Despite the ongoing development of student-centered instructional strategies in chemistry and their demonstrated effectiveness in improving student learning outcomes, the level of uptake of these strategies in college chemistry classrooms is unclear. As recently indicated by the National Research Council's Discipline-Based Education Research Report, there is a need to collect reliable baseline data on faculty instructional practices in STEM disciplines. This study addresses this critical research gap by characterizing the awareness and adoption of student-centered instructional strategies within a chemistry department at a research-intensive institution. In addition, we explore factors influencing the levels of awareness and adoption, including communication channels and the departmental environment. Our study utilizes Rogers' Model of the Diffusion of Innovations, a theoretical framework ideal for understanding the diffusion of these innovative instructional strategies among a population of STEM instructors. A summary and interpretation of our findings will be presented, including a comparison with similar data from biology and physics departments at the same institution. Implications with respect to the chemistry research-practice gap and factors impacting it will be discussed.

Awareness and adoption of student-centered instructional strategies at a research-intensive institution

248th National Meeting (2014)

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