An important outcome of chemical education research (CER), like that of other discipline-based research, is the documentation of instructional practices that effectively support student learning.  Despite a wide variety of useful practices that have been illuminated by CER, the adoption of evidence-based instructional practices is not widespread among college faculty.  In some cases, this is because faculty are unaware of both the practices and the research that supports them.  In many cases, however, non-adopters are aware of both the research and the evidence.  As part of an NSF WIDER project, we have engaged all science, engineering and math faculty on our campus in a facilitated data-gathering process to learn how they perceive a proposed change to student-centered, evidence-based teaching practices.  Faculty were asked to identify factors in five categories (relative advantage, simplicity, compatibility, adaptability, and social impact) that serve as either driving or restraining forces for change.  This presentation will focus on the results of this data gathering effort , which provide insights into why faculty elect not to adopt evidence-based instructional practices.  Results from chemistry faculty will be placed in the larger institutional context.  We will then consider how chemical education researchers and others who care about effective instruction might bridge the gap between research and adoption of best practices.

Barriers to and drivers for faculty adoption of research-based instructional practice

248th National Meeting (2014)

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