The ability to write well is a vital skill for STEM scholars and writing itself is a powerful method to promote student conceptual understanding. Despite the importance of promoting writing ability and the value of writing as a pedagogical tool, it is underutilized in the classroom. To investigate how STEM faculty view writing and the extent to which they use it in their courses, we created and distributed a nationwide survey and received responses from ca. 5000 faculty members from Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, and Geosciences. Through the survey we queried faculty about the forms of writing they use and when they use them, their views on the efficacy of writing as a method to promote learning, and the barriers they face when using writing in their courses. Statistical analysis demonstrated that, while instructors largely view writing practices as effective methods to promote student learning, there are significant barriers to implementation. We will describe the nature of the barriers that faculty respondents viewed as most influential on their use of writing in the classroom. We will also describe the relationship between particular barriers and features of the teaching context including discipline, class size, and course type.

Faculty practices and beliefs about the effectiveness of writing in promoting student learning in STEM disciplines

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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