Perceptions and beliefs are tightly linked to actions taken by instructors in their classrooms. Previous work has been interested in uncovering instructors’ beliefs and perceptions in different learning environments to better understand their teaching strategies. One way to investigate instructors’ beliefs, perceptions, and the choices they make when choosing to teach in a particular way, are through classroom observations and interviews. The adoption of research-based instruction in STEM classrooms has been shown to vary from discipline to discipline. As an interdisciplinary field, taught in different departments across colleges and universities, the teaching of biochemistry is of particular interest. This presentation will focus on a study that investigated 17 biochemistry instructors’ “typical ways of teaching” through the use of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. In this study, instructors’ perception, beliefs and actions were analyzed in biochemistry courses taught across a range of institutions, from research-intensive universities to primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI’s), nationwide. The presentation will describe the advantages of using a combination of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews as well as the challenges encountered in using this research design. It will also provide suggestions for future research endeavors of this kind.

Investigating biochemistry instructors’ teaching practices through the use of classroom observations and interviews: A qualitative approach

2019 Spring National Meeting

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