ECR Projects

Explore past and current fundamental STEM education research projects across the three research areas that NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program funds, as well as across ECR funding types. Other search filters draw from both NSF's data and the ECR Hub's hand coding of award abstracts.

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A mixed-method investigation of the role of faculty mindset beliefs during the transition to online education as compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic

Effective Years: 2020-2022

The transition to online instruction necessitated by the COVID pandemic has created significant uncertainty for the nation’s college faculty, many of whom have not previously taught online. This research would examine how faculty mindsets about themselves and their students, as well as faculty perceptions of their university/college system’s messages about the transition, relate to their responses to the challenge of rapidly transitioning their teaching online, the quality of instruction they deliver, and, as a result, students’ attitudes and learning outcomes in STEM courses during the Spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Given the high levels of stress caused by the disruption to daily life brought by COVID-19, faculty attitudes and beliefs may be critical in determining the pattern of faculty responses, and in particular, whether and how they adapt and transition their courses online. Faculty responses may reflect deep-seated beliefs about (a) the nature of STEM content (as relatively fixed and unchanging); (b) the view of themselves as simply deliverers of that relatively fixed content, and (c) students’ abilities to learn STEM material. Understanding how faculty mindsets influence the teaching practices that STEM faculty adopt as they move their teaching online – and how these practices influence students’ motivation, learning, and performance – can help faculty become more adaptable in the future by developing professional development in advance. This award is made by the EHR Core Research program in the Division of Human Resource Development, using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

This study will build on an existing partnership between the Motivate Lab, based at the University of Virginia, and the University System of Georgia, which includes 26 four-year colleges and universities throughout Georgia. The 26 institutions in Georgia are divided roughly equally into four sectors: Research-intensive, Masters-comprehensive, State university, and State college. This variation in institution type will be important to consider as attitudes towards teaching (vs. research) and the type of students vary significantly across the system, with the more research-focused institutions being more selective in their admissions policies. Participants will include 900 faculty across the University System of Georgia and the students enrolled in their courses. Retooled surveys, course artifacts, learning management system data, and administrative data will capture how faculty mindsets about themselves and their students, as well as faculty perceptions of their system’s messages about the transition, relate to their responses to the challenge of rapidly transitioning their teaching online, the quality of instruction they deliver, and students’ attitudes and learning outcomes in STEM courses during the Spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Supplementary student data will assess student perceptions about the changes that faculty made to their instructional practices during the move to online, and the changes to the quality of the learning experience. Although prior research demonstrates that faculty mindsets shape teaching practices even under normal circumstances, this research will test hypotheses about whether mindset beliefs will especially matter during periods of rapidly changing circumstances. Learning how faculty mindsets matter will significantly advance theory and understanding of the role of faculty mindsets in STEM education.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.