Practitioner Inquiry for Iterative Introductory Lab and Course Improvement

Practitioner inquiry is an approach for continuous improvement in education that centers teachers' analysis and reflections about day-to-day observations and classroom data. While more commonly applied in K-12 contexts, this approach also has much to offer for university pedagogy, providing a framework for course revisions that are iterative and responsive to student input. The Physics Department at North Carolina A&T State University, the largest of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S., has identified an urgent need to improve students' success rates and conceptual understanding in large algebra-based and calculus-based introductory courses. One initial step in this process has been redesigning labs to more effectively reinforce lecture content and teach problem-solving and data analysis skills. This transformation has been approached through a practitioner inquiry framework, gathering data and feedback from students and laboratory teaching assistants on a semester and weekly basis as a basis for critical reflection and iterative redesign of laboratory activities. This poster presents this framework, data about lab transformation progress so far, and next steps in applying this approach toward broader curricular improvement.