CCLI: Multidisciplinary Instructional Transformation in Science and Math Courses Supporting Teacher Preparation and Institutional Change

该项目正在为国家转变科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育的努力做出贡献，以利用目前已知的学生学习和课堂上有效的教学实践。成功不仅仅取决于教育教师成为自信、有能力地使用以学习者为中心、以知识为中心、以评估为中心和以社区为中心的教学实践。在发展教师和课程方面已经做了很多工作，但结构性障碍阻碍了这种主动学习方法在大学和K-12年级的科学和数学领域的推广。扩大变革不仅需要改变个别教师的信念，还需要改变文化规范、时间压力、奖励制度以及科学和数学教师的准备。该项目是西肯塔基大学理科教学体制改革的重要第一步，西肯塔基大学是一个重视教学的历史和传统机构。(它还旨在通过建立和加强这所大学的“SKyTeach”计划来影响K-12教学，这是UTeach STEM教师准备计划的复制。)SkyTeach的方法是为STEM教师开发学习社区。这些新生的社区让感兴趣的教师了解有效的教学，建立社区，并支持已经参与这一转变的教职员工。社区参与确定和认可模范课程，并支持开发更多的课程。该项目的一个重点是职前教师的教育。新课程开发工作努力让职前教师参与课程的开发、实施和修订。大型入门课程中的主动学习得到了学习助理(LA)计划的支持，该计划也用于招募学生从事教学。学习助理在教学中与教职员工和研究生合作，以减少主动学习的结构性障碍(有限的教师时间)。课堂观察和对学生学习收益的衡量正被用来模拟评估教学的替代方法。同事们正在通过不同的论坛了解这些努力，从非正式的走廊对话到有组织的会议会议。形成性评估被用来指导这一试点项目的设计，也被用来向主办学院、大学和其他机构提供信息。

This project is contributing to the national effort to transform Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education to use what is now known about student learning and effective instructional practices in the classroom. Success depends on more than educating instructors to become confident and able users of instructional practices that are learner-, knowledge-, assessment-, and community-centered. Much work has been done to develop instructors and curriculum, but structural barriers have impeded the spread of this type of active learning methods in science and mathematics at the college and K-12 level. Scaling up change requires not only changing individual instructors' beliefs but also the cultural norms, time pressures, reward systems, and preparation of science and math instructors. This project is engaged in an important first step of institutional transformation in science instruction at Western Kentucky University, an institution with a history and tradition for valuing teaching. (It is also designed to affect K-12 instruction through building on and strengthening the "SKyTeach" program at this university, a replication of the UTeach STEM teacher preparation program.) The SkyTeach approach is to develop learning communities for STEM faculty. These nascent communities inform interested instructors about effective teaching, build community, and support faculty already engaged in this transformation. The communities are engaged in identifying and recognizing exemplary courses and supporting the development of additional ones. An emphasis in this project is the education of pre-service teachers. New curriculum development work strives to include pre-service teachers in development, implementation, and revision of curricula. Active learning in large introductory courses is being supported by a Learning Assistant (LA) program that also serves to recruit students into teaching. Learning assistants collaborate with faculty and graduate students in instruction in order to reduce a structural barrier (limited instructor time) to active learning. Classroom observations and measures of student learning gains are being used to model alternative ways of evaluating instruction. Colleagues are learning about these efforts through different forums ranging from informal hallway conversations to organized conference sessions. Formative evaluation is being used to guide the design of this pilot project, and is also being used to inform the host college, university, and other institutions.