METHODS
Selection of UM Classes
To recruit faculty members to participate in this study, we
sent emails to faculty members teaching introductory-level
courses in 13 different STEM departments (biochemistry;
microbiology and molecular biology; biology and ecology;
chemical and biological engineering; chemistry; civil and
environmental engineering; earth sciences; electrical and
computer engineering; marine science; mathematics and
statistics; mechanical engineering; physics and astronomy;
and plant, soil, and environmental science). In addition, we
also contacted instructors in a small number of upper-division
courses, because these courses were required for a major
and had enrollments of more than 40 students. In the email,
faculty members were told that the teachers were helping
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M. K. Smith et al.
626 CBE—Life Sciences Education
to capture a snapshot of STEM instruction at UM; we did
not describe the observation protocol being used or what
instructional practices the teachers were capturing until the
study was complete.
We have found UM faculty members to be receptive to allowing
middle and high school teachers to observe in their
classrooms. In total, 58 faculty members were contacted via
email (two emails were sent to the faculty members); 43 responded
by indicating that the teachers were welcome to observe
in their classrooms. Although three faculty members
said that the teachers could not observe courses, the reasons
were purely logistical and did not reflect an unwillingness
to be observed in general; rather, they declined because students
were taking an in-class or online exam, the instructor
would not be present on the observation date, or their classrooms
were too full to accommodate additional visitors. An
additional 12 faculty members did not respond to the email.
What is perhaps most notable is the fact that we did not
receive any emails from faculty members stating that they
simply did not want observations to be conducted in their
classrooms.
Altogether, the teachers observed 51 courses, 44 at the
introductory level and seven at the upper-division level.
Five faculty members were observed teaching two different
courses, such as introductory calculus-based physics
and introductory algebra-based physics, and results from
each course are reported separately. Additionally, two faculty
members coteach their courses, and both members of
the team agreed to be observed. In this paper, we also report
these results as different courses, because faculty members
were collaborating on the course as a whole but teaching
class sessions individually.
To capture teaching practices that are indicative of the
class as a whole rather than a particular class meeting, observations
were conducted in both February and April during
the Spring 2014 semester, when possible. Indeed, most
courses were observed twice (Table 1). In addition, some
courses were observed more than twice, because the instructor
taught multiple sections of the same course or, since each
observation period ran from Tuesday to Thursday, the instructor
agreed to be observed more than once in the same
week.