Beloit College

Team Members: Steven Huss-Lederman, Katie Johnson and Britt Scharringhausen

1. Briefly list the most significant issues in science education facing you and your institution

• Having enough staffing to offer enough seats in introductory courses while maintaining small classes and learner-centered classrooms.
• Motivating students to appreciate the relevance of (introductory) science courses outside their field of specialization.
• Encouraging multidisciplinary teaching in science.
• Supporting labs; especially helping new faculty to develop labs.
• Designing introductory courses that teach a balance of skills and knowledge appropriate for majors, while also communicating the "big picture" about science to both majors and non-majors.
• Making time for research, especially for new faculty; balancing teaching and research, incorporating your research into your teaching.
  

2. Which of these problems do you think would lend themselves to collaborative efforts at solution?

• A Web-2.0-style website where STEM activities and labs can be shared, commented on, tagged, etc.
• Development of multidisciplinary activities and labs to tie together introductory classes and advanced courses in different disciplines.
  

3. Are there any other issues that you seek collaboration among your ACM colleagues?

• We are looking forward to hearing about both problems and innovative solutions developed at other institutions.