Research Projects

The Marston Science Library (MSL) Curriculum Project is intended to support the University of Florida scientific community, particularly undergraduate STEM students and Faculty. The MSL Project will optimize learning opportunities and enhance learners’ access to science-related information and resources. Informed by the ACRL (ACRL, 2015) and critical literacy (Freire, 1972) frameworks, the curriculum will employ evidence-based instructional design approaches to support learners’ inquiry within STEM disciplines (Critical STEM Literacy). This framework recognizes the role of social interactions, culture, and ideology in the construction of knowledge (Beck, 2005). Additionally, it considers learners’ contextualized practice and their roles as agents of change (Freire, 1972).

This project focuses on digital literacy education for middle school students and involves research and outreach programs to support community engagement and professional development initiatives using the Social Media TestDrive simulation platform.

Funded by the UF Health Cancer Center, the Citizen Scientist Cancer Curriculum is an expansion of the Citizen Scientist Project to support the participation of citizen scientists and other patient/community stakeholders in cancer-related projects. The curriculum will also serve as a collaboration hub to meet the needs of cancer center investigators and community members interested in this community engagement model.

This study has been conducted in iterations involving the use of predictive and descriptive learning analytics dashboards to investigate how theory-driven specific design elements may influence learners’ cognitive and affective outcomes in an online statistics course.

This project represents a design and development research related to the Power and Sample Size Analysis Course that was offered as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the Coursera platform in 2020. This research support is for A Master Course NIH Project.

The GoFlag Project involved the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of learning materials for K-12 and undergraduate courses related to the “Building a comprehensive evolutionary history of flagellate plants” Project (funded by the National Science Foundation [NSF]). One of the goals of the GoFlag Project is to create awareness and understanding of the importance of flagellate plants and their contribution to biodiversity.

The Tree of Life Project was developed to foster the appreciation of biodiversity in our lives based on an interdisciplinary approach that culminated in a multimedia-based informal learning event at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Funded by the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium and the University of Florida (UF) Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the Citizen Scientist Program was developed to bridge the gap between researchers and community members. The project involved the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a customizable curriculum that is available to other institutions as an open educational resource to facilitate the adoption of similar models.