Explore the Products
The following materials were created by participants from the October 2020 STEM Futures Workshop. The collection includes a variety of products that illustrate future directions in STEM education: program descriptions, faculty development workshop designs, and more. Each product includes an associated sub-element (e.g. activities, course descriptions, handbooks) to help clarify the direction and substance of the larger product.
Results 1 - 10 of 26 matches
Inquiry, Design, and Ethical Action Scholars (IDEA-S) Certificate
Trina Davis, Texas A & M University; Cheryl Craig, Texas A & M University; Michele Norton, Texas A & M University; Sara Raven, Texas A & M University; Claire Katz, Texas A & M University
The Inquiry, Design, and Ethical Action Scholars (IDEA-S) Certificate Program is designed for incoming STEM and STEM education freshmen. Scholars will navigate through a series of virtual and in-person design thinking and inquiry-based experiences during the summer months leading up to their freshman year. Each experience will be intentionally designed to build participants' capacities to take ethical action and impact change within the context of STEM-related issues. At the culmination of this interdisciplinary certificate program, scholars will apply the inquiry, design, and ethical reasoning skills learned to solve complex problems in high-need communities.
Convergence of Engineering and Allied Disciplines through Symbiotic Course-Pairs
Kavitha Chandra, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Christopher Hansen, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; David Willis, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Yanfen Li, University of Massachusetts-Lowell
The proposed transformative engineering approach integrates core engineering knowledge with allied disciplines, which are defined as disciplines that promote student development of professional skills/dispositions (humanistic and meta knowledge). Specific skills/dispositions the program addresses will include: ethical reasoning, communication, leadership, meta-cognitive skills, creativity, cultural awareness and teamwork. Examples of allied disciplines for engineering students include: humanities, social sciences, arts, and management and entrepreneurship.
The Science of Disparities Concentration
Kristin Chapleau, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Kari Dugger, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Samantha Giordano-Mooga, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Nadia Richardson, University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Biomedical Sciences Program (BMD) is a undergraduate major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with approximately 700 undergraduate students. As the major has expanded, it is clear we need to create "pathways"/concentrations that allow undergraduate students to expand their expertise into sub-specialities within the biomedical sciences field. The goal of this work is to create a Science of Disparities concentration within BMD, that will be designated on student transcripts and provide students the opportunity to create unique expertise that accommodates their personalized career goals.
Learning Assistant (LA) Leadership Development Program
Megan Cole, Emory University; David Lynn, Emory University; Tracy McGill, Emory University; Kate McKnelly, Emory University; Rebecca Shetty, Emory University
The LA Leadership Development Program at Emory University is designed to develop students' interdisciplinary STEM thinking, identities as leaders, and leadership practices rooted in Emory's student leadership philosophy. Students who are selected as undergraduate laboratory teaching assistants, LAs, and peer mentors in select chemistry and biology courses are required to participate in this semester-long program. Students participate in a pre-workshop facilitated by chemistry and biology faculty and the Office of Student Involvement, Leadership, and Transitions, and students will complete weekly exercises that focus on leadership development. The program will culminate with a capstone presentation where students will demonstrate their leadership development.
Sample major in Integrated Science and Engineering, specifically aimed at 9-12 Educators
Shanthi Ayyadhury, IFLEED INSTITUTE OF MATH AND SCIENCE; Horacio Ferriz, California State University-Stanislaus
We offer a sample -4-year major to prepare the science and engineering high school teachers of the future, which emphasizes integrated (i.e., not in silos) science and engineering, humanistic ethics, and thoughtful reflection of what the goal of being "a teacher" is all about.
Critical Health Studies Undergraduate Degree Program
Erika Bonadio, Salem College; Spring Duvall, Salem College; Katie Manthey, Salem College; Maria Robinson, Salem College; Jing Ye, Salem College
Critical Health Studies is a transdisciplinary major program of co-taught courses that incorporates STEM subjects (biology, biochemistry, environmental science, psychology, and kinesiology), social sciences (anthropology, sociology, communications, entrepreneurship), and humanities (writing, religion, history, arts), related to health and well-being. Students will proceed through the major in a cohort that is book-ended by project-based learning seminars. A meta focus in action research will lead these cohorts in partnerships with community groups to create meaningful interventions to reduce health inequities. The curriculum will model a decolonized course design to promote fundamental values.
Educators Certificate: STEM in the Public Interest
Eliza Jane Reilly, National Center for Science and Civic Engagement; Davida Smyth, The New School; Jay Labov, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (Retired)
Our team aims to create a certification for STEM educators that applies the ideals and strategies of SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) and adds practical professional development in pedagogy, science communication, and community collaboration. SENCER courses and programs use civic problems and big interdisciplinary public challenges (e.g. infectious disease, climate change, etc) with student-centered pedagogy to teach rigorous foundational knowledge while building civic awareness. Because SENCER courses take a problem-based, systems approach to learning, they inevitably engage the humanistic and social science knowledge, as well as meta-knowledge and skills, that learners need to be scientifically informed civic agents in their communities. The certificate program will help instructors teach STEM content "through" pressing social and civic problems of direct relevance to local communities by providing: course/program design guides, student-centered pedagogical training, grounding in principles of effective science communication and informal science learning, and the development of collaborative opportunities with community-based STEM educators.
An Ecosystem Intersecting Humanities, Computational, and Engineering Disciplines with Cultural and Other Assets of Our Communities
Stephanie E. August, California State University-Los Angeles; Gustavo Menezes, California State University-Los Angeles; Bettyjo Bouchey, National-Louis University; Alan Cheville, Bucknell University; Melissa Ko, Stanford University
A manifesto, as used in this document, refers to a public declaration of views or stances, acknowledging what is generally already commonly-held knowledge from publications and past conversations, but then presenting new ideas of what should be done. We are crafting this manifesto to make our vision for the future of STEM education clear to others and give examples of what we could someday attain. This document serves as a guide for faculty and administrators in higher education who are interested in widening access and participation. We seek to guide all agents involved (students, faculty and staff) toward achieving their full potential by first identifying, then moving away from traditional models of higher education based on industrial metaphors which focus on production and system efficiency, and standardized inputs and outputs, into an ecosystem-based model, in which agents are seen as assets that enrich a learning environment, valued for who they are, their strengths, their desires, and the dreams they bring in, and they are nurtured to thrive. It is only by shifting our thinking from metaphors of production to ones of growth that we can open up alternative futures.
Faculty Development Workshop: Transforming the student learning experience in STEM courses through modules that connect fundamental knowledge with social issues
Lisa Lewis, Albion College; Kathryn Miller, Washington University in St. Louis; Gary Reiness, Lewis & Clark College; Jim Swartz, Grinnell College
This workshop is designed to train faculty in implementation of socially-relevant modules that convey foundational concepts in introductory STEM courses as part of motivating, engaging, promoting the success of, and retaining students. Participants will create a product to implement themselves and be equipped to present the workshop to others.
Montana Space Grant Consortium Hands-on STEM Certificate
Angela Des Jardins, Montana State University-Bozeman; Randal Larimer, Montana State University-Bozeman
Many Montana higher education students don't currently have good access to the real-world STEM experience employers desire. This is due to many factors, such as institutional focus on academic learning and relatively low number of local pre-graduation training and research opportunities. Therefore, Montana Space Grant Consortium (MSGC) has created a hands-on STEM certificate that will form a guided path to prepare the participants to start their careers.