Collaborative Research: Extending A Coherent Gateway to STEM Teaching and Learning

有令人信服的证据表明，入门课程往往是学生成功，坚持和科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）毕业的重大障碍。 借鉴美国大学协会支持的工作，这个合作研发项目旨在实施创新的教学和学习模式，三维（3D）学习，并调查因素（例如，支持和挑战）影响在STEM入门和高级课程中采用和实施教学创新。 该方法是根据国家研究理事会的文件《K-12科学教育框架》为中学后教育所作的调整而制定的。 而不是专注于发展教师的认识和实施高影响力的做法作为一种手段来改造干课程，三维学习框架的重点是在学科，包括在课堂上的科学实践，并纳入跨学科的科学概念在课程材料与建设教师的能力和部门/机构的基础设施，以提高学生的学习目标从事教师确定核心思想。 该项目集中于两项主要工作：（1）3D学习的传播，评估工具的开发和验证，以及密歇根州立大学及其合作机构，大峡谷州立大学，佛罗里达国际大学的教师支持结构的实施，和堪萨斯州立大学和（2）研究使用各种方法，以检查教学创新是如何采用和实施跨不同学科，部门文化，和制度生态及其对学生成绩的影响。该项目的重点是教师在高等教育中的关键变革推动者，并借鉴了文献上的制度变革，强调个人的人力，社会和文化资本的重要性，在建立和维持制度变革和教学创新的传播在课堂上。 定量和定性混合方法研究项目旨在确定支持或阻止教师广泛采用和实施3D学习的因素和条件。 通过研究不同学科和机构采用和实施3D学习的不同水平，该研究将测试在教师发展和教学变革的理论和实证研究文献中发现的假设。 研究团队将使用学生评估，课堂观察，调查和学生访谈来识别，跟踪和检查这些不同层次的采用和实施如何影响学生的成果，如持久性，动机和知识（例如， 学科的核心思想、科学实践和科学中的交叉概念）。

There is compelling evidence that introductory gateway courses are often significant barriers to student success, persistence, and graduation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Drawing on work supported by the Association of American Universities, this collaborative R&D project is designed to implement an innovative teaching and learning model, Three-Dimensional (3D) Learning, and investigate the factors (e.g., supports and challenges) affecting the adoption and implementation of instructional innovation in introductory and upper level courses in STEM. The approach is based on an adaptation of the National Research Council's document, A Framework for K-12 Science Education, for postsecondary education. Rather than focusing on developing faculty awareness and implementation of high impact practices as a means to transform STEM courses, the 3D Learning framework focuses on engaging faculty in identifying core ideas in the disciplines, including scientific practice in the classroom, and incorporating crosscutting scientific concepts in course materials with the goal of building faculty capacity and departmental/institutional infrastructure to improve student learning. The project concentrates on two major efforts: (1) the propagation of 3D Learning, development and validation of assessment tools, and implementation of faculty support structures across Michigan State University and its partner institutions, Grand Valley State University, Florida International University, and Kansas State University and (2) research using a variety of methods to examine how instructional innovation is adopted and implemented across different disciplines, department cultures, and institutional ecologies and their affect on student outcomes. The project focuses on faculty as key change agents in higher education and draws on the literature on institutional change that emphasizes the importance of the human, social, and cultural capital of individuals in establishing and sustaining institutional change and the propagation of instructional innovation in the classroom. The quantitative and qualitative mixed methods research project is designed to identify factors and conditions that support or prevent faculty from broadly adopting and implementing 3D Learning. By examining differential levels of adoption and implementation of 3D Learning across disciplines and institutions, the study will test assumptions found in the theoretical and empirical research literature on faculty development and instructional change. The research team will use student assessments, classroom observation, surveys, and interviews with students to identify, track, and examine how these different levels of adoption and implementation affect student outcomes, such as persistence, motivation, and knowledge (e.g., core ideas in the disciplines, scientific practices, and crosscutting concepts in the sciences).