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The work explains the SIMPLE Framework’s principles for sustainable, mentoring-focused faculty groups and details how design memos capture strategy, logistics, examples, and impacts on student learning.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/advancing-graduate-education-and-faculty-development-with-discipline-based-education-research-and-the-simple-framework-design-memos-in-biology-for-active-teaching/592660/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/advancing-graduate-education-and-faculty-development-with-discipline-based-education-research-and-the-simple-framework-design-memos-in-biology-for-active-teaching/592660.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Mimi","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-21","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the purpose of the SIMPLE Framework in this paper?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It was developed to motivate and support faculty change from lecturing to interactive engagement through sustainable, discipline-driven faculty groups with a design focus.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What do design memos document in interactive teaching?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Each memo focuses on one interactive teaching strategy and describes the strategy, conditions and logistics, examples, and reflections on advantages, challenges, and effects on student learning.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why did the Biology Department become involved in the SIMPLE project?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The department aimed to enhance student learning by improving instructor teaching, promoting achievement in biology courses, and deepening students’ conceptual understanding.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},592660,1792211379,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},2336477974920,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Advancing Graduate Education and Faculty Development with Discipline Based Education Research and the SIMPLE Framework: Design Memos in Biology for Active Teaching  \nBy J. Reid Schwebach *  \nDaria Gerasimova†  \nDavidA. Luther‡ Anne B. Verhoeven§ Claudette P. Davis **  \nMorgan Gostel††  \nChelsie Romulo‡‡ Lisa Schreffler§§ Padmanabhan Seshaiyer ***  \nJill K. Nelson†††  \nWith the increasing popularity of active teaching methods, universities have become more interested in changing instruction from direct lecture to interactive engagement. The George Mason University (Mason, Virginia, USA) Biology Department is achieving this goal through: 1)faculty participation in the SIMPLE project; 2) faculty and student involvement in Discipline-Based Education Research projects; 3) participating in the Learning Assistant program for undergraduate students as scholars; and 4) the Accelerator Program. These approaches are discussed in this paper. Also, interactive teaching strategies, which the biology faculty and graduate teaching assistants use at Mason, are documented in the form of design memos; these memos are introduced in this paper.  \nKeywords: active learning, biology, design memo, discipline-based education research (DBER), SIMPLE  \n* Coordinator, George Mason University, USA.  \n† Graduate Student, George Mason University, USA.  \n‡ Term Assistant Professor, George Mason University, USA.  \n§ Medical Lab Science Coordinator/Term Assistant Professor, George Mason University, USA.  \n**STEM Accelerator/Term-Assistant Professor, George Mason University, USA.††Graduate Student, George Mason University, USA.  \n‡‡Graduate Student, George Mason University, USA.  \n§§Graduate Student, George Mason University, USA.  \n***Professor, George Mason University, USA.  \n†††Associate Professor, George Mason University, USA.  \n[https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.3-3-1](https://doi.org/10.30958/aje.3-3-1) doi=10.30958/aje.3-3-1  \nThe Biology Department SIMPLE Group  \nThe SIMPLE Framework  \nThe use of interactive teaching and active learning in STEM disciplines on a college level has been positively associated with student achievement (Freeman et al., 2014), conceptual understanding (Hake, 1998), and its retention (Gamer & Gamer, 2001) . It also increases student motivation and interest in the field (Jamieson & Lohmann, 2009) . However, despite that, it isnot common for university professors to teach in this way (Fairweather, 2008) . One of the obstacles, identified by research, is the lack of faculty training in teaching and pedagogy (Fiore & Rosenquest, 2009; Hjalmarson et al., 2013) . Moreover, frequently faculty do not have the skills, resources, and time necessary to implement interactive teaching (Suchman, 2014) . Therefore, the need for the instructional change from traditional teacher-centered to active, student-centered is enormous (Henderson, Beach, & Finkelstein, 2011) .  \nThe SIMPLE framework was developed to motivate and support this faculty change in teaching from lecturing to interactive engagement. According to this framework, small, discipline-driven groups of faculty have been created across and within STEM departments (Hjalmarson et al., 2014) . Specifically, groups should be sustainable, focused on incremental change, include mentoring, be people-driven, emphasize interactive learning environments, and have a design focus (Hjalmarson & Nelson, 2015) . Such groups provide their participants with a friendly and supportive environment where instructors feel comfortable to discuss innovative teaching strategies suitable for their classes, talk about their experience with these strategies, share their concerns, give pieces of advice if desired, and provide additional support to each other. The research shows that the collaboration between the faculty is essential for the teaching change to occur (McKenna, Yalvac, & Light, 2009) . The faculty, participating in the project, also document the process of implementing a new interactive teaching technique","cbCaivgNtaiGr2Pf","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivgNtaiGr2Pf","pdf",390770,13,"English","# Advancing Graduate Education and Faculty Development\n# The SIMPLE Framework\n# What Design Memos Are\n# How the Biology Department Became Engaged in SIMPLE","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of the SIMPLE Framework in this paper?\",\"answer\":\"It was developed to motivate and support faculty change from lecturing to interactive engagement through sustainable, discipline-driven faculty groups with a design focus.\"},{\"question\":\"What do design memos document in interactive teaching?\",\"answer\":\"Each memo focuses on one interactive teaching strategy and describes the strategy, conditions and logistics, examples, and reflections on advantages, challenges, and effects on student learning.\"},{\"question\":\"Why did the Biology Department become involved in the SIMPLE project?\",\"answer\":\"The department aimed to enhance student learning by improving instructor teaching, promoting achievement in biology courses, and deepening students’ conceptual understanding.\"}]","Advancing Graduate Education and Faculty Development with Discipline Based Education Research and the SIMPLE Framework - Design Memos in Biology for Active Teaching | PDF",1792075043,33]