RCN-UBE Incubator: Integrating Bio-inspired Innovation into Life Science Education Through Interdisciplinary Communities of Practice

RCN-UBE孵化器：通过跨学科实践社区将仿生创新融入生命科学教育

• 批准号: 2217189
• 负责人: Douglas Williams
• 金额: $ 7.5万
• 依托单位: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• 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: 2022-09-01 至 2023-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217189&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; UBE; Incubator; Integrating; Bio

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate biological education through inclusion of biologically inspired design and innovation principles and learning experiences. Bio-inspired design incorporates our knowledge of biological systems into research and development to solve problems and develop technical inventions and innovations. Bio-inspired innovation, which has been responsible for the development of new materials, medicines, and other materials that benefit society, has become an increasingly important component of the biological field. However, understanding and applying biologically inspired solutions may be underutilized in educational contexts. The question this project will address is, how might undergraduate science education include the understanding and application of bio-inspired design and innovation in higher education coursework? This question will be addressed through the creation and collaboration of a research network focused on developing and sharing pedagogical practices for infusing bio-inspired innovation in undergraduate biology. This RCN-UBE incubator network brings together an interdisciplinary team of experts from across biology, engineering, and education to address the challenges and opportunities of integrating biologically inspired innovation into undergraduate biology and STEM teacher preparation programs by identify key challenges and opportunities followed by the development of preliminary pedagogical materials and a 5-year plan for growth of the network.The overarching project goal is to improve undergraduate biological education through the infusion of bio-inspired innovation in undergraduate biology programs and undergraduate teacher preparation programs. This will be accomplished through the creation of an RCN-UBE incubator network of experts from biology, engineering and education to (1) Identify challenges, opportunities, and existing / desired resources for integrating bio-inspired innovation in undergraduate biology education, (2) Identify challenges and opportunities for improving diversity and inclusion of educators and students in bio-inspired innovation in education, (3) Develop a set of case studies, a synthesis of best pedagogical practices, and sample resources for integration of bio-inspired design into post-secondary education, and (4) Develop a 5-year plan for growth of the network and its work. By strengthening the human and intellectual capital for integrating bio-inspired innovation into undergraduate biology, this networking initiative will: 1) Facilitate efforts by faculty to emphasize the connections between biology and engineering design with their students; 2) Improve the overall representation and practice of modern biology as interdisciplinary in nature; 3) Result in enriched educational experiences for a more diverse and inclusive group of undergraduates through pro-active focused outreach and network expansion of faculty working with students from underrepresented groups; 4) Improve the life science training of undergraduate students in pre-service teacher programs and improve educational outcomes across the K-16 STEM pipeline; and 5) Catalyze new efforts and opportunities for biology students and professionals to work with others in adjacent STEM fields.This project is being jointly funded by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).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.

该项目旨在通过包括生物学启发的设计和创新原理和学习经验来改善本科生物学教育来服务国家利益。生物启发的设计将我们对生物系统的知识纳入了解决问题并发展技术发明和创新的研究和开发中。由生物启发的创新负责开发新材料，药品和其他使社会的材料的发展，已成为生物学领域越来越重要的组成部分。但是，在教育环境中，理解和应用以生物学启发的解决方案可能不足。该项目将要解决的问题是，本科生的科学教育如何包括对高等教育课程中生物启发的设计和创新的理解和应用？这个问题将通过创建和合作的研究网络来解决，该研究网络着重于开发和共享教学实践，以注入本科生物学的生物启发的创新。这个RCN-UBE孵化器网络将来自生物学，工程和教育的跨学科专家团队汇集在一起​​，以应对将生物学启发的创新整合到本科生物学和STEM教师准备计划中的挑战和机遇，通过确定关键的挑战，并确定通过网络的未经培训的进步，以确定越来越多的挑战。本科生物学计划和本科教师准备计划中受生物启发的创新。 This will be accomplished through the creation of an RCN-UBE incubator network of experts from biology, engineering and education to (1) Identify challenges, opportunities, and existing / desired resources for integrating bio-inspired innovation in undergraduate biology education, (2) Identify challenges and opportunities for improving diversity and inclusion of educators and students in bio-inspired innovation in education, (3) Develop a set of case studies, a synthesis of best教学实践和采样资源，将生物启发的设计整合到专上教育中，以及（4）制定了5年的网络增长计划及其工作。通过加强将生物启发的创新融入本科生物学的人类和智力资本，该网络计划将：1）促进教师的努力，以强调生物学与工程设计与学生之间的联系； 2）改善现代生物学的整体代表和实践本质上是跨学科的； 3）导致通过积极活跃的专业外展和网络扩展与来自代表性不足的团体的学生合作的积极主动的外展和网络扩展，从而为更多样化和包容的本科生提供丰富的教育经验； 4）改善本科生在职前教师计划中的生活科学培训，并改善K-16 STEM管道的教育成果； 5）为生物学学生和专业人员在邻近的STEM领域与他人合作的新工作和机会。该项目由既定的计划共同资助刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCOR），生物科学局，生物学基础架构的划分，生物学基础设施的划分，教育和人力资源局部的教育局长，构成了一定程度的教育，并构成了一定程度的教育：构成尤为的教育：行动（http：// VisionandChange/finalReport/）。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审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。