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1. Exploration of graduate teaching assistant motivation through two lenses

   Freeman, Alyssa (August 2025, ProQuest)

   During their STEM degrees, undergraduates often experience instruction from a diversity of professionals, including graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, adjunct instructors, and tenure-track research faculty. Graduate student instructors are important to support retention efforts since graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are often responsible for teaching introductory STEM gateway courses. Despite the importance of GTAs' instruction to influence undergraduate education, they often have little teaching professional development (TPD) or ability to influence the curricula. Thus, careful thinking about how to support GTAs in teaching is needed to impact the quality of undergraduate instruction and support retention efforts. This dissertation specifically used two lenses to explore GTAs' motivation to use evidence-based instructional practices and engage in TPD: 1) pedagogical discontentment and 2) the psychological needs of self-determination theory (SDT). Each of the three studies within this dissertation addressed slightly different, but complementary, aspects of GTAs’ motivation. Study one (Chapter 2), GTAs’ Engagement in Teaching Professional Development, was a mixed-methods study aimed to understand GTAs’ motivation to engage in TPD through the lens of pedagogical discontentment. Study two (Chapter 3), Scoping Review of GTAs’ Psychological Needs for Teaching, conducted a scoping review of the GTA literature through the lens of SDT. Study three (Chapter 4), Departmental Teaching Culture Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory, was a mixed-methods study aimed to understand the satisfaction or frustration of individual psychological needs (of GTAs and faculty members) and cultural needs of STEM departments. Across these studies and through these theoretical frameworks, I found the importance of supporting GTAs’ perceptions of their instructional autonomy in determining how and why they teach. In addition, I found that GTA and faculty instructors tend to perceive high competence in their instruction despite other concerns. Additionally, as Chapter 4 highlights, supporting departmental culture change related to professional development of GTAs will likely rely on the department’s value (or lack of value) for supporting the psychological needs of GTAs in teaching. Many of the findings provide unique insights into supporting and understanding instructor motivation to engage in TPD, change their instructional practices, and experience psychological well-being. 

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2. "I'm Not Teaching Them Per Se": Designing and Delivering Asynchronous Undergraduate Online STEM Courses

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-023-09670-9  

   Garza Mitchell, Regina L.; DeCamp, Whitney; Horvitz, Brian S.; Kowalske, Megan Grunert; Singleton, Cherrelle (February 2024, Innovative Higher Education)

   Although online courses have been a part of academia for nearly 30 years, they are still perceived as "different" than face-to-face instruction. Through in-depth interviews with four instructors, we explored how STEM faculty approach teaching asynchronous online undergraduate STEM courses. The faculty interviewed for this study viewed online courses as "not regular class[es]" and teaching those classes as "not teaching per se." Each of the instructors had assumptions about what a classroom was and about good instruction, but even for instructors who taught online for multiple years, those assumptions remained grounded in the face-to-face environment. There is a need for greater discussion about what it means to teach in an online environment. 

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3. CHARACTERIZATION OF UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY INSTRUCTORS’ GOALS AND STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTING QUANTITATIVE REASONING

   Khushal, Anum (August 2025, University of Nebraska Digital Commons)

   Quantitative reasoning (QR) is the ability to apply mathematics and statistics in the context of real-life situations and scientific problems. It is an important skill that students require to make sense of complex biological phenomena and handle large datasets in biology courses and research as well as in professional contexts. Biology educators and researchers are responding to the increasing need for QR through curricular reforms and research into biology education. This qualitative study investigates how undergraduate biology instructors implement QR into their teaching. The study used pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and a QR framework to explore instructors’ instructional goals, strategies, and perceived challenges and affordances in undergraduate biology instruction. The participants included 21 biology faculty across various institutions in the United States, who intentionally integrated QR in their instruction. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data focusing on participants’ beliefs, experiences, and classroom practices. Findings indicated that instructors adapt their QR instruction based on course level and student preparedness. In lower-division courses, strategies emphasized building foundational skills, reducing math anxiety, and using scaffolded instruction to promote confidence. In upper-division courses, instructors expected greater math fluency but still encountered a wide range of student abilities, prompting a focus on correcting misconceptions in integrating math knowledge and fostering deeper conceptual understanding in biology. Many instructors reported that their personal and educational experiences, especially struggles with math, often shaped their inclusive and empathetic teaching practices. Additionally, instructors’ research backgrounds influenced instructional design, particularly in the use of authentic data, statistical tools, and real-world applications. Instructors’ teaching experiences led to refinement in lesson planning, pacing, and active learning strategies. Despite their efforts, instructors faced both internal and external challenges in implementing QR, including discomfort with teaching math, time limitations, student resistance, and institutional barriers. However, affordances such as departmental support, interdisciplinary collaboration, and curricular flexibility helped to overcome some of these challenges. This study highlights the complex relationships between instructors’ experiences, beliefs, and contextual factors in shaping QR instruction. This calls for professional development that supports reflective practice, builds interdisciplinary competence, and promotes instructional strategies that bridge biology and mathematics and will help instructors design a learning environment that better support students’ development of QR skills. These findings offer valuable guidance for professional development aimed at helping biology instructors incorporate quantitative reasoning into their teaching. Such efforts can better equip students to meet the quantitative demands of modern biology and promote their continued engagement in STEM fields through more inclusive and integrated instructional approaches. 

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4. Classroom Observations Indicate the Positive Impacts of Discipline-Based Professional Development

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-019-00015-w  

   Viskupic, Karen; Ryker, Katherine; Teasdale, Rachel; Manduca, Cathryn; Iverson, Ellen; Farthing, Dori; Bruckner, Monica Z.; McFadden, Rory (May 2019, Journal for STEM Education Research)

   We compared 236 geoscience instructors’ histories of professional development (PD) participation with classroom observations using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) that describe undergraduate classes as Student-Centered (score ≥ 50), Transitional (score 31–49) or Teacher-Centered (score ≤ 30). Instructors who attended PD (n = 111) have higher average RTOP scores (44.5 vs. 34.2) and are more frequently observed teaching Student-Centered classes (33% vs. 13%) than instructors with no PD (p < 0.001). Instructors who attended PD that is topically-aligned with content taught during the classroom observation are likely to have RTOP scores that are higher by 13.5 points (p < 0.0001), and are 5.6 times more likely to teach a Student-Centered class than instructors without topically-aligned PD. Comparable odds of teaching Student-Centered classes (5.8x) occur for instructors who attended two topical PD events but were observed teaching a different topic. Models suggest that instructors with at least 24 h of PD are significantly more likely to teach a Student-Centered class than instructors with fewer hours. Our results highlight the effectiveness of discipline-specific PD in impacting teaching practices, and the importance of attending more than one such PD event to aid transfer of learning. 

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5. Pedagogical Knowledge Among Early-Career Undergraduate Instructors: Qualitative Variation, Longitudinal Development, and Influences on Teaching

   https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.25-09-0196  

   Waugh, Alex H; Green, Kathryn E; Andrews, Tessa C (June 2026, CBE—Life Sciences Education)

   Offerdahl, Erika G (Ed.)

   Active learning can enhance student outcomes in STEM higher education, but its effectiveness varies with implementation. A key contributor to this variation is the pedagogical knowledge held by instructors. However, little is known about instructors’ pedagogical knowledge of how people learn, how these ideas develop over time, and how knowledge development influences active-learning implementation. This longitudinal qualitative study examined variation, development, and instructional implications of pedagogical knowledge among 11 early-career undergraduate life sciences instructors in the context of their active-learning instruction. We conducted semistructured interviews, including stimulated recall, capturing pedagogical knowledge used to plan, implement, and reflect on a lesson, repeating this process across multiple semesters. We used qualitative content analysis and an analytical framework to identify distinct pedagogical ideas about how people learn used by instructors and their alignment with passive, active, and generative cognitive engagement in the ICAP framework. Longitudinal comparisons revealed that participants did not consistently develop ideas aligned with generative cognitive engagement, indicating that teaching experience is necessary but insufficient to foster development of crucial pedagogical knowledge for effective active learning. Case studies illustrated how knowledge development can influence nuances of active-learning design and implementation. We discuss potential mechanisms of knowledge development and instructional implications. 

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