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Message From the Founding Executive Director
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As you can see in this newsletter, my colleagues at SEIRI and I have many activities and events planned for you. We hope you will take advantage of them and form new connections with other like-minded colleagues. Please feel free to stop by SEIRI (UL 1123) to get to know us better and/or to talk to us about a STEM education project you have been developing and might like to implement in the near future. If interested, Reena Wyman can help you make an appointment. Please contact her at ude[dot]ui[at]namywrr to make an appointment.
Sincerely, Pratibha Varma-Nelson ude[dot]ui[at]nvp
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Conversations in STEM Education
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New semester, new conversations!
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SEIRI’s “Conversations in STEM Education” series will be returning in Fall 2024. This series intends to highlight the STEM education work of SEIRI Faculty Associates and other faculty members working in STEM education and STEM education research. The series has three guests scheduled for the Fall 2024 semester and efforts to schedule guests for Spring 2024 are underway. The conversations will be held at 2 p.m. on the third Friday of September, October, and November. Tony Chase, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy, will be the special guest on September 20. On October 18, India Johnson, Associate Professor of Psychology, will join the conversation. Gautam Vemuri, Professor of Physics, will be the special guest on November 15. Be on the lookout for announcements and registration details as the date for the event approaches. Recordings of previous Conversations in STEM Education are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast platforms. You can access them wherever you listen to podcasts, or directly from our website.
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Introducing New SEIRI Associates
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New IU Indy SEIRI Associates
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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.
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Spring 2024 SEIRI Seed Grant Recipients
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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
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Fall 2024 SEIRI Seed Grant Competition
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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
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Peer-led Team Learning Publications
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Measuring Transferable Skills in Peer-led Team Learning
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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).
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Levers of Change, American Association for the Advancement of Science
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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
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