Summary

I conducted a needs analysis to understand what was making the new approach difficult to put into practice. It revealed an important disconnect: teachers often saw student resistance as a lack of motivation, while students were worried about how the change could affect their grades and performance.

Methods

I met with the Academic Dean and teacher development leaders to understand their goals and what successful implementation should look like. I then gathered information from several sources to understand what was happening in the classroom and why.

Methods included:

• Stakeholder interviews

• Classroom observations

• Teacher and student surveys

• Teacher and student interviews

• Review of instructional materials

I compared the survey results and common themes across interviews and observations to identify patterns and determine what support teachers needed.

Key Findings

The issue wasn’t that teachers didn’t know how to use inquiry-based instruction. The bigger challenge was that teachers and students had very different expectations for what learning should look like.

Two factors stood out:

• Students: Many were used to more teacher-directed learning and struggled with being asked to think and work more independently. Concerns about grades and performance added to their frustration when learning became challenging.

• Teachers: Teachers understood the approach but needed practical ways to respond to student frustration without stepping in and doing the thinking for them. Student resistance was also sometimes seen as a lack of effort rather than part of adjusting to a different way of learning.

Conclusion

I’d make it just a little more natural and concise:

Teachers needed practical strategies to help students adjust to more independent learning, stay engaged, and work through challenges without relying on the teacher for the answer.