Identifying the Learning Objectives of Biology Laboratories in the General Education Curriculum and Exploring Gaps Between Objectives and Practice

确定通识教育课程中生物实验室的学习目标并探讨目标与实践之间的差距

• 批准号: 2044101
• 负责人: Sarah Gerken
• 金额: $ 29.99万
• 依托单位: University of Alaska Anchorage Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2044101&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Identifying; Learning; Objectives; Biology; Laboratories

This project aims to serve the national interest in excellent undergraduate STEM education by exploring how biology laboratory courses produce important learning outcomes for non-majors. Nearly 80% of undergraduate degrees are awarded in non-science majors. However, no consensus currently exists about the purposes of science laboratory experiences in the general education undergraduate curriculum. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this a critical time to examine the value of laboratories for non-majors. As enrollment shrinks and financial strains grow, higher education institutions need to cut costs. This need places non-majors’ laboratories at risk because of costs in student and faculty time, physical resources, equipment, and consumable supplies. The goal of this project is to identify the highest priority biology laboratory experiences for non-majors taking general education biology courses with laboratories and to examine gaps in practice. The results of this study can help shape the future of science and laboratory instruction in general education curricula. The project will explore the research question, “What is the role of the biology laboratory in the general education curriculum?” The first phase will be completion of a Delphi study, which is a vetted consensus-building process. Through this study, the research team will engage a panel of disciplinary experts in a dialogue to identify the role and goals of laboratories for non-majors in general education biology courses. The outcome of the Delphi Study will be increased disciplinary engagement in the issue and an agreement about the role of biology laboratories for non-majors. The second phase will be a gap analysis in which the Delphi Study findings will be used as the “optimal state” to explore gaps between the expert ideal and current practices. The gap analysis will use data from syllabus reviews, practitioner surveys, and focus group interviews. The gap analysis process is expected to result in increased practitioner awareness of laboratory goals and objectives, thus informing practice. By focusing on the role of biology laboratories for non-majors, this project has the potential to advance a general framework for optimizing the role and objectives for science laboratories in the general education curriculum. In addition, the data could be used to create more meaningful and purposeful laboratory experiences. Consequently, the findings may be transformative for general education science curricula. The research findings will be disseminated to a broad audience via a combination of peer reviewed manuscripts and other communications, with the intention of making explicit the role of laboratory experiences in achieving a scientifically literate public. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.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.

该项目旨在通过探索生物学实验室课程如何为非律师带来重要的学习成果，以为卓越的本科STEM教育提供国家利益。在非科学专业的专业中，将近80％的本科学位授予。但是，目前尚无关于通识教育本科课程的科学实验室经验的目的的共识。 COVID-19的大流行使这是研究实验室对非碎师的价值的关键时机。随着入学率缩小和财务压力的增长，高等教育机构需要降低成本。由于学生和教职员工的成本，物理资源，设备和消耗品的耗材，因此需要将非律师的实验室置于危险之中。该项目的目的是确定最高优先级生物学实验室经验，以便在实验室参加通识教育生物学课程并检查实践中的差距。这项研究的结果可以帮助塑造通识教育课程中科学和实验室指导的未来。该项目将探讨研究问题：“生物学实验室在通识教育课程中的作用是什么？”第一阶段将是Delphi研究的完成，这是一个审查的共识过程。通过这项研究，研究团队将与纪律专家小组进行对话，以确定实验室在通识教育生物学课程中的实验室的作用和目标。 Delphi研究的结果将增加该问题的纪律参与，并就生物学实验室研究对非律师的作用达成协议。第二阶段将是差距分析，其中Delphi研究结果将用作探索专家理想和当前实践之间差距的“最佳状态”。差距分析将使用教学大纲评论，实践者调查和焦点小组访谈中的数据。差距分析过程有望提高实践者对实验室目标和目标的认识，从而为实践提供了信息。通过专注于生物学实验室在非议员中的作用，该项目有可能促进一般框架，以优化通识教育课程中科学实验室的角色和目标。此外，数据可用于创造更有意义和有目的的实验室体验。因此，这些发现可能是通识教育科学课程的变革性。研究发现将通过同行评审的手稿和其他沟通的结合将广泛的受众传播到广泛的受众群体，以表明实验室经验在实现科学识字公众中的作用。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型的轨道，该计划支持努力在高等教育和纪律社区的机构之间进行转化和改善STEM教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估审查标准来通过评估来获得的支持。