Abstract
BackgroundEvidence-based teaching, such as active learning, is associated with increases in student learning and engagement. Although many faculty are beginning to adopt innovative practices, traditional lecture-based teaching tends to dominate college science education. What are the factors associated with faculty’s decision to incorporate evidence-based teaching? While there are known barriers that limit adoption of evidence-based practices in science classrooms (e.g., lack of time, student resistance), the present work reveals that instructors’ perceptions of supports (e.g., access to teaching resources, encouragement from colleagues) shows a stronger relationship to instructors’ use of evidence-based teaching.ResultsThese results come from a uniquely large dataset of college science faculty and instructors from across the USA (n = 584), who received training in evidence-based teaching. Multiple linear regression analyses of the relationship among perceived supports, barriers, and reported implementation of evidence-based practices showed that instructors report greater implementation when they perceive more social, personal, and resource supports even when barriers are also indicated as present.ConclusionFaculty’s perceived supports, not perceived barriers, are most strongly related to their reported implementation of evidence-based teaching. These findings suggest relevant stakeholders devote increased attention identifying and building the factors that promote evidence-based teaching in addition to reducing what inhibits it.
Highlights
Evidence-based teaching, such as active learning, is associated with increases in student learning and engagement
evidence-based teaching (EBT) encompasses a variety of practices, including active learning and student-centered approaches encouraging students to interact with class content in a more constructivist way (Greeno & Engeström, 2014; Vygotsky, 1978), often building their knowledge through inquiry-based learning, open-ended problems, group work, discussions, and reflection
We cannot assume that these patterns necessarily reflect the general faculty population; (3) Our study did not encompass all the variables that could explain variance in faculty’s decisions to implement EBT; (4) We relied fully on self-report variables; (5) This data examines the reported presence or absence of each EBT practice but does not address the frequency or quality of implementation, which presumably varies in the sample; and (6) We examined the relationship among supports, barriers, and EBT based on sum scores, which did not weight particular supports or barriers as more or less influential to reported implementation
Summary
Evidence-based teaching, such as active learning, is associated with increases in student learning and engagement. The need for evidence-based teaching in college classrooms is increasingly clear as research shows a rigid and traditional (e.g., purely lecture based) classroom approach and can systematically marginalize students, even unintentionally, through the structure and assessments used in the classroom and the cultural norms of science (Basile & Lopez, 2015; Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman, 2012). This pattern seems to be especially true in STEM disciplines where large introductory courses are generally lecture based with little scaffolding or support for students who are often in their early years of college (Stains et al, 2018). Freeman and others (Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM Initiative, 2013; Wieman, 2017) have argued that
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