2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper reports on one aspect of a four-year NSF-funded transforming STEM undergraduate education initiative carried out at a public R1 Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the U.S. southwest. The aim of the initiative focused on improving Latinx undergraduate STEM education through: 1) the restructuring of undergraduate STEM courses; 2) providing research opportunities; and 3) developing a near-peer mentoring program. This paper focuses on analyzing the use of a language-rich STEM Lesson Study (LR-LS) framework related to the restructuring of critical undergraduate engineering courses (Authors, 2021; Author 2023). Lesson study (LS) meetings were intended to offer faculty professional development on teaching and learning practices as well as a collaborative space to redesign course lessons. In this paper we examine the extent to which faculty engage in the LR-LS framework through a fidelity of implementation (FOI) analysis across four-years. FOI refers here to adherence and quality of implementation of the instructional model (Akiba et al., 2022; Albers & Pattuwage, 2017). Additionally, a report on student outcome data in relation to the FOI of the LR-LS framework is provided.
The LR-LS framework incorporates socio-cultural pedagogical principles within lesson study designed to improve instruction and learning through focused attention to learning challenges (Cerbin, 2018; Lewis & Perry 2014; Wood & Cajkler, 2018). To examine the FOI, an LR-LS FOI rubric was developed to score faculty on five core indicators of the LR-LS framework: 1) STEM/academic literacy, 2) orientations to student learning, 3) affordances for student interaction, 4) reflective practice, and 5) faculty leadership. The quality of the implementation was assessed using a four-point scale. A score of “0” means the indicator was not present, “1” reflects minimal implementation, “2” reflects moderate implementation, and “3” reflects strong implementation. Data were drawn from four semesters of LS activities consisting of 46 LS meeting transcripts and 6 classroom observation video-logs of lesson implementations for two focal engineering instructors. The authors analyzed and coded LS meeting transcripts and video recorded lessons with respect to LR-LS FOI rubric indicators. The authors then reviewed the coded segments and scored individual engineering faculty. Composite scores for each of the two engineering faculty were calculated across four semesters to examine the quality of their engagement with the LR-LS framework. These scores ranged from moderate (score less than 2) to high levels of implementation (score greater than or equal to 2).
The findings of the student outcome data indicated differences between Latinx students who participated in a course section with high FOI (Vasquez Cano & Yin, 2023). Latinx students in high FOI course sections had a higher change in STEM self-efficacy, were more likely to still be enrolled in a STEM major, be in good academic standing, and to apply to graduate school. While students in a section with moderate FOI experienced an increase in sense of belonging (Vasquez Cano & Yin, 2023). However, the results of the regression analysis, while indicating a positive trend in outcome measures, did not reach statistical significance. Recommendations for higher education practitioners and researchers are provided.