Opening Doors: A Wider Examination of STEM Teaching and Learning, Culture and Support at Otterbein University

这个WIDER规划项目正在研究奥特贝格大学下层STEM专业和教师的教学、学习和课外循证实践（ebp）。通过由STEM从业者和教育专家领导的跨学科倡议，该项目正在寻求了解影响STEM学生使用循证实践和有效性的因素。这些因素包括教师对ebp的知识和使用，实施ebp的障碍，ebp对学生学习和保留的影响，以及学生信心和文化对学习和坚持的作用。该团队采用严格的混合方法设计，结合了有效的评估方法、课堂观察、焦点小组和数据挖掘，重点关注生物学、生物化学和分子生物学、化学、数学、物理和动物园保护科学等专业的入门课程。混合方法设计是由多种变革理论（包括圣吉的学习型组织模型）提供信息的，其结果被用于在个人层面（即，发展反思教师和传播课程和教学法）和组织层面（即，制定政策和发展共同愿景）制定变革战略。其目标是推动奥特拜因大学STEM项目的战略全面改革，并将研究结果传播给其他主要的本科院校，以提高学生在STEM领域的学习和记忆力。

This WIDER planning project is examining teaching, learning, and co-curricular evidence-based practices (EBPs) among underclass STEM majors and faculty at Otterbein University. Through an interdisciplinary initiative led by STEM practitioners and educational experts, the project is seeking to understand factors that influence the use and effectiveness of evidence-based practices for STEM students. These factors include faculty members' knowledge and use of EBPs, barriers to implementation of EBPs, and impact of EBPs on student learning and retention, as well as the role of student confidence and culture on learning and persistence. The team is using a rigorous, mixed-method design that employs a combination of validated assessment methods, classroom observations, focus groups, and data mining, focusing on gateway courses for majors in Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoo & Conservation Science. The mixed-method design is informed by multiple change theories, including Senge's model of learning organizations, and the results are being used to develop strategies for change at both the individual level (i.e., developing reflective teachers and disseminating curriculum and pedagogy) and the organizational level (i.e., enacting policy and developing a shared vision). The goal is to drive strategic, comprehensive reforms to the STEM programs at Otterbein and also to disseminate findings to other primarily undergraduate institutions in order to improve student learning and retention in STEM fields.