If you are learner-centered and you know it, raise your hand: Perspectives on and implementation of pedagogical changes by science instructors during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Students at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) faced significant hardships while trying to learn through emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research aims to investigate if science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructors thought about and enacted more learner-centered teaching practices to alleviate some of this stress encountered by their students. Using semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, we utilized inductive and deductive qualitative research methods to examine two questions: (1) To what extent were STEM instructor's perceived pedagogical changes learner-centered during ERT?; and (2) To what extent were STEM instructor's teaching behaviors and discourse practices learner-centered during ERT? Our findings revealed that during ERT, STEM instructors described using a variety of pedagogical changes that we identified as learner-centered under the Weimer framework, including ideas such as enacting flexible late policies and increased usage of formative assessment. Interestingly, we found that many of these learned-centered changes were happening outside of the classroom. Classroom observations assessing instructor behaviors and discourse demonstrated that STEM instructors enacted practices that aligned with Weimer's five constructs of learner-centered teaching. Our research highlights implications of learner-centered teaching practices for STEM instructors as well as researchers.