RCN-UBE: Networking Next Gen Biologists with Community College Educators

This RCN-UBE project seeks to network community college educators and biologists using big datasets (next gen biologists) to promote data literacy in community college students. Next gen biology has led to a huge increase in many types of biological data making it important that all biology students have access to educational experiences that build data literacy.

However, due to the rapidly evolving nature of skills needed to work with big data, many STEM educators lack contemporary data literacy skills. Even fewer have training on how to use data in the classroom in a way that is accessible to students and builds data literacy skills. This project aims to improve undergraduate STEM teaching and learning by increasing faculty capability with next gen biology data analysis.

To do this the network participants will create resources to engage diverse undergraduates in cutting edge methods in introductory courses. The network will also promote equity and diversity by enhancing participant awareness of issues that impact student access to biological data literacy skills and quantitative biology research methods.

This project will bring together next gen biologists from non-degree granting institutes and community college faculty to engage in a series of professional learning experiences designed to support all participants to build knowledge about students’ development of biological data literacy and quantitative research skills. To promote participants’ awareness and agency, discussions focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion will be integral to each professional learning event.

Following the series of professional learning events, members of the network will co-create curricular resources that equitably engage students in analyzing and interpreting large datasets founded in authentic research contexts. The project will generate robust instructional strategies and curricular resources founded in contemporary quantitative biology research, a series of guides for facilitating professional development workshops involving professionals from education and scientific research fields, and an expanded network of undergraduate biology faculty and scientists at research institutes engaging students in quantitative biology skills.

This project is being jointly funded by the 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.