Collaborative Research: Talking About Leaving Revisited: Exploring the Contribution of Teaching in Undergraduate Persistence in the Sciences

这是一个混合方法的研究项目，旨在探索自1997年Elaine Seymour和Nancy Hewitt发表的原始研究“谈论离开：为什么本科生离开科学（TAL-1）”以来，科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业本科生的学习经历发生了什么变化，以及没有发生什么变化。研究的重点是影响学生坚持不懈的各种因素。这也是自TAL-1以来第一次对多个机构的STEM领域转换进行大规模调查，这些机构正在改变基础STEM课程的教学实践和学生支持形式。本研究旨在探索在七所院校的原始样本中，学习经历的问题是否以及如何被解决，这些问题被发现是导致转学决定的主要因素，以及这些变化是否能使更多的学生从这些学科毕业。这七所院校提供了一个有用的基准，以衡量教与学环境的变化程度。这七所大学也代表了提供STEM本科教育的所有类型的高等教育机构（社区学院除外）。许多影响学生决策的因素正在被审查，教师教学实践的独立措施正在通过课堂访问来制定。该项目有三个相互关联的组成部分研究：(1)基于国家和机构数据的STEM领域转换模式研究，(2)转换者和非转换者访谈研究，复制和扩展原始研究，以及(3)对教师教授基础STEM课程的三部分研究，使用课程观察，教师访谈和所有学生在线调查这些课程。人种学数据将从三个来源收集：学生访谈、教师访谈和学生对在线调查的书面回复。教师访谈将探讨能够和限制采用现有循证教学方法和材料的过程。将使用教学维度观察协议（TDOP）进行结构化的课堂观察和记录，并对基础课程的所有学生进行定制版本的学生学习收益评估（SALG）在线工具。智力优势：在许多分析焦点中，该研究将产生多层次回归分析，以评估学生人口统计学和学术特征、SALG反应和课程特征（如教学方法）如何预测学生在学习后期从专业转专业的可能性。它将识别预测转换的变量，以及个体预测变量的相对权重。这些分析将揭示STEM基础课程中使用的特定教学方法与其在学生中的坚持效果之间的联系。更广泛的影响：项目最后一年的传播计划包括准备研究简报、同行评议的热门文章和一本书。这些研究将在教育变革的背景下研究持久性问题。研究结果将在七个研究地点展示给观众，包括STEM部门、学院和研究生院的院长、主任和主席；对STEM改革感兴趣的资助机构；目前和未来的STEM博士生；给指导老师；以及STEM教育的学者。

This is a mixed-methods research project to explore what has and has not changed in the learning experiences of undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors since the original study by Elaine Seymour and Nancy Hewitt, "Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences (TAL-1)," published in 1997. The study is focusing on the impact on student persistence of a variety of factors. This is also the first large scale investigation of STEM field-switching since TAL-1 across multiple institutions that are changing teaching practices and forms of student support in foundational STEM courses. This study is exploring whether and how problems with the learning experience found to be major contributors to switching decisions have been addressed at the original sample of seven institutions, and whether such changes enable more students to graduate in these disciplines. The seven institutions provide a useful baseline to gauge the extent of changes in the teaching and learning environment. These seven also represent the full range of types of higher education institutions providing most STEM undergraduate education (except for community colleges). Many factors affecting student decisions are being examined and independent measures of faculty teaching practices are being made using classroom visits. The project has three inter-related component studies: (1) a study of STEM fields-switching patterns based on national and institutional data, (2) a switcher and non-switcher interview study that replicates and extends the original research, and (3) a three-part study of instructors teaching foundational STEM courses using course observation, instructor interviews, and online surveys of all students in those courses. Ethnographic data will be gathered from three sources: student interviews, instructor interviews, and students' write-in responses to the online survey. Instructor interviews will explore the processes that both enable and constrain uptake of available evidence-based teaching methods and materials. Structured classroom observation and recording will be undertaken using the Teaching Dimensions Observational Protocol (TDOP), and a custom version of the Student Assessment of their Learning Gains (SALG) online instrument will be administered to all students in the foundational courses. Intellectual Merit: Among a number of analytical focal points, the study will produce multi-level regression analyses to assess how student demographic and academic characteristics, SALG responses, and course characteristics such as instructional methods predict the probability of students switching from their major later in the study. It will identify variables that predict switching, and the relative weight of individual predictors. These analyses will shed light on links between particular teaching methods used in foundational STEM courses and their persistence outcomes in students.Broader Impacts: The dissemination plan for the last year of the project includes preparation of research briefs, peer-reviewed and popular articles, and a book. These will examine issues of persistence in the context of educational change. Findings will be presented at the seven research sites to audiences that include deans, directors, and chairs of STEM departments, colleges, and graduate schools; to funding agencies interested in STEM reform; to current and prospective STEM doctoral students; to faculty advisors; and to scholars of STEM education.