As instructional faculty lie at the forefront of education reform, considerable efforts within discipline-based education research have focused on them and their adoption of evidence-based instructional practices in the classroom. Prior work at the secondary levels have drawn parallels between an instructor’s beliefs about teaching, their knowledge about teaching their subject to their students (i.e., pedagogical content knowledge, or PCK), and their adoption of various teaching methods in the classroom. Additional influences include contextual and personal factors, such as the type of course being taught or one’s prior teaching experiences. Recently, several models of PCK have been developed in an attempt to illustrate these complex relationships. Still, much less is known about these connections at the postsecondary level where context and professional development opportunities are distinct from that of K-12 education.<br/><br/>This study employed a multimethod approach to explore potential relationships between instructors’ beliefs about learning and teaching, their instructional practices, and their PCK. The fifteen chemistry and STEM instructor participants were recruited at a large, research-intensive university and had a wide range of teaching experiences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to first examine the instructors’ beliefs about their role when it comes to learning in their classroom, as well as that of their students’. The latter portion of the interviews prompted the instructors to describe their knowledge and beliefs surrounding a specific topic that they were preparing to teach in their class, allowing us to characterize their PCK. During the actual class periods on these topics, classroom observations were conducted and course artifacts were collected. Analysis of this data contributed to our understanding of the instructors’ enacted teaching practices, which were classified as teacher-centered, student-centered, or transitional. By understanding the relationships between beliefs, PCK, and teaching practices, professional development can be designed to better serve STEM instructors within higher education.

Exploring the complex network of faculty beliefs, knowledge, and teaching practice in higher education

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.