STEM Teaching Resources for Faculty

Below is a list of teaching resources targeting STEM undergraduate education. From evidence-based teaching strategies to course materials, these resources are sure to refresh your teaching and engage students of all backgrounds.

Best Practices for Teaching to Student Success

Each spring (beginning in 2024), CeMaST's STEM Ambassadors have conducted interviews with first- and second-year STEM students at ISU. In Spring 2026, the Ambassadors brought student experiences to faculty through six student-led faculty professional development workshops. Following each workshop, the Ambassadors aligned student suggestions with faculty action plans in the Best Practices documents below.

• Best Practices for Helping Students Through Transitions
• Best Practices for Fostering Connection in the Classroom
• Best Practices for Small Steps to Set Students Up for Success

Useful Teaching Strategies and Methods Resources

• Evidence-Based Teaching Guides - includes several guides to improve specific methods of teaching, such as incorporating modeling or peer instruction
• CIPD Teaching Resources - explore CIPD's resources available to help prepare for your courses
• Large Class and Lecture Strategies - tips for encouraging attentiveness and participation in large classes
• Teaching with Archival, Botanical, and Museum Collections - activities and assignments to teach students how to work with primary sources of information
• Teaching Strategies for Labs - resources and checklists to help you prepare and run and lab course
• Problem Solving Strategies - strategies for facilitating problem solving during class
• Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching MOOCs - two open online courses on evidence-based STEM teaching practices and how to effectively conduct teaching as a research project
• Yale's Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning STEM Resources - links to journals in each STEM discipline that relate to the teaching and learning of that discipline
• Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement - 21 teaching strategies to promote and cultivate student engagement
• How to Make an Inclusive Syllabus

Useful Resources for Course Material

• Teaching with Archival, Botanical, and Museum Collections - activities and assignments to teach students how to work with primary sources of information
• Project Biodiversify - a repository of teaching materials and methods aimed at enhancing human diversity and inclusivity in biology courses
• Scientist Spotlights - access to assignments and activities that link course content to the stories of counter-stereotypical scientists

Recommended Books Available Through Milner Library

• Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide by Richard Felder and Rebecca Brent (also available at CIPD)
• Hitting Pause: 65 Lecture Breaks to Refresh and Reinforce Learning by Gail Taylor Rice (also available online)
• Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation by Saundra McGuire and Stephanie McGuire
• Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom by Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy
• Flipping 2.0: Practical Strategies for Flipping Your Class by Jason Bretzmann (only available from CIPD)
• Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James Lang (also available from CIPD)