Working Group 1's Mission
Change theories include theoretical and empirically-grounded knowledge about how change occurs. Change theory is important to change efforts because it represents generalized knowledge beyond any one project. Relevant theories come from diverse fields, and it is a challenge for change agents and change researchers to identify and understand the complexity and breadth of this literature. This working group seeks to help people engaged in change efforts learn more about change theories and models that could profitably inform systemic change work. This working group also aims to support researchers studying systemic change by facilitating discussions and building resources related to change theory.
Current Work
A long-term goal of this Working Group is to develop resources that help change agents and researchers learn about relevant change theories. The Working Group is developing 1-page summaries of change theories and how they are applied in the context of undergraduate STEM education reform. These summaries are available in the Change Theories resource. Join an upcoming WG1 meeting to contribute to and learn from these resources.
Knowledge Claims and Guiding Questions
- Using change theory to guide interventions and research enables projects to both leverage and contribute to our collective knowledge about how to achieve change. Therefore, we ask:
- How can researchers contextualize theories from other fields (e.g., organizational change, higher education) to promote change specifically in STEM higher education?
- How can researchers use change theories in a way that better produces generalizable knowledge?
- How can change theories be used in a way that catalyzes widespread changes to STEM higher education?
- Change agents and researchers in STEM higher education have often not had formal opportunities to learn about change theory. Therefore, we ask:
- What resources and opportunities for learning about change (i.e., change education) can Working Group 1 create?
Products and Resources
Overview of Change Theories — provides summaries of change theories, contexts for use in STEM higher educational change, and key information and references.
Breaking Down Silos Conference — Working Group Leaders hosted an NSF-funded meeting in February 2019 that gathered early career researchers who study change in undergraduate STEM education.
- Breaking Down Silos meeting contributes to the goals of Working Group 1
- Breaking Down Silos Working Meeting: An Approach to Fostering Cross-Disciplinary STEM–DBER Collaborations through Working Meetings
Common Change Theory Language — Working Group 1 proposals for clear distinctions between change theory and a theory of change.
Group Leaders
- Tessa Andrews, University of Georgia (tandrews [at] uga [dot] edu)
- Daniel Reinholz, San Diego State University (daniel.reinholz [at] sdsu [dot] edu)
Group Members
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