Abstract
There is a lot going on in introductory undergraduate science
classrooms. Students bring their culture, background, and previous
science experiences; instructors bring their knowledge, attitudes, and
experience in science and in teaching. Students are there for a variety
of reasons, and a substantial proportion will become K-12 teachers: that
introductory course may be their primary science experience as an adult
learner. How future teachers learn science is of critical importance to
how they teach science, but few college science classes reflect the
vision of the 2012 Framework for K-12 Science Education, in which
“students actively engage in scientific and engineering practices in
order to deepen their understanding of crosscutting concepts and
disciplinary core ideas” (p. 217). The vision of the Teaching with
Investigation and Design in Science (TIDeS) project is that future
teachers will learn science as undergraduates the way they are expected
to teach science in the K–12 classroom: engaging all students in
science investigation and engineering design in a discourse-filled,
context-rich, inclusive learning process. TIDeS seeks to catalyze
transformation of introductory science courses by supporting faculty in
the development and implementation of high-quality, rigorously tested,
inclusive curricular materials that focus investigation and design. The
project has two broad research questions: (1) How do the beliefs and
practices of instructors change with developing and/or implementing new
curricular materials? (2) What is the impact of the use of these new
materials on diverse students? To address these questions, the TIDeS
team developed a suite of research probes aligned with the project’s
guiding principles and with each other (see figure). The probes include
a semi-structured, pre-/post- faculty interview, a quantitative and
qualitative classroom observation protocol, a pre-/post- student survey,
a syllabus rubric, and rubrics for the curricular materials and student
readings. Our preliminary data suggest that, in combination, the probes
will provide a holistic picture of what teaching with investigation and
design in introductory college-level science courses looks like, how it
differs from an active learning classroom, and how it can support the
preparation of future teachers.