Collaborative Research: Examining the Nature and Impacts of Instructors' Communication with Students in Classroom-based Undergraduate Research Experiences

合作研究：在基于课堂的本科生研究经历中检验教师与学生沟通的性质和影响

• 批准号: 2021100
• 负责人: Jeffrey Olimpo
• 金额: $ 7.49万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at El Paso
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2021100&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Examining; Nature; Impacts

This project aims to serve the national interest by helping to define the elements that lead to student success in STEM courses. Research has shown that undergraduate science courses that engage students in research, called Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences or CUREs, improve students’ graduation rates and retention in science. However, this research has only just begun to yield insight into how and why CUREs are more effective for students than traditional lab courses that do not include a research component. This project intends to investigate whether and how the research environment of CUREs influences how instructors talk with students. If so, it will also examine whether different ways of talking influence students’ scientific development and motivation. For this analysis, audio recordings will be made of instructors teaching CURE and traditional components of the same course or pairs of instructors teaching CURE and traditional lab courses. These recordings will be analyzed to identify differences in the types of questions instructors ask and the types of support instructors provide to students. The results of this analysis will then be tested statistically to determine whether the ways instructors communicate relates to student outcomes in the two course types. It is anticipated that the project results will help determine features of CUREs that make them effective for students, which could then be used to inform the design of future CUREs and improvement of existing CUREs, thus maximizing their effectiveness.CUREs are championed for broadening access to research opportunities and promoting students’ development as scientists, especially among students from backgrounds historically excluded from science. Several studies have also shown the potential for CUREs to influence the persistence and success of all students in science, improving graduation rates and retention of STEM majors with diverse personal characteristics. However, the features of CUREs that influence students’ persistence and success in science remain largely unknown. This mixed methods project will explore instructor talk as a potential mechanism through which CUREs exert their influence. The project will specifically investigate whether and to what extent CURE instructors ask students more substantive questions, provide more mentoring support to students, and use more non-content talk than traditional lab course instructors. The project will also investigate the extent to which these forms of instructor talk relate to several psychosocial and motivational factors that predict students’ continuation and success in science. The research analysis will be accomplished by collecting audio recordings of instructors as they teach CUREs or traditional lab courses; conducting content analysis of the recordings using a deductive approach informed by research on instructor talk, classroom discourse, and research mentoring as well as an inductive approach to identify novel types of instructor talk; collecting pre/post data from students enrolled in the recorded courses on their science self-efficacy, scientific identity, and perceptions of the values and costs of continuing in science; and conducting quantitative analysis using mixed effects regression models to explore which, if any, forms of instructor talk are related to student outcomes. The project results are designed to yield insight into the theoretical underpinnings of CURE effectiveness, such as whether CUREs are effective primarily by affording students opportunities to see the value that research can offer, by building students’ confidence in their abilities to be successful in research, by helping them see their potential to contribute to science and their place in the science community, or some combination thereof. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在通过帮助确定学生在 STEM 课程中取得成功的要素来服务于国家利益 研究表明，让学生参与研究的本科科学课程（称为基于课程的本科生研究体验或 CURE）可以提高学生的毕业率。然而，这项研究才刚刚开始深入了解 CURE 如何以及为何比不包含研究内容的传统实验课程更有效。该项目旨在调查研究环境是否以及如何。 CURE 的数量影响讲师的谈话方式如果是这样，还将检查不同的谈话方式是否会影响学生的科学发展和动机。为此分析，将由教授 CURE 和同一课程的传统组成部分的教师或一对一对教授 CURE 和 CURE 的教师进行录音。将对这些录音进行分析，以确定教师提出的问题类型以及教师向学生提供的支持类型的差异，然后对分析结果进行测试，以确定教师的沟通方式是否与学生的学习成绩相关。两种课程类型。项目结果将有助于确定 CURE 的特征，使其对学生有效，然后可用于为未来 CURE 的设计和现有 CURE 的改进提供信息，从而最大限度地提高其有效性。CURE 致力于扩大研究机会和促进学生作为科学家的发展，特别是那些历史上被排除在科学之外的背景的学生。一些研究还表明，CURE 可以影响所有学生对科学的坚持和成功，提高具有不同个人特征的 STEM 专业的毕业率和保留率。 。然而，影响学生在科学上的坚持和成功的 CURE 特征在很大程度上仍然未知。这个混合方法项目将探索教师谈话作为 CURE 发挥影响力的潜在机制。该项目将具体调查 CURE 教师是否以及在何种程度上发挥影响力。与传统实验课程讲师相比，向学生提出更多实质性问题，为学生提供更多指导支持，并使用更多非内容性谈话。该项目还将调查这些形式的讲师谈话与预测学生的几个心理社会和动机因素的相关程度。 ' 继续和研究分析将通过收集讲师教授 CURE 或传统实验室课程的录音来完成，并使用对讲师谈话、课堂讨论和研究指导的研究提供的演绎方法对录音进行内容分析；作为识别新型教师演讲的归纳方法；收集参加录制课程的学生的科学自我效能感、科学身份以及对继续从事科学和开展科学的价值和成本的看法；使用混合效应回归模型进行定量分析以探索教师演讲的哪些形式（如果有的话）与学生的成果相关。该项目的结果旨在深入了解 CURE 有效性的理论基础，例如 CURE 是否有效主要是通过为学生提供机会来了解研究可以提供的价值。 ，通过建立学生对自己在研究中取得成功的能力的信心，帮助他们看到自己对科学做出贡献的潜力以及他们在科学界的地位，或者将其结合起来，NSF IUSE：EHR 计划支持研究和开发项目，以实现以下目标：提高 STEM 教育的有效性通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持。标准。