Collaborative Research: Building Educational Theory Through Enacting Reforms in STEM

该项目旨在通过建立教育理论来服务于国家利益，以支持在改善本科STEM教育的背景下扩大参与。这个跨三个机构的合作项目旨在将包容性的基于研究的教学策略（RBIS）嵌入STEM本科课程和部门，并调查支持其使用的有效策略。项目活动和调查结果将显著影响全国两年制和四年制机构的STEM部门如何支持教师在本科STEM课程中使用包容性RBIS。主要目标是：1）应用既定的变革理论，将包容性RBIS在STEM课程中的有效使用制度化，2）生成有关具体变革策略如何使STEM部门能够将包容性RBIS在课程中的有效使用制度化的新知识，以及3）生成有关在本科STEM课程中有效使用包容性RBIS的好处和障碍的新知识。主要项目活动是实施和研究一套协调的变革战略，针对社区学院（Whatcom社区学院）、区域综合大学（西部华盛顿大学）和大型西班牙裔服务机构（德克萨斯大学-格兰德河谷）本科生STEM改革的主要障碍和驱动因素。缺乏一个共同的框架来定义，衡量和奖励有效的教学可能是广泛实施包容性RBIS的障碍。通过该项目的一套协调的变革战略，STEM教师将：1）制定一个有效教学的共享框架，使RBIS可操作化，并将公平和包容作为关键组成部分，2）围绕框架发展教师和主席的知识和技能，3）让2 - 4名教师组成的教学变革团队参与同行观察，然后学习-重点对话反馈，以改善RBIS的制定，4）准备教师通过领导力发展计划领导部门变革，以及5）共同促进部门对话，修订政策和程序，以奖励教师使用包容性，公平的RBIS。现有的四类变革战略模型将为基于设计的研究提供一个框架，以加深对如何实施和维持这些战略的理解。三个不同的机构的参与将增加有关教师，部门和机构的因素，支持或抑制有效实施拟议的变革战略的研究成果的适用性和可转让性。该项目由NSF HSI计划和NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建立HSI的能力。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过机构和社区转型的轨道，该计划支持的努力，以改变和改善高等教育机构和学科社区的STEM教育.这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估支持.

This project aims to serve the national interest by building educational theory to support broadening participation in the context of improving undergraduate STEM education. This collaborative project across three institutions seeks to embed inclusive research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) within STEM undergraduate courses and departments and investigate effective strategies to support their use. Project activities and findings will significantly impact how STEM departments at two- and four-year institutions nationwide support faculty members’ use of inclusive RBIS in their undergraduate STEM courses. The primary goals are to: 1) apply an established theory of change to institutionalize the effective use of inclusive RBIS in STEM courses, 2) generate new knowledge about how specific change strategies enable STEM departments to institutionalize the effective use of inclusive RBIS in courses, and 3) generate new knowledge about benefits of and barriers to effective use of inclusive RBIS in undergraduate STEM courses. The major project activities are to implement and study a coordinated set of change strategies targeting key barriers and drivers for undergraduate STEM reform at a community college (Whatcom Community College), a regional comprehensive university (Western Washington University), and a large Hispanic-serving institution (University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley). The absence of a shared framework to define, measure, and reward effective teaching can be a barrier to broad implementation of inclusive RBIS. Through this project's coordinated set of change strategies, STEM faculty will: 1) Develop a shared framework for effective instruction that operationalizes RBIS and includes equity and inclusion as key components, 2) Develop faculty and chairs’ knowledge and skills around the framework, 3) Engage instructional change teams of 2-4 faculty in peer observations followed by learning-focused conversations for feedback to improve enactment of RBIS, 4) Prepare faculty to lead departmental change through a leadership development program, and 5) Co-facilitate departmental conversations to revise policies and procedures to reward faculty’s use of inclusive, equitable RBIS. An existing four-category model of change strategies will provide a framework for design-based research to deepen understanding about how these strategies can be implemented and sustained. The involvement of three distinct institutions will increase the applicability and transferability of research findings about the faculty, departmental, and institutional factors that support or inhibit effective implementation of the proposed change strategies. This project is supported by the NSF HSI Program and the NSF IUSE: EHR Program. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.