Department of Biological Sciences, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, USA.
Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Sci Adv. 2016 Mar 18;2(3):e1501422. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1501422. eCollection 2016 Mar.
We tested the effectiveness of Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching IV (FIRST), a professional development program for postdoctoral scholars, by conducting a study of program alumni. Faculty professional development programs are critical components of efforts to improve teaching and learning in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, but reliable evidence of the sustained impacts of these programs is lacking. We used a paired design in which we matched a FIRST alumnus employed in a tenure-track position with a non-FIRST faculty member at the same institution. The members of a pair taught courses that were of similar size and level. To determine whether teaching practices of FIRST participants were more learner-centered than those of non-FIRST faculty, we compared faculty perceptions of their teaching strategies, perceptions of environmental factors that influence teaching, and actual teaching practice. Non-FIRST and FIRST faculty reported similar perceptions of their teaching strategies and teaching environment. FIRST faculty reported using active learning and interactive engagement in lecture sessions more frequently compared with non-FIRST faculty. Ratings from external reviewers also documented that FIRST faculty taught class sessions that were learner-centered, contrasting with the teacher-centered class sessions of most non-FIRST faculty. Despite marked differences in teaching practice, FIRST and non-FIRST participants used assessments that targeted lower-level cognitive skills. Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of the FIRST program and the empirical utility of comparison groups, where groups are well matched and controlled for contextual variables (for example, departments), for evaluating the effectiveness of professional development for subsequent teaching practices.
我们通过对项目校友进行研究，测试了改革科学教学专业发展计划第四期（简称 FIRST）的效果。该计划是为博士后学者提供的专业发展计划，是改善 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）学科教学和学习的重要组成部分，但缺乏这些计划持续影响的可靠证据。我们使用了配对设计，将在终身教职岗位上工作的 FIRST 校友与同一机构的非 FIRST 教员进行配对。配对的成员教授大小和水平相似的课程。为了确定 FIRST 参与者的教学实践是否比非 FIRST 教师更以学习者为中心，我们比较了教师对教学策略的看法、对影响教学的环境因素的看法以及实际的教学实践。非 FIRST 和 FIRST 教师对其教学策略和教学环境的看法相似。与非 FIRST 教师相比，FIRST 教师在讲座中更频繁地使用主动学习和互动式参与。外部评审员的评分还记录了 FIRST 教师教授的课程是以学习者为中心的，与大多数非 FIRST 教师以教师为中心的课程形成对比。尽管教学实践存在明显差异，但 FIRST 和非 FIRST 参与者使用的评估方法都针对较低层次的认知技能。我们的研究表明，FIRST 计划是有效的，并且比较组具有实证效用，在比较组中，小组经过良好匹配，并控制了背景变量（例如，系别），以评估专业发展对后续教学实践的有效性。
