Prevalence of and Barriers to the Adoption of High-Impact Teaching Practices in General Education Science, Mathematics, and Social-Science Courses

该项目旨在为国家利益服务于高质量的STEM教育。为此，它将研究在普通教育STEM课程中使用高效教学实践的普遍性和障碍。这项拟议的分析旨在衡量教授课程的大学教职员工和高中教师的教学实践和态度，学生通过这些课程获得大学学分。这项研究中获得的数据旨在推动未来采取行动，改善STEM人才管道的招聘和留住。实施经过研究验证的教学实践已被证明可以改善学习结果，包括留住学生。然而，高等教育领导者对其校园的实际教学实践掌握的信息有限。因此，可能很难提供符合实践的支持、资源和干预措施。本项目旨在确定在普通教育课程中如何以及在哪里使用经过研究验证的实践，以及教职员工对这些实践的看法。这一分析有可能支持基于证据的资源分配，并提供大量教师投入和支持，从而产生一种评估模式，有助于应对当地STEM学习挑战并提高结果。在三年的项目时间表内，直接学习的课程将招收超过2.7万名本科生和4500名预科学生。开发的方法和工具旨在向类似机构输出，显著增加该项目的潜在影响。该项目将使用基于关注的采用模型来收集关于内布拉斯加州大学奥马哈大学普通教育科学、数学和社会科学课程中高影响力教学实践的数据。有三个诊断维度：(1)成功模式，(2)行为测量，(3)态度测量。成功模式由教学实践清单定义的八个类别代表，旨在审查研究性教学实践的使用情况。行为测量包括教师自我报告的数据，通过社交网络分析合作和共享的分析，以及使用本科生STEM课堂观察协议验证自我报告。态度的衡量标准包括根据关注阶段问卷编制和部署态度调查。由此产生的数据将结合来自教师焦点小组的定性数据和针对结构性障碍的访谈进行分析。本项目的中心研究问题是：(1)教师在他们的普通教育科学、数学和社会科学课程中使用哪些高影响实践，它们的普及率是多少？(2)教师在采用高影响实践方面存在哪些障碍/担忧？(3)高影响实践使用的程度、教师网络的密度和自我确定的关注阶段对机构有效性度量和部门报告的学生学习评估有什么加权影响？NSF IUSE：EHR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。通过机构和社区转型轨道，该计划支持高等教育机构和学科社区转变和改进STEM教育的努力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest in high quality STEM education. To do so, it will study the prevalence and barriers to using highly effective teaching and learning practices in general education STEM courses. The proposed analysis is designed to measure the teaching practices and attitudes of college faculty members and high school teachers who teach courses through which students earn college credits. The data obtained in this study is intended to drive future action to improve recruitment and retention in the STEM talent pipeline. Implementation of research-verified teaching practices has been shown to improve learning outcomes, including student retention. However, higher education leaders can have limited information about the actual teaching practices on their campus. As a result, it can be difficult to provide support, resources, and interventions that align with practice. This project aims to identify how and where research-verified practices are being used in general education courses, as well as faculty views about these practices. This analysis has the potential to support evidence-based allocation of resources with significant faculty input and buy in, resulting in an assessment model that can help address local STEM learning challenges and increase outcomes. The courses under direct study will enroll over 27,000 undergraduate students and 4,500 pre-college students over the three-year project timeline. The methods and instruments developed are intended to be exportable to similar institutions, significantly increasing the project’s potential impact.This project will use a Concerns-Based Adoption Model to gather data about the use of high-impact teaching practices in general education science, mathematics, and social science courses at the University of Nebraska Omaha. There are three diagnostic dimensions: (1) the Model of Success, (2) Measures of Behaviors, and (3) Measures of Attitudes. The Model of Success is represented by the eight categories defined by the Teaching Practices Inventory, designed to examine the use of research-based teaching practices. The Measures of Behaviors includes faculty self-reported data, analysis of collaboration and sharing via social networking analysis, and validation of self-reports using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM. The Measures of Attitudes includes the development and deployment of an attitudinal survey based on the Stages of Concern Questionnaire. The resulting data will be analyzed in combination with qualitative data from faculty focus groups and interviews addressing structural barriers. The central research questions for this project are: (1) What high-impact practices are faculty using in their general education science, math, and social science courses, and what is their prevalence? (2) What faculty-perceived barriers/concerns exist with respect to adoption of high-impact practices? (3) What is the weighted effect that the extent of high-impact practice use, density of the faculty network, and self-identified stages of concern have on institutional effectiveness metrics and department-reported assessments of student learning? 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.