Examining the Effects of Training Undergraduate Chemistry Students How to Deliberate

Wabash College, Crawfordsville IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims to contribute to the national interest in excellent undergraduate STEM education. It will do so by studying the impacts of teaching undergraduates how to deliberate. Deliberation skills include the ability to have respectful conversations among people with different experiences, to think critically, and to make better decisions by considering multiple perspectives. Many pressing national and global challenges such as pollution and energy consumption interweave complex scientific concepts with ethical and moral issues. As a result, society often struggles to coordinate the actions needed to address such challenges. Decision-making around such complex issues would benefit from a more deliberative mindset to enhance effective collaboration and informed decision-making. However, deliberation training is rare in undergraduate science education. Deliberation training and opportunities to practice deliberation will be integrated in undergraduate chemistry courses. Students will participate in facilitated deliberation exercises that challenge them to find and evaluate approaches to real-world issues. The project will determine whether deliberation training enhances scientific learning, encourages a deliberative mindset, and deepens students’ sense of civic engagement. In addition, the project team will study deliberation training in chemistry courses at two four-year colleges and a community college, as well as the impact of facilitator training. In this way, the project will investigate whether similar student outcomes can be achieved across different institutions with different student demographics. If successful, the project will better prepare graduates to enter the STEM workforce and to become engaged citizens. Importantly, many students from groups underrepresented in STEM enter postsecondary education through community colleges. If deliberation training achieves the desired student outcomes in this setting, the project may contribute to the inclusion of diverse voices and broaden participation in STEM. The project will examine several variables to determine if they are key factors for successful deliberative pedagogy (i.e. training students how to deliberate) in a chemistry curriculum. It will also develop and test multiple methods for assessing these impacts. An environmental contaminants deliberation module will be implemented in a first-year chemistry course taken by chemistry, biochemistry, and biology students. After students become familiar with the background of the issue through assigned readings and class lectures, they will be presented with three options to move forward. Students will then participate in a facilitated deliberation that thoughtfully discusses the benefits of each approach and the tradeoffs that inevitably exist in those actions. They will then propose the best way forward. This exercise engages students in analyzing different viewpoints and acknowledging that every approach, even if not favored by the student, is rooted in values. To reinforce this experience, a genetic engineering deliberation module will be designed and implemented in a third-year biochemistry course. In this experience, students will be encouraged to consider the values that genetic engineering both engenders and compromises, and how it can both benefit and harm members of society. In both the first- and third-year courses, student outcomes related to scientific learning and civic engagement will be assessed. Following any necessary changes, the modules will be implemented at another four-year college and subsequently an urban community college to measure translatability. The Deliberative Pedagogy Modules that will be created during the project will be made publicly available for use by other instructors and institutions. This project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources. The IUSE: EHR program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This project is in the Engaged Student Learning track, through which 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.