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This chapter presents research and evaluation results on the SAGE 2YC project's intentional focus on a cycle of change rooted in modeling evidence‐based pedagogies and facilitating change in teaching and leadership among faculty peers on multiple levels. Based on five years of qualitative and quantitative data involving 40 community colleges and 80 full‐time and adjunct STEM faculty, results showed that faculty change agents increased their use of evidence‐based teaching and faculty leadership roles. Changes in pedagogy contributed to improved course completion rates and reduced equity gaps between demographically diverse student groups. Carefully honed professional development strategies offered valuable lessons on supporting faculty learning, scaffolding and sharing lessons learned among faculty peers, and faculty leadership of campus reforms.

 

Climate change is affecting Polar Regions at a greater rate than other parts of the planet and bringing information about Polar Regions to learners in informal settings is an integral part of increasing polar literacy. Inspired by escape rooms and mystery-themed materials that have increased in popularity over recent years and necessitated by disruptions during the pandemic, the Arctic Mystery engaged youth in small groups by challenging them to work together to make claims based on evidence and reasoning. This CSI-style kit features Arctic ecology, geography, and local connections as well as scientific data, research materials, and field research as content through which youth solve the mystery of a scientist’s disappearance. Preliminary results from virtual user-testing indicate high engagement throughout the six-session program. Further testing is required to determine whether the kit is associated with gains in self-reported scientific identity, fascination in science, and valuing science. The kit’s versatile format may be successful in other formats, including asynchronous and in-person settings. 

Objective/Research Question: This paper reports on data collected in a multi-year National Science Foundation grant project involving a professional development (PD) model built to support community college faculty as change agents (CAs). The research question was: How do disciplinary communities of practice (CoP) emerge among community college faculty working in teams? Methods: This research employed a mixed-method design. Data collection included interviews, focus-group sessions, reflective journals, observations, end-of-workshop evaluations, survey data with the 23 geoscience faculty CA, and data from a national survey. Data analysis used the principles of CoP. Results: When compared to other community college geoscience faculty nationally, the participants in our study reported greater levels of behaviors characteristic of CoP. The CoP emerged due to network building and resource sharing within the PD. The findings highlight the significance of structured PD on the development of robust disciplinary CoP. The initial orientation of CAs, existing institutional structures, and cultures of community colleges influenced the CoP. Putting lessons learned into practice, sharing outcomes, and leading regional PD for others contributed to strengthening of the CoP. Conclusions/Contributions: Intentional PD catalyzed the emergence of strong CoP among the community college geoscience faculty participants. The opportunities to connect with disciplinary colleagues teaching in community colleges who shared an interest in supporting student success and improving teaching practices and the opportunity to share lessons learned contributed to the CoP. Structured interactions, critical reflection, and leading colleagues in PD supported developing, maintaining, and growing the CoP.

 

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.