2010 STEM Education Scholars Program

STEMES 2010 banner
Connecting the Dots: Aligning Course Objectives, Assessments, and Activities to Enhance Learning in STEM Courses

A professional development opportunity for pre-tenure STEM faculty. Fixed-term STEM faculty, post-doctorates, and doctoral candidates in STEM disciplines are also welcome.

Overview and Background

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) Network, of which Michigan State University is a charter member, is pleased to sponsor this learning experience, which focuses on strategies to integrate the best practices in STEM education into the learning experiences of undergraduate students. The Science and Engineering Education Scholars Program (now STEMES) started in 1996 with support from the NSF. Institutional sponsorship has allowed the program to continue and expand. The CIRTL Network is a learning community of universities engaged in teaching-as-research activities to prepare future faculty in teaching and learning for all students. Six diverse research universities comprise the Network—the University of Colorado-Boulder, Howard University, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Program Objectives

Participants in this program will strengthen their preparation as university teachers in STEM disciplines and, more specifically, upon completion of this program, will be able to:

  1. Design a course based on integrated course design principles that promotes significant learning, active learning, and assessment;
  2. Develop a variety of assessments to measure expected outcomes of student learning to inform and improve instructional decision-making;
  3. Design cooperative or problem-based learning strategies;
  4. Develop a decision case study that promotes problem-based learning;
  5. Evaluate approaches for implementing cooperative and problem-based learning strategies in STEM courses; and
  6. Develop a learning community with other new STEM faculty across the CIRTL Network.

Facilitators

Cori Fata-Hartley,
Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics,
Michigan State University

Mark Ryan,
Director, School of Natural Resources; William J. Rucker Professor, Fisheries and Wildlife; Curator's Teaching Professor,
University of Missouri-Columbia

Tammy Long,
Visiting Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences Program, Michigan State University

Karl Smith,
Cooperative Learning Professor of Engineering Education, Purdue University;
Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor, Professor of Civil Engineering,
University of Minnesota