Event Program & Agenda

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Call For Proposals

The deadline has now passed and submissions are closed.

Event Overview

Join us for the Ohio Project Kaleidoscope (OH-PKAL) 6th annual one-day virtual conference, Evidence-Based Learning: Transforming STEM Education for All Undergraduate Students on Saturday, October 29th, 2022. The virtual meeting includes a vibrant program of oral presentations and a virtual poster session. The meeting will make use of Remo, an online, interactive platform that will enable network meeting participants to connect with each other in real time. Given that the pandemic has necessitated shifts in faculty research agendas and productivity, we hope this meeting will be an opportunity for you to share ideas you would like to implement, discuss preliminary results from on-going or finished projects and to connect with other STEM educators.

Conference Themes

The specific themes to be addressed with this Call for Proposals are:

• Transformative Teaching Practices in Undergraduate STEM Education
• Best Research-Based Practices in the Use of Technology and Online Learning
• Promoting Transferable Workplace/Career Skills in the College Setting
• Creating Learning Environments that Foster Equitable Student Engagement and Success

Theme I: Transformative Teaching Practices in Undergraduate STEM Education: First Year Through Upper-Level Courses

This theme focuses on sessions and presentations that provide faculty with knowledge, materials, and strategies for improving student learning experiences at all course levels, including experiences that support the skills needed for graduate and professional programs, internships, and post-graduation employment. Special emphasis is placed on initiatives that are readily transferable across various institutional types. Proposals that describe the impact of curricular and co-curricular activities targeted toward first-year and/or upper-level courses in any STEM discipline (including the social sciences) using valid quantitative, qualitative and/or mixed research methods are encouraged. We also encourage faculty in the beginning stages of a project to present preliminary work/ideas.

Examples related to this theme might include:

• Activities in introductory, general education, or upper-level courses that promote student learning, scientific literacy, and/or motivate students to engage
• First-year experiences that foster students’ research capabilities
• Assessment of student learning gains related to independent or faculty–directed undergraduate research experiences
• Activities for upper-level students that help them bring their science into the community as researchers, advocates, or educators

Theme II: Best Research-based Practices in Use of Technology and Online Learning
Technology and online learning can facilitate broad access to STEM education. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us much about how to support students through online learning, whether out of necessity or due to new pedagogical insights. This theme explores effective ways to ensure high-quality STEM education for distance learning, and/or using technology to support face-to-face settings. We encourage sharing of initiatives that are anchored in data and readily transferable across various institutional types. Proposals representing research and/or practices from any STEM discipline (including the social sciences) that describe the impact of technology or online learning environments using valid quantitative, qualitative and/or mixed research methods are encouraged. We also encourage faculty in the beginning stages of a project to present preliminary work/ideas. Examples related to this theme might include:

• Effective use of technology tools to support students of all academic abilities
• Innovative use of technology tools to draw students into course content
• Strategies for structuring online course activities to promote critical thinking and student–student, student–instructor, and student–content interactions and engagement.

Theme III: Promoting Transferable Workplace/Career Skills in the College Setting
The economy and future workforce necessitate educational experiences that foster higher end reasoning, critical thinking, and problem–solving skills. These skills can be promoted in STEM through a variety of instructional settings and experiential learning opportunities, such as designing curriculum to promote essential workforce skills and providing students with deliberate and repeated practice in making decisions based on gathered evidence. This theme explores ways to engage students in activities which explicitly promote transferable workplace/career skills. Proposals representing research and/or practices from any STEM discipline (including the social sciences) that describe the impact of these activities using valid quantitative, qualitative and/or mixed research methods are encouraged. We also encourage faculty in the beginning stages of a project to present preliminary work/ideas.

Examples related to this theme might include:

• Design of curriculum for promoting essential workforce skills
• Impact of laboratory or mathematical modeling activities on students’ critical thinking skills
• Experiences that transform students from consumers of scientific knowledge to producers of scientific knowledge
• Mathematical modeling activities assisting students with problem-solving and informed decision-making skills
• Assessment of higher end reasoning, critical thinking, or problem–solving skills

Theme IV: Creating Learning Environments that Foster Equitable Student Engagement and Success
This theme focuses on posters and presentations that will help faculty develop culturally responsive STEM teaching strategies to increase student success and retention. Special emphasis is placed on innovative pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in STEM learning and strategies that can increase STEM participation from students of diverse backgrounds. We encourage sharing of initiatives that are anchored in data and readily transferable across various institutional types. Proposals that describe the impact of strategies and pedagogy from any STEM discipline (including the social sciences) using valid quantitative, qualitative and/or mixed research methods are encouraged. We also encourage faculty in the beginning stages of a project to present preliminary work/ideas.

Examples related to this theme might include:

• Impact of adopting culturally responsive STEM pedagogies, such as interventions for social belonging, on student learning;
• Use of data to identify underlying issues affecting the differential participation and graduation rates in STEM;
• Evidence of innovative strategies for enhancing STEM education, pedagogy, and/or STEM persistence among students underrepresented in STEM; and/or
• Institutional collaborative models have a significant impact on increasing diversity and equity in STEM.

Session Formats

Virtual Poster Presentations (45-minute poster session; digital poster submission). Poster presentations could share models of curricular ideas, preliminary results from work-in-progress and/or the completed results from finished projects. We encourage poster presentations on courses, programs, curricular/co-curricular designs, assessment rubrics and feedback loops; strategic planning frameworks and high-impact practices. The poster session provides presenters with an opportunity to reach a broad audience and initiate conversations with colleagues with similar interests.

Oral Presentations (8-minute lightning talks; three talks grouped together on a similar topic with 5 minutes for question/answer to the presenters as a group). We hope this short oral presentation format will encourage participants to share a wide variety of ideas within the STEM community. Presenters can share data/findings related to scholarly research in teaching related to the conference themes, discuss effective practices, milestones for success, and strategies for change, and new ways to engage participants in STEM education.

Developing and Submitting a Proposal
Proposals for presentations and posters are accepted through an online form and must include:

• Name, title, institution, and email address of each presenter with an indication of the primary person of contact
• The session theme that the poster/presentation is related to
• Presentation format (please indicate preferred format- 8-minute lightening talk or virtual poster)
• Talk or Poster Title (100 character limit including spaces)
• Brief abstract to be used in the conference program

Proposal Review Criteria

Ohio PKAL strives to offer a balanced, informative and thought-provoking conference that best fits within the framework of increasing STEM student and/or faculty success. We also hope that the information discussed empowers and emboldens STEM academicians to dramatically impact the quality of STEM education in Ohio and the surrounding region. The conference proposal selection committee includes experienced, diverse academic STEM professionals and we will choose and group selected proposals for lightning talks based on cohesion within the conference theme. All poster proposals will be accepted as we hope to provide an excellent venue for faculty in all stages of a project to share insights, results and ideas. Notification of proposal acceptance for lightning talks will be sent to participants by October 15th.

Additional Information

The deadline for proposal submission is October 8, 2022.

Upon submission of a proposal, the session contact should receive an automatic message indicating that the Ohio PKAL Conference Committee has received the proposal. If the contact does not receive this message (and it is not in their spam filter), please e-mail Prof. Stephanie Strand, Ohio PKAL 2020 Conference Director and Associate Professor of Biology at The College of Wooster, at [email protected] for further assistance.

Expenses and Fees
All presenters are responsible for conference registration fees. Conference fees are as follows: 35$ for faculty with institutional support for conference attendance, $20 for faculty without institutional support, postdoctoral fellows, and students. The conference is from 9am – 4:30 pm on Saturday October 29, 2022. A link to the meeting platform will be provided following registration.