Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States of America.
Delta Program in Research, Teaching, Learning, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 30;16(4):e0250760. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250760. eCollection 2021.
Research-based teaching practices can improve student learning outcomes in a variety of complex educational environments. The implementation of learner-centered teaching practices in STEM can both benefit from or be constrained by different factors related to individual instructors and the teaching environment. Additionally, we know little of how the instructional climate varies across institutions and how this climate affects teaching practices. Our study sought to examine the relative importance of environmental influences and individual characteristics on learner-centered teaching practices across institutions. We also assessed differences in our study population and departmental climate for 35 US higher education institutions across the country. We found that self-efficacy in teaching and professional development exert a strong influence on faculty teaching practices in biology. While departmental climate did not emerge as a significant predictor of teaching practices, there was consistently low support for teaching, and institution size was negatively correlated with leadership and evaluation of effective teaching. We also found that intensive professional development programs, such as the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching IV program, may prepare instructors to teach learner-centered courses in different collegial teaching climates. Our results suggest that through cultivating self-efficacy and participating in iterative professional development, instructors can implement effective teaching practices in a variety of institutional environments.
基于研究的教学实践可以在各种复杂的教育环境中提高学生的学习成果。在 STEM 中实施以学习者为中心的教学实践，可以受益于或受到与个别教师和教学环境相关的各种因素的限制。此外，我们对机构之间的教学氛围如何变化以及这种氛围如何影响教学实践知之甚少。我们的研究旨在探讨环境影响和个人特征对跨机构以学习者为中心的教学实践的相对重要性。我们还评估了来自全国 35 所美国高等教育机构的研究人群和系科氛围的差异。我们发现，教学自我效能感和专业发展对生物学教师的教学实践有很大的影响。虽然系科氛围并没有成为教学实践的显著预测因素，但对教学的支持始终很低，而且机构规模与领导能力和有效教学的评估呈负相关。我们还发现，密集的专业发展计划，如第四期教师改革科学教学研究所计划，可以使教师在不同的同事教学氛围中教授以学习者为中心的课程。我们的研究结果表明，通过培养自我效能感和参与迭代专业发展，教师可以在各种机构环境中实施有效的教学实践。
