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

University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Omaha NE

Investigators

Abstract

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.