"Engaging Science Continued: What Institutions are Doing to Advance Stem Learning"

We invite your thoughts and comments on institutional initiatives and/or challenges you face as you work to improve STEM learning, for students majoring in both STE and non-STEM disciplines. The conversation on the blog will be open for you to review and will be summarized for the January 2010 AAC&U meeting in Washington DC.

-Jeanne Narum, Steve Kucera, Susan Gorman, Fred Ledley


A message from Jeanne Narum about this project...

Engaging Science and Advancing Learning was the theme of the AAC&U conference in November 2008. This theme was threaded through discussions about how colleges and universities are creating a positive climate for engaging students with STEM learning in courses designed for general education and for majors. A lesson learned from the sessions is that what works is when there are visible and operative institutional policies and practices that guide collective and substantive efforts to advance STEM learning of students. At the AAC&U meeting in January 2010, facilitators and participants will first consider insights from the 2008 conference about: a) how to develop and embrace a culture in which faculty across campus collectively and collaboratively explore and innovate in their approaches to delivering STEM learning opportunities; and b) how to create and communicate institutional structures and rewards that sustain such a culture over the long-term. Following that, participants will advance that conversation, discussing in small groups their individual experiences in leading and empowering faculty to explore and experiment with new approaches to engaging students in STEM learning. Reporting out from small groups will conclude the session. The facilitators, have either summarized experiences at their institutions, conversations with colleagues at other institutions and, with your help, thoughts that you provide on this blog. Taken together, the information collected here will serve as resources for this session.

Participate in our survey

Each of the two working groups that were created to assist with this project developed questions that followed from Jeanne's challenge. From your perspective as a faculty member or administrator (department chair, dean, provost or president), what is your institution doing to engage students in STEM learning?

Click here to fill out the survey.

If you have already participated in Dr. Gorman’s earlier survey, some of the questions are the same and your previous responses will be included in our summation. We would, however, encourage you to complete the additional questions in this survey to be sure your opinions are captured.

Working groups responsible for the survey:

Drs. Susan Gorman (Stevenson U.), Fred Ledley (Bentley U.), Christine Broussard (U. of La Verne), Meredith Durmowicz( Stevenson U.), and Rebecca Miller (Harvard Graduate School of Education), Steve Kucera (U. of Tampa), Maureen Shamgochian (Worcester State College), Gita Bangera (Bellevue College), and Joyce Fernandez (Miami U. of Ohio)

Thanks to Bentley University for hosting the survey and Eric Ndungu for his work to create the survey.

We invite your comments to the following thoughts on STEM education...

The challenges associated with STEM education are myriad. These are challenges we must continually address, but what are examples of institutional practices that work and can serve as a model for others. In the pursuit of improving STEM education, responsibility transcends several levels and includes:

Faculty:

--A willingness of faculty to explore and innovate in their approach to delivering STEM education, through courses, research activities that involve students and continually striving to shape the best possible learning environment they can for their students.
--Whenever possible, make STEM education engaging and relevant through the use examples within and across disciplines that show scientists think, ask questions and go about finding answers, rather than simply teaching collections of scientific facts.
--Embracing a collaborative approach and dialogue within the faculty that recognizes both academic freedom and the value of sharing/adopting ideas they learn from their colleagues.
--Work to clearly identify learning outcomes to their students and assess the level of achievement in their students.
--Regularly evaluate their expected learning outcomes for their disciplines and actively work to use outcomes assessment data to update their courses for existing and proposed new programs.
--Contribute to STEM literacy in non-majors through baccalaureate programs required of all students at institutions that embrace broad training in the liberal arts.
--Connect with the community whenever possible, most importantly with K-12 education, to thread support of the importance of STEM education and inspire teachers and students about College.
--Communicate clear expectations on department websites of expectations of completed learning outcomes for students entering 1st year majors courses.
--Form leadership groups who work to communicate with and support part-time faculty who teach STEM courses in your department about learning outcomes, academic rigor.


Students:

--Students taking responsibility for their learning and recognizing that it is achievement, not simply their perception of their effort, that is rewarded.*
--College students majoring in STEM disciplines can serve as role models for K-12 students, if their institution establishes/maintains relationships that foster such interaction.

Administration/Institution Leadership:

--Leadership that manages change and encourages/nurtures faculty to be creative and innovative in their approaches to STEM education.
--Create/Communicate institutional policies, structure and reward systems that recognize faculty who are achieving STEM education goals with their students.
--This includes expecting, reviewing, evaluating and recognizing accomplishments in yearly evaluation processes. Care must be exercised in these processes where innovation is pursued, but does not work. Otherwise, a culture that will stifle innovation necessarily results.
--Educate and pursue support in the community of the good efforts of faculty and students at their institution.
--Recognize there is a lot of information out there on improving science education and lead in the effort to empower (and expect) faculty to consider these resources as part of their process of continual renewal as educators. From a faculty member's perspective, this is daunting and potentially overwhelming, in light of the expectations that are already associated with their position.
--Recognize that faculty can not do every item listed above, but encourage them to carve out a diverse niche with core elements (to be identified?) to regularly pursue.

--Are there others to consider for any of these stakeholders?

*We curious to know whether you feel frustrated by students/parents who seem to think, because of what is often their experience in K-12, of the notion that they should be rewarded (in their final course grades) for their effort, whether they achieve (and to what level they achieve) at levels commensurate with appropriate standards. One of us has said, when pushed on this by students or their parents, that if a car mechanic said "I tried really hard to fix your car, but was not able to fix it... That will be $300. How would you feel?" This is not meant to diminish the value of effort so as to discourage a student. On the contrary, where students are putting forth effort and not realizing results, what can be done to help them achieve better results, if possible, instead of becoming discouraged/disinterested?

A very prevalent theme some of us have experienced, especially among new students, is their firm conviction that their hard work (which may or may not reflect reality), regardless of achievement, should translate into high grades. Is this a common theme of colleagues at other institutions? It is, of course, not a universal stereotype of college students. But it is a dynamic that many of us experience.

What are other experiences with majors and non-majors in STEM courses? Please feel free to comment on any aspect of this posting.

If you are willing, please provide your title and institution. Your name and contact information is optional.

--Drs. Steve Kucera, Joyce Fernandes, Gita Bangera, and Maureen Schamgochian

(Click on "comments" below to offer your thoughts)

Jeanne's Challenge, which formed the charge for the working groups...

My challenge in Providence was—what if we could glean from the individual stories of the campuses assemble a collective understanding (quoting Lewis Thomas) about what works and what does not in scaling/sustaining a robust undergraduate STEM learning environment in the context of liberal learning?

With this memo, I invite your reflections on how we might proceed in this collaborative writing project. A proposed approach:

· Members of the writing team identify which of the potential themes are of greatest personal interest/reflect personal expertise. Potential themes (from my review) include:
o Articulating clear goals and outcomes for STEM student learning across the community that are reflected in how STEM programs and courses are shaped, implemented, and assessed at the institutional level
o Shaping the STEM learning environment in ways that reflect research on how people learn—specifically in connecting in and out-of-class learning experiences; linking on-campus learning to real-world problems
o Shaping the STEM learning environment in ways that reflect research on how people learn—specifically in giving student ownership of their own learning, in having a range and richness of research-based pedagogies, in having course embedded research projects
o Institutionalizing policies, programs, and practices that nurture, recognize, and reward faculty leaders working to transform the undergraduate STEM learning environment (learning communities, etc.)
o Linking strengthening undergraduate learning in STEM fields to addressing 21st century issues, challenges, and opportunities—serving liberal learning and science equally creatively
o Please suggest other potential themes.

The writing team will determine a work-plan, for example: reviewing abstracts and personal reflections of the sessions to aggregate related sessions; developing a common set of questions and undertake personal phone interviews with selected session leaders.

· Sub-groups will prepare drafts, with interview excerpts, citations listed, etc.

Themes from PKAL

Project Kaleidoscope has developed the following three themes for improving STEM education.

1. Articulating clear goals and outcomes for STEM student learning cross the community that are reflected in how STEM programs and courses are shaped, implemented, and assessed at the institutional level. Also, institutionalizing policies, programs, and practices that nurture, recognize, and reward faculty leaders working to transform the undergraduate STEM learning environment (learning communities, etc.).

2. Shaping the STEM learning environment in ways that reflect research on how people learn - specifically in connecting in- and out-of-class learning experiences, linking on-campus learning to real-world problems, giving students ownership of their own learning, in having a range and richness of research-based pedagogies, and in having course embedded research projects.

3. Linking strengthening undergraduate learning in STEM fields to addressing 21st century issues, challenges, and opportunities - serving liberal learning and science equally creatively.

Visit Project Kaleidoscope at http://www.pkal.org for more information, including a diverse array of resources in support of STEM education.


Kaleidoscope image source for the header of this blog: www.fotosearch.com