- Year 2016
- NSF Noyce Award # 1239945
- First Name Maria
- Last Name Rivera Maulucci
- Discipline Elementary Education, Mathematics
- Co-PI(s)
Lisa Edstrom, Barnard College, elisa@barnard.edu
- Presenters
Lisa Edstrom, Barnard College, elisa@barnard.edu
; Maria Rivera Maulucci, Barnard College, mriveram@barnard.edu
; Ishrat Ahmed, Barnard College, ia2267@barnard.edu
Need
This poster will present our research on a course connected to our colloquium series entitled Current Issues in STEM Education. The colloquium series serves the need of introducing a wide audience to issues in STEM Education by targeting both the public and students enrolled in the college. The course is open to all students in the university, and attracts students from all four of our undergraduate colleges. It is a requirement for Noyce Scholars. This research allows us to understand the ways in which the course is broadening students understanding of issues in STEM education, and suggest pathways for improvement.
Goals
In the Colloquium: Current Issues in STEM Education, we seek to introduce students to a wide variety of topics related to STEM Education. The STEM Education Colloquium is a series of talks that runs each semester for the public as well as for an attached one-credit course. By offering this colloquium series and attached course, we hope to open doors that allow students to imagine how they may become STEM educators or work in STEM fields in ways that may also benefit the development of students in those fields. Students attend four colloquia per in a given semester. These are talks by invited presenters. Presentations topics range from issues in STEM education to research in STEM fields. Presentations are followed by an instructor led conversation in which the class explores the implications of the presentation for K-16 education. Common Core and Next Generation Standards are incorporated into the discussions as appropriate. Students are asked to make connections to their own lives. Following the class session, the conversation continues with students posting initial thoughts and responses to one another on an online discussion board.
Approach
In attempting to understand how students are making sense of the talks, we have employed document analysis to examine the written work produced by students. This written work has been chosen because all students are responding to the same prompts, creating a data set based on a limited number of questions. We are looking at Exit Slips, Discussion Posts, and Final Papers for the following:
** Indication of new learning
** Making personal connections to the presentation content or presentation topic
** Making connections with STEM topics to their understanding of K-16 education
** Developing understandings of the complexities of K-16 education
Outcomes
At this point, our data has revealed:
** Students are making connections. They are making connections personally to the presentations. They are also making connections between STEM topics and issues in K-16 education.
** Students are indicating a wide variety of new learning related to each talk. This includes learning about technology and pedagogical practices as well as the context in which STEM education is situated.
** Students are grappling with complex issues related to STEM education.
We will be exploring the specific ways in which students are developing new knowledge about issues in STEM education as a result of this colloquium series and attached course.
Broader Impacts
The Colloquium series is open to the public and the attached course is open to all undergraduates and interested graduate students at Columbia University as well as students visiting from other colleges. Although the course is required for Noyce Scholars, its reach goes far beyond those students each year. This year we had a total of 53 students attending the course. In addition to the course, the talks attract members of the community who are interested in learning more about issues in STEM education. We have had local K-12 educators, high school students and additional faculty from Barnard and the Columbia University community attend talks.
To disseminate information about the colloquium series, we reach out to local school partners, inviting teachers, administrators and families to our events. We hang flyers around campus and make use of websites and electronic bulletin boards to spread the word more broadly.
