Engaged STEM Learning: From Promising to Pervasive Practices
Pre-Conference Workshops
Thursday, March 24, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Separate registration and fee required ($100 member, $125 non-member)
Workshop 1 is full and no longer accepting registrations.
Workshop 1: Implementing Interdisciplinary STEM Programs: Connecting Leadership to Learning
As this century unfolds, it is imperative that students be competent and confident in their abilities to integrate and apply their knowledge across disciplines. Through case study analysis from PKAL’s Interdisciplinary Learning Project and small group discussion, participants will gain insight into institutional strategies for strengthening interdisciplinary learning, including program structures, learning outcomes, assessment methods, and leadership actions required for implementation and success. Participants will leave with an action plan for creating more meaningful interdisciplinary learning experiences for their students in STEM disciplines.
Susan Elrod, Executive Director, PKAL, AAC&U; and Michael Kerchner, Associate Professor of Psychology, Washington College
Workshop 2: Debating Science: A New Model for Ethics Education for Science and Engineering Students
Ethics instruction for students in science and engineering largely focuses on standards of practice. However, scientific research and emerging technologies have far-reaching moral implications. While these implications are increasingly the subject of public debate, by most accounts, these debates have gone poorly. There is a pressing need for coursework to help students become more informed and reflective deliberators on the ethical and moral issues arising from science and technology. In this workshop, the facilitator will describe a National Science Foundation program, Debating Science, that is designed to help fill this need. Participants will examine: (a) a model for ethics education through deliberation, (b) the ethical theory grounding the model, and (c) the online environment used to support these deliberations.
Dane Scott, Director, Center for Ethics and Associate Professor, Department of Society and Conservation, The University of Montana
Workshop 3: Facilitating Teaching and Learning: Concept Inventories
Concept inventories are tools that can foster constructive conversations about what and how students are learning. Participants will examine effective uses and misuses of concept inventories, learn how to access existing concept inventories, and become active members in a growing community of users.
Teri Reed-Rhoads, Assistant Dean of Engineering in Undergraduate Education, Purdue University; and Julie Libarkin, Associate Professor and Director, Geocognition Research Lab,
Michigan State University
Workshop 4:
PKAL Learning Spaces Collaboratory Workshop
This workshop will link contemporary learning theory to best practices for shaping environments that facilitate deep, integrative learning in STEM. Participants will examine spaces, and the process for designing spaces, that enable constructivist, experiential, and real-world experiences that lead to lifelong learning. They will better understand the parallels between a collaborative planning process and resulting collaborative learning environments.
Terence Farrell, Professor of Biology, and Project Shepherd for Science Space, Stetson University; Jeanne L. Narum, Principal, PKAL Learning Spaces Collaboratory; and Susan Whitmer, Strategic Education Consultant, Herman Miller
Workshop 5 is full and no longer accepting registrations.
Workshop 5:
Scientific Teaching:
A Framework for Engaged Learning
This workshop will feature evidence-based practices in undergraduate science education and highlight how “scientific teaching” can bring the rigor and spirit of research to the classroom. Participants will discuss active learning, effective assessment, and classroom diversity issues and apply scientific teaching principles to their own work.
Jennifer Frederick, Associate Director, Graduate Teaching Center and Center for Scientific Teaching, Yale University
Offered as part of the PKAL Regional Network Program
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