Collaborative Research: Building Educational Theory Through Enacting Reforms in STEM

This project aims to serve the national interest by building educational theory to support broadening participation in the context of improving undergraduate STEM education. This collaborative project across three institutions seeks to embed inclusive research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) within STEM undergraduate courses and departments and investigate effective strategies to support their use.

Project activities and findings will significantly impact how STEM departments at two- and four-year institutions nationwide support faculty members’ use of inclusive RBIS in their undergraduate STEM courses. The primary goals are to: 1) apply an established theory of change to institutionalize the effective use of inclusive RBIS in STEM courses, 2) generate new knowledge about how specific change strategies enable STEM departments to institutionalize the effective use of inclusive RBIS in courses, and 3) generate new knowledge about benefits of and barriers to effective use of inclusive RBIS in undergraduate STEM courses.

The major project activities are to implement and study a coordinated set of change strategies targeting key barriers and drivers for undergraduate STEM reform at a community college (Whatcom Community College), a regional comprehensive university (Western Washington University), and a large Hispanic-serving institution (University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley). The absence of a shared framework to define, measure, and reward effective teaching can be a barrier to broad implementation of inclusive RBIS.

Through this project's coordinated set of change strategies, STEM faculty will: 1) Develop a shared framework for effective instruction that operationalizes RBIS and includes equity and inclusion as key components, 2) Develop faculty and chairs’ knowledge and skills around the framework, 3) Engage instructional change teams of 2-4 faculty in peer observations followed by learning-focused conversations for feedback to improve enactment of RBIS, 4) Prepare faculty to lead departmental change through a leadership development program, and 5) Co-facilitate departmental conversations to revise policies and procedures to reward faculty’s use of inclusive, equitable RBIS. An existing four-category model of change strategies will provide a framework for design-based research to deepen understanding about how these strategies can be implemented and sustained.

The involvement of three distinct institutions will increase the applicability and transferability of research findings about the faculty, departmental, and institutional factors that support or inhibit effective implementation of the proposed change strategies. This project is supported by the NSF HSI Program and the NSF IUSE: EHR Program. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

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.