Abstract
This senior thesis investigated what ways, if any, STEM professors incorporated active learning pedagogy in their undergraduate classrooms at a small private university in the Northeast United States. STEM pedagogy was investigated because of the increasing popularity of active learning methods in the classroom compared to the didactic type of teaching that was prominent in the past.1 A qualitative case study of five STEM professors was conducted, involving the collection of data from biographical questions, an hourlong interview, and analysis of a document provided by a professor. This document could have been a lesson plan, an assignment, or an activity they created during the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters. From said document, four themes emerged from my analysis of data: (a) considering students’ prior knowledge, (b) scaffolding students’ learning experiences, (c) imagining and revising instructional sequences to guide student learning, and (d) supporting students’ learning through various resources. These are the four active learning strategies that were commonly found in answers from the interviewed professors. These findings may suggest that STEM professors implement active learning in their classrooms; however, my data also found that none of the professors in this study have completed any formal education in active learning frameworks. This study highlights the possibility of STEM professors applying active learning in their classrooms because of their experience as teachers rather than a formal education on active learning pedagogy.
Recommended Citation
(2024)
"What is Active Learning? Perspectives from Five STEM Professors’ Teaching Practices in Their Classrooms,"
The Compass: Vol. 1:
Iss.
11, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/thecompass/vol1/iss11/5