Jennifer Doherty Awarded NSF Grant to Transform STEM Learning with Principle-Based Reasoning in Physiology Education
Article Highlights
- Dr. Doherty was awarded a $985,684 NSF grant as part of a collaborative project aimed at revolutionizing how physiology students solve complex problems.
- The project, totaling $1.5 million, emphasizes principle-based reasoning to improve students' conceptual learning and reduce excessive reliance on memorization, addressing a critical challenge in STEM education.
- The project’s principles have the potential to reshape STEM education, with over 1 million students annually enrolled in introductory biology and physiology courses.
Nicole Peters can still remember when her perspective on learning shifted. As a Lyman Briggs sophomore majoring in human biology at Michigan State University, she enrolled in Jennifer Doherty’s physiology course and was introduced to a new way of approaching problems.
"I was a good student before, but in Dr. Doherty's class, I learned to actually understand," Peters said. “I’m no longer just memorizing and regurgitating information. I’m connecting ideas in ways I never thought possible.”
By the time the course ended, Peters, who is graduating this December and has plans to go to medical school, had added physiology as a second major, inspired by a teaching style that challenged her to think beyond the surface and connect concepts across biological systems.
This shift in thinking is at the heart of a National Science Foundation grant totaling $985,684 over three years that was recently awarded to Doherty. It is part of a collaborative project with the University of Wisconsin Madison and Waubonsee Community College with MSU as the lead. The total funding for the project is $1.5 million.
Its goal is to revolutionize the way students like Peters approach complex problems in physiology—not by rote memorization, but by emphasizing principle-based reasoning. It’s a teaching approach that focuses on core principles like Flux (the flow of substances) and Mass Balance (the conservation of mass).
“We define principle-based reasoning as a rigorous form of mechanistic reasoning supported by metacognition and grounded in principles,” said Doherty, adding that students often focus on surface features or recall memorized steps rather than use scientific principles when trying to solve a complex problem. “Developing students’ principle-based reasoning is a key instructional strategy to facilitate students’ reasoning across seemingly unrelated systems as it directs students' attention towards key entities and relationships that hold broad explanatory power.”
The implications of this research extend far beyond the classroom. With approximately 650,000 students enrolled annually in introductory biology courses and 450,000 in anatomy and physiology, a successful shift towards conceptual learning could reshape the landscape of STEM education.
“Many undergraduate science students leave science fields due to the perception of excessive memorization and lack of guidance on complex topics,” Doherty said. “Principle-based reasoning reduces reliance on memorization by supporting students’ use of fundamental principles, mechanistic reasoning and metacognition when approaching complex problems.”
Peters’ experience in Doherty's class exemplifies the project’s goals. She describes the innovative teaching strategies that foster a collaborative learning environment.
“Dr. Doherty emphasizes group work and interactive learning,” said Peters, who also works as an undergraduate research assistant in Doherty’s course. “It’s not just about individual study but it’s about facilitating conversations with classmates. We do exercises like summary sheets, where we write down everything we remember about a topic before checking our notes. This helps us identify what we understand and what we need to study more.”
Such techniques not only enhance retention but also encourage students to connect concepts across different subjects. For instance, Peters said she learned to relate Flux principles to various physiological scenarios.
“When I studied for exams, I connected different topics—like hormones and insulin—with Flux,” she said. “It’s like a branching method that helps me understand how everything interrelates.”
Looking ahead, Doherty says she hopes to identify the mechanisms of learning and create teaching tools that will help faculty implement these strategies in their classrooms. Additionally, she envisions developing a professional development program to support educators and explore how they can effectively teach using these principles.
“I care so much about helping students learn to reason,” said Doherty, who received the Teacher-Scholar Award at MSU’s 2024 All-University Award ceremony earlier this year. This award recognizes faculty members who have earned the respect of both students and colleagues for their dedication to teaching excellence. “As many of the students at these three institutions have career goals of becoming physician assistants, nurses, medical technologists, pharmacologists, physicians and other healthcare professionals, helping these students develop strong mechanistic reasoning skills will enhance their abilities to solve the medical problems they encounter as well as be able to better explain the medical issue and prescribed treatments to the patient.”
