Research into Scientific Teaching

Diane Ebert-MayDepartment of Plant Biology

Michigan State University

Team at MSURett Weber - Plant Biology (postdoctoral researcher)

Deb Linton - Plant Biology (postdoctoral researcher)

Duncan Sibley - Geology

Doug Luckie - Physiology

Scott Harrison - Microbiology (graduate student)

Tammy Long - Plant Biology

Heejun Lim - Chemistry Education

Rob Pennock - Philosophy

Charles Ofria - Engineering

Rich Lenski - Microbiolgy

Janet Batzli - Plant Biology [U of Wisconsin]

Faculty development

Scientific Teaching

Scientific teaching involves active learning strategies to engage students in the process of science.

Research Questions

1. Have faculty changed their teaching?

2. Has student learning improved in response to the changes in teaching?

Faculty Cohorts

FIRST II - NSF– Multiple workshops over 4 years – Teams of faculty– All types of institutions - community

colleges to research universities

Summer Institutes (SI) - HHMI– 1 week-long workshop– Teams of faculty– Research extensive universities

Design Research

InstitutionsFaculty

FIRST II 10 x 2 = 20SI 2004 10 x 2 =

20SI 2005 10 x 2 =

20Total 30 Institutions

60 Faculty

Sampling Time-line

Semester starts

Faculty Survey

RTOP 1* RTOP 2

Semester Ends

Semester 1

Semester starts

Faculty Survey

RTOP 3 RTOP 4

Semester Ends

Semester 2

*RTOP during a TL Unit

Path Model

Institution Course Data

Professional Development

Time

TL Unit Assess Type RTOP

Self Report

Faculty Demographic

Teaching Pedagogy

ClassFaculty

Institution

Hierarchical Levels

Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP)

•Classroom observational instrument

•Assesses degree of active instruction based on constructivist theory.

•Reliable (r2 >0.9) (Lawson et al 2002)

•Correlated to student normalized gains (r =0.70-0.97) (Lawson et al. 2003)

Subscales of RTOP

Lesson Design and Implementation

ContentPropositionalProcedural

Classroom CultureCommunicative InteractionsStudent/Teacher Relationships

Some Expected Results

• How does class size impact teaching practice?

• How does the research:teaching ratio affect change in teaching?

• How does teaching experience influence change?

• What effect does the institution have on faculty change?

Does class size impact teaching practice?

Institution

Professional Development

Time

TL Unit Assess Type‡ RTOP

Faculty Demographic

Teaching Pedagogy

ClassFaculty

Institution

Hierarchical Levels

*class size, percent attendance†survey of instructional practices‡type of questions

Course Data*

Self Report†

Does teaching experience influence faculty change?

Institution

Professional Development

TL Unit RTOP

ClassFaculty

Institution

Hierarchical Levels

*Years teaching, rank†Teaching knowledge, confidence and experience

Course Data

Time

Assess Type

Faculty Demographic*

Teaching Pedagogy†Self Report

Does teaching:research ratio affect change?

Institution

Professional Development

Time

TL Unit Assess Type RTOP

Faculty Demographic*ClassFaculty

Institution

Hierarchical Levels

*Percent time research/teaching

Course Data

Self ReportTeaching Pedagogy

How does the institution influence change?

Professional Development

Time

TL Unit Assess Type RTOP

Faculty Demographic* ClassFaculty

Institution

Hierarchical Levels

Teaching Pedagogy

Institution†

*Faculty rating of institutional support†Carnegie classification, # of undergrad students

Self Report

Course Data

Has student learning responded to professional

development?

From T. Derting (NSF CCLI Final Report)

Has student learning responded to professional

development?

From Derting (NSF Final Report)