Enhancing Climate Literacy in General Education Geoscience Courses through Individual Urban Heat Exposure Active Learning Projects

通过个人城市热暴露主动学习项目提高通识教育地球科学课程的气候素养

• 批准号: 2315364
• 负责人: Alisa Hass
• 金额: $ 26万
• 依托单位: Middle Tennessee State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315364&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Enhancing; Climate; Literacy; General; Education

This project aims to serve the national interest by investigating the effectiveness of active learning projects to increase climate literacy among general education students in university geoscience courses. Global climate variation creates both an opportunity and a need to learn about the variability in the climate where students live. Yet, this topic can be difficult to teach in the undergraduate general education classroom as it is largely an intangible subject in the day-to-day lives of students, and because students come into the discussion with varied educational backgrounds and biases. The curricula developed through this project will use novel temperature and humidity sensor technology to tie students’ real-life environmental experiences to the larger discussion on how the global climate is experiencing variation. The sensor technology will be tested in numerous different general education courses at both 4-year and 2-year colleges to explore how active learning projects that involve personal experiences can improve understanding of climate science among students, regardless of their major and background. This project will combine the benefits of project-based learning with action research by utilizing the theories and applicability from wearable sensor and heat exposure research to frame climate variation as an everyday issue that students experience. This project will be implemented first at Middle Tennessee State University, a 4-year university, and then at partner 2-year colleges, with refinement to the curricula throughout the project. Instructors will receive training in the inclusion of active learning practices in their curricula to help develop their knowledge of urban microclimate science and increase confidence in teaching global climate science, more generally. With the goals of improving their understanding of climate science and more closely aligning that understanding to that of the scientific community, students will complete in-depth climate study and a microclimate curriculum, and collect their personal heat exposure data over a two-day period using wearable sensors. Students will analyze the data and compare their exposure to that of others in the class, work with fellow students to interpret results, and apply both scientific and sociological concepts to their results. Formative assessment will occur twice per year. Curricula resulting from repeated testing and refinements will be publicly available to enable instructors to implement the program in their own classes. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its 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.

该项目旨在通过调查主动学习项目的有效性来服务于国家利益，以提高大学地球科学课程中普通教育学生的气候素养。全球气候变化为了解学生居住地的气候变化创造了机会和需求。然而，这个话题在本科生通识教育课堂上可能很难教授，因为它在很大程度上是学生日常生活中的一个无形主题，而且学生参与讨论时具有不同的教育背景和由此产生的偏见。项目将使用新颖的温度和湿度传感器技术，将学生的现实环境体验与关于全球气候如何经历变化的更广泛的讨论联系起来。传感器技术将在四年制和两年制大学的许多不同的通识教育课程中进行测试，以进行探索。涉及个人经历的主动学习项目如何提高学生对气候科学的理解，无论其专业和背景如何。该项目将利用可穿戴传感器和热暴露的理论和适用性，将基于项目的学习与行动研究的优势结合起来。研究将气候变化视为学生遇到的日常问题。该项目将首先在中田纳西州立大学（一所四年制大学）实施，然后在合作伙伴的两年制学院实施，并在整个项目中对课程进行细化。教师将接受将主动学习实践纳入课程的培训。帮助学生发展城市微气候科学知识，增强教授全球气候科学的信心，更广泛地说，学生将深入完成对气候科学的理解，并使这种理解与科学界的理解更紧密地结合起来。气候研究和微气候课程，并使用可穿戴传感器收集他们在两天内的个人热暴露数据，学生将分析这些数据并将他们的暴露与班上其他人的暴露进行比较，与同学一起解释结果，并应用这两种科学方法。经过反复测试和改进的课程将每年进行两次，以便教师能够在自己的课堂上实施该计划。提高效率该计划通过其“参与式学生学习”轨道，为所有学生提供 STEM 教育，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优势和能力进行评估，被认为值得支持。更广泛的影响审查标准。