSCEND will prioritize recruitment and retention of neurodiverse trainees, capitalizing on an expansive partner network including NSF INCLUDES partners. (3) Team Science: TRANSCEND adds a deliberate and formal implementation of team science approaches while promoting diversity to enhance team creativity and productivity. (4) Community: The program will cultivate a culture of support and a sense of belonging through internships, receiving and providing mentorship, and participation of partners, community stakeholders, trainees' families, and faculty and students from other institutions in program activities. Transformations to graduate training and research will be sustained beyond NSF funding by a planned graduate certificate in EdNeuro. Practices and strategies will be disseminated widely for other institutions to follow the TRANSCEND model. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.