Project Area 1: Writing-to-Learn Pedagogy in STEM
Writing-to-learn is a useful pedagogical practice for supporting conceptual learning and the development of disciplinary thinking. Writing is an integral part of scholarly work in science disciplines, but writing in science classrooms is under-used relative to other pedagogical approaches. Further, writing-to-learn (writing as a mechanism to facilitate learning) is well established, but not all assignments are equal in their capacity to support learning. We are investigating how writing can promote conceptual learning and disciplinary reasoning in science, efforts which have deepened our understanding of how to design assignments that better support various learning goals in science. We are also investigating how writing assignments can have a positive affective influence on students. Additionally, implementing writing in large introductory STEM courses is challenging for faculty. We are studying strategies (i.e., peer review and automated text analysis) that can support the learning process while also helping make implementation more tractable. Lastly, we investigate faculty and learning assistants conceptions of classroom writing.
- Solaire explores the role of peer review and revision in the writing-to-learn assignments for supporting student learning. She currently has two primary project areas: (1) characterizing students’ peer review comments, revisions, and the relationship between the two and (2) examining students’ experiences and perceptions of peer review and revision. These projects have implications for supporting student engagement with writing-to-learn and increasing the effectiveness of the assignments.
- Amber uses machine learning techniques to explore students’ mechanistic reasoning and peer review comments. She studies the type of peer review comments students’ provide to each other (e.g., are students providing other students with problem/solution feedback or simply praising them?) and the features of mechanistic reasoning present in students’ writing about organic chemistry reaction mechanisms. Both types of student writing can be analyzed automatically using machine learning through large language models, such as BERT or GPT-3. After the models are trained on labeled student writing, they can be used to label large amounts of student writing in very little time for use in research as well as in providing students and instructors with formative feedback.
Relevant Publications
- Finkenstaedt-Quinn, S. A.; Watts, F. M.; Shultz, G. V.; Gere, A. R. (2023). A Portrait of MWrite as a Research Program: A Review of Research on Writing-to-Learn in STEM through the MWrite Program. International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 17(1).
- Gupte, T.; Watts, F. M.; Schmidt-McCormack, J. A.; Zaimi, I.; Gere, A. R.; Shultz, G. V. (2021). Students’ meaningful learning experiences from participating in organic chemistry writing-to-learn activities. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 22, 396-414.
- Finkenstaedt-Quinn, S. A.; Halim, A. S.; Kasner, G.; Wilhelm, C. A.; Moon, A.; Gere, A. R.; Shultz, G. V. (2020). Capturing student conceptions of thermodynamics and kinetics using writing. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 21(3), 922-939.
Project Area 2: The Development of Knowledge for Teaching Chemistry
Research that elucidates STEM instruction is crucial for achieving national education reform because the successful adoption of educational innovations depends greatly on the instructor. Typically, teaching is a social act. However, post-secondary instructors receive minimal teacher training and often work on their teaching practice in isolation. Research on the teaching of college-level chemistry has previously focused on characterizing the knowledge and beliefs that instructors, including faculty and graduate students, hold for a given topic. We seek to build upon this research to understand the multifaceted act of teaching that includes a complex, reciprocal process of an instructor pulling on and building upon their experiences, identities, context, knowledge, and beliefs to plan, enact, and reflect on their teaching. The overarching goal of this project area is to understand how people learn to teach college science so that we and others can support what people learn about teaching at this level.
- Daisy and Ina explore how chemistry graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) enact a collaborative-learning activity in the second-semester organic chemistry laboratory. This project has relevant implications for how: GTAs’ unique positionalities (e.g., experiences, values, and identities) influence their enactment; instructional teams can mediate tensions that GTAs face in their teaching; and how we can extend pedagogical partnership to GTAs in STEM education.
- Rebecca explores how faculty instructors design instruction for the classroom over time. This project uses a framework grounded in activity theory, the documentational approach to didactics, to understand how instructors find, adopt and curate instructional resources for their teaching and the variety of factors that shape instructors’ work with their resources. This project has relevant implications for supporting instructors’ in finding and curating appropriate resources for instruction, challenging existing departmental and institutional structure that cause tension between instructors’ personal goals and disciplinary norms, and how instructors tacit experiences, knowledge and socio-cultural factors shape their instruction.
Relevant Publications
- Zotos, E. K., Moon, A. C., & Shultz, G. V. (2020). Investigation of chemistry graduate teaching assistants’ teacher knowledge and teacher identity. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(6), 943–967.
Project Area 3: Transformative STEM Education
STEM education has been designed to support the cultural reproduction of dominant ideologies through upholding various systems of oppression, including: western-centric science curricula, meritocratic values, and culturally deficit teaching practices. Alongside these examples, institutional histories and disciplinary practices constrain the representation and advancement of minoritized students in science, influencing the ways of knowing and identities that students develop and bring to the classroom. If we are to engage in transformative praxis and reimagine STEM education for a more just future, we need to understand how dominant ideologies uphold systemic oppression in STEM education, and how we can utilize this understanding to disrupt systemic oppression in STEM classrooms.
- Jeff, Danielle, Archer, & Safron study the design, implementation, and adaptation of culturally responsive curricular resources. This collaborative design process includes considering the diverse voices of community members alongside education researchers and scientists to construct science activities that promote reform-based education practices aligned with the values, perspectives, and goals of our partner communities.
- Danielle explores how Latine undergraduate students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions navigate epistemological border crossing as they develop science identities. This project uses an asset-based approach to understand how Latine undergraduate students utilize community cultural wealth and institutional resources to support their personal and academic goals.
- Daisy & Safron explore chemistry graduate teaching assistants’ pedagogical commitments for equity and justice considering their power to enact their values for student learning. This project uses critical social theory to understand how graduate students dream about transforming the chemistry learning space and critique the barriers to enacting their equity-focused teaching.
Relevant Publications