The Center for Engineering Education Research (CEER), College of Engineering, Michigan State University, is pleased to sponsor a talk by Charles Henderson, Western Michigan University The Challenges of Spreading and Sustaining Research-Based Instruction in Undergraduate STEM Tuesday, April 2, 1:00 – 2:00 PM – 3105 Engineering. Pizza, pop and networking starting at 12:30 There have been many calls for the reform of introductory Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses. These calls have resulted in a cadre of researchers who study the teaching and learning of undergraduate STEM and have developed instructional methods that improve student learning. There currently exists a substantial gap between research-based knowledge of ‘best practice’ instructional methods and the teaching practices of typical STEM faculty. This talk will connect data about the spread of research-based instructional strategies in college-level STEM to ideas from the change literature. Recommendations will be made for how to decrease the knowledge-practice gap.
Charles Henderson, PhD, is an
Associate Professor at Western Michigan University (WMU), with a joint
appointment between the Physics Department and the WMU Mallinson Institute for
Science Education. Much of his research activity is focused on understanding
and improving the slow incorporation of research-based instructional reforms
into college-level STEM courses. Research projects have attacked this problem
from several directions: in-depth studies of faculty attempting to change their
instruction, surveys and interviews with faculty related to the impact of
evidence-based instructional strategies in their teaching, and an
interdisciplinary literature review of change strategies in higher education.
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