Biology Meets Engineering: Expanding Transdisciplinary STEM Education

辛辛那提大学将建立一个独特的跨学科学习模式，其灵感来自于生物学和机器人技术的交叉创新。该项目将把辛辛那提大学的跨学科创新中心扩展到三个州（俄亥俄州、肯塔基州和印第安纳州）的学生群体，这将使学生参与从两所当地高中和一个大学相关实习地点增加到辛辛那提大学、鲍灵格林州立大学、阿克伦大学和俄亥俄大学的10所学校和4个实习地点。每个州的规模扩大将把跨学科的教学和学习扩展到不同的学生和教师群体，包括农村和城市中代表性不足和服务不足的人群，以及全州教育系统内的新地区。现代STEM劳动力需要多样化的、受过交叉训练的专业人员，他们既具有学科优势，又有能力解决复杂的科学问题。为了满足科技工作者的需要，该项目将教育学生和培训教师，使他们掌握连接生物学、技术和工程学科的概念，利用创新的技术进步展示科学与工程之间的相互联系。参与的高中学生将学习生物有机体的行为，并学习如何将动物行为应用到他们自己的自主机器人（动物-机器人传感运动系统）的设计中。实习生将与本科生和研究生研究人员以及教师导师一起积极参与正在进行的生物学和/或工程实验室的研究，在那里他们将参与实验的设计和执行以及收集、管理和分析收集到的数据。该项目将学生和教师与当地相关的科学、工程和技术行业合作伙伴联系起来，了解如何应用科学和工程来解决关键问题，造福社会。与此同时，该项目将创建从学校到大学的实习网站，将学生获得的跨学科知识与现实世界的经验联系起来。项目活动将为学生提供概念知识，实践研究技能，以及对生物科学和机器人行业职业道路的认识。随着跨州课程的引入，研究人员将测试跨州干预的稳健性和可重复性，因为各州的教育标准不同。研究人员将研究跨学科课程和研究实习对学生在STEM中的学习、兴趣和自我效能感的影响，以及教师如何根据当地学校的情况实施跨学科课程。研究者将研究，(1)通过研究性实习，跨学科学习和现实应用对学生科学探究实践的影响是什么？(2)跨学科学习和现实应用对学生STEM兴趣和自我效能感的影响是什么？(3)教师在如何通过跨学科课程进行教学方面做出了哪些改变，以适应当地学校的环境？研究人员将使用书面科学探究评估和学生STEM兴趣和自我效能的调查，通过多层次设计来记录跨学科课程对学生成绩的影响，以解释教师、教室和学校之间的差异。此外，该项目将提供一个规模模型，说明如何通过文化响应式教学培养科学、技术和工程实践，以及教师如何学习如何实施跨学科学习的证据。该项目将通过记录跨学科学习如何影响学生对STEM的兴趣和自我效能感，为未来干预措施的设计提供信息，以融入更多跨学科实践的特征，从而产生更广泛的影响。研究结果将影响跨学科教育研究和教师实践、教师准备和专业发展领域的实践。除了其直接影响之外，该项目还扩展、扩展并实施了一系列跨学科思维和解决问题的经验，为学生在生物、技术和工程等快速兴起的跨学科领域的现代STEM职业做好准备。跨州课程的研究将测试跨州创新的稳健性和可复制性，因为各州的教育标准不同。这个扩展、扩展和迭代（SEI）项目由学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持建立对实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解，有助于增加学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣。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 University of Cincinnati will scale a unique model for transdisciplinary learning inspired by cross-innovation in both biology and robotics. The project will expand the University of Cincinnati’s transdisciplinary innovation hub to student populations across three states (Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana), which will increase student participation from two local high schools and one University-associated internship site to 10 schools and four internship sites at the University of Cincinnati, Bowling Green State University, University of Akron, and Ohio University. Scaling within each state will extend transdisciplinary instruction and learning to different student and teacher populations both rural and urban with underrepresented and underserved populations, and to new regions within a state-wide educational system. The modern STEM workforce needs diverse, cross-trained professionals with both strength in their discipline and the ability to address complex scientific problems. To meet the needs of the scientific and technological workforce, the project will educate students and train teachers in concepts that bridge biology, technology, and engineering disciplines, demonstrating the interrelatedness between science and engineering using innovative technological advances. Participating high school students will study the behavior of biological organisms and learn how to apply animal behavior to the design of their own autonomous robots (animal-robot sensorimotor systems). Student interns will work with near-peer undergraduate and graduate student researchers and faculty mentors to actively engage in ongoing research in biology and/or engineering laboratories where they will participate in the design and execution of experiments and the collection, management, and analysis of collected data. The project connects students and teachers with locally-relevant science, engineering, and technology industry partners to see how science and engineering are applied to solve critical problems for the benefit of society. In parallel, the project will create school-to-university internship sites that connect the transdisciplinary knowledge gained by students with real-world experience. Project activities will provide students with conceptual knowledge, practical research skills, and awareness of career pathways in the biological sciences and robotics industries. With the introduction of the curriculum across states, researchers will test the robustness and replication of the intervention across state boundaries that differ in their educational standards. Researchers will study the impacts of the transdisciplinary curriculum and research internships on students’ learning, interest, and self-efficacy in STEM, and teachers’ implementation of a transdisciplinary curriculum in ways that are responsive to local school contexts. Investigators will study, (1) What is the impact of transdisciplinary learning and real-world application via research internships on students’ scientific inquiry practices?, (2) What is the impact of transdisciplinary learning and real-world application on students’ interest and self-efficacy in STEM?, and (3) What changes do teachers make in how they teach through a transdisciplinary curriculum in ways that are responsive to their local school contexts? Researchers will use written science inquiry assessments and surveys of students’ STEM interest and self-efficacy to document the impact of the transdisciplinary curriculum on student outcomes through a multilevel design to account for variation among teachers, classrooms, and schools. Additionally, the project will provide a scaled model of how science, technology, and engineering practices can be cultivated through culturally responsive teaching, and evidence of how teachers learn how to implement transdisciplinary learning. This project will have broader impacts by documenting how transdisciplinary learning can impact students’ interest and self-efficacy in STEM, informing the design of future interventions to incorporate more features of transdisciplinary practice. Findings will impact transdisciplinary education research and practice in areas of teacher practice, teacher preparation, and professional development. Beyond its immediate impacts, the project scales, extends, and implements a set of experiences in transdisciplinary thought and problem solving to prepare students for modern STEM careers in rapidly emerging transdisciplinary areas of biology, technology, and engineering. The study of the curriculum across states will test the robustness and replication of the innovation across state boundaries that differ in their educational standards. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating (SEI) project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.