A nighttime view of earth from space

Post workshop

This page archives some of the other outputs, conference presentations, panel discussions, blog posts and more that have emerged from the STEM Futures project.

Society of Information Technology in Teacher Education, 2021 Annual Conference

Scragg, B., Davis, T., Norton, M., Mishra, P., & Anbar, A. (2021). Designing the future of undergraduate STEM education: An inter-institutional and interdisciplinary approach. Paper presented at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, 2021 Annual Conference. [Slides of the presentation]*

* This paper received the outstanding paper award at the SITE 2021 conference.

Abstract: STEM education has received increased attention lately. What has received less attention is what the substance of STEM education can and should be. Effective STEM education requires going beyond mere knowledge of STEM disciplines; it needs the development of creativity, ingenuity, and the ability to work collaboratively. Most importantly, it needs a sensitivity to the broader social and the ethical contexts within which we live and work. In this paper we describe the STEM Futures project: a virtual design studio experience for higher-education faculty in STEM disciplines to develop innovative new undergraduate programs and curriculum materials. The goal was to advance visions for STEM education that go beyond the acquisition of content knowledge to integrate creative mindsets and humanistic values. The design studios were organized around a framework (Kereluik, et. al., 2013) that integrates three broad categories of knowledge: foundational knowledge, meta knowledge, and humanistic knowledge. During the studios, more than 100 educators from institutions of higher education across the United States worked collaboratively in teams to develop a diverse and innovative set of curricular design products, including degree and certificate programs, which were designed for a broad array of audiences. Our data suggest that these studios were not just effective and useful, but that the studios also successfully integrated the three broad knowledge domains.

2021 AAAS Annual Meeting

The future of STEM education: A conversation with Arial Anbar, Punya Mishra & Trina Davis, moderated by Larry Ragan

Description: We live in rapidly changing world in which tomorrow’s citizens must be able to understand, discover, develop, and implement innovative and principled solutions to complex, STEM-infused problems. The solutions will need to go beyond mere knowledge of STEM disciplines and so STEM students will need to learn creativity, ingenuity, and the ability to work collaboratively. And they will need to understand the broader social and the ethical contexts within which we live and work. This conversation will consider how these needs can shape the future of STEM education, focusing on a recently concluded, NSF-supported, ASU-led project, The Future Substance of STEM Education (stem-futures.org). This virtual design workshop, using a web-based infrastructure developed by Carlton College, involved more than 100 diverse college STEM educators. They were provided resources, tools, frameworks and time to collaboratively develop innovative curricular programs and materials that go beyond the acquisition of core content knowledge. This work built on a framework which organizes STEM curriculum design around the integration of three broad categories of knowledge: foundational knowledge (core STEM content knowledge); meta knowledge (skills, mindsets, and attitudes that address the process of working with foundational knowledge); and humanistic knowledge (human-centered values we bring to our knowledge and action).

Public Interest Technology 2020 Convening

Embedding humanistic values in STEM: A panel discussion with Ariel Anbar, Punya Mishra, Richard Pitt and Roba Abbas. Moderated by Larry Ragan

Description: Dr Lawrence Ragan moderated a panel on humanistic values in STEM education. Ariel Anbar and Punya Mishra discussed the state of play in STEM and the fact that we are underprepared at multiple levels for the economic, environmental, and societal disruptions that accompany the advance of global civilization and technology. With the assistance of Richard Pitt, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California San Diego, the panel will ask the question whether humanistic knowledge of values is what will remedy this problem and Roba Abbas, Lecturer in Digital Business will discuss engaging students in the research-teaching nexus, to ensure learning-by-doing. Humanistic knowledge includes attributes that provide a learner with a vision and narrative of the self within social contexts, scaling from local to global.

Inside HigherEd

Bankston, A. (2021). Be bold, be entrepreneurial: Adriana Bankston offers advice on how to advance your career as  an early-career scientist. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/02/23/advice-early-career-scientists-opinion

Abstract: Adriana Bankston’s interests revolve around empowering early-career scientists to make a positive impact in society. To this end, Adriana describes a few principles by which early-career scientists may forge their own unique career path. The main takeaways from this post for early-career scientists are: be bold and entrepreneurial, and say yes to professional growth opportunities. For Adriana, participating in “The Future of STEM Education” workshop provided opportunities to network and build relationships with professionals that had similar interests, and to build a certificate program focused on training the next generation to translate their science into policy making. In this post, Adriana also emphasizes the importance of mentors in science policy and thinking strategically about experiences that will open new doors and may take you down unexpected career directions as an early-career scientist.