Tessa Andrews Awarded Grant from NSF CAREER Program
Tessa Andrews, OIBR Fellow and assistant professor of Genetics, was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation CAREER program, which supports research and outstanding teaching by junior faculty.
Dr. Andrews will lead a five-year, national scale research and education project on the integration of evidence based teaching strategies and using what works most effectively for student learning and to better understand and support the evidence-based teaching in biology.
The research aims to clarify the teaching knowledge that is particularly important for using evidence-based instructional practices in large undergraduate courses. The educational initiatives will design and test a new model of teaching training for graduate students and will expand a video resource library for faculty who want to learn more about evidence-based teaching in science.
Active-learning instruction engages students directly in the learning process and has proven effective, but that effectiveness can vary considerably based on the instructor.
“The need is particularly acute for large biology courses,” said Andrews, whose team will collect data from biology instructors around the country. “The work will focus on the knowledge that college faculty need about teaching and learning to effectively plan and implement active-learning strategies in large classes.”
Read more about Dr. Andrews’ research project here.