Supporting Feedback Loop Learning in Natural and Social Science Courses

支持自然科学和社会科学课程中的反馈循环学习

• 批准号: 2141939
• 负责人: Kim Kastens
• 金额: $ 3.26万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141939&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Supporting; Feedback; Loop; Learning; Natural

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduates’ ability to understand complex systems and how such systems may be "influenced" towards desirable outcomes. The project focuses on feedback loops, which are systems in which an initial action triggers a chain of influences that either amplifies or counteracts the initial action. Feedback loops drive many important natural and engineered systems. They may foster growth/decay/instability (as in pandemic disease spread, nuclear chain reactions, or environmental change) or stability (as in a car’s cruise control system or a predator/prey system). As feedback loop thinking becomes more common, society will benefit in different settings. For example, each time an individual is able to discern that they may be trapped in a damaging feedback loop and strategize a way out; or each time a leader uses feedback loop thinking to bring stability to a fraught situation; or each time a professional uses feedback loop thinking to catalyze growth towards a desirable outcome. This is a Level 1 project, in the IUSE Engaged Student Learning Track, tackling the challenge of making feedback loop thinking accessible to all undergraduates. The project's learning goals are that students will be able to recognize feedback loops when they encounter them in an unfamiliar context, and use feedback loop thinking to explain, predict and improve the behavior of systems they care about. An interdisciplinary team will design, develop, and field test a suite of six mini-lessons that can be adapted for any undergraduate course in which at least one feedback loop is currently being taught. These lessons aim to elevate students from understanding one feedback loop as an explanatory mechanism for one phenomenon in one course, to grasping feedback loops as a generalizable explanatory strategy applicable across multiple disciplines. Test beds for the initial instructional materials are in psychology, race and gender studies, environmental science, and neuroanatomy courses. To assess the first learning goal (recognize feedback loops in unfamiliar context), the project team is developing and validating a new instrument, in which participants read short narratives and state whether each is or is not a positive or negative feedback loop. The second learning goal will be assessed via student products from each lesson and instructors’ reflective journaling after teaching each lesson. An external Advisory Board will provide evaluative guidance on both the intellectual merit and the broader impacts of the project through twice-yearly meetings. Insights and materials emerging from the project will be disseminated by workshops and webinars for educators, and through a widely-used web-based portal that serves and reviews undergraduate instructional resources. 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.

该项目旨在通过提高本科生了解复杂系统的能力以及如何对理想的结果“影响”这种系统来实现国家利益。该项目的重点是反馈循环，在该系统中，初始动作触发了一系列影响链，从而可以放大器或抵消初始动作。反馈循环驱动许多重要的天然和工程系统。它们可能会促进生长/衰减/不稳定性（如大流行疾病扩散，核链反应或环境变化）或稳定性（如汽车的巡航控制系统或捕食者/猎物系统一样）。随着反馈循环思维变得越来越普遍，社会将在不同的环境中受益。例如，每次一个人都能够辨别出他们可能被困在有害的反馈回路和策略中的道路时。或者，每次领导者都使用反馈循环思考将稳定性带到艰难的情况下；或者，每次专业人士都会使用反馈循环思考来催化成长来解释，预测和改进。这是一个1级项目，在IUSE订婚的学生学习轨道上，解决了所有本科生都可以访问反馈循环思维的挑战。该项目的学习目标是，学生在陌生的环境中遇到反馈循环时将能够识别反馈循环，并使用反馈循环思考来解释，预测和改善他们关心的系统的行为。一个跨学科的团队将设计，开发和现场测试一套由六个迷你期人组成的套件，这些套件可以适用于任何本科课程，目前至少正在教授一个反馈循环。这些课程旨在将学生从一个课程中的一种现象中理解为一种爆炸性机制，以将反馈回路作为一种可推广的爆炸性策略来掌握一个适用于多个学科的爆炸性策略。最初的教学材料的测试床是心理学，种族和性别研究，环境科学和神经解剖学课程。为了评估第一个学习目标（在陌生环境中识别反馈循环），项目团队正在开发和验证一种新工具，其中参与者阅读简短的叙述，并说明每个工具是否是正面或负面的反馈循环。第二个学习目标将通过每个课程的学生产品和教师的反思性日记进行评估。外部顾问委员会将通过每年两次的会议提供有关智力优点和更广泛影响的评估指导。该项目的洞察力和材料将由教育工作者的研讨会和网络研讨会传播，并通过基于Web的广泛的门户网站，可为本科教学资源提供和评论。 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。通过参与的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。