Faculty respond to request to share progressive teaching ideas, study shows

A newly published study by Cornell researchers shows that university professors have responded to concerns about learning outcomes in STEM classes by greatly increasing the number of active-learning lesson plans they're sharing with colleagues.

"A Scoping Review of Published Lesson Plans Showcases Two Decades of Change in Undergraduate Life Science Education Resources," published Sept. 16 in the journal Life Sciences Education. First author is former Cornell postdoc Kira A. Treibergs, now professor of the practice at Wheaton College. The paper analyzes the number of articles describing active-learning lesson plans published between 2000 and 2022.

"These lesson plans include so much more than what faculty are doing in the classroom - they include worksheets, assessments, ideas for group work," said Michelle Smith, Distinguished Professor of Arts & Sciences and senior associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Sciences, and one of the study's PIs. "And sharing these plans does more than help students to learn, they help professors, they help researchers studying educational change. They're having ripple effects -people are downloading these lesson plans all over the world." The research is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Read the full story on The College of Arts & Sciences website.