Teaching Philosophy Statements: The Impact of a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Faculty Learning Community at a Hispanic Serving Institution

ABSTRACT

We used a phenomenological research design to explore the impact of a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) to support STEM faculty members’ development of cultural wealth principles and teaching practices. In this study, we analyzed teaching philosophy statements to learn how the FLC shaped STEM faculty participants’ expression of teaching beliefs and values. Because effective teaching philosophy statements are linked to good teaching and transparently designed assignments, the language used to articulate teaching values can inform how we build equity-minded and culturally relevant educational spaces. Findings demonstrated that some faculty members developed and articulated teaching beliefs and intended practices that were consistent with culturally relevant teaching and cultural wealth. However, the study did not discover evidence of practice intentions that reflected these culturally relevant pedagogical principles related to the specific assessment of student learning. We discuss implications for faculty developers at HSIs to support STEM faculty members’ use of culturally relevant and community engaged concepts and teaching approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching philosophy statements
• teaching practices at HSIs
• faculty learning communities

Acknowledgments

This paper and the research behind it would not have been possible without the exceptional expertise and assistance of a dedicated team and the generous support from the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate Science Education (IUSE)- Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Program. We also wish to express our gratitude to the participants in the professional development and study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Disclaimer

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by National Science Foundation IUSE–HSI Program under the project grant, ”Building Capacity: Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM Through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Community Engagement” [Grant 1832523].