PROMOTING EVIDENCE-BASED CHANGE IN UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION

The literature on discipline-based education research has grown considerably in recent years, providing evidence of the effectiveness and impact of various educational practices. Despite the evidence, however, considerable concern focuses on the extent to which faculty members in STEM fields are integrating evidence-based practices into their teaching. The need for strong STEM teaching that results in significant learning gains remains. Yet, change in the practice of higher education faculty does not occur easily. This paper draws from the literature on organizational change to broaden understanding of which factors encourage faculty members to change their teaching practices and which serve as barriers that discourage faculty members ’ interest in using new pedagogical approaches. Understanding how students learn and identifying strategies that are shown to be effective in promoting learning are important contributions to the puzzle of how to increase student learning outcomes. However, just as important is focusing on the teachers themselves. More learning is unlikely to occur without more attention to teachers and teaching. Attention to teachers and teaching asks why faculty members either choose to use or adopt methods that research shows to be effective in producing student learning, or ignore evidence-based findings and continue with their regular practices. Faculty members are situated within contexts that exer