Author(s):
The Promoting Research-based Instructional Methods for Enhancing and Reforming STEM Education (PRIMERS) project, funded by NSF, facilitates the movement of college-level STEM education away from teacher-centered instruction toward more learner-centered instruction utilizing research-based instructional strategies (RBIS). The project seeks to better understand how to support the propagation of RBIS across institutions of higher education (IHES). Three IHES with different settings, the University of Colorado Boulder (a R1 research university), Front Range Community College (a primarily two-year college), and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (a Hispanic serving institution and emerging research university) have engaged in a three-pronged approach. First, an existing evidence-based professional development program was adapted to each institution to support use of active learning principles in the classroom. Second, a series of roundtable discussions have been held at all three campuses to discuss department and institutional culture related to teaching and student learning, professional development, RBIS, and faculty evaluations. Finally, research focused on the adaptation of active-learning instruction, department culture, and student outcomes is ongoing to test the effectiveness of these programs. Results show cultural shifts around greater acceptance of active learning techniques across all three campuses, with one institution experiencing propagation of the professional development to sister institutions. The professional development variations at the three institutions, which have already helped transform courses offered at all three institutions, may serve as models for transformation at other institutions.
