A new study from Bryan Dewsbury, an associate professor in biological sciences at Florida International University, and his coauthors addresses this head on. The study, published in PLOS ONE, follows students at a large, public research university in the northeast who took the introductory-biology sequence in a variety of formats to see how they perform in the next level of biology.
Three sections of the first-semester course used a traditional lecture format; a fourth used a form of active and inclusive instruction. One section of the second-semester course used active learning, and the other was a traditional lecture.
Students who took the inclusive section of the first intro course and the active section of the second course went on to earn the highest grades in their 200-level biology courses, the study found. That pushes back against the objection that active learning provides a disservice to students later on.
On Twitter, Dewsbury summed it up like so: “Let’s be brave and reduce content. I promise you. If done thoughtfully, and with the aim of centering humanism, the students will be more than fine. Inclusive and active pedagogies reduce academic outcome gaps and improve long-term performance.” (For background on why active learning yields good student outcomes, check out this article from our colleague Dan Berrett.)
Professors who are loath to cover less content are sometimes painted as curmudgeons, Dewsbury said in an interview. But that characterization fails to reckon with their context. All the incentives in science reward making very specialized discoveries, Dewsbury noted, and expertise is the coin of the realm. It’s only natural that professors care about passing that knowledge on.
Still, there’s a difference between covering something—which might mean saying it aloud once or putting it in the fine-print of a slide—and giving students a real shot at learning it. This, Dewsbury noted, is a place where STEM is a bit out of step with how things work in some other disciplines.
“You would never go to an English class and walk in and see the professor reading The Sound and The Fury,” he said. “The class only makes sense if you read the book and came to class to talk about themes and things like that. But go back to the science side of campus and yes, you have 45 slides in 50 minutes, and it’s all summarized in bullet points.”
But that is starting to change. “I’ve only been a faculty member for eight years,” he said. “And I can tell you that so many conversations that I’m having now, that I’m giving speeches on now, that I’m doing workshops on now, were literally dead on arrival in 2014.”
That offers some hope. “In these dark times—for other reasons,” Dewsbury said, “where it’s easy to despair about what we haven’t achieved yet, I think it’s worth reflecting a little bit on how far many of our colleagues and universities have come. And maybe think a little bit more on: What are the things that successfully brought them to that place of growth? And how can we leverage those things to push people even further?”
Evidence on Active Learning
In our conversation, Dewsbury described the culture that can make active learning a hard sell for faculty in STEM. His comments resonated with what Scott Freeman, an author of two meta-analyses of active learning, told me in a recent interview, which The Chronicle published as a Q&A. “The nut of the problem,” Freeman said, “is that the system doesn’t reward change, especially in teaching.” You can read the full conversation here.
More Advice for New Instructors
In a recent newsletter, I shared highlights from a Twitter thread of advice for first-time instructors and asked readers to weigh in with their own ideas. Here’s some of what you shared:
- Autar Kaw, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of South Florida, provided three tips: “Be organized. If you are fumbling around in-class and/or off-class, students notice. Before they show interest, you have to show interest. Align assessment with objectives/outcomes.”
- Brenda Hawley, a part-time adjunct at Sierra College and retired high-school teacher, wrote: “Be overly prepared. A lesson will always go faster than you think it will. Students like a professor who is organized and confident.”
- Kurt-Alexander Zeller, coordinator of the division of music at Clayton State University, wrote: “Show your students, every day, every class, why you love and were drawn to this subject matter. Don’t expect or require them to share your feelings about the subject, but make sure that you demonstrate or embody why psychology or botany or macroeconomics or opera (my field) became your life’s vocation or fascination every time you see them.”
I may include more advice in a future newsletter, so it’s not too late to send me yours! Write to me at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com.
What Will College Look Like This Fall?
Does your college, or your department, have plans to focus on some of the problems with student disconnection this past year? Are you ramping up experiential-learning opportunities? Creating first-year courses that help rebuild academic and social skills? Modifying or developing new courses that connect to what’s happening in the world right now? Creating stronger ties among academic departments and student-support services, including mental-health counseling?
Beth wants to hear your plans, even if you’re just in the idea stage. You can fill out this Google form or write to her at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com or beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.
— Beckie
Learn more about our Teaching newsletter, including how to contact us, at the Teaching newsletter archive page.
