It's personal: biology instructors prioritize personal evidence over empirical evidence in teaching decisions.

ABSTRACT: Despite many calls for undergraduate biology instructors to incorporate active learning into lecture courses, few studies have focused on what it takes for instructors to make this change. We sought to investigate the process of adopting and sustaining active-learning instruction. As a framework for our research, we used the innovation-decision model, a generalized model of how individuals adopt innovations. We interviewed 17 biology instructors who were attempting to implement case study teaching and conducted qualitative text analysis on interview data. The overarching theme that emerged from our analysis was that instructors prioritized personal experience-rather than empirical evidence-in decisions regarding case study teaching. We identified personal experiences that promote case stud

SUBMITTER: Andrews TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4353082 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature