Use of research-based instructional strategies: How to avoid faculty quitting

Carl Wieman,Brett Gilley,Louis Deslauriers

doi:10.1103/physrevstper.9.023102

Abstract

We have examined the teaching practices of faculty members who adopted research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) as part of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Of the 70 that adopted such strategies with the support of the CWSEI program, only one subsequently stopped using these strategies. This is a tiny fraction of the 33% stopping rate for physics faculty in general [Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 8, 020104 (2012)]. Nearly all of these UBC faculty members who had an opportunity to subsequently use RBIS in other courses (without CWSEI support) did so. We offer speculations for the difference in quitting rates. The direct support of the faculty member by a trained science education specialist in the discipline during the initial implementation of the new strategies is a particularly notable factor.

Highlights

Henderson, Dancy, and Niewiadomska-Bugaj surveyed 722 physics faculty as to their knowledge and use of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) [1]
That inspired us to collect data on the number of faculty adopters and quitters of RBIS connected with the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) at the University of British Columbia (UBC)
These are people who are highly knowledgeable in the respective disciplines, typically Ph.D.’s, who are trained in instructional methods and discipline-based science education research by the CWSEI central staff and other SESs

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Dancy, and Niewiadomska-Bugaj surveyed 722 physics faculty as to their knowledge and use of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) [1]. In this important and informative paper, they were concerned with what factors were important in the decision to use and to stop using such strategies. They found that a third of the faculty that reported using research-based instructional strategies reported that they subsequently quit using them. We report the results and offer some possible reasons for the differences in the fraction of quitters in our sample compared the sample in Ref. [1]

BACKGROUND

SHORT PAPERS

No RBIS quitters

Findings

DISCUSSION