Describing & Measuring Undergraduate STEM Teaching Practices

Description:

On December 17, 2012, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with support from NSF, convened a three-day meeting of leading experts from around the country to explore what is known about describing and measuring undergraduate STEM teaching. Participants included content experts drawn from STEM disciplines, higher education researchers, and faculty development specialists. The meeting highlighted approaches and perspectives that will allow the research community, administrators, and faculty to document teaching practices across STEM disciplines and to identify gaps that require additional research.

...This report serves as a resource for faculty, administrators, policymakers, researchers, and evaluators who wish to, or are being asked to, describe teaching for the purpose of improving teaching, document appropriate teaching, or do research on teaching. The report identifies four basic measurement techniques (surveys, interviews, observations, and portfolios), provides an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of each, identifies and summarizes specific protocols and measurement tools within each technique, and gives references for further details. An important conclusion is that the best descriptions of STEM teaching involve the use of multiple techniques.