Curricular products
The final output of the workshop included a diverse and innovative set of curricular design products, including: 9 concentration & certificate programs; 7 efforts for courses, course components, or curricular alignments; 6 degree programs; and 3 training and professional development programs. These designs spanned traditional disciplines such as Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Engineering, and Health, as well as more interdisciplinary STEM programs. These materials were targeted at a broad array of audiences including STEM majors and non-majors, first-year students, disciplinary majors in upper-level courses, college faculty, preservice teachers, student leaders, and college STEM-bound high school students.
Despite the range of content covered and audiences targeted by these different curricular designs, one thing stayed constant: the intentional, meaningful and contextually relevant integration of foundational, meta, and humanistic knowledge.
The collection below includes details of each of these curricular design initiatives as well as an associated sub-element (such as activities, course descriptions, handbooks etc.) to clarify the direction and substance of the larger product.
Sample major in Integrated Science and Engineering, specifically aimed at 9-12 Educators
Shanthi Ayyadhury, IFLEED INSTITUTE OF MATH AND SCIENCE; Horacio Ferriz, California State University-Stanislaus
We offer a sample -4-year major to prepare the science and engineering high school teachers of the future, which emphasizes integrated (i.e., not in silos) science and engineering, humanistic ethics, and thoughtful reflection of what the goal of being "a teacher" is all about.
A Course Scaffold for Integrating Science and Culture: A Water Example
Amy Charkowski, Colorado State University; Hugo Gutierrez, University of Texas at El Paso; Sharon Locke, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Joey Nelson, Stanford University; Tracy Wacker, University of Michigan-Flint
The History and Future of Water integrates the sciences and humanities. This course will engage students with different perspectives (e.g, economics, geological, hydrological, societal) on the history of water and guide students to integrate these with their own perspectives based on personal and cultural beliefs. This integrated understanding will lead students to a STEM-informed and culturally-informed approach for thinking about water sustainability and resiliency. Students create a digital portfolio over the entirety of the course that showcases this integrated learning for them as an individual to be shared with other students, thereby learning from one another's cultural backgrounds and experiences. Instructors can easily adapt this course to fit their disciplinary expertise and specific group of students!
An Interactive Fiction Game for Information Literacy in STEM Courses
Dana Atwood-Blaine, University of Northern Iowa; David Grant, University of Northern Iowa; Anne Marie Gruber, University of Northern Iowa
This is a digital interactive fiction game for undergraduate STEM students to "choose their own adventure" and engage in, practice, and learn information literacy skills. Within a science-fiction scenario with characters crafted to reflect diversity in science, students will evaluate and act upon provided information types and sources to understand a mysterious set of events that unfold on their arrival at an outpost on Saturn's moon, Titan. Gameplay and post-play reflective activities will require critical thinking, problem-solving, and dealing with ambiguity in order to unravel different potential endings about the existence of an extraterrestrial life form. Thus, effective gameplay will require players to draw upon foundational, meta, and humanistic knowledge domains.
Creation of a revised Biochemistry and Molecular BS degree integrating the humanistic, metacognitive, and foundational knowledge domains
Tammy Clark, Viterbo University; Scott Gabriel, Viterbo University
Viterbo University's revised Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Bachelor of Science Program aims to prepare future students for healthcare and STEM-related careers by integrating foundational, meta, and humanistic knowledge. This holistic approach is critical as the problems in our world continue to increase in complexity and involve an increasing amount of diversity of approaches and viewpoints. This integration is achieved through a curriculum that invites students to use knowledge in applied settings such as course-embedded research, service-learning, and community building both on and off-campus. Students will participate in an annual biochemistry symposium and related seminar course that showcase the complexity of science-related issues within our world.
Systems and Solutions Certificate
Meghann Jarchow, University of South Dakota; Ranjeet John, University of South Dakota; Karen Koster, University of South Dakota; KC Santosh, University of South Dakota; Bess Vlaisavljevich, University of South Dakota
The Systems and Solutions Certificate will prepare students from all disciplines to use systems thinking and STEM tools to model complex systems and to use design thinking to innovate and iterate toward solutions within these systems. We strive to educate and graduate the leaders who will solve the future's most pressing challenges. Understanding and solving these challenges requires preparing students to create knowledge and innovate within complex systems. We propose undergraduate and graduate certificates in Systems and Solutions within the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Dakota.
Developing professional identity through a student portfolio: solutions for undergraduate environmental science
Jacquelyn Kelly - University of Phoenix, Dr. Eve Krahe - University of Phoenix, Dr. Susan Hadley - University of Phoenix, Mary Elizabeth Smith - University of Phoenix
The program portfolio is a student project that spans across the core coursework in the undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science (BS/EVS). Deliverables from multiple core courses contribute toward portfolio creation. The completed portfolio is assessed in the final portfolio course of the program. Students will be able to use their portfolios to demonstrate career-readiness to potential employers and as a personal model and process for professional growth.
University of Maryland, Baltimore CURE Scholars Program: A Culminating Design Thinking Capstone Experience
Dr. TaShara Bailey, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Dr. Gia Grier McGinnis, University of Maryland, Baltimore*, Sequoia Wright, University of Maryland, Baltimore
The UMB CURE Scholars Program is a year-round, holistic STEM and healthcare pipeline program for West Baltimore middle and high school youth. Scholars enter the program at 6th grade and continue through the end of high school. CURE provides afterschool and summer programming, and annual STEM exposition fair, as well as social-emotional support and parent and community engagement through its social work program. High school scholars participate in paid summer internships in partnership with Baltimore City's summer employment program. As the oldest scholars are now juniors, we seek to design a culminating project-based capstone experience ending in their 12th grade year that would allow them to synthesize their work from the prior six years of effort through a Design Thinking Framework. Ultimately, we ask the questions, "What does it mean to "graduate" from the CURE Program?" and "What knowledge and skills do they need to demonstrate readiness for STEM/healthcare college and career programs?"
The Scientific Process in a Changing World
Jordan Axelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Michelle Kovarik, Trinity College; Jeff Moore, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
We have designed in detail a single course to serve as the first in an envisioned sequence of courses for a certificate in science literacy. There are two phases to the course. An initial case study will exemplify how the scientific process played out in a historical context. In the second phase, students will produce a final report about a contemporary socioscientific issue, present their results to the class, and generate a "publishable" product.
Scientific Solutions for Society (SS4S) Certificate Program
Adriana Bankston, Co-Director, Policy Taskforce, Future of Research & Chief Outreach Officer, Journal of Science Policy and Governance (JSPG); Peggy Biga, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Chris Bolden, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Teresa Eastburn, University of Colorado at Boulder; Harinder Singh, University of California-Irvine
Scientific Solutions for Society (SS4S) is a graduate & professional certificate program aimed at training participants to solve key societal problems of today and the future using science and innovation. The program will focus on effective science communication, the impact and processes of establishing policies, and the principles of sustainability and real time assessment of innovations for society at local & global level. Participants will gain essential skills to be applied in solving real world problems and develop leadership skills by serving as trainers for subsequent course offerings.
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DGE-1747486. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.