The goals of this project are to develop and adapt an instructional system based on innovative curricular materials (Infograms, or graphic symbolic summaries), to implement this instructional system in undergraduate Biology classes, and to determine its learning outcomes. This project is based on a preliminary study that led to improved student comprehension of complex material, boosted conceptual understanding, enhanced retention of knowledge and metacognition, increased student confidence, and created more positive attitudes towards learning. Performance of students utilizing infograms is being compared in a quasi-experimental design to a control group that is not using infograms but otherwise is using the same curricular materials and is taking the same tests. This Infogram approach is being tested with a large number of students, and its efficacy is being assessed and documented.
This project has Intellectual Merit because it employs existing knowledge of STEM education and is expanding this knowledge by integrating education and education research. This project is enhancing the understanding of learning by exploring how students encode and retrieve information using graphic symbolic representations. This project is producing a new model for student learning improvement and exemplary materials that can be easily adapted in other disciplines and by other sites at college and K-12 levels.
The Broader Impacts are being realized through the improved instruction at CUNY New York City College of Technology, which has a large population of under-represented students in STEM, and by the dissemination mechanisms. These dissemination mechanisms include peer-reviewed publications, presentations at workshops and STEM education conferences, college and K-12 faculty workshops, and web-based media.
