Working Meeting on Systemic Change and the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by 1) identifying key levers for expanding efforts to improve instruction in undergraduate STEM and 2) clarifying trends in technology and the workforce that may transform the future of undergraduate STEM education and need to be considered in building strategies for systemic change. This small conference is part of the work of the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Discussions at the meeting will inform the Roundtable's future work and shape its agenda for action. The two-day conference will bring together stakeholders with many perspectives on the future of undergraduate STEM education. The first day will focus on how the STEM higher education enterprise thinks about, talks about, and evaluates teaching of undergraduates, as well as strategies for scaling evidence-based instruction to reach students of all backgrounds and goals. Representatives of disciplinary societies in STEM will be key participants in these discussions. The second day will consider the impact of globalization and technological change on undergraduate STEM learning. Participants will network and strategize together about how to educate the increasingly diverse student population in the context of multiple pressures from the surrounding system. Additionally, participants will come away from the conference with new ideas for thinking broadly and systemically about improving student learning in undergraduate STEM education. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.