A Multi-Institutional Analysis of Instructional Beliefs and Practices in Gateway Courses to the Sciences

This paper builds on previous studies of instructional practice in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses by reporting findings from a study of the relationship between instructors' beliefs about teaching and learning and their observed classroom practices. Data collection to...

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Published inCBE life sciences education Vol. 18; no. 2; p. ar26
Main Author Ferrare, Joseph J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Society for Cell Biology 01.06.2019
Subjects
Beliefs
Classroom Observation Techniques
College Students
Correlation
Culture
Curriculum
Educational Change
Educational Practices
Engineering - education
Female
Humans
Introductory Courses
Learning
Male
Mathematics - education
Science - education
STEM Education
Students
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher Student Relationship
Teaching
Teaching Methods
Teaching Styles
Technology - education
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Summary:This paper builds on previous studies of instructional practice in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses by reporting findings from a study of the relationship between instructors' beliefs about teaching and learning and their observed classroom practices. Data collection took place across six institutions of higher education and included in-depth interviews with 71 instructors and more than 140 hours of classroom observations using the Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol. Thematic coding of interviews identified 31 distinct beliefs that instructors held about the ways students best learn introductory concepts and skills in these courses. Cluster analysis of the observation data suggested that their observable practices could be classified into four instructional styles. Further analysis suggested that these instructional styles corresponded to disparate sets of beliefs about student learning. The results add momentum to reform efforts that simultaneously approach instructional change in introductory courses as a dynamic relationship between instructors' subjective beliefs about teaching and learning and their strategies in the classroom.
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ISSN:1931-7913
1931-7913
DOI:10.1187/cbe.17-12-0257