STEM Education Innovation Programs

Submit a Program Description » The goal of this database is to serve as a searchable collection of effective practices and programs that support improving undergraduate STEM education. Use the text search and the boxes at the right to narrow the collection based on particular aspects that you are interested in.

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Results 1 - 10 of 42 matches

Windows on the Inquiry Classroom
Christopher Bauer, University of New Hampshire-Main Campus
The project is a comprehensive documentation of an inquiry-based course, a college-level interdisciplinary exploration of the nature of heat, temperature, and energy (Fire and Ice). The door to this classroom is open for observations at any time for teachers, teacher educators, professional developers, researchers, and science learners. The entire course is available at the University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository: https://scholars.unh.edu/bauer. All 27 class sessions are captured in 10-minute video segments from four angles, including instructor and student teams. All course documents are also available: daily agenda, student team instructions and work products, and hands-on activity procedures. There are behind-the-curtain stories as well: instructor previews and debriefing for each class, graduate interns reviewing every class, student focus groups, and videos about course design process.

Activity Types: Workshops, Journal Clubs/Brown Bags , Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Professional Development:Pedagogical Training, Curriculum Development, Student Assessment, Course Evaluation, Supporting Students:Student Engagement
Target Audience: Pre-Service K12 Teachers, In-Service K12 Teachers, College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration, Teaching/Learning Assistants, Graduate Students, Post-doctoral Fellows
Point of Intervention: College/School
Institution Type: Doctorate-granting Universities:Highest Research Activity

CCHF Chemistry Summer Undergraduate Research Program (CSURP)
Travis York, APLU
CSURP is a program for undergraduate students, majoring in chemistry or chemical engineering, interested in conducting supervised summer research. The program is supported by the Center for Selective C-H Functionalization (CCHF), which is a network of 23 academic and industrial research laboratories at 15 partner institutions throughout the country. The CCHF is one of eight National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Centers for Chemical Innovation.

Program Components: Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Student Engagement, Undergraduate Research, Scholarships, Grants, Workstudy, Professional Preparation
Target Audience: Underrepresented Minority Students, Undergraduate Majors, First Generation College Students
Point of Intervention: Major/Department

Purpose + Reach = Individuals Measured for Excellence (PRIME) STEM Project
Travis York, APLU
PRIME STEM/Student Support Services is a federally-funded TRiO program (U.S. Department of Education). The program supports college students pursuing STEM majors (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) who are first-generation, demonstrate a financial need, and/or have a documented disability.

Activity Types: Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Learning Communities, Academic Support
Target Audience: Underrepresented Minority Students, Undergraduate Non-Majors, Undergraduate Majors, First Generation College Students
Point of Intervention: Major/Department

UC Davis Bridge to the Doctorate Program
Travis York, APLU
The UC Davis Bridge to the Doctorate program is funded by the National Science Foundation's Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP). The LSAMP program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students matriculating into and successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in order to diversify the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders.

Activity Types: Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Tutoring, Learning Communities, Academic Support, Scholarships, Grants, Workstudy, Outreach:Public Outreach
Target Audience: Underrepresented Minority Students, Undergraduate Majors, Graduate Students, First Generation College Students
Point of Intervention: Major/Department

Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA)
Travis York, APLU
The Health Sciences & Technology Academy increases the number of African American and other underrepresented students in West Virginia who pursue degrees in health sciences and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, thereby increasing the number of health practitioners and advocates in the medically undeserved communities of West Virginia. HSTA helps West Virginia high school students succeed in health care and other STEM-based undergraduate and graduate degree programs. We marshal the efforts of hundreds of mentors―teachers, community members, and higher-education faculty, staff, and students―to create a framework that supports children facing social and financial challenges in obtaining a diploma and furthering their education.

Activity Types: Workshops, Conferences
Program Components: Professional Development:Pedagogical Training, Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Bootcamp, Student Engagement, Internships, Professional Preparation
Target Audience: K12 Students

Teaching Quality Framework Initiative
Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado Boulder; Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado Boulder
This effort provides framework for supporting and assessing teaching quality across all departments on a campus (i.e. a Teaching Quality Framework, or TQF). The TQF has two essential elements: (1) categories that define teaching as a scholarly activity, and (2) a change process for implementation. To assess teaching quality, we draw on three perspectives--faculty members, their students, and their peers--as sources of data. The TQF scholarly categories are held constant across departments, but each department contextualizes them according to the specifics of their discipline. The implementation strategy is grounded in theories of organizational change and is designed to lead to campus-wide adoption. This strategy is not a top-down mandate; it focuses on bringing together key faculty leaders and departments and providing them with a structure to co-create, test, and evaluate an assessment system in the context that makes the most sense to them.

Activity Types: Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Professional Development:Student Assessment, Course Evaluation, Institutional Systems:Personnel/Hiring, Incentive/Reward Systems, Evaluating Promotion and Tenure, Evaluating Teaching
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration
Point of Intervention: Institution
Institution Type: Doctorate-granting Universities:Highest Research Activity

Active Learning Pedagogy Support: Disciplinary faculty learning communities supported by Learning Assistants
Charles De Leone, California State University-San Marcos
The Active Learning Pedagogy Support (ALPS) program supports faculty development, course transformation, and cross-campus coordination by creating discipline-based faculty learning communities and supporting them with Learning Assistants. Initiated at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) and Palomar Community College (Palomar), the project has supported ALPS cohorts in mathematics and chemistry. The ALPS program was developed as part of the NSF-funded STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) project "Increasing STEM Talent through Regional Partnerships, Recruiting, and Retention," DUE-1068477.

Activity Types: Journal Clubs/Brown Bags , Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Professional Development:Pedagogical Training, Curriculum Development, Institutional Systems:Incentive/Reward Systems, Supporting Students:Academic Support, Outreach:Inter-Institutional Collaboration
Target Audience: Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Teaching/Learning Assistants
Point of Intervention: Major/Department
Institution Type: Master's Colleges and Universities

College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) Business Partners
Maryalicia Johnson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
UNC Charlotte has the largest number of IT students in the Carolina's and one of the largest in the nation through the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI). Currently, the CCI Business Partners program has nearly 50 companies that work hand-in-hand with the College to provide career prep and workforce readiness to the students. Students work with the Business Partner companies/employers to practice professional development skills, and the result is a robust IT talent pipeline to support the economic development of the whole region.

Activity Types: Workshops, Conferences, Journal Clubs/Brown Bags , Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Professional Development:Advising and Mentoring, Diversity/Inclusion, Curriculum Development, Institutional Systems:Degree Program Development, Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Student Engagement, Scholarships, Grants, Workstudy, Internships, Outreach:Informal Education, Marketing Campaign, Public Outreach
Target Audience: Underrepresented Minority Students, Undergraduate Non-Majors, Undergraduate Majors, Transfer Students, Graduate Students, First Generation College Students
Point of Intervention: College/School
Institution Type: Doctorate-granting Universities:Higher Research Activity

UG Major for the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Melissa Michael, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Development of a broad-based, undergraduate biology major that allowed students more freedom to design their own path through the biological content.

Program Components: Professional Development:Curriculum Development, Institutional Systems:Degree Program Development
Target Audience: Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Undergraduate Majors
Point of Intervention: College/School
Institution Type: Doctorate-granting Universities:Highest Research Activity

Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (L.E.A.R.N.)
Travis York, APLU
A program that invites science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students to become a part of a supportive learning community. F-L.E.A.R.N. is for students entering UCF from high school. T-L.E.A.R.N. is for students entering UCF from a state/community college. L.E.A.R.N is for , students must be incoming freshman or transferring from a state college, who will start in summer or fall and major in one of the following disciplines: -Engineering and Computer Science -Science (Biology, Chemistry, Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology, Math, Physics, Forensic Science, Psychology, and Statistics) -Optics and Photonics.

Activity Types: Teaching Circles/Learning Communities
Program Components: Supporting Students:Mentoring Program, Learning Communities, Undergraduate Research, Scholarships, Grants, Workstudy
Target Audience: Underrepresented Minority Students, First-year College Students, Undergraduate Non-Majors, Undergraduate Majors, First Generation College Students
Point of Intervention: College/School