Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education

August 27, 2012

Rich Halverson and colleagues are beginning to open the “black box” of instructional practice and administrative decision-making in undergraduate STEM courses.  Their research analyzes decision making and instructional practice over 3 years at 3 research universities with active STEM education projects.  The study aims to (1) collect high quality data on instructional practice, (2) prepare reports based on these data for decision makers, (3) examine the use of these data in decision making and pedagogical reforms, and (4) provide training to administrators and STEM education leaders in this new approach.  This work is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES) Program. TUES supports efforts to create, adapt, and disseminate new learning materials and teaching strategies to reflect advances both in STEM disciplines and in what is known about teaching and learning.