Document Type

Honors Thesis

Publication Date

Spring 5-2015

Abstract

This study examines the teaching practices of faculty participating in the Automated Analysis of Constructed Response (AACR) project. The AACR project focuses on using short-answer assessment questions to elicit the mixed models students have about key concepts in STEM courses. The 19 faculty from six different institutions who participated in this project are all teaching biology courses, asking biology AACR questions, and participating in Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs). FLCs are a method of faculty professional development in which groups of faculty regularly meet to discuss issues of teaching and learning. Here I use a combination of classroom observation data and surveys where faculty self-report on teaching practices to answer three research questions: 1) What instructional practices are currently being used by the AACR FLC faculty? 2) What instructional practices do AACR FLC faculty think that they are using in their courses? and 3) How closely do AACR FLC faculty’s perceptions of their teaching align with their measured teaching practices? Results from the classroom observations show that instructors participating in FLCs utilize a variety of teaching practices ranging from lecture to collaborative learning. Survey data show that faculty self-awareness of their own teaching practices varies depending on the types of questions asked. Taken together, these data establish a baseline from which to monitor changes in teaching practices and self-perceptions of teaching practices of the FLC faculty as a result of their participation in the AACR project.

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Included in

Biology Commons

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