From Analysis to Action Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Synopsis of the Convocation
Synopsis of the Convocation
Pages 11-34
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From page 13... ...
This synposis combines material from the challenge paper and from the workshop rapporteurs to provide a more thorough accounting of the convocation proceedings than could be provided in the preceding report. It is organized in the same way as the challenge paper and the convocation, with three broad areas that are each divided into four or five more specific topics.
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From page 14... ...
What is needed are specific objectives, along with means of implementation and evaluation, that reflect both institutional and national perspectives. This part of the convocation summary considers the educational goals of undergraduate instruction in five categories: providing access to science, mathematics, engineering, and technology for all students; ensuring that all undergraduates become literate in these subjects; educating future precollege teachers; preparing students for technical occupations; and educating .
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From page 15... ...
The need for access extends throughout a stu dent's educational experience. At the K-12 level, all students need access to educational experiences that create high levels of scientific, mathematical, and technological literacy (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989; National Research Council, National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment, 19951.
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From page 16... ...
Should the same introductory courses serve bothfuture majors in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology as well as arts and humanities students? Should students be expected to have a breadth of understanding in science, mathematics, and technology or should their experiences allow them to encounter subjects in depth, or both?
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From page 17... ...
UESTIONS DISCUSSED AT THE CONVOCATION TEACHING What are the best waysforfaculty and administrators of science, mathematics, and engineering departments and education departments to work together to integrate the education they providefuture teachers? How canfuture elementary school teachers acquire the scientific, mathematical, and technoZogicaZ background that wiZZ make them effective teachers of those subjects?
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From page 18... ...
The education of future technicians highlights a major challenge facing higher education: placing content in context. Student and faculty internships in industry, industrial involvement in designing and teaching college courses, and cooperative projects in undergraduate education all pro.~.
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From page 19... ...
What are the best waysfor science, mathematics, and engineeringiacuZty to incorporate historical, social, and ethical issues into coursesfor undergraduate majors? How can science, mathematics, and engineering departments accommodate students who arrive at majors through unconventional routes, such as beginning course sequences later in a college career or after a period away from academic study ?
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From page 20... ...
This section of the convocation summary looks at those issues most directly under the control of faculty and their departments. It begins by examining the curriculum, shifts from "what" and "why" to "how" by discussing new pedagogical techniques and educational technologies, and concludes by looking at the education and professional development of college faculty.
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From page 21... ...
Interdisciplinary courses can be particularly valuable in helping students see the links among disciplines and in placing subjects in broader personal, historical, cultural, social, and political contexts. For majors, undergraduate programs should seek to balance broad exposure to important contemporary topics with significant opportunities for in-depth mastery through direct investigation.
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From page 22... ...
Many different approaches offer alternatives to straightforward lectures and tightly structured labs (Bonwell and Eison, 1991; McKeachie, 19941. Possibilities include cooperative learning, projectcentered classes, investigation-oriented laboratories, courses centered on case studies, self-paced instruction, techniques that solicit immediate feedback on teaching and course content, and so on.
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From page 23... ...
Students value the human element in their education and will not willingly relinquish that element. Educational technologies also may not support all types of learning styles, and centrally dispersed learning may sacrifice the local adaptations that capture student attention.
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From page 24... ...
Most of these students have little or no preparation for the range of professional challenges they will face in academia. Professional schools generally offer some variant of "professional responsibility" courses for law, business, and medical students, but graduate schools do little for the students they are training to assume positions of responsibility in higher education (Kennedy, 1995; National Research Council, Committee on High School Biology Education, 1990; National Research Council, Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, Draft)
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From page 25... ...
Many institutions have taken steps to offer instructional training to graduate teaching assistants and young faculty including workshops, resource materials, centers for teaching and learning, and evaluations of teaching effectiveness. Such assistance needs to be available for all faculty members, and it needs to draw upon both local and national sources of expertise and experience.
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From page 26... ...
This section of the summary examines undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology largely from the perspective of institutions. It looks at the reward system for faculty and at issues surrounding the resources institutions devote to undergraduate instruction in these subjects.
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From page 27... ...
R17SOURC:~$ Institutional support for unciergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineerirrg, and Changes in undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education need not be expensive, but they can call for additional resources. Smaller and more interactive classes can cost more, in both materials and personnel, than lectures to large groups of students three times a
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From page 28... ...
As has been the case throughout higher education, departments of science, mathematics, and engineering have had to deal with constrained resources in recent years (Government-UniversityIndustry Research Roundtable, 1992, 1994; National Science Board, Task Committee on Undergraduate Science and Engineering Education, 19869. Faculty numbers have not kept pace with enrollment increases, forcing larger classes and greater use of adjunct faculty, teaching assistants, and other non-tenured instructors.
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From page 29... ...
Faculty development programs can support the teaching of competencies that are needed in the workplace; These experiences should be reflected in the reward structure for faculty and in credit arrangements for students. Transitions among educational institutions and between those institutions and the workplace are becoming more varied and more complex.
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From page 30... ...
For example, just as colleges and universities can be extremely valuable resources for precollege teachers providing them with classes, seminars, laboratory experiences, field trips, workshops, summer institutes, technology (including Internet access) , and technology training so, too, can that part of the education community concerned with K-12 education offer much to college and university faculty.
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From page 31... ...
But the isolation that plagues efforts to improve teaching afflicts these organizations as well: rarely are their efforts jointly planned or well coordinated. For example, eight different federal agencies spend approximately a half billion dollars each year solely to support undergraduate education, but there is very little joint planning or overall evaluation among these agencies (Expert Panel for the Review of Federal Education Programs in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology, 19931.
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From page 32... ...
Within individual institutions, such reform can be thought of as engaging and coordinating different departments and many different aspects of undergraduate education, including curriculum, facilities, instruction, student research, faculty development, and support services. This does not, however, necessarily mean that institutions will be successful in their efforts to achieve comprehensive reform by doing a little bit of everything.
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From page 33... ...
, or among university programs in the same discipline (as in NSF's Engineering Education Coalitions or in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's support for undergraduate biology education)
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