Collaborative Research: Investigating Contextual Factors that Impact Early-Career Faculty Teaching Practice

许多大规模的生物教师专业发展计划旨在帮助教师增加以学习者为中心的教学策略的使用，强调科学实践，使所有学生都能参与和学习科学。与此同时，公共和私人资助机构正在积极投资于大规模的专业发展项目，但人们对这些投资的长期回报知之甚少，特别是在早期职业教师中。该项目将调查全国生物系早期职业教师实施创新教学实践的程度，并确定教师培训投资是否“有回报”，特别是，它们是否会导致教学方法的持续变化，并改善学生的体验和学习。重要的是，本研究的结果将确定部门和机构层面的变量，影响早期职业教师的教学实践。从这项研究的结果将提供证据，组织结构如何能够维持所有教师之间的教育创新，通知运动，重点放在部门的变化在本科科学教育的单位。本研究项目将调查在关键的任期前几年的早期职业教师的教学实践的专业发展的纵向后果，使用教师学院改革科学教学（第一）网络作为一个研究系统。本研究将集中在四个主要机构类型的80名早期职业教师的样本，并评估组织因素在支持和维持教学变革中的作用。40名教师参加了科学教学改革学院（FIRST）计划，并将与没有参加FIRST的同行进行比较，利用这两组来探索支持教育创新的因素。这种综合模式将侧重于个人价值观和自我效能，外部奖励系统和组织结构，为支持或不支持创新的教学方法提供基础。研究设计使我们能够检查可能的衰减，以及增强以学习者为中心的教学策略之间的早期职业教师。这些实证研究结果将确定专业发展和组织系统（部门和机构）的有效策略，以维持教师教学方式的变化，最终提高学生的学习。与此同时，公共和私人资助机构正在积极投资于大规模的专业发展项目，但人们对这些投资的长期回报知之甚少，特别是在早期职业教师中。拟议中的研究将填补这一关键空白，告知专业发展活动在各机构类型的程序如何支持持续，有效的教学实践。学生指标的结果将进一步量化教师专业发展，转变教学实践和学生学习成果之间的联系。

Many large-scale professional development programs for biology faculty are aimed at helping instructors increase the use of learner-centered teaching strategies that emphasize scientific practices, so that all students can engage in and learn science. At the same time that public and private funding agencies are actively investing in large-scale professional development programs, little is known about how those investments pay out over the long term, particularly in early-career faculty. This project will investigate the extent of implementation of innovative teaching practices by early career faculty in biology departments nationwide and determine if investments in faculty training have "paid off," specifically, whether they result in sustained changes in instructional approaches and improved student experiences and learning. Importantly, the results from this study will identify the variables at department and institution levels that affect the teaching practice of early career faculty. Results from this study will provide evidence for how organizational structures can sustain educational innovation among all faculty, informing movements that focus on departments as the unit of change in undergraduate science education. This research project will investigate the longitudinal consequences of professional development on teaching practices of early-career faculty during the critical pre-tenure years, using the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) network as a study system. The study will focus on a sample of 80 early-career faculty at four major institution types and evaluate the role of organizational factors in supporting and sustaining instructional change. Forty of the faculty participated in the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) program and will be compared to peers in their department who did not participate in FIRST, using both groups to explore factors that support educational innovation. This integrated model will focus on individual values and self-efficacy, external reward systems, and organizational structures that provide the foundation for supporting or not supporting innovative teaching approaches. The research design allows us to examine possible decay as well as enhancement of learner-centered teaching strategies among early-career faculty. These empirical research findings will identify effective strategies for professional development and organizational systems (departments and institutions) that sustain change in how faculty teach, to ultimately improve student learning. At the same time that public and private funding agencies are actively investing in large-scale professional development programs, little is known about how those investments pay out over the long term, particularly in early-career faculty. The proposed study would fill this critical gap, informing professional development activities in programs across institution types about how to support sustained, effective teaching practice. Results from student metrics will further quantify the connections among faculty professional development, transformed teaching practice, and student learning outcomes.