Posts Tagged ‘undergraduate’
As Jeanne Narum, founding director of Project Kaleidoscope, and I have been working together this past year during PKAL’s transition into partnership with AAC&U, we have been discussing our perspectives on how the landscape of STEM in higher education has changed since PKAL started 20 years ago. In 1991, I wasn’t exactly in the conversation as Jeanne was, although I was immersed in the situation as a graduate student and teaching assistant at UC Davis. As my career advanced as a professor at Cal Poly, I engaged in SOTL (scholarship of teaching and learning) projects, led workshops at our Center for Teaching and Learning and eventually started doing research in genetics education. These experiences form the foundation of my perspective on STEM education, which has been broadened by the wider view I now have as Director of PKAL. It has been fascinating and fun to talk with Jeanne about her view, which is informed by 20 years of work in STEM education at the national level. We’ve shared, laughed, debated and learned from one another (me, more than she I’m sure!). In the spirit of this conversation, I’d like to share with you what I think has changed and look forward to your perspective, too. (more…)
The National Research Council has released a draft of a conceptual framework to guide the development of next generation standards for K-12 science education. The framework describes in broad terms the core ideas in science and engineering that students should understand and be able to apply, and the progression of ideas students need to experience in order to comprehend them. We are seeking comments on the draft from the science and education communities and the public.
The comment period will run from July 12 through August 2. Individuals can read the draft online and submit comments via an online survey at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/Standards_Framework_Homepage.html. (more…)
For decades, the Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) community and many others around the country have been working to improve undergraduate STEM learning environments. When PKAL started its work in 1989, Walter Massey, then director of the National Science Foundation, was quoted as saying that STEM education is “one issue that does seem to be emerging in the national consciousness to a degree that might provide a coalescing influence for concerted nation action…I refer to the crisis in American education and, in particular, its effects on the nation’s ability to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world” (Presidential Address, AAAS 1989).
Twenty years later, this quote still resonates. Much work has been done and improvements have been made; collaborative & cooperative learning, problem-based learning, case studies, interactive lectures, studio-based science courses and other interactive-engaging pedagogies are more commonly used in STEM classrooms across the nation; however, these practices are still not the norm.
