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.
The goal of this work was to lay the groundwork for institutional transformation in STEM education, increasing the use of student-centered active learning approaches. This was to take place through first developing and implementing active-learning laboratory curricula in different science departments and through engaging faculty in professional learning opportunities. Progress was made in this area, though not as much as originally hoped in part as a response to university leadership that during this time brought an increased emphasis on research that did not encourage faculty to put more effort in teaching related activity. Nevertheless, more student-centered curricula were developed in Physics and Geology; particularly within the physics department, this effort was quite successful. Over half of the physics faculty members have taught at least one section of the first-semester calculus-based laboratory course using the revised curriculum, supported by weekly staff meetings lead by the PI, and so have been introduced to some active learning approaches and the use of undergraduate Learning Assistants. The revised curriculum is institutionalized; it has been used exclusively in the course for over two years now, and there is broad agreement among faculty that the second semester course needs to be revised into the same format, and preliminary efforts in that direction have occurred. A course for learning assistants was developed after the University of Colorado model; a number of undergraduates have been involved in different parts of this curricula, three of which are or planning to become high school physics teachers, and several more are going on to graduate school and possible academic positions. Several graduate students in geology with teaching interests were also involved in significant ways with that curriculum. Improved writing skills and conceptual understanding have been documented, while the traditional emphasis on measurement, analysis and uncertainties have been maintained and even strengthened. The revisions and results of the geology and physics courses have been presented at regional and national meetings, as well as to faculty on campus. The notable improvement in writing skills in the physics curriculum has spurred a research effort on effective teaching of scientific writing in the physics course that is continuing after the end of this grant and which is expected to result in additional publications. A data acquisition program developed for this project has been recognized by National Instruments and there are plans for them to help distribute it for educational purposes. While the number of faculty outside the PI’s department that were impacted during the lifetime of this project was less than originally hoped, project leadership is better positioned to continue these efforts. The PI has meet with engineering faculty about their interest in incorporating learning assistants into engineering courses and use his learning assistants course. The PI and one co-PI are active in a recently formed STEM education research group that includes faculty from science, engineering and math dedicated to support and strengthen educational research and teaching within the college. Finally, in the spring of 2015 the PI will have a part-time appointment as a Teaching Fellow with the university’s Center for Faculty Development, and will be able to draw on his successful experience working with faculty in his own department to introduce more use of active learning approaches.
