UW-River Falls professor secures third National Science Foundation grant

September 8, 2016--Jamie Schneider, professor of chemistry and biotechnology at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, was recently awarded a third grant through the National Science Foundation (NSF), serving as the principle investigator on two of them.

The new grant, funded through the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program for  $498,483, will support a research project, "Optimizing Testing Feedback for Improved Student Learning," that aims to generate evidence about the role of testing feedback to promote and support learning in general chemistry through four related sets of studies. This project aims to utilize and expand on knowledge gained from a NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES) grant awarded in 2012.

Schneider serves as principal investigator for this IUSE project. Co-investigators on the project include Kristen L. Murphy, associate professor of chemistry & biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cynthia J. Luxford, assistant professor of chemistry & biochemistry at Texas State University, and Melonie A. Teichert, assistant professor of chemistry at United States Naval Academy. Additionally, Panayiota Kendeou, associate professor of educational psychology at University of Minnesota, serves as the external evaluator, and Arunendu Chatterjee, associate professor of mathematics at UWRF, serves as a senior personnel.

"General chemistry is often taught in large lecture sections influencing instructor choices to utilize multiple-choice exams, frequently with limited feedback," said Schneider. "Understanding the best ways to use and provide feedback for these exams could greatly help instructors employ best practices to maximize student learning through testing."

Based on existing research in cognitive science, this project will collect evidence on current practices of testing feedback as well as the impacts on student learning of various forms of feedback with a diverse set of student populations in the context of general chemistry. Findings from this work are expected to be applicable to general chemistry programs across the nation as well as more broadly to other STEM areas (physics, engineering, etc.) that also utilize complex content items in multiple-choice testing. Developing and using evidence-based strategies to enhance and support student learning is a critical step in producing a well-prepared and diverse STEM workforce.

"Dr. Schneider is a superb colleague with a passion for teaching and assessment," said Brad Caskey, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UWRF. "I am very excited about the fact that one of the main goals of her grant is to identify effective feedback methods. UWRF is known for excellence in the classroom and the research about to be conducted by Dr. Schneider helps put us at the cutting-edge in the identification of best practices in higher education."    

The new NSF IUSE program was created to support projects that address immediate challenges and opportunities related to the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the undergraduate level. According to information provided in the NSF.gov website, the NSF IUSE program specifically "invests in evidence-based and evidence-generating approaches to understanding STEM learning; to designing, testing, and studying instruction and curricular change; to wide dissemination and implementation of best practices; and to broadening participation of individuals and institutions in STEM fields. The goals of these investments include: increasing the number and diversity of STEM students, preparing students well to participate in science for tomorrow, and improving students' STEM learning outcomes."

For more information, contact Schneider at 715-425-4590 or jamie.schneider@uwrf.edu.