Evidence-based Teaching Strategies
Evidence-based teaching refers to teaching strategies for which there have been research studies indicating their effectiveness at improving student learning, engagement, attitudes, equity, or other factors related to academic success.
There are various types of strategies that work in different contexts and time scales, as depicted in the table below. Most are built upon educational and psychological concepts like active learning, collaborative learning, metacognition, belonging, self-efficacy, feedback, or self-determination theory.
This Canvas resource and handout have examples of some evidence-based strategies that can be implemented in your courses.
Some Categories of Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies & Principles
| Briefer, Targeted Strategies | Broader or More Comprehensive Techniques | |
| More Concrete Strategies | These are some of the strategies covered in the evidence-based teaching Canvas resource and handout:
Examples of some face-to-face in-class strategies: |
Many of these broader teaching techniques derive from discipline-based educational research and development. |
|---|---|---|
| More General Principles/Techniques | These are some strategies that primarily derive from cognitive psychology and mainly apply to practice and memory.
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These are links to more comprehensive Canvas-related resources on effective teaching practices. |
More Online Resources about Evidence-based Teaching Practices
- Online Teaching Activity Index
- Pedagogical Approaches for Teaching and Learning with Canvas
- Humanizing Tool Buffet
- SERC – Pedagogy in Action
- Physport – resources based on physics education research (PER)
- Active Learning Techniques
- Twenty-One Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity
- 100+ Activities for Motivating and Retaining Learners Online
Books for Further Reading on Evidence-based Teaching Practices
- Reaching Students: What Research Says About Effective Instruction in Undergraduate Science and Engineering (free ebook; NRC, 2015)
- Instructional Practices Guide: Guide to Evidence-Based Instructional Practices in Undergraduate Mathematics (free ebook; MAA, 2018)
- Applying Science of Learning in Education: Infusing Psychological Science into the Curriculum (free ebook; TeachPsych, 2014)
- Improving How Universities Teach Science: Lessons from the Science Education Initiative (Wieman, 2017)
- Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide (Felder & Brent, 2016)
- Online Teaching at its Best (Nilson & Goodson, 2018)
- Teaching for Learning: 101 Intentionally Designed Educational Activities to Put Students on the Path to Success (Major et al., 2016)
Feedback/Errata