Initiation of Collaboration among STEM Faculty
The Engineering Education Research Center obtained an Initiation of Collaboration grant from WSU's Office of Research to build collaborations among faculty from the College of Engineering and Architecture, College of Sciences, and College of Education. Due to national needs for expanded participation in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workforce, increased collaboration is paramount to improve the educational system and success of diverse students who might enter these fields of study.
Goals
The goal is to establish a foundation for interdisciplinary research and graduate education that prepare educators for national leadership in STEM education. The following sub-goals were identified in the proposed collaboration:
- Establish a curriculum for an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in STEM Education
- Define a core faculty committed to supporting collaborative STEM Education research and graduate study
- Develop greater faculty support for STEM Education scholarship in departments and schools of collaborating colleges
- Prepare an NSF IGERT proposal to support interdisciplinary STEM Education
Activities
Numerous meetings of faculty from the three participating colleges were held to discuss the role of STEM Education on the WSU campus and to develop infrastructure to support this type of interdisciplinary scholarship. Through these meetings, a proposal for an interdisciplinary STEM Education doctoral degree was drafted for consideration by WSU. Due to the academic and budgetary climate, deans recommended not submitting a proposal to the WSU administration and the Faculty Senate. Instead, they recommended development of a STEM Education graduate certificate to begin demonstrating demand and impacts of scholarly work in this area. A retreat was held on May 21-22, 2008 to engage core STEM Education faculty and administrators to define parameters for an interdisciplinary STEM Education graduate certificate and doctoral degree.
Results
Principal outcomes from this collaboration are a core STEM Education faculty and programs of study for a STEM Education graduate certificate and an Interdisciplinary STEM Education doctoral degree, summarized below.
- STEM Education graduate certificate: Through three carefully designed courses, doctoral students will be prepared to understand how people learn, know experientially the practices and rigors of teaching, and be prepared to achieve documentable improvements in student learning in a classroom setting. The certificate includes courses on learning theory, teaching laboratory, and action research in STEM Education.
- Interdisciplinary STEM Education doctoral degree: This degree program will prepare doctoral graduates to perform as scholars in both research and teaching related to STEM Education. It will give them theoretical and experiential components and interdisciplinary laboratories that enable them to work across disciplines and to connect different levels (K-20) of STEM Education. Doctoral candidates will participate as mentees and mentors in interdisciplinary doctoral research and publication in scholarly journals.
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