FIRST II: A Model for Facilitating Change Diane Ebert-May 1 Jan Hodder 2 Debra Linton 3 1 Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University 2 Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon 3 Cuyahoga Community College

Evidence… Policy Institutional Support and Facilitation Need to Change Learning and Implementing New Practices Facilitating the Learning and Implementation of New Practices Sustainable Agriculture (Röling and Wagemakers, 1998) FIRST Model Faculty Recognition and Rewards Dissemination within Institutions IT Faculty Teams Join FIRST II FIRST II Workshops Lead to Course Reforms FIRST II Team Structure Theoretical Basis of FIRST

Need to Change Teaching Faculty Choose to Join FIRST II

Primary Reasons for Participating (n=145) Reason% Improve my teaching/courses43 Learn new techniques / get new ideas 30 Improve student learning / critical thinking 21 Build connections/support groups with peers 20 Increase use of inquiry in my classes19 …Improve assessment7

Participants by Position Title (n=145)

Institutions Involved (n=145)

Participants by Years Teaching Experience (n=145)

Learning and Implementing New Practices FIRST II Workshops Lead to Course Reforms

Workshop Activities

Useful Workshop Experiences (n=109) Category# of Participants Seeing what others are doing46 Learning about Assessment22 Learning about IBL20 Example inquiry activities18 Specific tools or techniques13 Guest speakers10 Hands-on practice with techniques 9

Courses in the Project (n=109) Discipline# of Courses% Reformed Introductory Biology Ecology and Evolution Cell and Molecular Biology Zoology Physiology Applied Course Microbiology Chemistry Plant Biology Physical Sciences Mathematics Limnology and Oceanography862.5 Other Total

Students in Courses (n=109) Audience# of Courses% Reformed Undergraduate non-science majors Lower division science majors Upper division science majors Graduate Students Pre-Service Teachers4669.6

Sizes of Courses Being Reformed (n=109) # Students# of Courses% Reformed < > # Students in Reformed Courses per Year: >16,000

Reforms in Courses (n=109) Techniques Implemented or Increased in Usage# of Faculty Using In-class Group Activities47 Cooperative Groups41 Inquiry-based Labs32 Concept Maps28 Minute Papers26 Student Discussions22 Think/Pair/Share21 Student Presentations21 Pre/Post-Testing19 Experimental Design/Analysis16 Conceptual Questions16 Less Lecture14 Student Research11

Facilitating the Learning and Implementation of New Teaching Practices FIRST II Team Structure

FIRST II Structure

IT Support from Teammates (n=109) Category# of Participants Informal discussions42 Nothing26 Regular meetings22 Infrequent meetings14 Collaborate on courses11 Visit each other’s classes8 7 Meet with other IT teams3

Support from FS Team (n=109) Category# of Participants Feedback on what I am doing23 Facilitate information sharing between teams 18 Updates on resources and literature17 Training in assessment and inquiry- based teaching 17 Encouragement / Motivation15 Organize workshops9 Visit our schools / classrooms8 Collaborate on research7 Provide activities I can use in my class 2

FIRST II Website Use

Useful Website Resources (n=109) Category# of Participants Resources section11 References on science education8 Inquiry activities7 Contact information7 Links to other sites6 Assessment section4 Workshop resources3 General information about FIRST II2 Journal list2 No response59

Institutional Support and Facilitation Dissemination within Institutions

Seminars Presented by Participants (n=109)

Grant Proposals Submitted by Participants (n=109)

Types of Grant Proposals (n=109)

Departmental Reforms (n=109) Reform# of Participants Add more IBL in classes17 Revising specific courses15 Inquiry-based labs9 Changed core sequence8 Changed class formats7 Evaluate objectives and assessment5 Allow changes by individuals5 Integrate curriculum3 Implement specific techniques2 Technology2 Other4

Policy Faculty Recognition and Rewards Fox MA, Hackerman N Evaluating and improving undergraduate teaching in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Washington DC: The National Academies Press.

FIRST Model Policy Institutional Support and Facilitation Need to Change Learning and Implementing New Practices Facilitating the Learning and Implementation of New Practices Evidence… Sustainable Agriculture (Röling and Wagemakers, 1998) Faculty Recognition and Rewards Dissemination within Institutions IT Faculty Teams Join FIRST II FIRST II Workshops Lead to Course Reforms FIRST II Team Structure Theoretical Basis of FIRST

Dimensions of Faculty Change Where are FIRST II Faculty? Where are you?

What are the next questions? Question: Do faculty self-report data about teaching reforms correlate with direct observation? Method: Videotaping of faculty in classes (n~80 x 4) Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP)

What are the next questions? Question: Does student learning increase in response to reformed teaching practice? Data we have…

Evidence of Student Learning (n=109) Evidence# of Participants Pre/Post tests21 Anecdotal10 Student surveys10 Assessments (no comparisons)9 Year-to-Year differences7 Controlled experiment1 No evidence58

What are the next questions? Question: Does student learning increase in response to reformed teaching practice? Method: Diagnostic Question sets (SDSU, CU, MSU) Correlate with RTOP

FIRST III? Who?Faculty and graduate students What?Scientific teaching - practice and research Where?Field Stations Why?Change takes time and support