ACE Joins in National STEM Education Dialogue
Notre Dame Forum Event Probes Science and Math Teaching
National experts and local practitioners in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teaching gathered at Notre Dame on June 12 to envision using those disciplines to create "a generation of optimistic problem-solvers."
Distinguished panels led an audience of about 160 educators in discussions focused on science and math, with a University vice president citing the importance of this dialogue as a capstone to the Notre Dame Forum series on "reimagining" K-12 schooling.
"It's essential that we reclaim STEM education for all of our students, whatever their interests and career aspirations may be," said Dr. Christine Maziar, who is also senior associate provost. She said the STEM disciplines can undergird United States leadership in innovation, provide tools for analyzing the world, and give students confidence in addressing today's challenges.
The most effective way to improve the nation's current teaching of science is "an investment in the professional capital of the educational system"—through attracting and retaining excellent teachers—said panelist Jonathan Osborne, Shiriam Family Professor of Science Education at Stanford University.
Distinguished panels led an audience of about 160 educators in discussions focused on science and math, with a University vice president citing the importance of this dialogue as a capstone to the Notre Dame Forum series on "reimagining" K-12 schooling.
"It's essential that we reclaim STEM education for all of our students, whatever their interests and career aspirations may be," said Dr. Christine Maziar, who is also senior associate provost. She said the STEM disciplines can undergird United States leadership in innovation, provide tools for analyzing the world, and give students confidence in addressing today's challenges.
The most effective way to improve the nation's current teaching of science is "an investment in the professional capital of the educational system"—through attracting and retaining excellent teachers—said panelist Jonathan Osborne, Shiriam Family Professor of Science Education at Stanford University.
Osborne, who participated in the recent, high-level initiative to update nationwide standards for science teaching, said the new standards will offer incremental improvements by clarifying the goals of science teaching. The goals include not only giving young people "hands-on" experience in science, but giving them skills to model, explain, and interpret a solid body of scientific knowledge.
Another science panelist, Angela Calabrese-Barton, a professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, urged a teaching approach that integrates knowledge with the experiences, talents, and interests of young people, encouraging them to become engaged in issues relevant to their lives and to science.
Calabrese-Barton, whose path to an academic career included a chemistry degree from Notre Dame, cautioned against the socioeconomic disparities that sharply affect many students' access to this engagement. Remedying the growing gaps in educational opportunity would help children from all backgrounds become "make-a-difference experts" in their own studies and lives, she said.
The science panel was moderated by Thomas Doyle, a Ph.D. in physics who directs the M.Ed. program in the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). Nicole McNeil, a Notre Dame psychology professor who directs the undergraduate minor in Education, Schooling, and Society within the Institute for Educational Initiatives, moderated a panel focused on math teaching.
J. Michael Shaughnessy, immediate past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, urged a more structured, rigorous, and collaborative approach to teaching math within schools. Although there is talk about integrating the four STEM disciplines into a more united pedagogy, "we don't even have our math curriculum integrated in this country," in terms of orderly sequences exploring different fields of math and how they all fit into real-life experiences and needs, he said.
Shaughnessy also called for investments in ample technology for all K-12 math students. One benefit to emerge from the recently introduced "common core" of standards for math education could be an array of objective data ensuring that teacher perceptions about children don't trap lower-income students in separate tracks of curriculum that widen the opportunity gap.
There are innovative approaches to narrow gaps in achievement, said Julie Booth, assistant professor of educational psychology at Temple University. Teachers can "change the way homework and assignments are done"—for example, instead of simply handing out a long list of problems, showing students examples of how various classmates are working to solve the problems. It can be beneficial, she noted, if one sees "students learning from their errors."
During the question and answer session, one educator asked how a K-12 teaching approach that emphasized links to experience and engagement could prepare students for more in-depth college courses that are still based on lectures, texts, and note-taking. Booth said the earlier math classes must combine both approaches, with the engagement of ideas and experiences giving students an entry point into the more lecture- and note-based segments of a course. "It would be great if we could change the way STEM is taught at the college level, as well," she added.
The afternoon portion of the June 12 event, which was indeed called "The Future of K-20 STEM Education" to capture the need for college and graduate school innovations as well as K-12 changes, included a range of workshops.
Other guest speakers making presentations during the day included highly successful local teachers: Hugh Ross, a physics teacher at Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville, IN, and Suzanne Dolembo, a math teacher at Mishawaka High School.
The task force planning the day-long conference included Karen Morris, who directs the Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) program incentivizing Advanced Placement ® science and math courses in Indiana high schools. The task force also included IEI associate director Packy Lyden, in collaboration with Matt Kloser, an ACE graduate who holds a Ph.D. in science education and previously served on the ACE faculty of instruction.
This event spotlighting STEM education capped more than a year of events in the Notre Dame Forum series called "Reimagining School: To Nurture the Soul of a Nation." Guest speakers who came to campus during the 2011-2012 academic year to discuss the future of K-12 education included former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Teach for America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp, education scholar and author Diane Ravitch, and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
This year's Forum Committee was chaired by Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., professor of political science and director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, and Nicole Stelle Garnett, professor of law and ACE coordinator of policy.
University Vice President and Senior Associate Provost Christine Maziar reflected on the yearlong series: "This year's Notre Dame Forum was, in a characteristically Notre Dame fashion, both clear-eyed in its assessment of the challenges and hope-filled in its consideration of the potential in providing a high quality education to our nation's young people. Congratulations to the organizers in putting together a tremendous series of events."
An array of other education-related events occurred throughout the year and will continue into the future. A major conference on measuring teacher effectiveness is scheduled in October under the auspices of the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity and the IEI.
Another science panelist, Angela Calabrese-Barton, a professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, urged a teaching approach that integrates knowledge with the experiences, talents, and interests of young people, encouraging them to become engaged in issues relevant to their lives and to science.
Calabrese-Barton, whose path to an academic career included a chemistry degree from Notre Dame, cautioned against the socioeconomic disparities that sharply affect many students' access to this engagement. Remedying the growing gaps in educational opportunity would help children from all backgrounds become "make-a-difference experts" in their own studies and lives, she said.
The science panel was moderated by Thomas Doyle, a Ph.D. in physics who directs the M.Ed. program in the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). Nicole McNeil, a Notre Dame psychology professor who directs the undergraduate minor in Education, Schooling, and Society within the Institute for Educational Initiatives, moderated a panel focused on math teaching.
J. Michael Shaughnessy, immediate past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, urged a more structured, rigorous, and collaborative approach to teaching math within schools. Although there is talk about integrating the four STEM disciplines into a more united pedagogy, "we don't even have our math curriculum integrated in this country," in terms of orderly sequences exploring different fields of math and how they all fit into real-life experiences and needs, he said.
Shaughnessy also called for investments in ample technology for all K-12 math students. One benefit to emerge from the recently introduced "common core" of standards for math education could be an array of objective data ensuring that teacher perceptions about children don't trap lower-income students in separate tracks of curriculum that widen the opportunity gap.
There are innovative approaches to narrow gaps in achievement, said Julie Booth, assistant professor of educational psychology at Temple University. Teachers can "change the way homework and assignments are done"—for example, instead of simply handing out a long list of problems, showing students examples of how various classmates are working to solve the problems. It can be beneficial, she noted, if one sees "students learning from their errors."
During the question and answer session, one educator asked how a K-12 teaching approach that emphasized links to experience and engagement could prepare students for more in-depth college courses that are still based on lectures, texts, and note-taking. Booth said the earlier math classes must combine both approaches, with the engagement of ideas and experiences giving students an entry point into the more lecture- and note-based segments of a course. "It would be great if we could change the way STEM is taught at the college level, as well," she added.
The afternoon portion of the June 12 event, which was indeed called "The Future of K-20 STEM Education" to capture the need for college and graduate school innovations as well as K-12 changes, included a range of workshops.
Other guest speakers making presentations during the day included highly successful local teachers: Hugh Ross, a physics teacher at Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville, IN, and Suzanne Dolembo, a math teacher at Mishawaka High School.
The task force planning the day-long conference included Karen Morris, who directs the Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) program incentivizing Advanced Placement ® science and math courses in Indiana high schools. The task force also included IEI associate director Packy Lyden, in collaboration with Matt Kloser, an ACE graduate who holds a Ph.D. in science education and previously served on the ACE faculty of instruction.
This event spotlighting STEM education capped more than a year of events in the Notre Dame Forum series called "Reimagining School: To Nurture the Soul of a Nation." Guest speakers who came to campus during the 2011-2012 academic year to discuss the future of K-12 education included former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Teach for America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp, education scholar and author Diane Ravitch, and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
This year's Forum Committee was chaired by Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., professor of political science and director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, and Nicole Stelle Garnett, professor of law and ACE coordinator of policy.
University Vice President and Senior Associate Provost Christine Maziar reflected on the yearlong series: "This year's Notre Dame Forum was, in a characteristically Notre Dame fashion, both clear-eyed in its assessment of the challenges and hope-filled in its consideration of the potential in providing a high quality education to our nation's young people. Congratulations to the organizers in putting together a tremendous series of events."
An array of other education-related events occurred throughout the year and will continue into the future. A major conference on measuring teacher effectiveness is scheduled in October under the auspices of the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity and the IEI.