Sp2750 Unit 2 Research Questions

According to Janesick (as cited in Agee, 2009), my research question begins with “intellectual curiosity, if not a passion for a particular topic”(p. 433). Such is the case for me. My intellectual curiosity began while instructing a course for the federal government that was complicated for individuals to understand. The lecture methodology did not work to transfer knowledge, let alone retain it. Retaining the knowledge was key because after a series of courses our students are required to take their certification exams. Passing these exams allows the student to retain their employment. I was determined to change the curriculum to active learning and found engaging methodologies that allowed students to connect with peers and use their

own experiences to gain and retain the knowledge needed to pass their exams. After two years of changing the curriculum and remodeling my classroom to mimic an ALC, exam data indicated peer instruction, student-centered and curriculum, and discovery learning worked to retain the knowledge long term. My passion for a new method of instruction and my goal to use student centered theoretical frameworks was established.
Since my study is comprised of both qualitative and quantitative research, the goal is to introduce both sets of questions as they both connect to the theoretical framework and the qualitative questions help substantiate the quantitative ones asked (Agee, 2009). My goal is to establish questions that help others understand my strong epistemological commitment to student centered learning and active learning environments while finding answers to questions about how we learn in our own way, based on how we prefer to take-in, process and retain knowledge.
This study shall focus on STEM classes taught in ALCs at public universities such as Mason and Virginia Tech. These two institutions were selected because they have two prominent distinctions. Fist, both are public schools and have strong STEM programs. Second, while most of their STEM course are taught using the traditional lecture format, they each have a small number of active learning classrooms. I will also need to find a third university that fits these two characteristics. Currently, I am focused on public schools because I find them to be more open to observations and interviews of participants. Since the courses selected must be taught in an ALC, the faculty must be willing to teach both levels of their course in the ALC. For example, if a physics professor teaches Physics 101 in an ALC, for this study, he or she must be willing to teach the next semester 201 iteration in an ALC. This may be a challenge as these rooms are assigned in a lottery format by the registrar. I may need to further research this aspect.
The participants in this study include students and faculty at the public schools who are instructing and taking STEM courses at the introductory levels. The focus shall remain on courses at the 100 and 200 level. Some of the possible classes that I have worked with include: Physics, Biology, and Engineering. While this study may also work for other courses such as English 101, the focus remains with the STEM fields. A key interest of mine would include finding minorities and females in these fields because in my research, I am finding that both groups drop at higher rates from STEM courses (Crouch & Mazur, 2001; Mazur, 2009; Prince, 2004). The faculty in this study must be willing to partake in a two-semester study so it is critical that faculty are permanent employees vice adjunct. Although I plan to only use a small group in each of these classrooms, I want to ensure that I am open to the surroundings of the classroom and observations of the other students to provide context to the course environment. Note: Demographic data shall be collected in the quantitative study.