Applied Sustainability Education with a Systems Science Emphasis at a STEM University

1 Introduction Universities have a historic and continuous role as urban centers of education, research, and the arts: they are explicit lynchpins of culturally and technologically strong cities and societies. A fundamental university role at local through international scales is the development of innovations in any number of human endeavors (cf. Cortese 2003; Aber et al. 2009; Calder/Dautremont-Smith 2009). Gregory Trencher, Masaru Yarime, Kes B. McCormick, Christopher N. Doll and Stephen B..

In search of self-efficacy: development of a new instrument for first year Computer Science students

This study explores the changes in Computer Science (CS) students’ self-efficacy between entering study and the end of first year of university. It aims to give course leaders insights into the everyday challenges that affect students’ academic achievement and persistence into second year. The paper begins by proposing that the way CS is taught, the gender imbalance on CS courses, and the experience of the key transitional year into university might influence CS students’ non-continuation. It adopts an academic buoyancy conceptualisation of resilience. Acknowledging the scarcity of instruments covering CS students’ transition to university, the development of a new 20-item questionnaire is described, based on CS students’ own contributions of the challenges they faced during first year. The instrument is administered twice in one session to the same cohort. Analysis of paired responses indicates a loss of confidence to overcome challenges in most aspects, particularly staying motivated to study

Volume 1, Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference

Full version of volume 1 of the Proceedings of the Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning Conference

Liberal Studies in Engineering - Workshop Report

On the 30th and 31st of January, 2015, some sixty scholars from the humanities, arts and social sciences as well as engineering met at the National Academy of Sciences building in DC to discuss the possibilities for establishing an undergraduate, pre-professional degree program — a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies in Engineering — meant to attract students undecided about choice of a major who still have sufficient interest to enroll in a program that keeps open the possibility that they might pursue a career in engineering. The workshop over the day and one-half included six sessions, each led off by a panel of from three to six project participants. The first part of this report contains summaries of panelists’ remarks. A second part provides a narrative of themes discussed and questions raised during the discussion sessions.Support for this event was provided by the National Science Foundation’s Improving Under- graduate STEM Education program (award no.1451399 made to MIT), by the Teagle Foundation, and by the Deans of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and of Claremont Graduate University’s School of Educational Studies

The Holistic Undergraduate Growth Experience: A Case Study Exploring the Development of a Student Success and Retention Program

This case study depicted the development and implementation of the Holistic Undergraduate Growth Experience (HUGE) student success and retention program that spans the second year of undergraduate study to graduation. This study set out to expand student development theory and practice to include an international perspective, specifically one from the Middle East. An increased amount of attention was dedicated to examining the development of the aforementioned program than to its actual implementation in order to provide a more comprehensive framework. Based on the findings associated with this study, recommendations were made not only to the host institution for the study, but also to administrators, program directors, faculty, and potential employers on how they can assist in the successful facilitation of the HUGE program. The findings associated with this study included the development and strengthening of relationships with potential employers, along with community and international organizations, and other universities around the world. It is also recommended that communication and collaboration be enhanced while addressing the issue of balance between academics and co-curricular activities. Furthermore, more opportunities should be created to expose students to other cultures