Investigating conceptions and conceptual change in the teaching of large STEM classes School: Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, and BiologyTeam: Dr George Kinnear, Dr Anna Wood, Dr Ross Galloway, Professor Susan Rhind, and Professor Heather McQueen AbstractIn this project, which will run over two calendar years, we will take a longitudinal approach to exploring both teachers’ conceptions of teaching large classes and how those conceptions can be changed. In two previous PTAS-funded studies we developed a new approach to supporting reflection in STEM teachers. This approach, named CeDAR (Collaborative Data-led Approach to Reflection) involves the provision of accurate, quantitative and personalised data about teaching practices in large classes, (using the FILL+, Framework for Interactive Learning in Lectures) together with a supportive discussion about the data. We found that teachers valued this approach, that it helped them to reflect on their teaching and they reported that they would change their future teaching as a result. We hypothesise that CeDAR catalyses teachers to make changes to their teaching and that it does this through generating conceptual change. The project will consist of three interlinked studies which will explore this hypothesis. Study 1 will investigate, through semi-structured interviews, teachers’ conceptions of teaching large classes. Study 2, taking a longitudinal approach, will explore whether and in what ways the CeDAR intervention changes teachers’ conceptions of teaching and Study 3 will analyse how actual teaching practices (as measured by the FILL+ tool) have changed. This article was published on 2024-10-16