This project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln aims at bridging the gap between research and practice in STEM education. The project is drawing upon prior research on effective pedagogies and theories of change to effect institutional transformation in undergraduate STEM education with a particular emphasis on introductory classes where student attrition is most pronounced. Within the implementation component of the project, over one hundred faculty members in fourteen STEM departments are being provided professional development on research based instructional strategies and course design. The faculty members are using this professional development to change their instructional practices with the overall goal of improving student learning outcomes. This is impacting approximately 5000 students, including a significant number of underrepresented students, over the life of the project. The research team will use this context of instructional transformation to study factors that influence faculty and departmental adoption of effective pedagogies. The results of these studies are contributing to the higher education knowledge base and could influence how other institutions seek to enact transformations in STEM teaching and learning. The research results are being broadly disseminated to other institutions and to the public through a variety of mechanisms.
