The University of Colorado is establishing a Distributed Center for STEM Education Research and Transformation that integrates education projects across the campus. The Center addresses the three themes outlined in the National Academy of Science report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm". These are: (1) Teachers in K-12 education (10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds), (2) Research (Sowing Seeds), and (3) Higher Education (Best and Brightest). This Distributed Center involves eight traditional departments in three colleges and schools, including: Education, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering. Existing education projects being integrated into the center include: ADVANCE (Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers); Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement projects; Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship project; Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship projects; and Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering projects.
This NSF I3 project at established the Center for STEM Learning (CSL), which fosters the incubation and mainstreaming of educational transformations that support student learning in STEM fields (and beyond) in the context of a sustainable model of institutional practice. This work includes promoting and legitimizing STEM education, educational transformation, and scholarship; building and sustaining a STEM education community; identifying and helping mainstream successful transformative educational practices; and disseminating these efforts. The official purpose (mission) of the CSL is: To improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at CU-Boulder, and to serve as a state, national, and international resource for such efforts. Our vision for achieving this mission is: (1) to maintain an infrastructure of institutional support in order to transform STEM education, support education research within and across STEM fields and departments, and promote K20 faculty recruitment, preparation, and professional development; and (2) to facilitate change in STEM education by integrating an interdisciplinary community of scholars, promoting, sustaining, and evaluating existing reform efforts, sponsoring new programs, advocating for diversity and access, influencing relevant policy, fundraising, and communicating with the public. During this project, members of the CU-Boulder STEM education community worked towards establishing a national-scale center. Below is a summary of major accomplishments. Year 1: building a foundation for the effort and fostering CU-Boulder’s commitment to STEM education transformation and research. Building out the Discipline Based Education Research (DBER) seminar series Forming a Project Management Team Launching a website Visioning and launching the Chancellor's Awards for Excellence in STEM Education Hiring a project administrator Identifying STEM education programs on campus and conducting a baseline survey to characterize their integration Engaging in state-level policy work Year 2: expanding programming and making initial preparations to launch a center. Hosting the inaugural Symposium on STEM Education Reaching out to 25 CU-Boulder STEM education programs Expanding DBER audience Founding the Boulder Area STEM Education Coalition Engaging in state- and national-level policy work Drafting mission and vision statements Year 3: further expanding programming, raising awareness and buy-in for the effort, and coordinating logistics in order to launch a center. Reaching out to 45 CU-Boulder STEM education programs Hosting mini-symposia on teacher professional development and the LA program Expanding DBER by recording sessions to make them available on the website Creating brochures and one-page informational sheets about the I3 and affiliated efforts Engaging in local-, state-, and national-level policy work Working with a university-appointed development officer Working with University Communications on a STEM education communications plan for campus Coordinating an external evaluation of the project Developing a database of STEM education people and programs Drafting a center proposal Year 4: sustaining quality programming and taking final steps towards becoming an official center. Engaging in local-, state-, and national-level policy work Working with Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell to conduct a follow-up to the year 1 baseline survey and evaluation Submitting a center proposal, including by-laws and an organizational chart Establishing an executive board Year 5: sustaining quality programming and launching the CU-Boulder Center for STEM Learning. Continuing the success of the Chancellor's Awards program Reaching out to 75 separate CU-Boulder STEM education programs Engaging in local-, state-, and national-level policy work Officially launching CSL Debuting a new CSL website Hiring a Program Manager and Administrative Assistant Naming Paul Chinowsky, Noah Finkelstein, and Valerie Otero as co-directors of the center Year 6: sustaining quality programming and fully operationalizing center structures. Revising the organizational chart Hiring key center staff Launching the fellows program Drafting CSL strategy documents Being selected as one of eight project sites for AAU's Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative Institutionalizing funding for the graduate Chancellor’s Award program Serving as the administrative unit for four separate research projects and submitting nine new proposals Joining the Bay View Alliance Establishing partnerships and collaborations with other STEM education centers Engaging in local-, state-, and national-level policy work Reaching out to 85 separate CU-Boulder STEM education programs In addition to these concrete accomplishments, overarching successes during the six years of this project have included: Incubating and mainstreaming educational transformations that support student learning in STEM fields Promoting and legitimizing STEM education, educational transformation, and scholarship within the university Developing a robust campus community and identity around STEM education Serving as a state, national, and international resource for transformational STEM education practices The NSF I3 has explicitly supported 54 research projects, resulting in at least 23 publications and 11 new NSF awards, totaling more than $4,500,000. CSL supports a community of scholars in STEM education that spans more than 85 programs and 20 departments, and serves as a home for interdisciplinary grants and projects, currently totaling approximately $4M in new funding. Funding from the NSF I3 has enabled CU-Boulder to develop an infrastructure of institutional support to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education on campus and beyond.
