Six educational research projects developed by Missouri S&T faculty have been funded for 2013-2014 as part of a mini-grant program co-sponsored by the office of the vice provost for academic affairs and the Center for Educational Research and Teaching Innovation (CERTI). The academic affairs office provided $22,000 in funding for the third year of the program. The 2013-2014 funded projects are:
- “Class Redesign for Chemistry 375 – Principles of Environmental Monitoring,” Dr. Yinfa Ma, Curators’ Teaching Professor of chemistry, $4,750.
- “Developing, Implementing and Evaluating Active Learning Components for Traditional Engineering Lecture Courses,” Dr. Mary Reidmeyer, associate teaching professor of materials science and engineering, and Dr. Richard Brow, Curators’ Professor of materials science and engineering, $2,500.
- “Face-to-Face Classroom Learning versus Synchronous and Asynchronous Distance Learning,” Dr. Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, professor of business information and technology, $4,400.
- “Flipping the Microbiology Laboratory to Improve Student Preparation and Increase Student Interaction,” Dr. David Westenberg, associate professor of biological sciences, $3,895.
- “Implementing Guided Group Activities to Improve Performance and Self-Efficacy in College Algebra,” Kimberly Kinder, assistant teaching professor of mathematics and statistics, $2,500.
- “Using ‘Conceptual’ and ‘Assessment’ Problems to Enhance Student Learning of Fundamental Concepts Taught in an Undergraduate ThermoFluid Mechanics Class,” Dr. Nishant Kumar, assistant teaching professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, $3,955.
Reviewers included Dr. Philip Whitefield, interim vice provost for academic affairs, and Dr. Larry Gragg, interim vice provost for undergraduate studies, as well as members of the CERTI steering committee. Results of the research will be shared with the campus at the Missouri S&T Teaching and Learning Technology Conference in March 2014. Go to http://certi.mst.edu/educationalresearch/ to learn more about the educational research mini-grant program.