This is a complete research-based paper examining the effects of a professional development program on student achievement. Research indicates that student-centered, or active learning, teaching strategies promote greater student learning and achievement. However, teacher-centered, or lecture-based, pedagogical practices remain the dominant instructional practice in higher education engineering classrooms. Therefore, there is a strong need for professional development programs for faculty to learn more about active learning strategies and ways to implement student-centered teaching practices in the classroom.
The setting for this study is an NSF-funded professional development program at a large southwestern university. The program utilizes a “train-the-trainer” model to promote the use of active learning pedagogical practices to engineering faculty across multiple disciplines. This study examines the effects of the professional development program on changes in student achievement in the classes of participating faculty. This study utilized student grade data from the years 2015 – 2018, which serves as pre- and post-professional development data. Only those faculty participants’ courses that were the same during the fall and spring semester, respectively, from before and after the professional development program were included in the analysis.
Utilizing linear mixed effects models, pre- and post-data were analyzed to assess for effects on student achievement after the professional development program. Results indicate no significant differences in student achievement after participating in the professional development program. However, this analysis is only a subset of all program participants, so further research should be conducted. We conclude with a discussion of the results, areas for future research, and takeaways for other professional development programs.
Lydia Ross is a doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant at Arizona State University. Her research interests focus on higher education equity and access, particularly within STEM.
Kristi is a Ph.D student in Educational Policy and Evaluation at Arizona State University.
Eugene Judson is an Associate Professor of for the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. He also serves as an Extension Services Consultant for the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). His past experiences include having been a middle school science teacher, Director of Academic and Instructional Support for the Arizona Department of Education, a research scientist for the Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (CRESMET), and an evaluator for several NSF projects. His first research strand concentrates on the relationship between educational policy and STEM education. His second research strand focuses on studying STEM classroom interactions and subsequent effects on student understanding. He is a co-developer of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and his work has been cited more than 2200 times and he has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals such as Science Education and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching.
Stephen Krause is professor in the Materials Science Program in the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches in the areas of introductory materials engineering, polymers and composites, and capstone design. His research interes
James A. Middleton is Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology at Arizona State University. For the last three years he also held the Elmhurst Energy Chair in STEM education at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Previously, Dr. Middleton was Associate Dean for Research in the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education at Arizona State University, and Director of the Division of Curriculum and Instruction. He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992, where he also served in the National Center for Research on Mathematical Sciences Education as a postdoctoral scholar.
Keith D. Hjelmstad is President's Professor of Civil Engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University.
Kara Hjelmstad has currently worked as a faculty associate and student teacher supervisor for Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. After earning a BA degree in elementary education and an M.Ed. degree in curriculum and instruction, she spent twelve years teaching K-5 and enrichment at the elementary level.
In 2010, Kara began teaching courses and supervising student teachers at ASU. Kara is TAP certified, an evaluation system designed to improve teaching effectiveness and student achievement. The TAP evaluation involves classroom observations, coaching, and feedback/reflection for professional growth. Kara has worked with 60+ student teachers in various subjects at the pre-K through 12th grade level, and conducted over 100 TAP classroom observations.
Since the fall of 2016, Kara has been working with the JTFD Project, an NSF grant working to improve active learning in engineering education. She has completed 300 RTOP classroom observations in ASU engineering courses (civil, environmental, construction, chemical, aero/mechanical, materials, transportation, and biomedical engineering). The RTOP or Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol, is a rubric designed to assess student centered instruction in math and science. Kara also provided instructional coaching for 37 engineering faculty grant participants, after their teaching observations.
Lindy Hamilton Mayled is the Director of Instructional Effectiveness for the Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. She has a PhD in Psychology of Learning, Education, and Technology from Grand Canyon University. Her research and areas of interest are in improving educational outcomes for STEM students through the integration of active learning and technology-enabled frequent feedback. Prior to her role and Director of Instructional Effectiveness, she worked as the Education Project Manager for the NSF-funded JTFD Engineering faculty development program, as a high school math and science teach teacher, and as an Assistant Principal and Instructional & Curriculum Coach.
Robert J. Culbertson is an Associate Professor of Physics. Currently, he teaches introductory mechanics and electrodynamics for physics majors and a course in musical acoustics, which was specifically designed for elementary education majors. He is director of the ASU Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Project, which strives to produce more and better high school physics teachers. He is also director of Master of Natural Science degree program, a graduate program designed for in-service science teachers. He works on improving persistence of students in STEM majors, especially under-prepared students and students from under-represented groups.
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