CATE’s Action Research Scholars Program
Introduction
CATE’s Action Research Scholars program is a year-long learning community program where UIC faculty are connected to campus experts and are supported step-by-step as they develop, implement, and disseminate a teaching research project. Not only do scholars become experts in conducting education research, but their students benefit from the impacts of their teaching innovations and research (nearly 11,000 students at UIC since the program’s inception in 2022).
Read on for how one alumni scholar piloted, expanded, and is investigating the impact of her teaching innovation on students.
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Action Research Scholar Spotlight: Rita Hatfield
Rita is a passionate educator who facilitates her students’ success by providing them with hands-on, authentic experiences that contribute to their sense of belonging in their first year of college. This experiential way of teaching is her signature pedagogy – a way of teaching where students think, behave, and develop skills critical in their future careers. For her pre-nursing first semester chemistry course, she and her colleagues in Chemistry and the College of Nursing (Katie Vanderswan, Biobehavioral Nursing Science) developed a nursing simulation experience where students experience how thinking like a chemist and thinking like a nurse work together.
Over 90 first-year students in Chem115 experienced a series of scaffolded teaching activities on aspirin toxicity including an interactive lecture, lab activity where the drug of interest was synthesized, and a nursing case study. A small group of student volunteers then participated in a simulated real-world experience in the College of Nursing M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Laboratory. Rita and her collaborators in nursing have expanded this successful simulation lab this past fall so that all 170 Chem115 students had the opportunity to participate in the simulation. In addition, third year pre-licensure BSN students also participated in the simulation, collaborating and providing mentorship to the first-year chemistry students.
Rita is currently investigating the impact of her signature pedagogy on student learning, growth mindset, and sense of belonging in nursing in a mixed-methods IRB-approved study through the Action Research Scholars program. Her initial findings demonstrate high enthusiasm for real world application with some students stating that chemistry knowledge will make them a better nurse.