Education Commons^™

Instructors At A Crossroad: Perceptions Of Collaboration And Support Intersect With Intentions To Implement A Cure, Justin Berl

Dissertations and Theses

An ongoing crisis of student drop-off from undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education has led to a sustained call over the last 15+ years for the increased implementation of updated practices in undergraduate STEM education. Though over the past few decades many researchers have developed and analyzed the efficacy of various evidence-based teaching practices (EBTPs) designed to improve the state of undergraduate STEM education throughout the country, the rate at which these EBTPs are implemented in undergraduate STEM classrooms remains low.

In order to better understand the specific factors that affect individual instructors' efforts to implement EBTPs, we …

The Developmental Experiences Of Exemplary Statistics Teachers, Douglas Whitaker

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

There has been a trend of increased statistical expectations for students and calls for increased statistical preparation for their teachers in recent years, but preparation has not yet reached recommended levels. A similar preparation gap existed at the inception of the Advanced Placement Statistics program, and this study examines a group of statistics teachers identified as exemplary by experts in the field to determine what challenges they faced and how they overcame them. Semi-structured interviews using a Communities of Practice framework (Wenger, 1998) were conducted. The challenges and responses to those challenges are identified, and these have implications for supporting …