* California Education Learning Lab
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e-Games for Active Training in Engineering Design*Jennifer Choi (UC Davis), Darnel Degand (UC Davis), Joshua McCoy (UC Davis), Will Davis (American River College), Hong-Yue Tang (CSU Sacramento), Angelique Y. Louie (UC Davis) Students in engineering typically spend their freshman and sophomore years taking courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and fulfilling general education requirements. Major-specific training in engineering often does not begin until the junior year. A common complaint is that the first two years of engineering education are too abstract and students are unable to feel a connection between what they are learning and what a career in the discipline is like. Disillusioned students leave early in the curriculum, and underrepresented groups are disproportionately affected. At both UC and CSU campuses, the percentage of students entering versus graduating increases for Caucasian students, but decreases for underrepresented groups. We believe it is critical in the first two years of education to allow students to reduce their foundational knowledge to practice-- to provide a more engaging introduction to engineering as an exciting and creative career option and to solidify student commitment to their selected engineering majors. Hands-on experience is well known to improve student success measures, and improved performance increases student desire to continue in their studies. Engineering design is an ideal topic to provide higher level experiences to students, but engineering design courses can be expensive to deliver; for example, at UC Davis design training can cost ~$500/team (and up) for supplies. It can also be difficult to fit another course into the already unit-heavy engineering curricula. We propose to provide scalable, meaningful exposure to engineering design to lower division students by creating online game modules that will cover the basic steps of the engineering design process. The modules can be mix-and-matched for use in courses or offered to students for free play. We are a team of biomedical engineers, mechanical engineers, computer scientists, educators, game designers, social scientists, and students with the expertise required for this project. We will harness online education and gaming products that we have made for undergraduate courses in Biomedical Engineering Design and Introduction to Research and create new gaming materials. Virtual environments offer an avenue for exploration that sparks student creativity, increases engagement with the material, promotes self-confidence, and allows us to implement “hands-on” design training at relatively low cost to students at California public institutions of higher learning. Our partners include faculty at CSU and community college campuses. We will explore this adaptive learning tool and evaluate its impact on student learning and retention. In our awarded pilot project we will demonstrate that we have the capability to create, deploy, and assess games. The success of this project provides a novel option for introducing engineering design skills to students at relatively low cost in a scalable fashion, which could be a key strategy to engage students for campuses that lack the resources to offer hands on design courses, or that have large lower division student populations. |
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Place-based Learning Community Increases Persistence and Narrows Equity Gaps for First-year STEM StudentsMatt Johnson (Humboldt State U), Amy Sprowles (Humboldt State U), Steven Margell (Humboldt State U), Katlin Goldenberg (Humboldt State U), Lisa Castellino (Humboldt State U) Humboldt State University (HSU) is the most remote and geographically isolated campus of the California State University (CSU) system. Many students arrive from distant urban centers in Southern California (40%, 700-800 miles away) and the San Francisco Bay Area (13%, 300-400 miles away), places that are environmentally, economically, and culturally quite different than Humboldt County, which is predominantly White Caucasian and home to 7 Native American Tribes. HSU has seen the number of STEM students from a traditionally underrepresented background increase from 17% of the 2009 STEM student body (n = 464) to 38% of the 2018 STEM student body ( n= 1,132). As of 2016, HSU’s 4-year graduation rate for incoming STEM freshmen was 10% overall, 4% for students from traditionally underrepresented ethnicities and 8% for first-generation students.The 6-year graduation rates are also unsatisfactory and opportunity gaps persist (36% vs. 47% overall). With funding through a Title III HSI STEM award and the HHMI Inclusive Excellence initiative, HSU is addressing these issues by redefining the first-year stem experience with place-based learning communities (PBLCs). First-year learning communities are considered a high impact practice. By designing the curriculum and activities around geographic and cultural components of our unique region, we hoped to improve outcomes by helping students develop a sense of belonging to their major, our campus and location. Using a quasi-experimental design, we found that participants in the first three cohorts of our PBLCs had stronger sense of belonging, improved academic performance, and increased first-year persistence relative to a matched reference group. Equity gaps were narrowed in first year GPA, pass rates in several gateway STEM courses, and in first year persistence at the institution and in a STEM major, specifically. PBLCs will be available to all STEM majors beginning fall 2020. We are working with campus administration towards institutionalization. |
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The BioCORE Scholars Program Improves Academic Attainment and Retention of Minority Students in BiologyElena Brezynski (Seattle Pacific U), Eric Long (Seattle Pacific U), Mary Jane Allen (Seattle Pacific U), Derek Wood (Seattle Pacific U)
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The Dreamcatcher Conference: Promoting Transfer Student Success in the Biological SciencesMarina Crowder (UC Davis) Statement of the problem: A significant proportion of University of California (UC) students complete lower-division degree requirements at California Community Colleges (CCC). These transfer students, who have increased representation of first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minorities, have the challenging task of acclimating to a new institution and campus community while entering upper-division courses. Description of the intervention:A two-day conference was held to discuss transfer student challenges, instructional and advising practices, and curriculum alignment. Rationale :There are structures in place to facilitate admission of qualified students from CCCs to the UC system, such as the transfer admission guarantee agreement, however, there is a lack of collaboration in bridging curriculum with little to no opportunities for cross-institutional partnerships that support the transition and success of transfer students. The major goal of the conference was to initiate a regional network that would promote partnerships between stakeholders across the CCC, CSU, and UC system’s to better support transfer students in the biological sciences. Outcomes: Here we present a qualitative analysis of the outcomes from this event with respect to identifying the prominent challenges biology transfer student experience, which include 1) challenges of acclimation post-transfer to faster-paced upper-division courses with different assessment structures, 2) lack of social and community integration after transferring; 3) challenges in gaining access to research opportunities; and 4) lack of faculty awareness of curriculum structure and requirements across institutions. Conference outcomes identified major challenges biology transfer students experience and revealed gaps in support that institutions, departments, faculty, and advisors can take action on in order to better support transfer student success. Effecting change: In response to this data, the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis has initiated a peer-mentoring program that matches incoming transfer students with peer mentors at UCD before the transfer student arrives to help with acclimation and building community. In addition, efforts are being made to establish regional partnerships between biology departments at CCC and UC Davis to facilitate continued faculty and student site visits pre-transfer. All together, these findings highlight the apparent lack but essential need to build networks and cross-institutional partnerships between stakeholders in order to address the challenges biology transfer students experience along their complex academic paths. Action on each of the key findings will require continued partnership among faculty and advisors across the CCC, CSU, and UC system. |
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CHEM 51P: The Benefits of an Organic Chemistry Prep CourseSusan King (UC Irvine) In 2014, I received an ILTI Grant to create an online Preparation for Organic Chemistry course. I spent the summer of 2015 recording podcasts, and four weeks before the start of fall quarter, 90 students took the class for the first time. We have offered the class every summer since then, and each year participation grows as word spreads about the benefits of the class. This summer we have 464 participants. Description of Project: Online Preparatory Course for Organic Chemistry Underprepared students who take the sophomore Organic Chemistry series and earn failing grades create bottlenecks in the year-long sequence, and student anxiety runs high when they enter this notorious “weeder class for medical school.” Successful completion of organic chemistry is required for numerous STEM degrees so the stakes are high for students, yet failure and withdrawal rates are typically high, and the level of preparation for this pivotal class varies greatly. To address these problems, and to give everyone an equal chance of succeeding in organic chemistry, a three-week online Preparation for Organic Chemistry class, CHEM 51P, was developed to prepare students for organic chemistry and allow them to begin the year-long sequence with confidence. The design of this course, its implementation, and its impact on student learning and self-efficacy will be presented. Our study showed that students who are typically at risk in college environments benefitted from participating in the online preparatory course when compared to at-risk students who did not participate. Notably, these performance gains were commensurate when compared to the performance gains of their non-at-risk counterparts, which is surprising because at-risk students typically do not perform as well as non-at-risk students in an online environment. Participation in the preparatory class was particularly helpful in improving self-efficacy for low-income and first-generation college students. We plan to expand this low- cost intervention throughout the University of California System. The online course can easily be copied and the course requires minimal oversight from an instructor or part-time teaching assistant to manage a small amount of email questions. The cost to students is $27. We anticipate having one instructor or part-time teaching assistant at each campus to manage the class. |
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Humboldt State University Faculty Diversity and Equity Fellows – A Program to Increase Equitable Outcomes via Faculty-Faculty InteractionsKimberly White (Humboldt State U) 1) Statement of the Problem: The adoption of equity-minded best practices in the classroom is one method for closing equity gaps. Traditionally, these practices have been disseminated via on campus professional development workshops. Unfortunately, attendance at these workshops is often low, with very few post tenure faculty attending. The faculty diversity and equity fellows will bring the content to the faculty via peer to peer cultural humility training, skills building for analyzing disaggregated course data and assessing equity gaps, one-on-one mentoring for course modifications that will increase equitable outcomes, and methods for incorporating equity minded practices in the retention, tenure and promotion process. 2) Description of the project/initiative/intervention: The purpose of the Diversity and Equity Fellowship Program is to develop an infrastructure that supports our efforts to create an equitable learning environment and better serve our students. The inaugural Diversity and Equity Fellowship cohort will facilitate professional development experiences for faculty, staff, and students that align with our institutional goals and WSCUC recommendations. 3) Rationale for the intervention given the institutional context and backgrounds/demographics of the students: Humboldt State, like most other institutions, has significant equity gaps in coursework and poor student retention and 4-year graduation rates. Adopting equity minded pedagogies and Implementing classroom change can have a profound positive influence on the performance of minoritized students and ultimately increase retention and graduation rates. This is important at Humboldt State; like many CSU campuses we have a large population of racially minoritized and first generation students. Data from Spring 2019 indicated that student population was 43% minoritized students and data from Fall 2018 indicated that 52% of students were first generation students. 4) Outcomes data that demonstrate the efficacy of the intervention: The primary purpose of this intervention is to shift faculty attitudes on equity, encourage pedagogical change, foster cultural humility, and empower faculty with tools to reduce or eliminate equity gaps in the classroom. The fellows will meet with each academic department this year at regularly scheduled faculty meetings. One pre and two post interaction surveys will be used as follows: prior to interacting with the diversity and equity fellows, immediately following two 45-minute interventions, and at the end of the semester. These surveys will be used to assess the shift in faculty attitudes as a direct result of the training and after faculty have had time to implement an equity-minded practice in the classroom. 5) How the work will effect institutional change in one or more of the following ways—by effecting change in policy, practice, and/or culture: We will provide training to all new faculty, all faculty involved in the place-based learning communities (who interact with incoming freshpersons), and at every academic departments' faculty meetings. We propose that over time, the campus climate will change as more faculty are educated on and informed about equity minded best practices. The Faculty Diversity and Equity Fellows Program at Humboldt State is a peer- mentoring and education program that seeks to improve student-faculty relationships, create an increased sense of student belonging, and eliminate of equity gaps via direct interaction with faculty by faculty. The program is a pilot program that is funded via the California State University Graduation Initiative 2025 (GI 2025), an initiative to increase graduation rates for all CSU students while eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps. Each fellow has been been awarded 6 weighted teaching units (1/2 of the typical teaching load) release time for a total cost of $72,684. There is currently no strategic plan for continuing or scaling the equity fellows program. This program is part of a multi-pronged approach on the HSU campus (including the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Academic Programs) to shift the campus discourse and culture regarding equity and inclusivity. |
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When the Textbook Isn’t the Problem: Identifying Equity Gaps in a Large, Introductory Biology ClassroomAudrey Haynes (UC Berkeley), Jules Winters (UC Berkeley) Biology 1B is a large, introductory course with an academically and demographically diverse student population which serves approximately 1 in 5 UC Berkeley students. Driven by a desire to improve student learning outcomes we conducted a survey over four semesters (Spring 2017- Spring 2018; n=2,308 students) aimed at answering the questions: Who are the Biology 1B students, and are course resources inclusive enough to support everyone? Surprisingly, course resources were not the driving factor of student success. Statistical analysis showed that students do use Biology 1B’s resources and generally find them helpful. Differences in resource use among high, mid and low performing students were generally small and, for the most part, not significantly different. Instead, we found that our course does not provide an environment conducive for all students to succeed: Underrepresented minority, first-generation, and cis female students’ final grades were significantly lower than their demographic counterparts, in some cases, by an entire grade level. Students reporting lower well-being or lower sense of scientific belonging had significantly lower scores, as well. This work provides Biology 1B with data needed for educational practice and academic culture improvements. Regarding educational practice, time and energy spent developing and maintaining course resources could be redirected to more effective interventions such as training instructors and staff on approaching student interactions with an inclusive lens, building up students’ sense of scientific accomplishment, providing more diverse examples of success in science, and de-stigmatizing failure. Regarding academic culture, these sobering insights are prompting reflection and conversation among members of the Integrative Biology department about whether Biology 1B serves to ameliorate or perpetuate societal inequities and how to improve equity in the classroom. This is an opportunity to bring external colleagues who specialize in equity issues to the table, and generate viable mechanisms of change in the course. |
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The Better Book Project: Teaching Transferable Knowledge of Introductory Statistics*Ji Son (CSU Los Angeles), Karen B. Givvin (UC Los Angeles), Jim Stigler (UC Los Angeles) The goal of this project is to develop, implement (in blended classrooms), and improve an online interactive textbook that will produce flexible and transferable knowledge of introductory statistics. Statistics is critical not only for gaining entry into STEM careers, but also for excelling in them. Modern computational statistics is arguably more critical for future STEM careers than traditional mathematics courses. And, statistics may be the most direct pathway for students seeking to overcome poor mathematical preparation. The project’s innovative design -- based on learning science theories of how people develop deep understanding in complex domains -- involves repeatedly engaging students with the deep conceptual structure of the domain (in this case, statistical modeling), and includes a heavy emphasis on simulation, randomization, and bootstrapping as tools for both doing data analysis (in R) and understanding statistical ideas. But this is not the project’s only goal. What differentiates it from other curriculum development efforts is our assumption that the initial best effort will not be good enough. Any initially promising effort will not easily scale, and, realistically, many students - especially URMs and economically disadvantaged students - will still be left behind, no matter how good the initial efforts are. For this reason, we began with Version 1.0, implementing it in a range of contexts (UC, CSU, and community college), where we’re collaborating with faculty on its improvement. By implementing a process of continuous improvement, this project can iteratively improve outcomes and reduce gaps among groups of students over time, making a bigger difference for students’ success in the long run. These dual goals will effect change in the practice of teaching and learning statistics as well as in the culture of how researchers, designers/developers, and practitioners collaborate around materials and student learning data to improve instruction. |
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Humanizing Online STEM to Eliminate Equity Gaps*Brent Wedge (Modesto Jr. College), Kim Vincent-Layton (Humboldt State U), Jeffrey White (Humboldt State U), Di Xu (UC Irvine), Michelle Pacansky-Brock (Foothill–DeAnza Community College District), Sara Williams (Foothill–DeAnza Community College District), Mike Smedshammer (Modesto Jr. College) The Problem: Given that STEM courses are often lecture-based with grades determined by high-stakes, summative exams, these courses tend to reward students who come from cultures that emphasize individualism over collectivism. Minoritized students, however, frequently come from collectivist cultures that prioritize relationships. Online, there can be even less human interaction than there is in a face-to-face STEM course, making the online learning experience isolating and lonely. This dynamic is a barrier for many students in online STEM courses. Intervention Description: We are creating a professional development academy that focuses on “Humanizing,” a pedagogical approach that supports the affective domain. Professors and course designers will redesign courses to increase instructor presence and foster a welcoming learning environment where students interact and support each other. Rationale: STEM students often have self-doubt about their academic abilities. Humanizing addresses the non-cognitive aspects of learning that are shown to affect one's mindset about learning. Therefore, while Humanizing is especially important to minoritized students, it benefits everyone. Outcomes Data: We will measure 1) Faculty Attitudes, such as how faculty think about teaching and curriculum design 2) Faculty Behaviors, such as how the Humanizing Academy influences instructors’ teaching practices 3) Student Retention, Success, and Engagement, and 4) Student Perceptions, such as sense of belonging and motivation to learn. Affecting Change in Practice and Culture: After our first-year pilot, we will scale the Humanizing Academy across the CCC, CSU, and UC systems. In addition to our findings, our materials and the Humanizing course itself will be shared publicly as OERs through Canvas Commons and SkillsCommons.org. We will also host a free online Humanizing conference to highlight what we have learned. |
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California Challenges in STEM Energy Education: California Education Learning Lab (CELL) Project*Marina Shapiro (CSU Bakersfield), Stephen Waller (Bakersfield College), Abbas Ghassemi (UC Merced), Chris Butler (UC Merced) Many of the campuses in the San Joaquin Valley are Hispanic-Serving Institutions, notably California State University, Bakersfield, University of California, Merced and Bakersfield College. Approximately 60% of the students are PELL grant eligible and approximately 70% are first-generation university students. The major factors for attrition are 1) perceptions about careers in the STEM fields, 2) poor experiences with the academic culture and teaching pedagogy, 3) declining confidence due to demanding curriculum, 4) students not having early exposure to real-world applications of their major to give positive insight into potential careers, and 5) a reduced ability to connect with upper-classmen to see successful peer role models which research has shown to increase persistence. These challenges show that URM students have a limited perspective of their possible contributions to improving technology due to social issues, such as not knowing scientists and/or engineers in their community. The project goals are to reduce large educational equity gaps in STEM fields that are experienced by Hispanic and other Underrepresented Minority (URM) students who live in California's Central Valley through helping URM students to understand the connection between their studies and real-world applications. Planned interventions across the three Central Valley campuses will be presented as proposed methods to accomplish the project goals to increase student engagement through active learning, applied learning through a career or workforce approach, and/or contextualized learning methodologies. CSUB and BC will introduce Energy-related concepts and applications to practical technical problems into gateway Chemistry courses via a novel combination of two pedagogies: Flipped classroom and Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). At UC Merced a new course will be developed via Flipped classroom and real-world applications in the Human-Centered Research and Design course. Through these interventions, we anticipate that student attitudes to learning STEM content, student success rates in specific lessons and final passing rates, as well as equity gaps in student attitudes will increase. |
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Developing Student Identity and Self-Perception as Capable STEM Thinkers and Learners at the Community College Level*Paul Daubenmire (College of Marin), Hien Nguyen (College of Marin), Cory Antonakos (Diablo Valley College), Angy Stacy (UC Berkeley), Erin Palmer (Diablo Valley College), L. Ellen Beaulieu (Diablo Valley College), Jenn Whiles-Lillig (Sonoma State U), Carmen Works (Sonoma State U) Pervasive narratives about scientific brilliance exclude many students from pursuing careers in science. These narratives suggest that what counts is innate talent, knowing lots of information, and being quick and correct. The traditional design of STEM courses perpetuates these narrow views, which disproportionately impact students historically underrepresented in STEM. Our goal is to disrupt these narratives and misplaced assessments of what defines scientific brilliance. This project designs materials to help both students and instructors to see science as an expansive and inclusive set of practices. It explicitly defines scientific competence as participation in these practices. The diverse project team will use the results of research in the learning sciences and their collective expertise to advance three aims:
The student activities use data and information to foster scientific thinking by looking for patterns, generating rules, asking questions, and being open to ideas from teammates. The faculty engagement workshops offer supports for building a classroom environment that values the assets all students bring and that builds student talent. The materials produced will be online transferable modules that will be accessible to faculty across California. Our team’s four campuses have a substantial portion of underrepresented students (Hispanic, low-income, first generation, and female students) taking introductory chemistry, which is often a gateway to majoring in a STEM field. Through access to student survey responses and demographics available at community colleges, we are capturing attitudinal data that will demonstrate shifts in our students’ beliefs. While we do anticipate an increase in retention, success, and persistence of this population of students, we even more expect a paradigm shift in the culture and practice of science in our institutions. |
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Giving the Ownership of Active Learning to Students (GOALS) in Computer Science*Youwen Ouyang (CSU San Marcos), Marisol Clark-Ibáñez (CSU San Marcos), Nery Chapeton-Lamas (MiraCosta Community College) Retention is a common challenge for Computer Science departments, not only at the CSUs and Community Colleges, but also nationwide. This is especially true for students from groups underrepresented in STEM, such as students who are Latinx/Chicanx, Black/African American, and women. GOALS in CS aims to address this problem by supporting adaptive learning for introductory students through a hybrid class format to meet students where they are, build on their previous knowledge and strengths, and help identify where they need to improve. The collaborative and interdisciplinary team from CSUSM and MCC will implement an iterative design and development education research process to create innovative hybrid offerings of the introductory CS sequence, recognized in California as C-ID COMP 122 and 132. We have started implementing the pilot GOALS in CS class in Fall 2019. In partnership with Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley, we are flipping the class by replacing in-class lectures with out-of-class online readings and videos, along with interactive learning activities on the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) platform. Students control their own pace in learning and reviewing the materials each week. The OLI closely monitors their interaction with the online materials and collects a great deal of learning analytics for instructors to identify learning gaps and design classroom activities to address them. Active learning also emerges when students are in the lab -- face to face. They enjoy learning from each other, solving problems, and creating their own programming challenges. The project also engages students in active reflection of their learning activities through short surveys. Expected outcomes are improved retention of CS students, specifically for students of color and women, and a significant shift in the pedagogical culture of introduction to CS courses in California and beyond. |
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Building College Level Number Sense with Adaptive Technology*Susan Addington (CSU), Mary Legner (Riverside City College) Number sense is hard to describe, but we can tell when someone is lacking it. This project defines college level number sense as based in middle grades skills (measurement and units, place value, proportional reasoning), but applied in adult contexts with difficult numbers. The grant project will construct an online course in EdReady/NROC consisting of videos, text, and automatically graded practice problems. The videos will feature a group of students in a study group who discuss and solve holistic problems that address several mathematical topics, and also discuss non-cognitive issues such as growth mindset and stereotype threat. The poster reports on a 6-week summer course for incoming first-year college students deemed as needing extra support in math. Pretests on three key topics showed 20-30% correct responses. After conceptually-focused instruction on measurement, place value, and proportional reasoning, scores on the posttest rose to 50-60%, showing that number sense can be taught. The grant project will test to what extent an entirely online number sense course can teach these concepts, and whether adding discussions and surveys of non-cognitive issues can improve student accomplishment not only on the number sense topics in the intervention, but also on entry-level college math and science classes. When completed, the online course will be available freely on the internet. Institutions who join NROC for a modest fee will also be able to set up custom courses and monitor and analyze their students’ progress. We expect that this intervention will be especially effective for traditionally underrepresented groups; the videos and some problem situations are being designed with Inland Empire students in mind, especially Latinx and African Americans. |
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The Mechanics of Inclusion and Inclusivity in Mechanics*Brian Self (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Stamatis Vokos (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Laura Rios (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Ben Lutz (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Pete Schwartz (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Dom Dal Bello (Allan Hancock College), Rob Jorstad (Allan Hancock College), Brian Youngblood (Allan Hancock College), Danielle Harlow (UC Santa Barbara), Andrew Maul (UC Santa Barbara) Mechanics—the study of motion and of the action of forces on bodies—is a core topic in both physics and engineering that is rife with nonintuitive concepts and content that many undergraduates find challenging to master. Some of the GPA gaps in these mechanics courses are nearly 0.5 – the First Generation College student and ERM student gaps are particularly troubling. This project seeks to eliminate equity and performance gaps in mechanics courses by (a) developing a suite of adaptive web-based tools that incorporate videos that illustrate why a topic is relevant to diverse professionals in the real world and adaptive tests, while (b) leveraging those cognitive tools and affective interventions to establish a sense of belonging, a strong STEM identity, and deep conceptual understanding. Parallel to these online efforts will be the implementation of evidence-based practices in the face-to-face classroom, such as the integration of Learning Assistants, implementation of hands-on, minds-on experiments, and development of a supportive, team-based learning environment, in which collaborative norms minimize microaggressions and toxic gendered interactions among team members. To cultivate a sense of belonging and STEM identity, our work will target the development of coherent conceptual understanding as opposed to memorization (so that students feel that their own ideas contribute to the sense-making attempts of the group), situate problems within authentic scientific and engineering contexts (so that students see the relevance of what they learn to the needs of their communities), and highlight contributions by non-traditional scientists and engineers (so that students see themselves in them). The project will disseminate its resources, a framework for faculty development focused on both the instructional materials and the design of inclusive classrooms, and results of its research throughout the California educational system, online, as well as through professional conferences and publications. |
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Community-Sourced Data-Driven Improvements to Open, Adaptive Courseware*Crystal Jenkins (Santa Ana College), Zachary Pardos (UC Berkeley), Nina Robinson (CSU Fullerton), Lauren Herckis (Carnegie Mellon U) This project will improve outcomes for STEM learners in targeted courses, such as chemistry and engineering statics, by deploying and improving adaptive open courseware. Built upon well-established learning science principles, this Open Learning Initiative (OLI) and Lumen Learning courseware has been demonstrably effective in closing gaps and improving performance for underrepresented students in STEM1. Our project has two main thrusts: effectiveness and barriers. Effectiveness research will investigate the impact of multi-sourced and data-driven improvement on outcomes for learners. Barriers research will investigate the impact of this approach on faculty attitudes and culture. These improvements will be guided by analytic tools developed for this project from three main sources. Faculty developed improvements will provide contextualized advancements to the courseware, integrated with their unique domain expertise. Student developed improvements will leverage novice perspectives to avoid expert blind spots and invite them to participate in learning sciences research. Finally, crowdsourced improvements will leverage the insights of the crowd to help address the challenge of improving learning models using individual insights. This approach ensures that student voices will play a central role in identifying areas of difficulty, evaluating materials and improvements, and recognizing the greater student experience. Additionally, the barriers research expands upon established protocols from Carnegie Mellon University, embedding a cultural anthropologist who will use a mixed-methods approach to better understand barriers and facilitators for effective adoption of TEL innovations. This research complements and informs effectiveness research, employing a research-based approach to integrate these new tools into existing educational contexts. Ultimately, our team and work on this project will produce:
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