Inclusive Course Design for Enhancing Active Learning in STEM

该项目旨在通过创造有关教师专业发展对学生成功和参与STEM课程的影响的新知识来服务于国家利益。有压倒性的证据表明，包容性教学和循证学习策略提高了学生在STEM课程中的表现。另外，有充分的证据表明STEM教师发展的最佳实践。然而，很少有研究直接联系教师的专业发展，学生的成功，通过测量教师的做法的变化。该项目旨在通过针对教师的重点研讨会和跨学科教师学习社区的持续参与，改变一个主要研究密集型机构五个STEM部门的课堂文化。它计划调查教师专业发展的方式和程度可以影响学生的参与度和成功，包括教师在研讨会上改造的课程和学生随后参加的课程。该项目旨在研究：（1）教师因专业发展计划而对教学实践的改变，（2）教师对所做改变的影响的看法，以及（3）这些变化对学生参与度，归属感和成功结果的影响。教师的做法和看法的分析将在纵向收集的多个数据流三角，包括课堂观察，教学文物的文本分析，教师对他们的教学知识和决策的采访，以及教师对他们的教学实践的调查。学生数据将包括课程作业的表现，课程活动的反思，以及在课堂上测量学生参与度的生物识别传感器数据。该项目计划在五个部门（地球科学，化学，数学统计，物理和生物）包括30名STEM教师，并告知部门和学院关于教师发展的实施和价值的政策，以研究为基础的教学实践。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过其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力审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by creating new knowledge about the impact of faculty professional development on student success and engagement in STEM courses. There is overwhelming evidence that inclusive teaching and evidence-based learning strategies increase students' performance in STEM classes. Separately, there is ample evidence on best practices for STEM faculty development. However, few studies directly link faculty professional development to student success via measurement of changes in faculty practices. This project aims to change classroom culture across five STEM departments at a major research-intensive institution through focused workshops for faculty and ongoing engagement in an interdisciplinary faculty learning community. It plans to investigate in what ways and to what extent faculty professional development can impact student engagement and success, including both courses transformed by faculty in the workshops and subsequent courses taken by the students. The project intends to research: (1) changes to teaching practice that faculty make as a result of the professional development program, (2) faculty perceptions of the impact of changes made, and (3) the impact of these changes on student engagement, sense of belonging, and success outcomes. Analysis of faculty practices and perceptions will triangulate across multiple data streams collected longitudinally, including classroom observations, textual analysis of teaching artifacts, interviews with faculty about their pedagogical knowledge and decisions, and faculty surveys of their teaching practices. Student data will include performance on course assignments, reflections on course activities, and biometric sensor data taken during class to measure students' engagement. This project plans to include 30 STEM instructors in five departments (geosciences, chemistry, mathematics & statistics, physics, and biology), and to inform departmental and college policies on the implementation and value of faculty development for research-based instructional practices. The NSF IUSE:EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its 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.