Category: Chemistry

The team’s manuscript, “Characterizing college science instruction: The Three-Dimensional Learning Observation Protocol,” has been published in PLOS ONE. This paper describes the Three-Dimensional Learning Observation Protocol (3DLOP), the companion to the Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol (3DLAP). Read at PLOS ONE Abstract: The importance of improving STEM education is of perennial interest, and to this end, the education community needs ways to characterize transformation efforts. Three-dimensional learning (3DL) is one such approach to transformation, in which core ideas of the discipline, scientific practices, and crosscutting concepts are combined to support student development of disciplinary expertise. We have previously reported on an approach to the characterization of assessments, the Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol (3D-LAP), that can be used to identify whether assessments have the potential to engage students in 3DL. Here we…

The team's manuscript, "Evaluating the extent of a large-scale transformation in gateway science courses," is accepted to Science Advances! Read the abstract below: We evaluate the impact of an institutional effort to transform undergraduate science courses using an approach based on course assessments. The approach is guided by A Framework for K-12 Science Education and focuses on scientific and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas, together called three-dimensional learning. To evaluate the extent of change, we applied the Three-dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol to 4 years of chemistry, physics, and biology course exams. Changes in exams differed by discipline and even by course, apparently depending on an interplay between departmental culture, course organization, and perceived course ownership, demonstrating the complex nature of transformation in higher education. We conclude that while transformation must…