hubSTEM Introduction
10/8/13 Kristen Tringali Research Introduction
I created this document as a report of the research that I have done thus far. Being that this has been a self guided assignment, I want to assure that we are on the same page as far as the basics go. Below I have included my understanding of some of the basic concepts that bring us here in the first place. Community Benefits Agreement-‐ in the USA is a contract signed by community groups and a real estate developer that requires the developer to provide specific amenities and/or mitigations to the local community or neighborhood. In exchange, the community groups agree to publicly support the project, or at least not oppose it. Often, negotiating a CBA relies heavily upon the formation of a multi-‐issue, broad based community coalition including community, environmental, faith-‐based and labor organizations. 1 STEM/STEM Education-‐ is an acronym for the fields of study in the categories of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in addressing education policy and curriculum choices in schools from kindergarten through college to improve the nation's competitiveness in technology development. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns and immigration policy.2 Research It is important to understand the implications of using a STEM based system as a tenet of our community benefits agreement. I have looked up programs that have a similar structure to the one that we are trying to create, however, there are not many other community benefits agreements that include a STEM education program. To supplement the lack of information on that particular combination, I have also compiled sources that discuss STEM programs in the academic setting, mostly in the form of higher education. I will pay close attention to those that mention K-‐12 education, and will draw parallels between the techniques that can be adapted for a younger academic audience. The first case involves the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD). In June of 2012, a community benefits agreement was proposed in order to offset some of the new sewage costs that the surrounding towns would have to face. This article does not go too far into depth about the STEM portion of the community benefits agreement that they are establishing, but they do indicate that through the STEM program, internships will be made available for public school children. In the future, these children will retain
hiring priority over others from different and surrounding areas. A scholarship program is also mentioned.3 The second example comes from the Florida Department of Education, published using data from 2006-‐2007. They talk mostly about how their education system encourages STEM skill development, but at the same time provides many suggestions to be implemented in our plan. The project of creating a hub STEM project can be distributed among all levels of education. Community colleges in Florida provide many resources to elementary and secondary schools in the area. Below are some policies/concepts that have been enacted in Florida to help students succeed. Specific examples are provided along with the county that enacted them. This is a very rich source for ideas.4 • Assistance Plus teams are created. They are a set of specialists that are there to help the lower preforming schools specific to a certain geographical area. • Dual enrollment courses exist in the high schools. This provides students with an opportunity to accrue college credit while still in high school, motivating them to pursue a higher education. • Tutoring organizations have been put in place that help students with all subjects, especially STEM ones. • Academic competitions encourage learning among students. • Summer camp programs are in place that include the STEM topics. The third and final source is from Purdue University and discusses attracting students to STEM careers. This is the most encompassing of the three, including information from 2007-‐2013. They talk about the ever-‐important educational continuum that we are trying to achieve through our community benefits program; to train students to ultimately take higher positions and careers within the Coliseum. The scope of this document is much more catered to the collegiate environment, but still provides a good background which assure the importance in STEM education. An initiative is defined by the University, and several of their points mimic the points listed by Florida’s system. The points that could apply to our project include: • Student support and mentoring to increase retention (in some cases, have older students mentor younger students) • Increase the number of academic advisors • Engage all faculty members on the shared goals of the institution by defining guidelines that apply to each subject Below the initiatives are several useful charts that help us to understand the differences between different social groups in a more visual way. Appendix B-‐2 is particularly interesting. 5
Conclusion There is still much more for me to understand so that I can cater my research more specifically to what will be taking place in the coming years, however, this is a good place to start from. A community benefits agreement that includes a STEM initiative will surely prove to be invaluable to the community for years to come. 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Benefits_Agreement 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields 3 Attachment 1: MSD to receive community benefits agreement. 4 Attachment 2: STEM Initiatives in Community Colleges: A program review. 5 Attachment 3: Purdue University: Attracting Students to STEM Careers
MSD to receive ‘Community Benefits Agreement’ - St. Louis American: Local News
10/9/13 12:35 PM
MSD to receive ‘Community Benefits Agreement’ By Rebecca S. Rivas | Posted: Thursday, June 14, 2012 12:05 am The Metropolitan Sewer District’s $1.6 billion construction and maintenance project – the first phase in the district’s $4.7-billion system overhaul – will create more than 25,500 jobs over the next four years, according to an MSD-commissioned impact study. But will those jobs go to low-income families who will see their sewer bills double in the next four years because of the project? “Where the jobs come from is a question that has been unanswered,” said Don Phares, professor emeritus of economics and public policy at University of Missouri–St. Louis. Tonight at the MSD Board of Trustees meeting, the St. Louis City NAACP will propose a plan to ensure job training, education and employment for unemployed, low-income minorities and women. “It is essential that the economic opportunities be quantified and we measure how effective MSD is in delivering the benefits to the disenfranchised,” said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis city NAACP. In the June 5 election, St. Louis County and City residents voted 85 percent in favor of the $945 million bond issue, which will allow MSD to fix the system’s environmental hazards and raise sewer bills gradually. With the bond issue’s approval, residents will see their wastewater bills increase monthly from $28 to $43 by July 1, 2015. The higher rates will adversely affect lower-income families, unless MSD offsets the costs through subsidies, Phares said. Construction jobs tend to pay about 1.4 times more than the average medium-low paying job, he said. Creating employment opportunities among low-income families would be another way to indirectly take the pressure off the cost increase, he said. The $945 million bond goes towards the first phase of the district’s mandated $4.7-billion overhaul. In June 2007, the State of Missouri and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a lawsuit against MSD – in part because untreated sewage was flowing into the Mississippi River. In August 2011, the EPA announced a settlement agreement that calls for MSD to spend $4.7 billion over the next 23 years to eradicate over 350 sewer overflows. NAACP’s Community Benefits Agreement The $945 million in construction alone will generate more than 17,000 jobs and boost the local economy http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_f08f3bfc-b5c7-11e1-abec-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=print
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MSD to receive ‘Community Benefits Agreement’ - St. Louis American: Local News
10/9/13 12:35 PM
by nearly $2.2 billion over the next four years, according to the MSD-commissioned study completed by Jack Strauss, chair of economics and director at the Simon Center for Regional Economics at Saint Louis University in April 2012. For the past several months, the NAACP has worked with MSD to come up with a way to ensure that residents will not be paying higher rates without seeing the benefits of upcoming job opportunities. On June 14, the NAACP will present a proposed Community Benefits Agreement with 10 principal terms. “It incorporates living wage law requirements, first-source hiring and a strong MBE/WBE business support program that addresses the most significant impediment for M/WBEs’ growth – bonding and access to capital,” Pruitt said. The NAACP partially modeled the agreement after the program that Los Angeles International Airport created in 2006 during its large-scale expansion. The agreement’s guiding points came out of MSD’s ongoing stakeholders meetings, which the district has held for a year. With the downturn in the economy, apprenticeship programs have become almost obsolete in the construction industry – making it nearly impossible for young African Americans and minorities to obtain employment in these fields. The proposed agreement includes a provision for MSD to fund preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. On top of that, MSD must also require general contractors, suppliers and other project vendors to commit by contract to hire people from the apprenticeship programs and from the “target community” (local, unemployed, low income, minorities and women). The agreement would also allow MSD to use union and non-union workers on the project and to implement long-term contracting goals for minority- and women-owned businesses. The proposed agreement would obligate MSD to establish an internship program at MSD facilities for public school students. The internship would be similar to a STEM program (science, technology, engineering and math) and give hiring preference to participants. An MSD-funded scholarship program would also be a part of this program. MSD’s EPA reviews would be open to community groups through the agreement. And most powerfully, the agreement would have the judicial teeth of enforcement through injunction or otherwise. From suppliers to architects, every entity involved in this project will have a contractual relationship with MSD with private enforcement rights, Pruitt said. “The Community Benefits Agreement we propose is enforceable through injunctive relief, thus giving the community the ability to ensure that benefits are actually delivered,” Pruitt said. “In exchange, we are prepared to agree to support the project through the approval process, to refrain from lobbying against it,
http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_f08f3bfc-b5c7-11e1-abec-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=print
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MSD to receive ‘Community Benefits Agreement’ - St. Louis American: Local News
10/9/13 12:35 PM
and release legal claims regarding the project. Each party can enforce the other side’s promises.” Disparity study MSD’s disparity study is fully underway. MSD will introduce local businesses to the process and provide an overview for the purpose of this study at one of three community meetings. A meeting will be held on Thursday, June 21 at 6 p.m. at St. Louis Community College’s William J. Harrison Education Center, 3140 Cass Ave. Two meetings will be held on June 22 at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the same location. To learn more about the study and to pre-register for the meeting, contact Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd. at 754-9674 or e-mail ltran@mtaltd.com.
http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_f08f3bfc-b5c7-11e1-abec-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=print
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STEM Initiatives in Community Colleges A Program Review Jeanine Blomberg, Commissioner
September 2007
Introduction. In order to meet future workforce demands, all students must have a solid foundation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). These needs have sparked a renewed emphasis in strengthening STEM competencies among students at all levels of education. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2007 to coordinate efforts for expanding opportunities to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. In June 2007, hearings on STEM education were conducted by a subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives’ Committee on Science and Technology. One of the 2006-2007 initiatives of the National Governors Association (NGA) is to assist states to improve K-12 STEM education and training for all students. In its study, Building a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Agenda, the NGA identifies three obstacles to having a world class STEM education system: 1. too many high school graduates inadequately prepared for postsecondary education and work, 2. misalignment of STEM coursework between K-12, postsecondary skills, and work expectations, and 3. an under-qualified STEM teaching workforce. Recently, the National Science Foundation’s National Science Board published a draft version of “A National Action Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the U. S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education System.” This proposed Action Plan calls for a “coherent, coordinated system of STEM education provided by well-prepared and highly effective STEM teachers.” Results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the “nation’s report card”, demonstrate persistent mathematics and science achievement gaps between students relative to race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Projected demographic shifts will magnify this problem in the United States if STEM achievement gaps are not eliminated. Florida’s community colleges are uniquely situated to offer educational solutions by providing STEMrelated programs to middle and high school students as well as delivering postsecondary instruction emphasizing STEM coursework. Community colleges offer elective courses in each STEM discipline and provide enrichment opportunities to middle and high school students. These enrichment opportunities provide students in traditional high school programs with added instructional content and encouragement in STEM areas. Community colleges offer Associate in Science programs that prepare students for entry into select STEM careers. In addition, community colleges provide opportunities for students to complete the first two years of instruction before transferring to baccalaureate programs in public or private universities. Science and mathematics instruction is an integral part of the first two years of instruction. Some community colleges provide opportunities for students to attain baccalaureate degrees in STEMrelated fields through the community college baccalaureate programs and concurrent-use/joint-use partnerships between community colleges and universities. To better prepare Florida’s teachers and improve K-12 achievement in science and mathematics, Florida’s Community College System operates Educator Preparation Institutes (EPIs) that train baccalaureate degree holders for teaching careers.
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As part of Florida’s application for an NGA STEM Center grant, the Division of Community Colleges surveyed the twenty-eight public institutions to collect up-to-date information on any tracks or programs offered by community colleges that promote or provide opportunities to students in STEM areas. Survey Findings. The survey was distributed in April 2007. Community Colleges were asked to provide information for 2005-06 about pre-collegiate, collegiate, and teacher preparation programs that have a STEM component. While all 28 colleges responded to the survey, the information submitted by the colleges provides examples rather than an exhaustive list of all STEM-related programs and activities. Information presented here is taken from the survey responses and is supplemented with information collected by the Florida Department of Education. See Appendix A for detailed information on the STEM initiatives reported by each college.
Pre-Collegiate Programs Academic Instruction. Community colleges offer a broad range of programs that provide direct academic instruction to high school students. In addition, college faculty and staff have volunteered to serve on local Assistance Plus Teams, which serve as specialists to assist low performing elementary and secondary public schools. At this time, nine community colleges operate separate high schools. Six of the high schools (Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Indian River, Lake-Sumter, Okaloosa-Walton, Polk, and St. Petersburg) are charter schools and one (Daytona Beach) is a charter technical center. Of the seven charter schools, two (Daytona Beach and Indian River) have a technology focus. Two additional colleges (Brevard and Broward) operate separate high schools that are not charter schools. In addition, Central Florida, Miami Dade, Okaloosa-Walton, and Pensacola have dual enrollment academies that are separate entities operated through an agreement with the local school district. They have a separate administration and award both high school and college credit for successful course completion. Several Florida districts also operate small, personalized learning communities called career academies. Central Florida, Miami Dade, Okaloosa-Walton, and Pensacola are partnering with local career academies to identify appropriate dual enrollment options to align with the academy’s career theme. All 28 community colleges offer dual enrollment courses for eligible high school students. A student earns high school credit and college credit for the dual enrollment course. The student headcount in dual enrollment in 2005-06 exceeded 32,000. Courses in STEM areas are available to all students eligible for dual enrollment. Some school districts and community colleges have designated select programs for high school students that include transfer provisions that feed into a certificate or associate degree. For example, Florida Keys offers dual enrollment opportunities in a Marine Propulsion program allowing high school students to take 18 college credits during one year of high school. A student may then continue at the college to complete a certificate in Marine Propulsion or an Associate in Science (A. S.) degree in Marine Engineering. Using a different approach, Brevard Community College offers an intensive three-week course in environmental science and statistics that provides students with college credit for Statistical Methods I (STA 2023) and Introduction to Environmental Science (EVR 1001). SUCCEED, Florida! Career Paths Grants, funded by the Florida legislature for 2006-07, included at least two technology academies operated by community colleges. The Information Technologies Pathways Academy at Florida Community College at Jacksonville provides coursework leading to industry certification in various information technology areas. The Indian River Community College academy provides an information technology concentration at its campus high school which enables students to
STEM Initiatives
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earn 36 credit hours toward an A.S. degree in Computer Information Technology and earn industry certification. Secondary students enrolled in collegiate high schools, career academies, or dual enrollment courses may participate in the college’s STEM-focused student clubs. Activities That Promote STEM Programs. To date, 23 colleges (82%) reported some type of targeted program or workshop in STEM subjects for secondary students. Examples include science lecture/seminar series, math learning centers, Saturday enrichment classes, Code Breaking (a course including math and science for incoming dual enrolled students), Earth Day celebrations, Girls Excited About Mathematics (GEMs), Educational Talent Search (ETS), Sizzling Science, Mad Science, Girls Get IT, and work at Indian River Community College on the Everglades Restoration Project. According to Florida Department of Education’s Office of Equity and Access, 25 community colleges have a College Reach-Out Program (CROP) serving low-income and educationally disadvantaged students in grades 6-12. Miami Dade, Polk and Valencia have Upward Bound programs serving low income/first generation high school students. The CROP and Upward Bound programs provide tutoring services to high school students in academic subjects, including STEM subjects. Fourteen community colleges (Brevard, Central Florida, Chipola, Daytona Beach, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Indian River, Lake City, Lake-Sumter, Manatee, North Florida, Palm Beach, Polk, St. Petersburg, and Santa Fe) provide or partner with a school district to provide summer camp activities, including Kids College, that include STEM topics. Examples of camp opportunities provided for secondary students include an Aviation Camp using flight simulations, robotics camps, Computer Assisted Design instruction, technology camp focusing on graphic design including Powerpoint, and Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) camps. Ten community colleges (Chipola, Daytona Beach, Hillsborough, Lake-Sumter, Manatee, North Florida, Okaloosa-Walton, St. Petersburg, Santa Fe, and Seminole) sponsor or host academic competitions in STEM areas. The most frequently reported competitions were Math or Science Brain Bowls, Math Olympics, Math Counts, and Physics Olympics. Seven colleges report that they host, judge, or organize a science or technology fair.
Collegiate Programs All community colleges have STEM courses as part of their curriculum and offer STEM-related degree and certificate programs such as Information Technology and Network Systems Development. General education requirements for the Associate in Arts degree include six hours of mathematics at the College Algebra level or higher, three hours of biological science, and three hours of physical science. In addition, some colleges require computer literacy or computer applications coursework. Daytona Beach has an Advanced Technology College. This new facility includes Internet and network connections, science labs, a multi-purpose room, a media center and open computer labs. This facility provides a setting for the regional science fair, specialized technological training, and the summer high school Robocamp program. Brevard Community College has an articulated four-year engineering program that caters to placebound students. The first two years of instruction are provided on the community college campus. Year three is provided at the Brevard County campus of the University of Central Florida. Students participate in classes at the main branch of the University of Central Florida during the fourth year of the program.
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Teacher Preparation Programs Three community colleges (Chipola, Miami Dade, and St. Petersburg) currently offer their own baccalaureate degree programs in education in STEM subjects. Three additional community colleges (Edison, Indian River, and Okaloosa-Walton) have been approved by the State Board of Education to offer such baccalaureate programs in the near future. In 2005-06, over 600 baccalaureate degrees were awarded by community colleges in STEM areas. Sixteen colleges offer baccalaureate degree programs through university concurrent-use partnership programs in STEM areas. Twenty-three offer concurrentuse baccalaureate programs in education. In 2005-06, a total of 8,055 students were enrolled in concurrent-use partnership programs in STEM areas; a total of 4,652 were enrolled in concurrent-use partnership programs in education. The Department of Education no longer collects the number of completers in concurrent-use partnership programs. Legislation passed in 2004 allows the Florida Community College System to develop a program to train college graduates for careers in education through the Educator Preparation Institutes (EPIs). Currently, 27 community colleges have implemented EPIs that offer alternative certification for teachers. Appendix B includes the total number of students and the number of STEM students reported by each college in the STEM Survey. In 2004, the Legislature also approved the expansion of teacher preparation programs through the SUCCEED, Florida! Crucial Professionals Program. Five million dollars was appropriated specifically for teacher preparation “capacity expansion” programs and bonus points were provided in the Request for Proposals for programs that focused on critical teacher shortage areas including secondary math and science. Nineteen community colleges were awarded approximately $3.3 million in SUCCEED, Florida! funding in 2005-06. Most of these funded programs focused on recruiting students with baccalaureate degrees related to critical teacher shortage areas into Educator Preparation Institutes. The SUCCEED, Florida! program has continued in subsequent years with an ongoing emphasis on expanding the capacity of teacher preparation programs in critical shortage areas. For 2007-08, the allocation was nearly $7 million. Conclusion. Florida’s community colleges are responding to the emphasis on strengthening STEM opportunities in education through a variety of methods. By offering educational opportunities to both high school students and those enrolled in traditional college classes, Florida’s community colleges encourage interest in STEM areas at multiple points in time. However, there is no coordinated statewide plan to close the gaps between high school exit competencies, entrance competencies that enhance success in postsecondary education, and the competencies required to meet the needs of the 21st century workforce.
For more information about this STEM summary, please contact Dr. Pat Windham at (850) 245-9482 or Pat.Windham@fldoe.org.
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Appendix A STEM Initiatives Reported by Each Community College th
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Brevard
Kids Career Camps: partnership with Brevard Public Schools; students entering 7 , 8 , or 9 grade chose a technical area, learned new skills and gained more information about related career. Sessions included Web Design, Fashion Production, Culinary Arts, Architecture/Drafting/Design, Digital Camera, Construction of Submersible Robotic Vehicles, Digital Art/Design, and Crafts & Activities for Future Teachers. Students received 20 hours of contact time in one subject. College Explorer: partnership with Brevard Public Schools; middle school students attended a oneday activity at Brevard Community College that included exploration of various academic and technical subjects. Each subject area was presented for approximately 30 minutes; subjects included chemistry (60 students), biology (180 students), computer science (120 students), office technology (120), automotive (60 students), television production (60 students). Construction, Design and Technology Fair: partnership with Brevard Public Schools; High school students enrolled in construction, drafting and design related programs were invited to attend a oneday workshop to find out about technical programs available at the community college level. Each subject area was presented for approximately 30 minutes. Subjects included drafting (90 students), electronics (60 students), computers and technology trends in homebuilding (60 students) and graphic design (90 students). Students also heard about careers in the construction field, and met with construction related businesses. Topics in Environmental Chemistry and Statistics: Dual Enrollment program that brings highly motivated high school students to BCC to take a three-week dedicated program of study in environmental science and statistics. Students who successfully completed the program were awarded credit for EVR 1001 Introduction to Environmental Science and STA 2023 Statistics.
Broward
Girls Excited about Mathematics (GEMs): program set up in the summer of 2006 with the support of Staff and Program Development funds and with the administrative support of Broward’s North campus Mathematics Department College Academy: collegiate high school located on Central Campus
Central Florida
Sunshine Scholars Math and Science Summer Camp: one week summer camp for rising 9 and th 10 graders Pre-Collegiate Scholars: high school students attend training workshops of math, science, education, and technology for one semester
Chipola
Mathematics Olympiad: conducted annually to serve approximately 200 students in grades 9-12 from 17 local schools. Students are tested individually in Calculus and Trigonometry. Both individual tests and collaborative group problems are given in the areas of Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry. Science Seminar Series: sponsored by the Mathematics and Science Department. Outstanding scientists and mathematicians are invited to speak to student groups on timely science and mathematics topics. These speakers are often associated with institutions of higher learning and provide information about opportunities for postsecondary programs as well as subject specific information. Local high school students and teachers are invited to participate in these seminars. In 2005–2006 approximately 135 students (primarily juniors and seniors) attended at least one of the seminars. Kids College: uses Chipola facilities; Chipola provides a director for the Kids College but the parents of the students pay the full cost of instruction. During the 2005–2006 year, approximately 75 students age five through twelve participated in three different levels of computer literacy classes.
Daytona Beach
Robocamp Program: offered at the Advanced Technology College campus of DBCC, serves approximately 100 seventh through ninth grade students per year. The program’s STEM focus is technology, design, and computer science/simulation through the design, development, and use of tabletop full featured robots. Advanced Technology College: serves as the host to the regional science fair conducted by Volusia county schools. In addition this facility is used extensively by both Volusia and Flagler county schools for technology related field trips. Physics Olympics: hosted by DBCC; this event is open to all high schools in Volusia and Flagler counties. The 2007 Physics Olympics saw 75 students competing. College Experience Day Program: provides local high school students with a college level academic experience. DBCC professors offer academic activities providing students with an opportunity to experience a day as a college student and participate in college curriculum. This program was started fall 2006. The classes that students have been able to participate in are: science labs, dissecting mice and cats, global warming, marine biology, and sequencing DNA proteins; chemistry lab where students synthesized polymers; classes in robotics, drafting & design, auto collision, and digital media; mathematics classes to learn hurricane tracking and creating algebraic graphs; and computer classes.
Edison
Edison College avails all sciences, technological, mathematics, and engineering programs to dual enrollment and early college students.
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STEM Initiatives
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FCCJ
Aviation Math and Science Summer Camps: two- or four- week camps utilize aviation as a conduit for practical application of the principles of math and science theories involved in flight. Activities include: classroom instruction, research, project design/construction, plus field trips to airports, IMAX theaters, museums and the Kennedy Space Center. Flight simulators and actual training flights are used to demonstrate theories, principles and laws of mathematics and science. Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Summer Camp: using the latest data security and biotechnology information and equipment, along with other tools of forensic science, campers become “Youth Crime Scene Investigators.” CSI campers will examine a “crime scene,” collect evidence, perform analysis, use forensic techniques, extract DNA, identify fibers, explore field of data security. M.A.R.S. for Robotics Summer Academy (Mastering Arithmetic and Reading Systems for Robotics): students explore the field of robotics while building their very own robot. CAD Camp: 16-hour camp introduces student to the most popular CAD programs used in the industry today. ChemCamp: Making Molecules: ChemCamp demonstrates real-world applications of science, mathematics and technology and shows the relevance of academic work to the real world. Participants will visit five different Jacksonville chemical plants. District Science Fair It Does Compute—Helping Early College High School Students in Math
Florida Keys
Marine Propulsion Dual Enrollment program: started in 2005-06 for local high school students; students can take 18 college credits (towards a 33 credit certificate) during one year in high school. After high school graduation, student continues at the college to complete the certificate or work towards an AS degree in Marine Engineering.
Gulf Coast
Sizzling Science: program for area K-12 students; science and technology faculty set up interactive science displays on campus; some displays were geared towards high school students but most were geared to any K-12 student. Five biologists, two chemists, one physicist, one engineer, and one instructional technologist participated. Five Gulf Coast Community College students also participated. The science clubs at two local high schools participated as helpers.
Hillsborough
Educational Talent Search Program (ETS): promotes postsecondary education as a feasible and viable option for first generation, low income and economically disadvantaged students in middle and high schools. The program provides first time exposure to college environments through educational tours to a variety of postsecondary institutions. Public school students in this program also visit NASA, Epcot Science Center at Disney World, Museum of Science and Industry, and other places of scientific and educational interests. FLATE: The National Science Foundation awarded HCC funds to operate the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), a Regional Center for Manufacturing Education that serves the entire state of Florida. Its mission is to increase the capacity of manufacturing and related high technology technicians in the workforce using three venues: outreach/ recruitment; curriculum development and reform; and professional development for k12 and CC faculty. FLATE has several program activities focused on STEM enrichment such as: o “Made in Florida” industry tours provide tours of manufacturing facilities and a related lesson on Manufacturing in Florida and technical careers. o Summer Robotics Camps – during the past three summers, HCC co-sponsored week-long camps for middle school students. o Presentations to student groups about technical careers and manufacturing in Florida. o Professional development for teachers in the science and technology areas, both on a “request” basis and on Professional Development days.
Indian River
Developed joint high school and college facility, Clark Advanced Learning Center (CALC), in partnership with the Martin County School District (MCSD). Project CAPSTONE (National Science Foundation/ATE Everglades Restoration Project): seeks to create and implement an interdisciplinary, project-based model to prepare high school students for scientific and technical careers. The goal of Project CAPSTONE is to increase student success in math, science, and technology studies through the implementation of an annual comprehensive, interdisciplinary school-wide project at the CALC. Over the course of three years, approximately 200 high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors are directly served by the project. Activities include the development of integrated math, science and technology curricula; the creation of industry relevant technical experiences guided by career pathways; enhancement of high school programs that articulate to associates degrees; and provision of professional development experiences for CALC teachers. Through partnering with the South Florida Water Management District and other government/industry organizations, the project develops a school-wide learning project focused on local environmental restoration efforts. Career pathways are supported through e-mentoring as well as student internships with industry professionals. Techno Camp Summer Program: a technology summer camp is hosted at the CALC campus. Students who attend are engaged in a week of activities that includes designing a logo for their own t-shirt using Adobe Photoshop, creating a music compilation CD and cover with Adobe Illustrator, creating a web page with embedded flash animation, exploring environmental pollutants and their effects on the global environment, taking a field trip for career exploration, and loads of other fun activities. Also, each student who attends the camp has the potential to earn 3 college credit hours towards an Associate Degree.
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Lake City
Columbia County Science Fair: participants were in grades 1-12 in Columbia County; with 270 projects: 113 from elementary and 157 middle and high. Fifty judges from the scientific community participated. Suwannee Regional Science Fair: college hosts the week-long affair, provides judges, college employee time in staff and instructors. Schools cover award costs. There were 143 projects with participation from Columbia, Union, and Suwannee counties. Earth Day Celebration: participating students from LCCC and Fort White High School present posters to educate the public about geological and biological environmental processes. It will be the opportunity for everyone to learn more about global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, sinkholes, landslides, hurricanes and more of these natural processes that show how deadly but also how fragile our planet is.
Lake-Sumter
Mathlympics: the mathematics faculty coordinate and host Mathlympics each year for local high school teams. Eighteen teams of 4 members each competed, accompanied by 14 high school math teachers. Teams were from Lake and Sumter school districts and private schools. Hi Q Tournament: the college Brain Bowl team, advisors, and other staff and college students organize and run a regional HI Q Tournament for varsity and junior varsity teams from the high schools of the two districts. Over 100 students participated this year in the event, which is an intense academic challenge in many areas, including STEM areas. Kids’ College: summer event on two campuses that serves hundreds of elementary and middle school students every year. Courses in their curriculum highlight various areas of STEM disciplines, especially in the sciences and computers. District Science Fairs: the chair of the Science Department and other faculty served as judges in local school science fairs at the middle school level. Middle School Tours: groups from local area middle schools have toured our campus this semester to expose students to possible career choices and opportunities. These students always spend extra time exploring computer labs and science labs. New Science Building: with the scheduled opening of the new science building in August 2007, we planned a series of events for local school groups to expose middle and high school students to the sciences with seminars and guest speakers, and to introduce these students to the new facility and the opportunities for study here at our college. Possibilities for topics include: Birds of Prey, Genetic Plant Engineering, Rattlesnake Lecture, Endangered Gopher Tortoises, Organic Gardening, Meteorology, Hydroponics, Marine Science, and Invasive Exotic Plant Species.
Manatee
Governor’s Summer Program, CSI Program: high school students Math Aces Competition: high school students Math Counts: middle school students District Science Fair (Sarasota/Manatee): middle and high school students
Miami Dade
South Florida Regional Science and Engineering Fair: faculty members judge projects and scientific projects created by regional high school students. Some physics and chemistry workshops are continually offered. The dual enrollees use the Science Resource center and The Math Lab. The Math Learning Center: a supportive partnership between the School of Community Education at North Campus and Miami Dade County Public Schools which provides enrichment material related to the mathematics the students are studying in school. The Center allows K-12 students to meet with Miami Dade County Public School math teachers from the feeder pattern schools in small classes (class size = 10) for academic enrichment in mathematics. These classes meet throughout the year on Saturday. SAT preparatory classes: offered to high school students through the School of Community Education at North Campus. Grant Programs: NSF grants to provide scholarships and support services to STEM majors; Title V grant that provided supplemental instruction and cooperative learning for STEM majors; and a Department of Labor grant for Biotechnology programs. Summer Program: for college-bound high school students; Hialeah Campus provided academic labor force; program conducted motivational activities by engaging students in writing-reading activities about technology and art and science appreciation, as well as mathematics, Microsoft Visio software usage and computer science; Hialeah Campus provided support for field trips and excursions to Science Museum and local technical cargo areas at the Miami International Airport.
North Florida
Kids In College Summer Camps: Rocketry 101 (19 students); Rocketry 201 (13 students); Earth Essentials (15 students); Science Supreme (23 students); Weather Watchers (25 students); Mastering Math (21 students); Dig This: Archaeology (24 students); Let’s Get Physical: Physics (18 students); Total STEM-related enrollments = 158 students Brain Bowl: annual high school competition is held at NFCC Dual Enrollment: have Articulation Agreements with all high schools in the college service area Annual Ecology Day: area elementary schools in the college service district Chemistry presentations: at area secondary schools Annual Faculty-to-Faculty Summits (Math and Science): area high school science and math instructors meet at NFCC with college instructors to discuss teaching methods and issues such as curriculum alignment.
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Okaloosa-Walton
Collegiate High School: provides dual enrollment opportunities in all math, science and computer curriculum; serves 250 students annually, 85% of whom complete an associate degree simultaneously with the high school diploma. Project Career Connections or Project C²: Okaloosa-Walton College has developed an accelerated science and math academy to engage and excite secondary students in the career fields of math, science and engineering. Project C², uses applied activities, laboratory experiments, reallife research projects, speakers, field experiences, career chats, simulations and other “hands-on, minds-on” approaches in engineering, math, and science as a curriculum enhancement project. OWC Math Bowl: annual math competition event involving approximately 150 students from 18-20 th th high schools from Pensacola to Tallahassee. 9 – 12 grade students compete for individual and team awards in algebra, geometry, statistics and calculus. Mu Alpha Theta Math Competition: annual math competition event that involves approximately 400 students from local middle and high schools; students compete for individual and team awards. OWC Science Lecture Series: public event for middle and high school students, faculty and staff, as well as to the community. The lecture series focuses on “hot topics” and “hot careers” in the natural sciences. Faculty members and other distinguished experts make an oral presentation followed by audience questions. Five events are held each year with an attendance of 90-120.
Palm Beach
Summer Youth College: open to children age 8 – 14. STEM-related course offerings in 2006: Fun with FCAT Math (18), College Math (19 ), Microsoft Basics (18), Fun Science (31), Math & Literature (13), Fossil Exploration (30), Solar System (17), Geometry (16), Art Landscape Design (23) Water Everywhere (15), Problem Solving (16), Creature Features (21), Florida Eco Adventures (21), Multimedia Mania (18), Roller Coaster Tycoon (20), Volcanoes (20), Tux Paint Kids (18), Total (334).
Pasco-Hernando
Dual Enrollment: total DE Students served = 247
Pensacola
Code Breaking: course including mathematics and science offered to incoming eleventh and twelfth grade dual enrolled students. Tech Prep consortium: partnership with Escambia and Santa Rosa Districts. One facet of the program is the 4 + 2 program to encourage appropriate academic preparation including science and math to enter the high technology programs.
Polk
Kids at College: STEM-related classes for secondary students Lakeland Campus: Beginning Rocketry (53), Advanced Rocketry (17), PowerPoint (21), Shocking Science (27), Beginning Video (38), Advanced Video (26) Winter Haven Campus: Beginning Rocketry (56), Advanced Rocketry (33), PowerPoint (80), Shocking Science (27), Beginning Video (42), Advanced Video (33), Simply Scientific (49), Upward Bound: serves high school students from east Polk County whose families are low-income and who are potential first-generation college students. Mad Science: six-day program during which professional scientists make scientific principles more accessible to students for whom science is intimidating; a course on “Your Health and You,” offered during the two-week residential component at Florida Southern College; math enrichment courses (algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, and calculus) during Saturday sessions (twice a month during the 2005-2006 academic year) and during the Summer Academy (six-week academic enrichment). Dual Enrollment: Polk Community College historically has had a very supportive relationship with the Polk County Schools. During the 2005-2006 school year, 1,061 Polk County high school students were dual enrolled at PCC. Collegiate High School: PCC Collegiate High School offered 196 students the opportunity to work on the A.A./A.S. degree (certificate) while completing their high school studies, as well as in depth instruction for career paths in Information Technology. Collegiate High developed a curriculum enhancement designed to address deficiencies in the three areas assessed on the Common Placement Test (CPT) – reading comprehension, sentence skills, and math concepts and piloted it during 2005-2006 school year. These skill areas are the base of skill sets necessary for successful completion of STEM courses. The pilot included remediation of enrolled CHS students via a prescribed independent study during an assigned class period, a teacher directed class period utilizing technology facilities, and an available online resource provided to students. The pilot also targeted interested CHS applicants who were offered review packets, evening review sessions and a compacted summer academy.
St. Johns River
Representatives from SJRCC routinely speak at the middle and high schools throughout our district, educating these students about college readiness and our various AS programs. Each campus hosts Open House for local high school students to highlight AA and AS programs. SJRCC hosts a meeting each fall for the high school and middle school guidance counselors to inform them about our AA and AS programs. Representatives of SJRCC meet with middle school and high school career education teachers annually to discuss proposed program changes.
St. Petersburg
The Center of Excellence: a community-based program designed to promote academic enrichment and provide tutoring that supports and encourages academic growth. The Mathematics Brain Bowl: competition composed of middle school and high school age students to increase academic success in mathematics and career exploration in the field. Summer of Success (SOS): a summer bridge program; provides for recent high school graduates who meet eligibility criteria an opportunity to participate in six-week summer program
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Santa Fe
College for Kids: summer program is for students ages 10-15. Two, 2-week sessions are offered at SFCC’s Northwest campus in Alachua County and one 2-week session is offered in Bradford County. Students choose courses from several offerings that include classes such as ABCs of Anthropology, Biology Bliss, Chemistry Craze, Environmental Explorers, Maniacal Math and others. District Science Fair with School Board of Alachua County: Santa Fe Community College hosted the annual Alachua Regional Science Fair and assisted with judging, along with providing students tours of the college’s zoo. The Engineering Gatortrax Math Excellence Project: Santa Fe Community College collaborates with the University of Florida as well as other organizations in offering students in grades 6-12 with the opportunity to learn mathematics with hands on activities. Students participate in regular classroom instruction, Saturday Engineering programs, mentoring, summer camps and field trips. The Gatortrax program is intended to pave the way to careers in engineering or other fields that involve creative thinking, analytical and problem solving skills.
Seminole
A pilot course offered at one high school to prepare students to pass the math placement test and bypass college prep has been so successful that the district wants to expand it to all high schools. Offer a series of dual enrollment courses at Lake Brantley High School in Biology and Biotechnology designed to attract high achieving students to dual enrollment/AP course at another high school. Science Merit Diploma Program is marketed to high school students as a bridge to the State University System for high achieving high school graduates. Students must apply and commit to take a minimum of 8 courses intended for science majors plus Calculus I. Students completing this program with a 3.3 GPA or higher are universally accepted into the University of Florida’s upper division science majors. “Girls Get IT”: partner with FCCJ and TCC in this NSF grant designed to attract middle age girls to IT programs. Physics Olympics: hosted by SCC for all high school juniors each year.
South Florida
Promoting Academic Success Skills (PASS): provided math and reading tutoring to at-risk/lowperforming high school students. There was a significant improvement in their FCAT scores.
Tallahassee
GEM (Gadsden Elementary Magnet School) Water Rocket Activity: water rockets provide a wonderful tool for presenting a variety of scientific concepts and skills. Students first must build rockets by taping together four soda bottles for the body and gluing on fins made from cardboard boxes. Students then work together in teams to collect data on effects of water volume and air pressure on the altitude rocket attains. The data is graphed so students use visual representation to decide whether original hypothesis was correct.
Valencia
Dual Enrollment in Electronics Engineering Technology: as a special part of our Dual Enrollment Program and in partnership with the Seminole County School Board, Seminole Community College, and the University of Central Florida, have designed an articulated program that includes students from grades nine through twelve, articulates to the community college program in Electronics Engineering Technology, and continues to the University of Central Florida’s B.S. Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. Lyman High School in Seminole County offers seven “choice” programs designed around specialized themes to address the individual interests and abilities of students. Students from any school zone in the county may make application to attend the school and enroll in one of its programs. One of the choice options is the Institute for Engineering which has four areas of concentration, including one in Electrical Engineering. The desire was to offer college credit courses, where appropriate, which were a part of the Valencia Electronics Engineering Technology program and which aligned with the desired outcomes of the high school program in Electrical Engineering. Such an option would enhance the opportunity for these talented students to receive more in-depth training in the electrical engineering field and provide them a path for seamless articulation from high school through the university in the Electrical Engineering field. Seven courses plus an internship (24 college credits) were determined by Valencia and the high school to be appropriate offerings for the Electrical Engineering concentration Upward Bound: eligible low income/first generation students receive approximately 120 hours of instruction, during a six-week period, in the months of June and July, in core subjects including math and science. This program serves students in Jones High School in Orlando. Academic year activities include approximately 233 hours of personalized academic, career and social skills intervention for participants. Summer Component activities include approximately 190 hours of personalized academic instruction in core subjects such as math, science, literature and composition and foreign language. Participants also receive training in public speaking, computer technology and attend college tours. STEM Related Tech Prep Career Pathways: Tech Prep career pathways have been developed between Orange County Schools, Osceola District Schools and Valencia Community College.
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Appendix B Educator Preparation Institutes (EPIs), 2005-06
Brevard Community College
EPI Enrollment Reported in the Student Data Base 88
STEM Enrollment Reported in the STEM Survey
Percent of EPI Enrollment in STEM Discipline
18
20.5%
27
6
Not reported
Not reported
22.2% NA
Chipola College
19
Not reported
NA
Daytona Beach Community College
28
36
128.6%
Edison College Florida Community College at Jacksonville
38
5
13.2%
20 No program in 2005-06 43
19.0%
Broward Community College Central Florida Community College
Florida Keys Community College Gulf Coast Community College
105 No program in 2005-06 71
NA 60.6%
Hillsborough Community College
28
Not reported
NA
Indian River Community College
143
58
40.6%
30
6
Not reported
8
20.0% NA
Manatee Community College
41
52
126.8%
Miami Dade College
23
Not reported
NA
North Florida Community College
39
0
Okaloosa-Walton College
65
5
0.0% NA
Palm Beach Community College
52
Not reported
NA
150
Not reported
NA
Pensacola Junior College
63
Not reported
NA
Polk Community College
43
20
46.5%
St. Johns Community College
13
5
38.5%
St. Petersburg College
85
7 11 (passed subject test) No program in 2005-06 No program in 2005-06 No program in 2005-06 No program in 2005-06
8.2%
Lake City Community College Lake-Sumter Community College
Pasco-Hernando Community College
Santa Fe Community College Seminole Community College South Florida Community College Tallahassee Community College Valencia Community College
Not reported No program in 2005-06 No program in 2005-06 No program in 2005-06 No program in 2005-06
NA NA NA NA NA
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Appendix C Survey of STEM Tracks/Programs at Community Colleges as Distributed to Community Colleges on April 9, 2007 The Florida Department of Education is applying to the National Governors Association (NGA) for a grant to engage in K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education redesign. Six states will be awarded grants through this STEM Center Grant Program. Please complete the survey below by Friday, April 20, 2007, so that we may include all that Florida’s community colleges are doing with regards to STEM. While we appreciate that many of you have more recent information, to ensure the ability to aggregate all institutions, we request that you submit information only for the 2005-06 year. Pre-Collegiate Students For this section, STEM programs reported should be any programs or activities which may be offered or delivered by your institution to middle or high school students. Do not include health and/or medical related programs as STEM programs or activities. 1.
Describe any programs or activities your institution has for middle or high school students which promote/provide learning opportunities in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). These programs or activities may be offered/delivered by your own institution (consider tracks or programs associated with dual enrollment and early college high schools) or through a supportive partnership with K-12 schools. Some examples may include, but are not limited to, Kids College type summer programs; summer camps for K-12 students in computer science, math and natural science; CROP activities aimed at STEM areas; Math Bowls or math competitions (such as Mu Alpha Theta); District Science Fairs. At a minimum, please include the following information in your description: a. Name of track/program; b. Affiliation to middle or high school students (dual enrollment, early college high school, summer bridge program, K-12 partnership, etc.) c. Headcount of students served in 2005-06 (if available, please disaggregate by race/ethnicity and gender) d. What was expended on the program and how much came from each source (list specific funding sources such as National Science Foundation where possible)? i. State funds ii. Federal funds iii. Private funds iv. Scholarships
2.
Describe any programs or activities you have that are especially effective in helping middle or high school students be better prepared in STEM competencies for college (may include programs for students and/or professional development opportunities for teachers). a. Do you have evidence of their success? If so, please explain.
3.
Do you provide facilities, equipment, or any other tangible items for use by the local middle or high schools specifically to offer STEM programs or activities? If so, please explain.
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Collegiate Students For this section, STEM programs reported should be only those that are recognized programs (i.e. programs reported to the State on the Student Data Base). Do not include health and/or medical related programs as STEM programs or activities. 4.
Describe any STEM programs your institution has that prepare community college students for further study or careers in STEM disciplines. At a minimum, please include the following information in your description: a. Name of track/program; b. Headcount of students served in 2005-06 (Please disaggregate by race/ethnicity and gender) c. Headcount of students who completed the track/program in 2005-06 (Please disaggregate by race/ethnicity and gender) d. How do you track these students to know they are in a STEM track/program? e. What was expended on the program and how much came from each source (list specific funding sources such as National Science Foundation where possible)? i. State funds ii. Federal funds iii. Private funds iv. Scholarships
5.
If you are a baccalaureate-degree granting college with approval for education degrees, please provide the total number of students in any science, math, or technology teacher preparation programs offered by the college in 2005-06 as well as the overall number of students enrolled in education majors.
6.
Provide the total number of students in an EPI program offered by the college in 2005-06 and the number of STEM students in those EPI programs in 2005-06.
7.
If you have a special 2+2 STEM-related articulation agreement with a university, please attach a copy with your survey response.
Attracting Students to STEM Careers A WHITE PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE 2007 2013 PURDUE UNIVERSITY STRATEGIC PLANNING STEERING COMMITTEE
Gabriela C. Weaver, Chair Kamyar Haghighi, Co-Chair Douglas D. Cook Christian J. Foster Sidney M. Moon Pamela J. Phegley Roger L. Tormoehlen
TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Overview ............................................................................................................................ 1 Proposed Initiatives .......................................................................................................... 3 INITIATIVE 1. STEM Student Experience and Success ............................................................. 3 1a. Address the Need for Better Prepared and More Diverse Students............................. 4 1b. Student Retention and Support .................................................................................... 6 1c. Reforming Faculty Development and Reward Structure to Improve Pedagogy........... 8 INITIATIVE 2. STEM Public Policy and Leadership................................................................ 10 INITIATIVE 3. Articulation between Research and Classroom Practice .................................. 11 Best Practices Associated with these Initiatives...................................................................... 11 References........................................................................................................................ 15 Appendix A: Sources of Input to the STEM Careers Working Group Appendix B: Purdue Enrollment Trends Appendix C: Preparation of Entering Purdue Students Appendix D: Diversity of Entering Purdue Students Appendix E: Admissions Rates Appendix F: Educational Outreach Efforts that Already Exist at Purdue Appendix G: Purdue Data on Change of Degree Objective (CODO) Appendix H: Purdue Graduation Rates Appendix I: Learning Communities Retention Rates Appendix J: Experiential Opportunities for STEM Undergraduates
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Well-documented trends have been reported nationally of declining interest, poor preparedness, a lack of diverse representation, and low persistence of U.S. students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. It is imperative that Purdue University responds proactively to the needs for education in STEM and STEM-influenced fields. In order to continue raising the profile of its educational programs nationally and internationally in all disciplines, Purdue must address numerous systemic and programmatic challenges that are fundamental to the education of our students. We propose 3 initiatives, which are interrelated and interdependent. We believe that the first initiative has three essential strategies that must occur together in order for any of these to succeed. In summary, these are: 1. STEM Student Experience and Success a. Address the Need for Better Prepared and More Diverse Entering Students b. Student Retention and Support c. Reforming Faculty Development and Reward Structure to Improve Pedagogy 2. STEM Public Policy and Leadership 3. Articulation between Research and Scholarship in P-20 STEM Teaching and Learning and Classroom Practice Our resulting set of recommendations address issues along the educational continuum, beginning with students and their communities before they apply to Purdue, the current community of people (students, faculty and staff) at Purdue, and entities outside of Purdue that that can have an impact on regional, state and national policy.
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
Executive Summary
OVERVIEW A national crisis has been identified in the area of global technological competitiveness (1, 2). Statistics on the state of education in the United States indicate a decreasing trend in domestic students choosing to major in and successfully complete degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines (3). Leaders in STEM fields have recently called for major initiatives to be undertaken nationally to address these educational trends (1, 4, 5). In engineering, the need for change has been highlighted by American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) Engineering Deans Council and the Corporate Roundtable (1994); the National Research Council (1995); the National Academy of Engineering (2002 and following); and the National Science Foundation. These reports argue that tomorrow’s graduate will compete in an emerging global economy fueled by rapid innovation and marked by an astonishing pace of technological breakthroughs. STEM graduates will navigate a shifting societal framework enhanced by technologies that lengthen life spans; enable yet-to-be imagined means of communication; create wealth and economic growth through accelerated product development cycles; require multidisciplinary efforts in emerging areas; and link virtual teams from global locations. The thorough integration of technology with society will challenge the analytical skills, creativity, and leadership of STEM graduates; demand participation in public policy; and require ethical adaptations to constraints of developing countries. Political and economic relations between nations, the global marketplace, national security issues and multilingual influences will dramatically shape the STEM practice(6). But will our science and high technology sectors have the talented STEM graduates prepared to compete and be leaders in tomorrow’s world? Recently, U.S. high-tech workers have seen trends unanticipated 10 to 20 years ago: the outsourcing of mainstream engineering and computing jobs, less reliance on U.S.-born PhD graduates, a mandate for technological fluency, and the need to retrain in order to successfully change careers multiple times. Landmark studies, including the National Academy of Engineering’s Committee to Assess the Capacity of the U.S. Engineering Research Enterprise and the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation’s The Knowledge Economy: Is the United States Losing it’s Competitive Edge?, negatively assess the health and competitive capacity of the U.S. high-tech enterprise. However, key stakeholders in industry, government, and academia are indicating accelerated interest and active commitment for innovative approaches to a national plan of action. With these reports and their predicted consequences in mind, it is imperative that Purdue University responds proactively to the needs for education in STEM and STEM-influenced fields. Purdue University has long been recognized for strength in its STEM fields, and has also developed a world-class reputation in areas such as management, agriculture and veterinary medicine. In order to continue raising the profile of its educational programs nationally and internationally in all disciplines, Purdue must address numerous systemic and programmatic challenges that are fundamental to the education of our students. It is important to recognize Attracting Students to STEM Careers
1
that many of the issues of national technological competitiveness are closely linked to the types of educational programs that Purdue offers in its STEM majors and disciplines, and it is therefore imperative that these be addressed specifically. However, a strong foundation in STEM courses and experiences provides the foundation of numerous fields of study at Purdue, both STEM and non-STEM, and has relevance even in the Liberal Arts disciplines. Indeed, we propose initiatives that will have an impact across the University, even though they are based in the need to improve the educational experience for students in STEM disciplines. The recommendations of this working group are based on input from numerous sources, including graduate and undergraduate students, staff, faculty and administrators (Appendix A). In addition, the members of the committee have pooled their knowledge of educational research and examined institutional data to reach consensus about areas of critical need, and recommendations for addressing them. We are particularly concerned by Purdue-specific data that show a large percentage of students choosing to leave majors in the Colleges of Science and Engineering within the first year, and the high D, F and withdrawal (W) percentages in many courses that are foundational to the STEM and STEM-influenced disciplines. In addition, repeated comments regarding the lack of access to faculty or a perception of faculty who do not care about students compelled us to search for the sources of these issues. Our resulting set of recommendations address issues along the educational continuum, beginning with students and their communities before they apply to Purdue, the current community of people (students, faculty and staff) at Purdue, and entities outside of Purdue that that can have an impact on regional, state and national policy.
Figure 1. Stakeholders and Pathways of a Purdue Education. We believe that the issue of primary focus should be that of retaining and empowering students in STEM disciplines in the first and second years at Purdue. However, the factors that contribute to achieving this are far-reaching, and encompass programs at the pre-college level, recruitment, admissions, and even faculty policies. Success in STEM courses and in STEM disciplines in the Attracting Students to STEM Careers
2
first two years will serve as the lens through which each of the committee’s three major recommendations will be focused, though their impact will ultimately be broader. We propose three initiatives, which are interrelated and interdependent. We believe that the first initiative has three essential strategies that must occur together in order for any of these to succeed. In summary, these are: 1. STEM Student Experience and Success a. Address the Need for Better Prepared and More Diverse Entering Students b. Student Retention and Support c. Reforming Faculty Development and Reward Structure to Improve Pedagogy 2. STEM Public Policy and Leadership 3. Articulation between Research and Scholarship in P-20 STEM Teaching and Learning and Classroom Practice
PROPOSED INITIATIVES INITIATIVE 1. STEM Student Experience and Success Data regarding pathways to STEM careers indicate that a critical transition point exists in the first and second years of college(3). A high percentage of students leave their intended STEM majors during this time. The trends also indicate that the percentage of students leaving these majors is higher for female students and higher still for under-represented minority students(3). These national trends are also evident in data that is specific to Purdue (Appendix B). We note that these problems are particularly conspicuous in the STEM disciplines compared to others at Purdue. Furthermore, at Purdue, the trends in the College of Technology data are markedly different than those in Engineering and Science, leading to less concern for CoT programs than other STEM programs. Research suggests that the reasons for these trends are not due to students’ performance or attitude attributes, but instead are closely linked to an early loss of interest in science, perceptions of poor teaching, selecting a STEM major with insufficient information about the career, and feeling overwhelmed by the pace and load of the curriculum(7). To reverse these trends at Purdue University and attract students to STEM careers, we believe three interrelated initiatives are needed. First it is imperative that we increase the level of academic preparation among the pool of students interested in STEM careers so they are prepared for the rigors of STEM education at Purdue. Second, we need to reform the pedagogy and culture of teaching at Purdue in order to create exciting and engaging STEM learning experiences for all students on campus. Finally, we must develop strong mentoring and support programs for students in STEM majors to ensure that those students maintain their interest in STEM disciplines and experience success along the path to graduation.
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
3
1a. Address the Need for Better Prepared and More Diverse Students Institutional data about the qualifications of entering students clearly demonstrate that many students entering STEM disciplines at Purdue are not adequately prepared to succeed in collegelevel coursework (Appendix C). In addition, the entering student population at Purdue is 87% Caucasian/White. While the diversity of entering students is very similar to the distribution of Indiana high school graduates who take the SAT (Appendix D), there is a need to increase the diversity of the entering class beyond what the Indiana distribution offers. To increase the diversity of entering students, we need strategies that target out-of-state students. To increase the number of highly prepared students who apply to Purdue, we need strategies focused on both in and out of state students. 1. Increase the overall academic profile of each entering class, as based on measures such as SAT scores, AP classes taken, AP scores, and number of math classes taken. Student success in the rigorous academic programs at Purdue will be increased if students are well prepared when they enter (Appendix C). At the recruitment and admissions stages, there are a limited number of variables that affect the preparation of students enrolling at Purdue, such as: the level of preparation of students applying to Purdue (see #4 below), the criteria for students accepted, the number of students accepted, the number of students who actually enroll (the “yield”) and the level of preparation of students who actually enroll. The fraction of students who enroll at Purdue (Appendix E) may not be capturing the students with the highest levels of preparation who apply and are admitted. For in-state students, there is a small percentage – such as the top 2-4% – who choose top-tier out-of-state schools. While this is a small percentage of the state’s students, it could be a significant fraction of a Purdue entering class. It is important to develop strategies to attract these students to Purdue through aggressive recruiting and incentive efforts. We believe that every effort should be made to increase the number of well-prepared students who apply to STEM majors at Purdue and to enroll those students who have a strong preparation. The exact mechanisms for how to achieve this require further study and consideration. It is also important to ensure that students’ interests and backgrounds are well-matched to their majors and colleges, rather than enrolling students in colleges for which they did not have a primary interest, thus increasing the chances of those students having a poor experience and leaving. We also support multiple pathways for admissions to STEM majors for students who initially have a lower level of preparation, such as admission through the regional campuses and the 2-year college system across the state. It is very important that Indiana students be given access to the Purdue system, while ensuring that students be in settings where they will be best served to develop a strong foundation for success. 2. Develop and promote an attractive and inspirational message about the STEM disciplines at Purdue and the role they play in addressing global challenges. We need a creative and exciting marketing campaign for STEM majors at Purdue that stimulates potential students to think about the technical fields in a new way that is attractive and inclusive. It is particularly important to highlight exciting job opportunities related to STEM discipline majors, and ensure that potential students see Purdue as a stepping stone to these stimulating professions by highlighting outstanding Purdue
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
4
programs. Among out-of-state students, this will help to raise Purdue’s overall visibility – which is badly needed. Among in-state students, this will enable Purdue to attract the top 2-4% of students who opt for top-tier, out-of-state institutions. 3. Increase out-of-state recruiting and expand financial packages for high-ability, outof-state students. Raising the level of Purdue’s visibility in other states, from coast to coast, should be a high priority. Because the costs of an out-of-state education are often a disincentive for students to consider an institution, we recommend that substantial financial incentive packages be developed for high-ability out-of-state students. Targeted recruitment in high diversity areas of the country is strongly recommended. Efforts should be made to include varied, possibly non-traditional mechanisms in the admissions process to ensure a diverse pool with a process that allows talent of various forms to be showcased by applicants. 4. Work with teachers and policy makers in Indiana to help raise the level of preparation of in-state students. To increase the pool of well-prepared Indiana students who are interested in STEM careers, we recommend that Purdue continue and increase its active engagement with P12 education across the state. Purdue can influence the academic preparation of P-12 students in Indiana and encourage them to achieve high levels of STEM literacy by increasing the information about science and engineering careers for P-12 students, teachers, counselors, and administrators and emphasizing the need for solid math and science preparation required to be successful in the majors leading to these careers. Purdue can also play a leadership role in ensuring that all students in the state have access to higher level STEM courses that are essential preparation for STEM careers, such as calculus and AP science courses, and helping to integrate STEM thinking process and content into the P-12 curriculum. This may take many forms, including working with teachers and schools directly through curriculum development and professional development programs or engaging teachers in on-campus activities at Purdue (such as serving as an AP training site) that catalyze communication between Purdue faculty and the state’s teachers. Numerous individual efforts of this nature are taking place throughout campus, such as the I-STEM initiative, the Woodrow-Wilson Fellowship program (“STEM Goes Rural”), , the Advanced Life Science Education initiative and outreach activities from each college and centers like CRESME, GERI, and INSPIRE (Appendix F). While each of these has been successful on its own, it is important to develop a unified philosophy and approach for these efforts, and to bring them under a single oversight entity, such as the new P-12 Engagement Center or Discovery Learning Center. These activities need to be more completely catalogued across the campus, which will allow holes in our programmatic efforts to be identified. In this way, it may be possible to have greater impact on a larger scale throughout the state. Playing a leadership role to encourage a change in the preparation of Indiana students should likely also involve public policy level activities in which Purdue can use its position as a “pole star” educational institution to encourage the state of Indiana to bolster math and science requirements for students across the state, especially those planning to apply to in-state STEM majors.
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
5
5. Continue and strengthen recruitment of international students. STEM education and scholarship is an international priority but the United States is still considered to be a leader in this area. Therefore many international students would like to attend Purdue and universities across the globe would like to be affiliated. Purdue should consider expanding cooperative agreements with these universities. In addition every effort should be made to eliminate artificial barriers for those students to join us. Recruitment efforts for international students should be stepped up. In particular, Purdue should develop an international marketing plan that will utilize media and venues that are favored by international students.
1b. Student Retention and Support There are numerous educational components of the early years at Purdue that are intended to challenge, engage and motivate students for further studies. However, it is evident that, in many cases, these goals are not being achieved. In fact, it is clear that quite the opposite is taking place in many of the courses and programs that our entering students find themselves a part of. It is imperative to create an environment for students that nurtures their skills and talents and encourages them to persevere, and one that engages their curiosity and creativity as part of their foundational learning. It is particularly important that changes in the experience of the first years and of ongoing support structures be made if we intend to retain students whom we specifically recruit Purdue to major in STEM disciplines. A high quality teaching experience will ultimately allow Purdue to attract more students to these majors. 1. Change the Learning Experience in the First Two Years College-based enrollment data from Purdue suggests that there are major losses out of the Colleges of Science and Engineering (Appendix G), and that these losses occur primarily within the first two years (Appendix B). The losses are higher for underrepresented minority students and, in science, higher for females (Appendix B). In addition, the 6-year graduation rates within those Colleges are undesirably low (Appendix H). In order to address this “flight from science and engineering” it is necessary to make dramatic, not incremental, changes in our approach to education in the early years. Learning Communities data for Purdue (Appendix I) show higher success rates for students engaged in these groups, with the largest impacts being on female and underrepresented minority students. However, University-wide only about 20% of first-year students are involved in learning communities (30% in Science, 29% in Engineering). To change the learning experience of the first two years in STEM, we recommend: Reduce class sizes of first and second year courses and provide opportunities to engage in smaller-group experiences associated with the large courses. Research supports the inverse relationships between class size and student success and student retention(8). Substantial efforts should be made to reduce the size of individual lecture sections that are currently larger than 120 students. Within large classes, there should be small-group “community building” opportunities, preferably involving no more than 25 students, that allow for high-quality student-student and
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student-instructor interactions. These can use or build on the model of Learning Communities at Purdue which have demonstrated success at Purdue in being able to retain students and improve their performance (Appendix I). “Recitations” or labs with student TA’s do not seem to be sufficient for this purpose, as demonstrated by courses with high DFW1 rates which already have such structures in place. Reduce the DFW rate of first and second year courses to no more than 25%. Regular monitoring of these courses should take place, including enhanced teaching evaluation. Departments should provide a plan over the period of 3 years to reduce DFW rates for courses that are consistently over this limit. A Department-level accountability system should be put into place for courses that continue to have DFW rates consistently higher than this limit. A reduction of DFW rates does not imply that a course must lose rigor, but that research-based approaches to pedagogy should be put in place to create a learning environment in which students are supported to succeed (see Initiative 1c, below). Institute a common first-year experience for all students at Purdue. This experience should consist of one course each semester of the first year that is crossdisciplinary across colleges. Such courses should explore the connections between society, business, politics, culture, history and/or literature and topics in STEM. Provide undergraduate experiential learning opportunities in the first two years for STEM students, such as undergraduate research and service learning. Students should be provided early-on with opportunities to engage in the authentic activities of practitioners of their field. In addition to providing a better learning experience for our students, this will also help us to recruit well-prepared students interested in STEM majors. While the traditional form of student research (apprenticeship in a research group) can form some portion of this effort, other curricular-based models also exist and have supporting evidence for their efficacy (for example, EPICS, CASPiE and SENCER; see Appendix J) that can contribute to this effort by providing the remainder of students with these opportunities through coursework. 2. Increase Retention through Student Support and Mentoring In addition to information about which courses to select for a given major, students have repeatedly expressed a need for support structures that will provide them additional information about careers available in their selected field, insights about how to succeed at a large university such as Purdue, mentoring and advocacy for difficult academic experiences, and a more personal relationship with professors, advisors and other students. Enhanced mentoring of students – both with respect to career information and academic advising – must begin as soon as a student is admitted to Purdue, and continue until they graduate.
1
DFW Rate refers to the percentage of students enrolled in a class who receive a grade of D or F or withdraw after the second week of the semester.
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Provide unified student support services, including mentoring, tutoring and advocacy. Engage more senior students as mentors for entering students. Successful examples of such peer mentoring approaches exists at other institutions around the country, and have demonstrated particular success in helping to retain female and underrepresented minority students. This could take place by expanding the services of the existing Student Access, Transitions and Success (SATS) office, or by creating a new umbrella Center for Student Success that will absorb some of the SATS programs. Increase the number of academic advisors for STEM disciplines and link each student to a single academic advisor with whom they can develop a long-term advising relationship. Provide ways for larger numbers of students to be part of Learning Communities, which have demonstrated success at Purdue in being able to retain students and improve their performance (Appendix I). Examine ways to enhance the success and reach of programs such as Women in Science, Women in Engineering, and the Minority Engineering Program which are already active on campus and have been proven successful.
1c. Reforming Faculty Development and Reward Structure to Improve Pedagogy In order to improve the experience of undergraduate students in their first two years at Purdue, it is essential to transform the culture of our educational approaches. Currently, students experience a largely impersonal environment during their freshman and sophomore years. Many STEM classes, in particular, tend to be large lecture classes with associated labs, where the emphasis is on the memorization of content and the following of prescribed procedures, rather than the use of STEM reasoning and applications to broader contexts or real-world issues. In addition, the faculty reward system focuses primarily on the Scholarship of Discovery so that teaching and educational endeavors have a low priority for many faculty and Departments. There are few incentives and rewards for faculty to engage in developing excellence in teaching and educational endeavors and some Colleges actually discourage junior faculty from making a heavy investment in teaching. The university needs ways to integrate high expectations for teaching and educational activities into the promotion and tenure process. In addition to this shift to a system that balances the Scholarship of Learning with the Scholarship of Discovery, it is also necessary to encourage a shift from thinking about pedagogy in terms of “teaching” to one that considers “learning” as the primary goal. This allows us to link pedagogy with learning outcomes, student experience, and assessment. To change the learning environment for students in the first two years, we need to fundamentally shift the pedagogical culture at Purdue to one in which students feel supported and connected and in which high-quality, informed teaching is valued, expected and rewarded. In order for this shift to occur it is necessary for several steps to take place:
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1. Revise Promotion and Tenure (P&T) policies to increase emphasis on teaching and educational activities by faculty. Demonstrated faculty activities should include: Engaging in professional development activities in teaching with support of the Department and College, including course-release for such activities. Demonstrating outcomes-based curriculum designs. Discussing use of teaching methodologies in their courses that include active learning, collaboration, problems/issues-based connections and critical thinking. 2. Engage all faculty members in professional development in education and pedagogy at Purdue before their first semester of teaching at Purdue, with follow-up through the first semester of teaching (including receiving guidance on how to document these efforts for the purpose of P&T). Providing for this item will entail developing professional development workshops/courses that are suited specifically to this purpose, beyond what the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE) typically offers. This could be an effort that builds on the programs of CIE. The workshops should be based on research findings in the Scholarship of Teaching and their connection to best practices in the classroom. Expect faculty who are already at PU to engage in ongoing, periodic professional development. Colleges and primary units should determine methods to ensure active participation by all faculty. 3. Establish an oversight body for this initiative that would carry out reviews of Departmental teaching practices, including items listed in #1 for all their faculty and courses, on a regular basis. This can consist of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and the Associate Deans for Undergraduate Education for each College. 4. Develop a uniform structure and minimum criteria for training of all graduatestudent teaching assistants (TA’s). TA training should focus on state-of-the-art pedagogy, student engagement and learning theories. This could be an enhancement of TA training programs currently offered (for example, by CIE or in Departments.) STEM and non-STEM criteria may need to be different. Ensure that minimum criteria for English language proficiency for TA positions are adhered to and are sufficient to provide a high-quality STEM learning experience for Purdue undergraduates. 5. Define guidelines for Departmental teaching review practices for their faculty that provide certain minimum standards, including review of educational materials (exams, syllabi, lecture materials, websites, etc.), visits by peers to classes, and documents needed to demonstrate teaching quality. These should be tied to the requirements included in the North-Central Accreditation measures. It is necessary to ensure that teaching is not evaluated solely on the basis of student evaluations, and that these must be balanced with several other peer and professional measures. Examine the validity of the PICES student evaluation tool as an instrument to measure the quality of teaching. Also examine the correlation of its ratings to course grade. Determine if the instrument needs to be revised, replaced or supplemented by another instrument.
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It is critical that these changes take place simultaneously in order to properly reward and measure the recommended changes in pedagogy. For example, requiring increased faculty development in pedagogy and new teaching evaluations will not be successful if these are not concomitant with changes in the P&T reward structure. The cultural shift to student learning can only take place if it is clear that this is valued, and the reward structure is a concrete indicator of what is expected and valued from faculty.
INITIATIVE 2. STEM Public Policy and Leadership With reports such as those of the Spellings Commission and the NCLB movement, it is important that Purdue be a leader in shaping and influencing policy with respect to higher education. It would be particularly important to act proactively regarding the quality of undergraduate education before an NCLB-like approach becomes mandated for higher education. Making the case for adequate and sustained funding and support is principally a matter of giving clear indication of the benefits to be accrued as well as periodic updates of progress to date. Given the current concerns about the global competiveness of the US economy, the recognized need for STEM education to prepare more adaptable and agile graduates for a rapidly evolving world, and the technological dimensions of national and global grand challenges, this case is already being made in a variety of fora(6, 9, 10). While the case itself is relatively easy to make, it must be made to the proper audiences—those who control the purse strings not only within state and federal agencies, but also their Congressional and legislative overseers. Though many legislators are concerned about their states’ or the nation’s competitiveness, most are not aware of STEM education and research, nor have they considered it as a policy option. Despite this lack of political momentum, a general interest in STEM education issues and a search for solutions among policymakers may be a sufficient opening to raise the profile of STEM education and research. We need to lead an advocacy effort with state and national legislators to influence national policy-making and increase the U.S. government’s commitment to STEM education and research. We also need to develop partnerships with national media to develop pop-culture appeal in television programming, music, and/or games, such as an award-winning television series, such as CSI, that features STEM careers at work. This can be partly accomplished by partnering with national professional organizations, major networks, television producers, educators, media consultants, etc., to develop concept, strategy, and content ideas. To accomplish our goals it is proposed to establish a multi-disciplinary Institute for STEM Public Policy and Leadership that will strongly facilitate the ongoing mission and strategic vision of Purdue University. This Institute will be a conceptually innovative and interdisciplinary effort that addresses the urgent, and well-documented, national need to stem the rapid erosion of scientific and technological leadership in the United States and to build support for educating a competitive workforce for a global, technologically complex knowledge economy. This Institute
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has the potential to become a role model for similar future endeavors across the country and will establish Purdue as a national leader in this important area.
INITIATIVE 3. Articulation between Research and Scholarship in P-20 STEM Teaching and Learning and Classroom Practice Purdue has a growing core of STEM education researchers who are faculty members in contentarea departments and/or education departments. In many cases, these faculty are associated with one or more umbrella organizations dealing with educational research on campus, such as Discovery Learning Center (DLC), the Center for Research and Engagement in Science and Mathematics Education (CRESME) or the Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning (INSPIRE). The work of many of these researchers is nationally and internationally renowned. We recommend that steps be taken to help catalyze the articulation between this research field and teaching practice in P-20 classes, especially those at Purdue. To do so requires a strong cadre of people to carry out this type of translational research leading to best practices. Achieving this has the potential to provide Purdue with immense recognition, both nationally and internationally. As summarized in Figure 1 from the overview of this document, educational research reaches into several areas that affect student success, but only if the articulation to practice takes place. As a large university, Purdue can provide a leading example to other institutions for achieving excellence not only in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, but also in reflecting it in Purdue’s student experience. Recommendations: 1. Catalyze and support translational research in teaching and learning and the development of best practices through a unifying body. For example, DLC can play a leadership role to build the STEM educational research community at Purdue and to catalyze these articulation activities across campus 2. Increase targeted/cluster faculty hiring to continue building core areas in STEM education research. The College of Science “focus area” hiring in Science Education can serve as a seed for this effort, but it should be University-wide. 3. Create a public forum in which anyone involved in teaching or educational endeavors can avail themselves of practical information from the scholarship and research on teaching and learning. This may include an internal publication highlighting this work, equivalent to “rapid communications” publications in science. This may include a connection to the recommended “professional development” activities for all faculty discussed in Initiative 1c. This may include an annual University-wide lecture series in which a STEMresearch faculty member presents their work both from a research perspective but also from an “articulation to practice” perspective.
Best Practices Associated with these Initiatives Talent Enhancement The overall focus of these initiatives is talent enhancement. There are multiple levels of talent enhancement: the culture of Purdue will become more focused on the identification Attracting Students to STEM Careers
11
and development of student talent; P-12 teachers will become more effective enhancers of STEM talent; P-16 students will benefit from enhanced STEM talent development opportunities; and all Purdue faculty will have opportunities to enhance their teaching talents and become more effective talent enhancers for their students. In addition, we will build on the strength of our Research and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning efforts. Diversity Each component of these initiatives will help develop diversity among students in STEM disciplines and at Purdue as a whole. Initiative 1a, concerned with recruitment and admissions, will result in a more diverse applicant pool to Purdue and will ensure that a more diverse group of Indiana students are receiving opportunities to engage in high level math and science preparation. Initiative 1b, concerned with retention and support, recommends several steps that have already been recognized to have increased impact among female and minority students. Thus, these will help to ensure that diverse students can succeed in STEM disciplines and majors. Initiative 1c, concerned with faculty development, will enhance pedagogy at Purdue to be more inclusive of diverse student audiences, not just with respect to gender and race/ethnicity, but also with respect to learning styles. Among the types of professional development activities that faculty will engage in is diversity training as it relates to the classroom. This will help to ensure that faculty are providing all students with a high-quality, rewarding experience regardless of race/ethnicity, sex, religion, socio-economic status or physical disabilities. In addition, it is recommended that every effort be made to hire a diverse faculty to serve as role models for Purdue students. In recruitment, it would be important to have a diverse recruiting team, with STEM background, to be able to better attract diverse, high-ability students. International Awareness Research in STEM education is an international endeavor. A particular challenge in the field is to attract and retain students and to provide them a rigorous preparation that positions the nation for global competition in the knowledge economy. By successfully bridging the excellence in its research programs to excellence in the educational experience, Purdue can be a leading example for other nations seeking to do the same. Furthermore, this will position Purdue to attract talented international students to its programs. Resources Resources will be required to: support a course-release semester for faculty to engage in faculty development activities enhance services and programs of CIE provide proper development and oversight of teaching evaluation protocols and policies enhance out-of-state recruitment efforts, including an increase in the number and diversity of recruiters, and recruiters specifically with STEM background create financial packages for out-of-state students hire new faculty hire staff and director for an Institute on STEM Public Policy and Leadership
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Potential sources include Federal, State and private sectors. In general, resources to support programs that facilitate STEM education are currently very popular because many stakeholders, from state and federal agencies to foundations and industrial partners, believe that changes can be made in STEM education through strategic infusions of funds. Access to this support is facilitated at all levels beginning with individual researchers as the "broader impacts" section of their grant proposals, to the campus Development Office for foundations and alums including efforts coordinated through Departmental and Research Office personnel to governmental affairs officers. For example, all agencies in the federal government based in STEM expertise provide support. These include the bigger players like the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health as well as others like DOE, NASA, NIST, and NOAA. Each of these agencies should be mined for funding. Many of the agencies concentrate on undergraduate research experiences and the development of STEM students through to the PhD. NSF also sponsors projects for course and laboratory development, through the Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) programs. Our state government is interested in increasing the aspirations of Indiana students to a more rigorous course of study. For some of these programs our congressional delegation may be helpful, particularly with the D. of Ed. Foundations and industrial partners also focus on the preparation of science teachers and raising student aspirations particularly from the point of view of competing in a flat world and for educational equity. Recently the State of Ohio received a large grant from the Gates foundation. We should also approach this program with a campus-wide systemic improvement proposal. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHM)I also supports systemic education grants in the life sciences. Many of these ideas resonate with alums who in particular would like to see Purdue maintain its reputation for overall quality in STEM degree programs. The current campus fund raising campaign has as its theme student success. This may be an opportunity to receive funds to build our student support services for retention of majors. Finally, there are sources of funds from on-going student fees that may be tapped to pay for supplemental instructional services that are important for the retention of some of our students. Facilities Many classroom spaces are designed as lecture halls for tremendous numbers of students at one time – a design dating back thousands of years to early Greek architecture. The physical arrangement of these spaces make it nearly impossible to carry out any other kind of teaching and may, in fact, help to perpetuate the misconception that talking at students is an effective way to help students learn. In order to facilitate a shift to pedagogies that engage the learner and promote collaborative team work, efforts will need to be undertaken to redesign classroom spaces. Furthermore, additional spaces that allow for informal learning in groups and allow for the nurturing of student communities should be developed in every classroom building. Management/Stewardship These initiatives can be co-directed by the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and the Vice Provost for Engagement, with the assistance of the Director of Admissions, the P-12
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Engagement Center Director, the Director of the Discovery Learning Center and the Associate Deans for Undergraduate Education. Communication/Positioning The recommendations proposed in these initiatives would position Purdue to play a leadership role nationally in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and within the state with respect to improving education. These will position Purdue to attract more students with high levels of preparation and interest in STEM disciplines, which will in turn help to drive Purdue’s excellent research activities. For communication on campus, it is recommended that a STEM leadership council be created of key campus individuals in the area of STEM education (i.e., Discovery Learning Center Director, Discovery Park K-12 Director; K-12 Engagement Coordinator in the ViceProvost for Engagement Office, Director of the Center for Instructional Services) who will serve to disseminate information, including developing an annual report summarizing Purdue’s accomplishments in the area of STEM education, research and engagement. For communication off campus, it is recommended to organize an external advisory committee of key stakeholders in the area of STEM education that would meet biannually or annually, both to provide input to Purdue on its efforts, but also to learn about what is taking place. This committee should consist of government leaders, educators and K-12 educational leaders, researchers, and academic leaders at other higher education institutions. Evaluation/Metrics Number and diversity of students admitted as a % of those who applied by College and major. Number and diversity of in- and out-of-state students applying to STEM majors by major. Number and diversity of students graduating from Indiana high schools with the background needed for admission into STEM majors at Purdue. AP Performance levels of in-state students. Number of P-12 STEM initiatives undertaken with impact data on the effectiveness of those initiative in improving P-12 STEM learning. D/F/W rates from first and second year STEM classes. Dropout and CODO rates from STEM majors. Student attitudes about their major programs. Department reports of curricular and faculty evaluation revisions. # STEM courses conducted in inquiry-based, problem-based, or issue-based formats. Learning outcomes assessments from freshman and sophomore STEM classes that focus on the thinking and problem solving processes critical to the STEM disciplines. Graduation and one-year retention rates of students, by College, by gender and by race/ethnicity. Faculty perceptions of the relative weight of discovery, learning and engagement in the P&T process. # of grants submitted that have a STEM education focus Annual dollar amount of research expenditures on grants with a primary focus on STEM education Number and percentage of faculty involved in STEM education research Impact data on the effectiveness of STEM education models
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REFERENCES 1. Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, The National Academies Press. Washington, DC: 2007. 2. S. A. Jackson, The Quiet Crisis: Falling Short in Producing American Scientific and Technical Talent, Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST). San Diego, CA: 2002. http://www.bestworkforce.org 3. Science and Engineering Indicators, National Science Board. Washington, DC: 2004 (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/); 2006 (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/). 4. A National Action Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the U.S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education System, National Science Board. Washington, DC: 2007. (http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/edu_com/draft_stem_report.pdf). 5. America’s Pressing Challenge – Building a Stronger Foundation: A Companion to Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, National Science Board. Washington, DC: 2006. (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsb0602/nsb0602.pdf). 6. K. Haghighi (2005). Quiet No Longer: Birth of a New Discipline, Journal of Engineering Education 94, pp. 351-353. 7. E. Seymour and N. Hewitt, Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences, Westview Press. Boulder, CO. 2000. 8. J. Keil and P. J. Partell, The Effect of Class Size on Student Performance and Retention at Binghamton University, Office of Budget and Institutional Research, Binghamton University, 1997. (http://buoir.binghamton.edu/papers/Class_size_jkpp1997.pdf). 9. J.J. Duderstadt, Engineering for a Changing World: A Roadmap to the Future of Engineering Practice, Research, and Education, The Millennium Project, The University of Michigan, 2008. 10. National Science Board, Moving Forward to Improve Engineering Education, NSB 07122, Arlington, VA.
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References
APPENDIX A: SOURCES OF INPUT TO THE STEM CAREERS WORKING GROUP Office of Institutional Research – statistical data. Meetings with undergraduate and graduate student governments. Attended presentation by Office of Enrollment Management. Meeting with Center directors and staff (CRESME, DLC, INSPIRE, GERI). Meeting with EPICS Director, William Oakes. Meeting with Center for Instructional Excellence Director, Marne Helgeson. Meeting with Dale Whittaker, Associate Dean of Agriculture. Meetings with other team chairs, Susan Curtis (Synergies) and Jackie Jimerson (Student Success) Open Fora (December 10, 2007 and January 24, 2008). Guiding Questions used: 1. What are your suggestions for things that could be done to help retain and graduate students who enter a STEM major at Purdue University? 2. What are your suggestions for initiatives/activities that would increase the number, diversity, and quality of students who apply to a STEM major at Purdue University? 3. What factors contribute to students leaving the STEM disciplines (either as change of degree objective or as withdrawal)? 4. What factors encourage students to choose a STEM discipline as a major?
Brown-bag Discussion on January 10, 2008, with Undergrad Education personnel in each college (30 attendees). Student-focused Open Forum (February 13, 2008). Guiding Questions used: 1. What are your suggestions for ways to ensure that the first and second year experiences help students excel and succeed in their STEM coursework? 2. What are your suggestions for ways to inspire and support students who enter with a declared major in STEM to graduate in their intended major?
Strategic Planning Blog Site, (47 postings). Meetings with Director of Admissions, Pamela Horne. In addition, the STEM Careers working group met 16 times on the following dates: o Tue. Nov 12, 2007 o Mon. Jan 28, 2008 o Mon. Dec 3, 2007 o Thu. Jan 31, 2008 o Mon. Dec 10, 2007 o Mon. Feb 4, 2008 o Mon. Dec 17, 2007 o Fri. Feb 8, 2008 o Thu. Jan 3, 2008 o Mon. Feb 11,2008 o Mon. Jan 7, 2008 o Thu. Feb 14, 2008 o Mon. Jan 14, 2008 o Mon. Feb 18, 2008 o Tue. Jan 22, 2008 o Fri. Feb 22, 2008
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Appendix A
APPENDIX B: PURDUE ENROLLMENT TRENDS In the Colleges of Science and Engineering, significant drops in enrollment occur early on. Fresh-Senior Enrollment as a Percentage of Freshman Enrollment Based on Entering Cohort from 2003-04. (Size of Entering Cohort Shown in Parentheses in Legend.)
250%
AG (373)
225%
CFS (242)
TECH
Number of Students
200%
ED (221) LibA (1463)
175%
MGMT (576)
150%
CFS-STEM
125%
TECH (692) AG-STEM
(230)
100%
AG-STEM ENG
75%
CFS-STEM
(57)
ENG (1687)
SCI
SCI (787)
50% 0
1
2
3
4
5
Overall 1-year retention rates at Purdue are approximately 85% (Âą1 over 10 years). The value is lower for Science and for Engineering (see charts on next page). 1-year retention rates indicate that there is a disparity in retention of underrepresented minority students versus majority students (see charts on next page).
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Appendix B- 1
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Appendix B- 2
The 1-year retention by gender does not show as large a disparity.
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Appendix B- 3
APPENDIX C: PREPARATION OF ENTERING PURDUE STUDENTS Comparisons to Peer Institutions: Average SAT Scores of Enrolled Freshman at Peer Institutions 1400
1300
1200
1146
1100
1000
900
75th Percentile Math and Verbal SAT Scores of Enrolled Freshman at Peer Institutions 800 700
Math Verbal
600 500
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Appendix C- 1
Academic Profiles of Entering Students 2005-06 Beginners School Agriculture Engineering Science CFS
Group NONSTEM STEM STEM STEM NONSTEM STEM
HSGPA 3.39 N/A 3.65 3.36 3.34 3.51
HSRANK 64.86 N/A 61.71 55.51 53.36 72.09
SAT CR 528 N/A 596 577 536 536
SAT MATH 547 N/A 665 629 543 554
ACT COMP 23 N/A 28 26 23 24
SAT MATH 543 N/A 667 626 549 538
ACT COMP 23 N/A 28 26 24 22
SAT MATH 548 547 667 609 544 554
ACT COMP 24 24 28 26 23 24
2006-07 Beginners School Agriculture Engineering Science CFS
Group NONSTEM STEM STEM STEM NONSTEM STEM
HSGPA 3.39 N/A 3.66 3.43 3.40 3.37
HSRANK 64.59 N/A 59.46 52.41 57.81 57.27
SAT CR 524 N/A 593 566 525 525
2007-08 Beginners School Agriculture Engineering Science CFS
Group NONSTEM STEM STEM STEM NONSTEM STEM
HSGPA 3.43 3.50 3.66 3.50 3.42 3.56
HSRANK 67.44 87.00 58.27 58.91 55.43 53.56
SAT CR 532 543 593 566 525 537
Relationship between amount of high-school math and graduation rate:
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Appendix C- 2
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Appendix C- 3
APPENDIX D: DIVERSITY OF ENTERING PURDUE STUDENTS
AFRICAN AMERICAN, NONHISPANIC ASIAN AMERICAN / PACIFIC ISLANDER HISPANIC AMERICAN NATIVE AMERICAN / ALASKAN NATIVE CAUCASIAN/BLANK/OTHER
PU Overall
Colleges of SCI & ENG
PU STEM Total
NonSTEM Total
Indiana SAT takers*
4%
3%
3%
4%
6%
5%
7%
6%
5%
3%
3% 1%
3% 0%
3% 0%
3% 1%
3% 1%
87%
87%
88%
87%
87%
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Appendix D
APPENDIX E: ADMISSIONS RATES Comparisons to Peer Institutions:
Admissions Rates Comparisons (asterisk denotes peer institutions) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
Comparisons by College within Purdue:
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Appendix E
APPENDIX F: A SAMPLE OF EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH EFFORTS THAT ALREADY EXIST AT PURDUE There are a number of programs, initiatives and activities that faculty and staff are engaged in Purdue that help contribute to the improvement of STEM education in the state of Indiana. Listed here are only a small subsample of these, to serve as an example of the larger set. I-STEM The Indiana Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics resource network support K-12 education towards STEM literacy for all students. I-STEM focuses on teaching, learning, applied research, community partnerships and network development. Purdue is the lead institution of I-STEM, with eleven regional lead institutions across the state. (http://www.istemnetwork.org) The Indiana Interdisciplinary GK-12: Bringing Authentic Problem Solving in STEM to Rural Middle Schools This program offers a unique one-year fellowship for doctoral students in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to serve as "visiting scientists" in a program designed to instill the excitement of learning science into middle school classrooms. Teamed with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science and math teachers, fellows develop lesson plans and teach interdisciplinary-focused experiments that support and extend the science curriculum. (http://www.purdue.edu/dp/gk12/). GERI The Gifted Education Resource Institute at Purdue University conducts research into the psychology of gifted and talented individuals and effective educational practices for high ability youth. Super Saturday and the GERI Summer Camps, GERI's youth talent development programs, provide challenging learning opportunities and a healthy social environment to a diverse population of high ability children and teens. (http://www.geri.soe.purdue.edu/). Woodrow-Wilson Fellowships The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has selected Indiana as the first site for its new national fellowship for high school teachers, intended to help overhaul teacher education and encourage exceptionally able teacher candidates to seek long-term careers in high-need classrooms. A grant from the Lilly Endowment of $10,161,106 will support the Indiana program, which focuses on high school math and science teaching. The Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship will provide Fellows with a $30,000 stipend to complete a year-long master's program at one of four selected Indiana universities - Ball State University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Purdue University, and the University of Indianapolis. Fellows are then placed in a high-need urban or rural school that has committed to provide ongoing mentoring. In turn, they agree to teach in Indiana for three years. Purdue’s program focuses on teaching in rural schools.
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Appendix F
APPENDIX G: PURDUE DATA ON CHANGE OF DEGREE OBJECTIVE (CODO) CODO out of a Particular College: Annual average proportion of outbound transfers (proportions relate to individual college enrollement) 35%
Percentage
30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% VET TECH CFS
AG
EDU MGMT LIB A. ENG PHARM SCI
CODO into a Particular College Annual average proportion of inbound transfers (proportions relate to individual college enrollement) 30%
Percentage
25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% CFS MGMT LIB A TECH EDU PHARM AG
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
SCI
VET
ENG
Appendix G-1
Net CODO Rates Annual net transfer rates for Purdue colleges (values are relative to individual college enrollment, with positive values indicating net gains, and negative values indicating net losses) 30%
Percentage
20% 10% 0% CFS TECH MGMT LIB A VET
EDU
AG
ENG PHARM SCI
-10% -20% -30%
Where students transfer to, from Colleges of Science and Engineering
Destinations of Engineering student transfers
Destinations of Science student transfers
35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Appendix G-2
APPENDIX H: PURDUE GRADUATION RATES Overall Purdue Retention and Graduation Rates (data from Office of Enrollment Management, presentation given on January 14, 2008).
Comparison to other Big Ten Universities (data from Office of Enrollment Management, presentation given on January 14, 2008).
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
Appendix H-1
Comparisons by Race/Ethnicity within Colleges of Science and Engineering demonstrate that we are not doing a good job of graduating underrepresented minority students in particular.
Comparisons by gender within the Colleges of Science and Engineering that there may be better persistence for female students in Engineering. However, the percentage of female students in Attracting Students to STEM Careers
Appendix H-2
that College is undesirably low. In the College of Science, the gender discrepancies are insignificant with respect to 6-year graduation and representation.
Category and Number of Students
6-Year Retention by Gender - College of Engineering (2001-2002 Cohort)
Female (267)
64%
Male (1388)
20%
57%
0%
20%
8% 13%
19%
40%
60%
3% 12%
80%
Graduated - ENG Graduated - Other Enrolled - ENG Enrolled - Other Dropped Withdrew
100%
Category and Number of Students
6-Year Retention by Gender - College of Science (2001-2002 Cohort)
37%
Female (252)
40%
5%
Graduated - SCI
16%
Graduated - other Enrolled - SCI Enrolled - other Dropped 35%
Male (227)
0%
20%
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
33%
40%
11%
60%
80%
Withdrew
19%
100%
Appendix H-3
APPENDIX I: LEARNING COMMUNITIES RETENTION RATES (Data and information from Office of Enrollment Management, presentation given on January 14, 2008) At Purdue, Learning Communities (LCs) are defined as academic programs that: Co-enroll a group of 20-30 first-year students in two or more courses based on an academic major or theme; or, Place a group of first-year students on the same residence hall based on an academic major or theme; or, Do both. Fall 2007 student participation: 1,395 first-year students Minorities constituted 17.92% of the Learning Communities participants compared to 13.65% of the new first-year class Women constituted 55.84% of the Learning Communities participants compared to 43.48% of the new first-year class. Learning community participants show higher retention and better performance, relative to comparable groups who are not in learning communities. Aggregate Retention Rates for Learning Community Participants and Non- Participants Inclusive of the 1999-2005 Fall Cohorts of New Beginner First Year Students 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year Retention Retention Retention Participants 87.4% 2 78.6% 72.7% 3 Male Non-participants 84.7% 76.8% 71.8% Participants 88.9% 1 82.1% 1 77.5% 1 Female Non-participants 84.8% 77.3% 72.0% Participants 88.6% 1 81.3% 76.0% 1 1 Caucasian Non-participants 85.4% 78.0% 67.0% Participants 85.3% 74.3% 70.1% 4 3 Minority* Non-participants 80.7% 72.2% 65.9% Participants 88.14% 80.19% 75.23% 1 3 2 Total Non-participants 84.98% 77.47% 72.45% * Includes African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American students. These classifications are self reported by students. 1 difference significant at p 2 difference significant at p 3 difference significant at p 4 difference significant at p
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
<.0001 <.001 <.01 <.10
Appendix I
APPENDIX J: EXPERIENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR STEM UNDERGRADUATES EPICS – Engineering Projects in Community Service EPICS is a unique program in which teams of undergraduates are designing, building, and deploying real systems to solve engineering-based problems for local community service and education organizations. EPICS was founded at Purdue University in Fall 1995. Each team has a multi-year partnership with a community service or education organization. Projects are in four broad areas: human services, access and abilities, education and outreach, and the environment. Purdue EPICS teams have delivered over 150 projects to their community partners. Each team of 8 to 18 students includes freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Teams are advised by Purdue faculty, staff, and engineers from local industry, along with graduate teaching assistants. Students earn 1 or 2 academic credits each semester and may register for up to four years. Projects may last several years, so tasks of significant size and impact can be tackled. In the 2003-2004 academic year, over 400 Purdue students from 20 different departments participated on 25 multidisciplinary teams. Over 2000 Purdue students have participated in EPICS to date. Purdue’s EPICS program is the national model in engineering for marrying learning and engagement. With support from the National Science Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service plus Microsoft Research, Hewlett-Packard, and National Instruments, EPICS programs are operating at 15 universities. Over 1350 students participated on 140 teams in 2003-04. Peer teams at multiple EPICS sites are collaborating to address community problems of national scope. Purdue is headquarters for the National EPICS Program. (http://epics.ecn.purdue.edu/). CASPiE – The Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education The goal of the CASPiE program is to provide students with research experiences as part of the curriculum in their mainstream science courses, rather than making research an extracurricular activity for students. In this project the laboratory experiments are a component of a larger research project of a scientist. Students are engaged in experimental design and hypothesis testing within the scope of the larger research question, and thus gain experience with the authentic process of science. In turn, the data that the students collect are intended to be used as part of that researcher’s work and, if possible, contribute to publishable work. CASPiE is funded through the Undergraduate Research Centers (URC) program of the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation. It was the first URC funded in the nation. The primary institution is Purdue University, with a network of higher education institutions that includes six 2-year colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions and research institutions. To date, CASPiE has been used at 11 institutions and has involved over 1700 students in research experiences through courses in the first and second-year Chemistry curriculum. (http://www.caspie.org). SENCER – Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities. SENCER is a model for engaging in service learning in science. The SENCER Institute makes available educational materials that are suitable as the curricular materials for undergraduate courses of many levels and science disciplines. SENCER was initiated in 2001 under the
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
Appendix J-1
National Science Foundation's CCLI national dissemination track. Since then, SENCER has established and supported an ever-growing community of faculty, students, academic leaders, and others to improve undergraduate STEM education by connecting learning to critical civic questions. SENCER is the signature program of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement, which was established in affiliation with Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. SENCER improves science education by focusing on real world problems and, by so doing, extends the impact of this learning across the curriculum to the broader community and society. This is accomplished by developing faculty expertise in teaching "to" basic, canonical science and mathematics "through" complex, capacious, often unsolved problems of civic consequence. Using materials, assessment instruments, and research developed in the SENCER project, faculty design curricular projects that connect science learning to real world challenges. (http://www.sencer.net/).
Attracting Students to STEM Careers
Appendix J-2