SEIRI Newsletter - Message #2

With the transition to IU Indianapolis now complete, we are excited to welcome our first cohort of SEIRI Associates. A SEIRI Associate serves as a leader in the IU Indianapolis community by engaging in scholarly practices in STEM education. Each associate is appointed for a three-year term and must be a STEM faculty member. We support our associates by providing $1,000 annually to supplement the associate’s STEM education-related activities, such as conference travel or covering publication costs.

Get to know our associates better by visiting their profile pages.

SEIRI is pleased to announce that we have funded one new team-level project through the SEIRI Seed Grant program this past spring. We would like to extend a warm congratulations to our recipients Dr. Lyniesha Ward and Dr. Jingzhi Pu from the School of Science. To learn more about the spring 2024 SSG recipients, see below:

Investigating Student Digital Ecologies for Designing an AI in Chemistry Course
Lyniesha Ward – Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Jingzhi Pu  – Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) at Indiana University Indianapolis is pleased to announce that we will be running our SEIRI Seed Grant competition for the fall 2024 semester. The goal of this competition is to facilitate and support STEMM education innovation and research on campus. Specifically, this opportunity provides faculty members in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) departments with funding to develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of pedagogical innovations in STEMM courses across campus. For this competition, we will be focusing on departmental-level grant proposals. This includes proposals with three or more faculty members collaborating to implement and assess innovations in three or more courses in one department. We also welcome interdepartmental collaboration. See the Request for Proposals (link below) for more information.

The deadline to apply for the SEIRI Seed Grant is 11:59 p.m., Monday, November 4, 2024. If you have any questions, please reach out to Danka Maric at ude[dot]ui[at]ciramd. Proposals submitted after the deadline will be returned without review.

SEIRI will host two information sessions in the fall semester for the Fall 2024 SSG competition via zoom on October 9 at 10 a.m. and on October 15 at 3 p.m. Please check our events page to register.

View the request for proposals

SEIRI is pleased to announce the publication of a quantitative survey measuring transferable skills of Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) leaders. The survey assesses five core transferable skills: leadership, collaboration/teamwork, self-confidence, problem-solving, and coping with challenges. It was developed in two phases consisting of a qualitative study followed up by a quantitative study. Results of thematic analyses of interview data (n = 10), were used to create scales for each of the transferable skills in the quantitative survey, which was then assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. We offer this survey as a tool to assess the long-term impact of being a peer leader or mentor. Although studied on PLTL leaders, this can be adapted for use on any students that act as peer mentors, tutors, or leaders. For example, students that act as academic success coaches, mentors, or departmental tutors with the Bepko Learning Center.

Qualitative Paper: Chase, A., S. Rao, A., Lakmala, P., & Varma-Nelson, P. (2020). Beyond content knowledge: transferable skills connected to experience as a peer-leader in a PLTL program and long-term impacts. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(29), 1-10.

Quantitative Survey Paper: Chase, A. M., Maric, D., Rao, A. S., Kline, G., & Varma-Nelson, P. (2024). Peer leader transferable skills survey: Development, findings, and implications. Research and Practice in Assessment, 18(2). 

Over 15 years ago, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with support from the National Science Foundation, initiated a series of conversations initiating undergraduate biology education reform, which later expanded to all STEM disciplines. Efforts in developing and testing research-based teaching methods led to the 2019 report, Levers for Change: An Assessment of Progress on Changing STEM Instruction. This report captured the current state of STEM education reform and recommended strategies for implementing lessons learned going forward. This was followed up with a workshop and a subsequent 2024 report, which identified future areas of disciplinary and interdisciplinary work, focusing on equity-focused, evidence-based practices in teaching and learning.

View the 2024 Report

View the 2019 Report

The State of U.S. Science and Engineering Education 2024, National Science Foundation

Published every even-numbered year, the National Science Board publishes the Science and Engineering Indicators (Indicators) report. The Indicators report on the state of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise, in terms of scope, quality, and vitality, longitudinally and within a global context by providing information on the scope. The 2024 report synthesizes key findings from the nine thematic reports that make up the Indicators. This is a useful tool for obtaining data on STEM education at all degree levels, the STEM workforce, public perceptions of science and technology, and much more.

Key Takeaways