Obstacles to instructional innovation according to college science and mathematics faculty

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented the infrequent use of learner-centered instruction in college science and mathematics classrooms and its negative effects on undergraduate learning and motivation. The present research deepened understanding of why. Specifically, an Internet survey was constructed that explored obstacles, supports, and incentives for instructional innovation in the classroom and was sent out to college science and mathematics faculty of Louisiana. Results revealed that colleges generally were perceived to assign little or an indeterminate weight to instruction in personnel decision making. Faculty members generally have little training in pedagogy; but when they do, they are more likely to consult sources of instructional innovation and consider teaching an important part of their professional identities. Data concerning the most common sources of instructional innovation information are presented. Several suggestions are made for institutional reform that if enacted might contribute to systemic improvement in the quality of instruction undergraduates receive. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 2007 Several reports over the last decade or so have revealed that college science and mathematics faculty seldom teach undergraduate classes in ways that promote student construction of knowledge, one effect of which has been to reduce the number of students majoring in science

Use of research-based instructional strategies in introductory physics: Where do faculty leave the innovation-decision process?

“…(b) Focus on research over teaching. The reward structure in higher education that tends to favor research over teaching is often cited as a barrier to the use of RBIS [2,48,[63][64][65]. If this is the case, one might expect faculty at teaching-oriented institutions to use more RBIS than faculty at research-oriented institutions.…”

Lecturers’ Views on Ghana’s Undergraduate Mathematics Education

“…In spite of the need for mathematics proficiency, teachers still rely on instructional practices they inherited from their education preparatory programs (Ball, 1988). For such teachers, these methods of delivery force them to rely on teacher-centered approaches of teaching, which have negative effects on undergraduate learning and motivation (Walczyk, Ramsey & Zha, 2007). For most universities, however, restructuring their undergraduate mathematics instructional methods is a sure way of making them responsive to the challenges they face.…”

E-learning in the area of maths and statistics in Spanish universities: opportunities, challenges, current situation and trends

“…En este sentido, hay una clara tendencia a utilizar las TIC para incrementar los niveles de interacción entre estudiantes y profesores y, sobre todo, entre los propios estudiantes -aprendizaje colaborativo. A pesar de esta tendencia predominante, cuando se trata de cursos universitarios de matemáticas y estadística algunos estudios destacan el uso poco frecuente de metodologías centradas en el estudiante (Walczyk y Ramsey [26]), e incluso se han identificado algunas de las posibles causas de este problema (Walczyk, Ramsey y Zha [27]). …”