Physics

In 2014, the University of Michigan launched an NSF-funded program to reinvent introductory teaching and learning in the core STEM disciplines.  REBUILD (Researching Evidence-Based Undergraduate Instructional and Learning Developments) aimed to promote recruitment, retention, and academic excellence in STEM disciplines by catalyzing the use of evidence-based teaching methods and learning analytics.  Toward this end, REBUILD faculty and postdocs led reform efforts in traditionally lecture-based, high-enrollment courses and labs in Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Physics.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust supports four Helmsley Postdoctoral Teaching Scholars at Yale University, two in physics and two in math. The Helmsley Scholars pioneer innovative teaching approaches in their respective Yale departments as well as at area partner institutions, employing the use of instructional technology and evidence-based teaching methods shown to increase student persistence in STEM.

As a direct result of the AAU STEM Initiative, we have substantial evidence of institutional change occurring at Washington University. This includes the funding of a new initiative to continue increasing adoption of evidence-based pedagogies in STEM, as well as expansion and adoption of programs begun by the AAU Initiative.

As a direct result of the AAU STEM Initiative, we have implemented numerous professional development activities for our faculty. Professional development is being implemented in a multi-pronged fashion, and includes observation and feedback for faculty, and multiple professional development activities including multi-day summer institutes, a mentoring program, a community of practice, and a speaker series.

The primary focus is to implement and evaluate our multiple-strategy approach for incorporating active learning into lower-level STEM courses. The multiple-strategies approach allows instructors flexibility in integrating active learning into a framework that meshes with their approach to teaching and with the demands of their discipline and the academic department with which the instructor is affiliated.

The University of Pittsburgh's Discipline-Based Science Education Research Center (dB-SERC) promotes and supports evidence-based teaching practices which bridge the gap between teaching and learning.

A partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Maryland Baltimore County goal is to produce a dramatic increase in the number of high achieving under-represented undergraduate students in science that attain advanced STEM degrees.

University of North Carolina formed a partnership between their Physics & Astronomy and Biology Departments to create a new learning environment incorporating methodology validated by research in science education.

The University of North Carolina have hired eight STEM lecturers trained in evidence-based teaching methods to reduce class sizes.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is creating a support framework to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based teaching practices in large courses that have traditionally been taught by the lecture method.