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Lessons learned from 8 years of educational transformation (AAPT 2014)
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Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU ( http://colorado.edu/sei) Outcomes from the Science Education Initiative Stephanie V. Chasteen 1 Associate Director of the SEI , Katherine Perkins 1 , Danny Caballero 2 , Carl Wieman 3 1 University of Colorado, 2 Michigan State University, 3 Stanford University
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In 2005, the Science Education Initiative (SEI) at the University of Colorado was launched as a 5 million-dollar, university-funded project to support departments in improving science education (http://www.colorado.edu/sei). The SEI has funded work across 7 STEM departments and dozens of courses to institute a scientific approach to educational reform driven by three questions: What should students learn? What are students learning? Which instructional approaches improve student learning? The SEI is structured with a small team of central staff, and a cohort of Science Teaching Fellows – postdocs, hired into individual departments, who partner with faculty to identify learning goals, develop instructional materials, and research student learning. Key elements of the program are its departmental focus and bottom-up structure. As the SEI draws to a close, we have an opportunity to reflect upon the impacts of the program. This talk will highlight the outcomes of the SEI model, including both affordances, and lessons learned.
Transcript of Lessons learned from 8 years of educational transformation (AAPT 2014)
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
Eight Years of Change:
Outcomes from the
Science Education Initiative
Stephanie V. Chasteen1
Associate Director of the SEI, Katherine Perkins1, Danny Caballero2,
Carl Wieman3
1University of Colorado, 2Michigan State University,
3Stanford University
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
An experiment in change
$5M university-funded program across 7 STEM departments; sister program at U. British Columbia
Focus on department as unit of change
Competitive grant program
Funding used to hire postdoctoral Science Teaching Fellows (STFs)
PhD in discipline
Role as researcher, coach, and archivist
Is it possible to scale up the use of research-based techniques so they become the norm?
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
Course development model
Begin with learning goals
Efficiency model; typically impact large intro courses first
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
Broad impact… faculty, courses, students
135 faculty have modified their teaching (~50% )93 adding clickers, 93 other forms of interactive engagement
Average of 62% of teaching faculty use STF as a resource in a dept.
92 courses impacted, ~$145K per courseMost commonly used*: Clickers, HW, tutorials, learning goals
In physics: Only one core majors’ course untouched
~ 20,000 students/year in impacted coursesIn physics; 92% of majors service load affected
Demonstrated learning gains* In physicsPreliminary results; more detail in coming months
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
Success, with caveats
Degree and type of success depends on:
Selection of appropriate STF
Departmental leadership and culture of teaching
Selection of teaching faculty
Degree of faculty rotation among courses
Institutional commitment
Departmental focus plus STF support leads to substantial and long-lasting change
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
Lessons learnedLack of institutional incentives for teaching is a barrier to faculty engagement
Lack of departmental ownership and accountability is problematic; “We can’t tell our faculty how to teach.”
Money helps! Allows for faculty incentives as well as STF time-on-task.
Where to start? It may be ill-advised to start with development of learning goals, and introductory courses
Faculty may be more motivated by early, small, impactful interventions creating noticeable student engagement
Chasteen - Science Education Initiative at CU (http://colorado.edu/sei)
SEI Administrative oversight is important
Clear expectations of STFs: Who do they work for, and what are their responsibilities?
Quality training of STFs, and community building
Clear expectations of departmentsRequired deliverables and commitments in proposal process
Tangible, “painful” consequences: What will happen if you don’t follow through?
Thank you! [email protected]
http://colorado.edu/seiStay tuned for upcoming papers on
these results
