A CEREUS (Consortium Exchanging Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students) Approach to Assessing Ecological Responses in the Southern Appalachians to Environmental Change

评估南阿巴拉契亚地区对环境变化的生态反应的 CEREUS（本科生研究经验交流联盟）方法

• 批准号: 1525086
• 负责人: Anna Hiatt
• 金额: $ 6.76万
• 依托单位: East Tennessee State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-15 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1525086&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CEREUS; Consortium; Exchanging; Research; Experiences

Phenology, the study of seasonal biological events, tracks the effects of both year to year climate variability and long-term environmental change on both local and global ecology. It has considerable potential for serving as a base for research studies by undergraduate classes and developing cross-campus studies. Several recent studies, including the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2014), and Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education (a 2011 document representing the views of over 500 biology faculty and administrators) cite the importance of undergraduate research for retaining science majors and helping students better understand key concepts and develop crucial competencies. Four institutions, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Appalachian State University, East Tennessee State University, and Warren Wilson College, are combining forces to create common gardens and to develop modules that can guide students' research studies to address potential impacts of global change at multiple levels of the biological hierarchy, from genes to ecosystems. The cooperating institutions are unique in character, diverse in their student bodies, and located in varying climate zones. The project will contribute to our knowledge about ecological issues and will expand the ways in which institutions can combine forces to increase the STEM knowledge and competencies of their students. Environmental change issues to be investigated include monitoring effects of invasive exotic removal techniques on herbs, shrubs, vines, and trees within the areas studied (studies for lower division courses), and exploring questions about the spread of potentially invasive exotic plants, using a combination of GIS (Global Information Systems) mapping, herbarium collections, and online databases (upper division courses). The collaborating institutions will create and beta-test modules, identify and mitigate barriers to successful implementation of curricular changes, and disseminate curricular changes. The modules will have a direct impact on the learning of over 2000 undergraduates per year, including non-STEM majors. They will be developed and partially administered by undergraduate and graduate research students, and will be instrumental in developing pedagogical expertise for faculty members. The ability of modules to impart botanical knowledge while encouraging higher-order cognitive processes, advancing quantitative literacy, teaching analytical techniques, honing scientific communication skills, cultivating positive student attitudes towards plants and STEM, and improving persistence and graduation in STEM majors will be assessed using a mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative data collection). Results will begin to document the effects of global change on an understudied but important bioregion while developing a future workforce with solid STEM training. This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education, in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.

物候学是对季节性生物事件的研究，跟踪了年度气候变异性和长期环境变化对地方和全球生态学的影响。它具有丰富的潜力，可以作为本科阶层和跨校园研究的研究基础。最近的一些研究，包括总统科学技术顾问委员会（2014年），以及本科生物学教育的愿景和变化（代表500多名生物学教师和管理人员的观点）的愿景与变化，列举了本科研究对保留科学专业的重要性的重要性，并帮助学生更好地理解关键概念和发展重要的能力。四个机构，分别是北卡罗来纳大学阿什维尔大学，阿巴拉契亚州立大学，东田纳西州立大学和沃伦·威尔逊学院，正在联合力量创建共同的花园并开发模块，这些模块可以指导学生的研究以解决从基因到生态系统的多个生物层次结构的全球变化的潜在影响。合作机构的性格独特，学生团体多样化，并且位于不同的气候区域。 该项目将有助于我们对生态问题的知识，并将扩大机构可以结合力量以提高学生的STEM知识和能力的方式。待研究的环境变化问题包括对所研究区域内的草药，灌木，藤蔓和树木的侵入性外来去除技术的效果（较低分层的研究研究），以及探索有关潜在侵入性外来植物的传播的问题，结合了GIS（全球信息系统）映射，Herbarium Collections（Herbarium Collections）（Herbarium Collections）和在线数据次群（在线分层）。 合作的机构将创建和β检验模块，识别和减轻成功实施课程更改并传播课程更改的障碍。这些模块将直接影响每年包括非茎专业在内的2000多名大学生的学习。它们将由本科和研究生研究专业的学生进行开发和部分管理，并有助于为教职员工开发教学专业知识。模块传授植物学知识的能力，同时鼓励高阶认知过程，提高定量识字，教学分析技术，磨练科学沟通技巧，培养学生对植物和STEM的积极态度，以及提高持续性和毕业者在干amajors中的态度，并将使用一种混合方法（定量和定性数据收集）进行评估。结果将开始记录全球变化对经过固体STEM培训的未来劳动力的研究对生物的研究的影响。该项目由生物学科学局，生物基础设施部和教育和人力资源局，本科教育部共同资助，以支持解决本科教育愿景和变化所带来的挑战的努力：行动呼吁http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/。