DRIVING EDUCATIONAL CHANGE
IN THE SCIENCES: INSIGHTS FROM
A NATIONAL STUDY
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
VISION AND CHANGE CONFERENCE
AUGUST 29, 2013
Dr. Sylvia Hurtado: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA
Broad Overview of Study

Following entering cohort of students in 2004


Baseline sample: 63,000 aspiring STEM majors across 350
institutions
Multiple surveys








2004 Freshman Survey
2005 Your First College Year Survey
2008 College Senior Survey
2011 Post-Baccalaureate Survey
Merged with IPEDS, National Student Clearinghouse, Registrar, MCAT,
College Board, and Faculty Survey data
Qualitative data collection
Introductory STEM classroom mixed methods study
Focus groups with STEM graduate students
Trends in Student Interest in the Biological Sciences
Reported at the Beginning of Their Freshman Year
14.0%
12.0%
10.0%
8.0%
6.0%
4.0%
2.0%
0.0%
1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011
URM
White/Asian
Total
Predicting Completion for Biomedical Science
Aspirants

Data from several sources:


Freshman Survey, IPEDS, National Student Clearinghouse,
Faculty Survey, Best Practices in STEM survey
Biomedical sciences completion
34.1% of biomedical science aspirants earned a biomedical
science degree within six years;
 31.8% of biomedical science aspirants earned a bachelor’s
degree in another field within six years
 34.1% of biomedical science aspirants had not completed a
bachelor’s degree within six years

Among Biomedical Science Aspirants Who Completed in
Another Field, Where Did They Complete?
Other STEM
7.4
3.8
Other Social Science
19.6
Psychology
10.9
Business
17.1
12.8
Arts & Humanities
Other Field
13.3
15.2
Professional (e.g., architect,
law)
Education
Predictors of Biomedical Science
Completion

Attending an Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (+)

Attending a larger campus (-)

Prior preparation




HS GPA (+); enhanced on campuses where faculty more often
incorporated student-centered teaching practices
Years of study in HS math/science; SAT composite
Pre-college community service in a hospital (+)
MD aspiration (+)
 Mitigated
at more competitive campuses (selectivity;
curved grading)
Faculty Including Undergraduates in
Research
Percentage of Faculty Engaging
Undergraduates on a Faculty Research Project
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Biology Faculty
Other STEM Faculty
Differences significant at p<0.001
Non-STEM Faculty
Faculty’s Use of Student-Centered
Teaching
Student-Centered Pedagogy
52
50
48
46
44
42
40
Biology Faculty
Other STEM Faculty
Differences significant at p<0.001
Non-STEM Faculty
Student-Centered Practices in
Introductory Science Courses




Study of 15 campuses, 90 classrooms
Greater proportion of course time devoted to
lecture corresponded with reduced academic
engagement among students
More time devoted to class discussion or group work
significantly correlated with significantly higher
levels of engagement
Creating an inclusive classroom where students felt
comfortable asking questions corresponded with
increased levels of academic engagement
Introductory Science Courses

In a lot of my biology courses, the professor just sort of
talks at me, and I’m like – I don’t feel, like, as engaged
or I feel like, in those courses there is a lot more
memorization only, which is why I don’t get as much out
of them because I’m very hands-on. Like, if I’m doing
something in the class, I can grasp that I’m
understanding it, but if the professor is just talking at
me, writing stuff on the board, expecting me to write it
down, like that’s doing nothing, and then I’m completely
disengaged in class. (Southeastern Private Master’s
College)
Assessing Change

National instrument: HERI Faculty Survey
 Local
baseline data
 National baseline data


Student interest – CIRP Freshman Survey
Classroom-based surveys
 Pre-
and post-test of students
 Survey of faculty pedagogical strategies
Creating Partnerships


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Make friends with you Institutional Research
Directors
Connect with your alumni offices
Connect with faculty across departments and
programs who are innovating
Get Some Data, then Expand


Start small and collect the data
Leverage a small study to begin changing hearts
and minds within the department
Contact Info
Faculty/Co-PIs:
Sylvia Hurtado
Mitchell Chang
Kevin Eagan
Graduate Research
Assistants:
Tanya Figueroa
Bryce Hughes
Administrative
Staff:
Dominique
Harrison
Papers and reports are available for download from project website:
http://heri.ucla.edu/nih
Project e-mail: herinih@ucla.edu
This study was made possible by the support of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant Numbers 1 R01
GMO71968-01 and R01 GMO71968-05, the National Science Foundation, NSF Grant Number 0757076, and the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant 1RC1GM090776-01. This
independent research and the views expressed here do not indicate endorsement by the sponsors.