The DOI matches its Crossref record; 37 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
It’s Personal: Biology Instructors Prioritize Personal Evidence over Empirical Evidence in Teaching Decisions
Open accessAbstract
Despite many calls for undergraduate biology instructors to incorporate active learning into lecture courses, few studies have focused on what it takes for instructors to make this change. We sought to investigate the process of adopting and sustaining active-learning instruction. As a framework for our research, we used the innovation-decision model, a generalized model of how individuals adopt innovations. We interviewed 17 biology instructors who were attempting to implement case study teaching and conducted qualitative text analysis on interview data. The overarching theme that emerged from our analysis was that instructors prioritized personal experience—rather than empirical evidence—in decisions regarding case study teaching. We identified personal experiences that promote case study teaching, such as anecdotal observations of student outcomes, and those that hinder case study teaching, such as insufficient teaching skills. By analyzing the differences between experienced and new case study instructors, we discovered that new case study instructors need support to deal with unsupportive colleagues and to develop the skill set needed for an active-learning classroom. We generated hypotheses that are grounded in our data about effectively supporting instructors in adopting and sustaining active-learning strategies. We also synthesized our findings with existing literature to tailor the innovation-decision model.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Figures
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Fidelity in implementation is critical, as research shows that it is often poor (45–47).”
From Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (2020) · cites this paper as [46]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Rogers, E. M., Singhal, A., & Quinlan, M. M. (2019) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203710753-35 · Cited by 37,670
(1990) · Cited by 24,217
Valente, T. W. (2003) · Genetics in Medicine · doi:10.1097/01.gim.0000061743.67794.c4 · Cited by 20,559
(2006) · Cited by 18,730
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Morvan, C., & O’Connor, A. (2017) · Macat Library eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781912282432 · Cited by 18,284
Qualitative evaluation and research methods
Ellis, D. J. (1990) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/0268-4012(90)90041-p · Cited by 17,943
The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers
Lungu, M. (2022) · American Journal of Qualitative Research · doi:10.29333/ajqr/12085 · Cited by 10,936
Constructing grounded theory. A practical guide through qualitative analysis
Brink, E., Dellve, L., Hallberg, U. E., Abrahamsson, K. H., Klingberg, G., & Wentz, K. (2006) · International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being · doi:10.3402/qhw.v1i3.4932 · Cited by 6,913
A theory of cognitive dissonance
Eysenck, H. J. (1963) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3999(63)90061-8 · Cited by 1,133
Henderson, C., Beach, A., & Finkelstein, N. (2011) · Journal of Research in Science Teaching · doi:10.1002/tea.20439 · Cited by 1,055 · cited 2×
“Additionally, FLCs align with recommendations for teaching professional development for college STEM instructors (Henderson et al., 2011).”
Background
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action
- Boyer Commission on Education Undergraduates in the Research University, 1998, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities
- Dinan F, 2002, J Coll Sci Teach, 32, 36
- Mazur E, 1997, Peer Instruction
- McAlpine L, 2000, Instr Sci, 28, 363
- National Research Council (NRC), 1997, Science Teaching Reconsidered: A Handbook
- NRC, 2012, Discipline-based Education Research: Science and Engineering
- President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012, Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
- Winter D, 2001, J Scholarship Teach Learn, 2, 15
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Theobald, E. J., Hill, M. J., Tran, E., Agrawal, S., Arroyo, E. N., Behling, S., Chambwe, N., Cintrón, D. L., Cooper, J. D., Dunster, G., et al. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1916903117 · Cited by 1,387
Change theory and theory of change: what’s the difference anyway?
Reinholz, D. L., & Andrews, T. C. (2020) · International Journal of STEM Education · doi:10.1186/s40594-020-0202-3 · Cited by 342
Self-citationShadle, S. E., Marker, A. W., & Earl, B. (2017) · International Journal of STEM Education · doi:10.1186/s40594-017-0062-7 · Cited by 265
Stains, M., & Vickrey, T. (2017) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.16-03-0113 · Cited by 177
Henry, M. A., Shorter, S. K., Charkoudian, L. K., Heemstra, J. M., & Corwin, L. A. (2019) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.18-06-0108 · Cited by 184
Metadata
- Authors
- Andrews, T. C., & Lemons, P. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Georgia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lemons, Paula P.
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2015-03-02
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- ar7
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4353082
- OpenAlex
- W2139787198
- Cited by
- 159
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 53.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Georgia
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Innovative Teaching Methods
- Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- active learning, case-based teaching, instructor decision-making, personal experience, empirical evidence, instructor support, teaching skills, coworker support, undergraduate biology education
- MeSH terms
- Biology, Curriculum, Decision Making, Faculty, Humans, Learning, Personal Satisfaction, Teaching, Universities, Cohort Studies, Models, Educational, Problem-Based Learning
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
