Collaborative Research: Infusing Authentic Research in the Introductory Biology Curriculum-A Multi-Institutional Study

合作研究：在生物学入门课程中注入真实研究——多机构研究

• 批准号: 1625141
• 负责人: Ginger Fisher
• 金额: $ 25.52万
• 依托单位: University of Northern Colorado
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1625141&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Infusing; Authentic; Introductory

Authentic research experiences in research laboratories run by professors do a far better job of developing students' research skills and improving student retention in science than traditional laboratory experiences associated with a course. This is particularly true with groups who traditionally have not entered science fields. Authentic research experiences provide motivation to learn the research skills and demonstrate rewards in solving research problems. CUREs (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences) have been created to provide all science students with a real research experience. However, little is known about the impacts of CUREs on student research skills and retention in science. The University of Northern Colorado has developed an introductory biology CURE based on Tigriopus californicus, a small marine organism, and initial results indicate the CURE increases students' content knowledge and improves their motivation towards learning biology, both of which have been shown to increase retention. This project will expand the CURE to three different institutions: a Liberal Arts University; a large, Hispanic-Serving Research University; and a small, Women's Minority-Serving College. Using these diverse student populations, this project will determine if the CURE improves students' content knowledge, research skills, motivation towards learning biology, and retention in biology. Most research conducted on CURE student outcomes relies heavily on student self-reported learning gains, has been completed with self-selected student populations, and has not been conducted with student populations who are underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. The proposed project will enhance and expand current knowledge by adding to the existing CURE research including: (1) testing aspects of a recently developed CURE impacts model; (2) the exploration of CURE impacts on students' experimental design skills, motivation, science identity, and persistence in science; and (3) the examination of the impacts of CUREs on diverse student groups, including minorities and first-generation students. This project will also greatly expand our understanding of Tigriopus californicus, about which very little is currently known despite its important place at the base of the marine food chain. Finally, this project will potentially broaden participation of underrepresented groups in the biological sciences.

与课程相关的传统实验室体验相比，由教授管理的研究实验室的真实研究体验在培养学生的研究技能和提高学生对科学的保留方面做得更好。对于传统上没有进入科学领域的群体来说尤其如此。真实的研究经历提供了学习研究技能的动力，并在解决研究问题时展现出回报。 CURE（基于课程的本科生研究体验）旨在为所有理科学生提供真正的研究体验。然而，人们对 CURE 对学生研究技能和科学保留的影响知之甚少。北科罗拉多大学开发了一种基于加州虎（Tigriopus californicus）（一种小型海洋生物）的入门生物学 CURE，初步结果表明，CURE 增加了学生的内容知识并提高了他们学习生物学的动力，这两者都已被证明可以提高记忆力。该项目将把 CURE 扩展到三个不同的机构：文科大学；一所大型的、为西班牙裔服务的研究型大学；以及一所为少数族裔女性服务的小型学院。利用这些多样化的学生群体，该项目将确定 CURE 是否可以提高学生的内容知识、研究技能、学习生物学的动机以及生物学的记忆力。大多数关于 CURE 学生成绩的研究在很大程度上依赖于学生自我报告的学习成果，并且是在自行选择的学生群体中完成的，并且没有针对在 STEM 学科中代表性不足的学生群体进行。拟议的项目将通过增加现有的 CURE 研究来增强和扩展当前的知识，包括：（1）测试最近开发的 CURE 影响模型的各个方面； （2）探索CURE对学生实验设计技能、动机、科学认同和科学坚持的影响； (3) 检查 CURE 对不同学生群体（包括少数族裔和第一代学生）的影响。该项目还将极大地扩大我们对加州虎纹虎的了解，尽管它在海洋食物链的底部占有重要地位，但目前人们对它知之甚少。最后，该项目将有可能扩大生物科学领域代表性不足群体的参与。