Building a Sustainable Community College CURE Program

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。该项目将通过教师团队的方式为约翰逊县社区学院（JCCC）的学生开发基于课程的本科研究经验（CUREs），以服务于国家利益，旨在在两年制大学中创造一种研究文化。CUREs为学生提供了参与科学研究和传播结果的机会，这些结果可能会引起广大科学家，研究人员以及最终公众的兴趣。项目团队将为STEM学科（包括天文学、细胞和微生物学、化学、环境科学、地质学、园艺学、人类生物学、有机生物学和物理学）的学生开发和支持CUREs。一种提高学生对研究的更深层次认识的发展方法将指导与科学研究项目所提供的课程顺序相一致的治疗方法的创造和增强。该项目将利用和调查教师专业发展、教师学习社区和制度变革框架的力量，使教师参与社区学院不断变化的优先事项，以教育和培训国家未来的科学家和技术人员。在JCCC， CUREs将成为科学研究项目的常规要求的组成部分。在目前专业发展工作的基础上，这些治疗也将成为教师团队方法的基石，以促进制度变革，并维持JCCC的治疗。该项目将解决在社区大学实施治愈的常见障碍，因为治愈的设计是通过创建一种将教学、学习与研究相结合的机构文化，以及对机构预期结果的强有力的项目评估。教师团队将开发、试点和修订课程，以确保当前和未来的教师有资源和支持来解决潜在的障碍。在制度变革框架的基础上，项目团队将调查治愈的实施，并创建一个在社区大学维持治愈的模型。该框架的重点和基础是(a)建立机构问责制，(b)建立战略伙伴关系，以及(c)通过利用课程扩大cure。此外，这项工作还借鉴了一个已建立的教师学习社区目前的工作，该社区正在促进社区大学一级基于STEM学科的教育研究。一项由有针对性的治愈方法调查支持的混合方法评估研究将产生与成功治愈和教学文化转变相关的关键因素的知识。为了传播这种方法和资源，项目团队将为该机构的教师和在中西部大学任教的科学教师举办两次研讨会和一次会议。在治愈方面具有专业知识的演讲者、教师和社区大学管理人员将介绍和讨论治愈，重点关注在社区大学实施这些方法的机遇和挑战。美国国家科学基金会关于在两年制高等教育机构推进本科STEM教育的创新和影响的项目描述支持在两年制大学推进STEM教育计划的项目。该项目描述促进了两年制大学本科STEM教育的创新和循证实践。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 award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project will serve the national interest by developing course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for students attending Johnson County Community College (JCCC) through a faculty-team approach aimed at creating a culture of research at a two-year college. CUREs provide opportunities for students to participate in scientific research and the dissemination of results that have the potential to be of interest to a broad community of scientists, researchers, and ultimately the public. The project team will develop and support CUREs for students across STEM disciplines including astronomy, cell and microbiology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, horticulture, human biology, organismal biology, and physics). A developmental approach to enhance students’ deeper knowledge of research will guide the creation and enhancement of CUREs that are aligned with the sequence of courses offered in the programs of study in science. The project will leverage and investigate the power of faculty professional development, faculty learning communities, and an institutional change framework to engage faculty in the ever-changing priorities of community colleges in their mission to educate and train the nation’s future scientists and technicians. At JCCC, CUREs will become components of the regular requirements for the programs of study in the sciences. Building on current work in professional development, the CUREs will also become the cornerstone of a faculty-team approach to institutional change and to sustaining CUREs at JCCC. This project will address common barriers to the implementation of CUREs at community colleges as the CUREs are designed by creating an institutional culture that combines teaching and learning with research and a robust program assessment of expected outcomes at the institution. Faculty teams will develop, pilot, and revise curriculum to ensure that current and future faculty have resources and support to tackle potential barriers. Based on an institutional change framework, the project team will investigate the implementation of CUREs and create a model for sustaining CUREs at community colleges. The framework focuses and builds on (a) creating institutional accountability, (b) creating strategic partnerships, and (c) expanding CUREs by leveraging the curriculum. In addition, the effort draws on current work by an established faculty learning community that is fostering STEM discipline-based education research at the community college level. A mixed methods evaluation study supported by a targeted investigation of CUREs will generate knowledge about critical factors associated with successful CUREs and a shift in the culture of teaching and learning. To disseminate the approach and resources, the project team will host two workshops and a conference for faculty at the institution and science faculty who are teaching at colleges in the Midwest. Speakers with expertise in CUREs, faculty, and community college administrators will present and discuss CUREs, focusing on opportunities and challenges associated with implementing them at community colleges. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The project description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges.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.