Building ArtBots to attract students into STEM learning

There is an increasing worldwide demand for people educated into science and technology. Unfortunately, girls and underprivileged students are often underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education programs. We believe that by inclusion of art in these programs, educational activities might become more attractive to a broader audience. In this work we present an example of such an educational activity: an international robotics and art week for secondary school students. This educational activity builds up on the project-based and inquiry learning framework. This article is intended as a brief manual to help others organise such an activity. It also gives insights in how we led a highly heterogeneous group of students into learning STEM and becoming science and technology ambassadors for their peers

Characterizing the University of California's tenure-track teaching position from the faculty and administrator perspectives.

Teaching faculty are a potential mechanism to generate positive change in undergraduate STEM education. One such type of faculty is the Lecturer with Potential Security of Employment (L(P)SOE), a tenure-track faculty line within the University of California (UC) system. As a foundation for future studies, we sought to characterize individuals in the L(P)SOE position in terms of their background training, job expectations, and resources available for their success. Data were collected through an online survey completed by over 80% of STEM L(P)SOEs across the UC system, as well as interviews with over 20 deans and chairs in STEM departments at three UC campuses. From this work, we found that the majority of current L(P)SOEs were formally trained within their disciplines and not in an education field; however, they possessed substantial education experience, such as classroom teaching or participation in professional development opportunities. Expectations for time spent on teaching, research, and service are aligned between individuals within varying ranks of the L(P)SOE faculty and between L(P)SOEs and administrators. L(P)SOEs and administrators are also in agreement about what constitutes acceptable professional development activities. Interestingly, we identified differences that may reflect changes in the position over time, including increased start-up funds for more recently hired L(P)SOE faculty and a differing perspective on the role of discipline-based education research and scholarly activities between non-tenured and more senior L(P)SOEs. Overall, these data provide a snapshot of the L(P)SOE position that will aid in future work to identify the potential institutional impact of these individuals

The Practices of Play and Informal Learning in the miniGEMS STEAM Camp

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) play an important role in the educational reform and global economy. However, STEM education lacks the hands-on laboratory in the formal middle school and high school curricula. The widespread gender gap in multiple STEM disciplines causes middle-school aged girls have lower positive attitudes and interests towards STEM fields than male students. In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education has been viewed as other approaches to increase students’ interests and improve study accesses to STEM fields in the United States. The addition of the arts in STAEM education provides more learning opportunities and real-world contexts which meet more students’ interests. miniGEMS 2017 was a free two-week summer STEAM and programming camp for middle school girls in grades six to eight hosted by the Autonomous Vehicle Systems (AVS) Research and Education Laboratory at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW). miniGEMS was the first free camp with a special focus on engineering and programming in San Antonio. The camp utilized project-based learning curriculum and provided multiple hands-on experiments, field trips, and significant interactions with guest speakers, all of which were designed to increase the middle school girls’ interests in STEM-related fields. This paper provides an overview of miniGEMS STEAM camp, motivation for miniGEMS camp, and details on practicing project-based play activities in an informal learning environment.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Follow the leader or the pack? Regulatory focus and academic entrepreneurial intentions

Drawing on the academic entrepreneurship and regulatory focus theory literature, and applying a multilevel per- spective, this paper examines why university academics intend to engage in formal (spin-off or start-up companies and licensing university research) or informal (collaborative research, contract research, continuous professional development, and contract consulting) commercialization activities and the role local contextual factors, in partic- ular leaders and work-group colleagues (peers), play in their commercialization choices. Based on a survey of 395 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academics working in 14 Scottish universities, the research findings suggest that an individual’s chronic regulatory focus has a direct effect on their formal and informal commercialization intent. The results reveal that the stronger an individual’s chronic promotion focus the stronger their formal and informal commercialization intentions and a stronger individual chronic prevention focus leads to weaker intentions to engage in informal commercialization. In addition, when contextual interaction effects are considered, leaders and workplace colleagues have different influences on commercialization intent. On the one hand, promotion-focused leaders can strengthen and prevention-focused leaders can under certain cir- cumstances weaken a promotion-focused academic’s formal commercialization intent. On the other hand, the level of workplace colleague engagement, acting as a reference point, strengthens not only promotion-focused academ- ics’ intent to engage in formal commercialization activities, but also prevention-focused academics’ corresponding informal commercialization intent. As such, universities should consider the appointment of leaders who are strong role models and have a track record in formal and/or informal commercialization activities and also con- sider the importance workplace colleagues have on moderating an academic’s intention to engage in different forms of commercialization activities

PEMANFAATAN STEM ENGINEERING WORKSHEET TEMA TEKANAN ZAT CAIR UNTUK MENUMBUHKAN KETERAMPILAN BERPIKIR KREATIF DALAM PEMBUATAN PRODUK KREATIF SISWA SMP

Penelitian ini dilatar belakangi adanya kebutuhan suatu strategi pembelajaran yang bertujuan untuk melatih keterampilan berpikir kreatif sebagai Learning & Innovation Skills. Salah satu trategi pembelajaran dalam dunia pendidikan yang dapat digunakan untuk melatih Learning & Innovation Skills yaitu dengan mengaplikasikan STEM sebagai pendekatan dalam pembelajaran. Kegiatan dalam pembelajaran berbasis STEM yang dapat melatih keterampilan berpikir kreatif adalah engineering process design sehingga dibutuhkan suatu bahan ajar untuk memandu siswa dalam kegiatan. Bahan ajar yang cocok untuk memandu siswa dalam kegiatan engineering process design adalah lembar kegiatan siswa (worksheet). Kegiatan yang dilakukan siswa pada pembelajaran berbasis STEM membutuhkan bimbingan guru dan membutuhkan keaktifan siswa untuk mencari sebanyak-banyaknya informasi yang berkaitan dengan isu masalah yang dibicarakan. Tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk mengetahui manfaat STEM Engineering Worksheet untuk menumbuhkan keterampilan berpikir kreatif dalam pembuatan produk kreatif siswa SMP. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksperimen dengan one group pretest-posttest design dengan menganalisis perbedaan hasil belajar sebelum dan sesudah perlakuan yang diberikan berupa pengimplementasian STEM Engineering Worksheet dalam pembelajaran IPA berbasis STEM. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah kelas 8 di salah satu SMP Negeri di Kabupaten Kudus. Penelitian ini menggunakan instrument berupa tes essay, penilaian kinerja proses keterampilan berpikir kreatif dan kinerja produk. Keterampilan berpikir kreatif siswa dilihat dari N-gain pretest-posttest menunjukkan hasil sebesar 0,52 dengan kategori sedang dan dilihat dari hasil penilaian kinerja proses keterampilan berpikir kreatif menunjukkan hasil 80% dengan kategori baik. Adapun keterampilan siswa dalam membuat produk kreatif dilihat dari penilaian kinerja produk pada saat pembelajaran menunjukkan hasil 86% dengan kategori sangat baik.;---This study is based on the need of a learning strategy that aims to train creative thinking skills as learning & innovation Skills. One of learning strategy in the education world that can be used to train learning & innovation skills is by applying STEM as an approach in learning. Activities in STEM-based learning that can train creative thinking skills is engineering process design so that it takes a teaching material to guide students in activities. A suitable teaching material to guide students in the engineering design process is a student worksheet. The activities undertaken by students on STEM-based learning require teacher guidance and require student activeness to seek as much information relating to issue that is discussing. The purpose of this research is to know the benefits of STEM Engineering Worksheet to cultivate creative thinking skill in creative product creation of junior high school students. This research uses experimental method with one group pretest-posttest design by analyzing difference of learning result before and after treatment given in the implementation of STEM Engineering Worksheet in STEM based learning. Participants in this study were 8th grade in one of junior high school in Kudus area. This research uses the instrument of essay test, performance assessment of creative thinking skill and product performance. Student's creative thinking skill seen from pretest-posttest N-gain shows result of 0,52 with medium category and seen from performance assessment process result of creative thinking skill shows 80% result with good category. The skills of students in making creative products seen from performance assessment of product at the time of learning showed the results of 86% with very good category

Running an open MOOC on learning in laboratories

CONTEXT Teaching in laboratories plays an integral role in education. This includes both proximal as well as remote laboratories. In many instances, learning activities are designed around equipment and traditional laboratory activities. Pedagogical aspects and instructional design are often not considered or are an afterthought. PURPOSE The aim of this project was to help to address this gap by designing, implementing and facilitating an open online course on the pedagogy of using laboratory experiences in the curriculum. APPROACH The MOOC for Enhancing Laboratory Learning Outcomes (MELLO) has been designed to assist educators at all levels, from schools to universities, to improve the quality of laboratory experiences in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. Experienced educators seeking to review and revise current practices or beginning educators were all welcome to participate. Based on learning theory and research literature, online course has been developed that covers constructive alignment of practical activities with the wider curriculum, learning objectives, pedagogical approaches to laboratory learning, laboratory modalities and session planning. RESULTS 120 participants from Australia and around the world took part in the course. While the participants did not work on their own laboratory activity throughout the courses (as envisaged when designing the course), participants who actively took part in the course were positive about the value of the course. CONCLUSIONS The MOOC has been capable of supporting a large number of participants including university educators around the world who use laboratory experiences and will continue to do so through future iterations of the course. Moving forward, there is scope to adapt the pedagogical approach of the course to cater for the way the participants have engaged with the material

Selected aspects of IBL in STEM-education

This article focuses on an important category of modern education in contemporary society based on innovation as well as SMART, and analyses Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), inquiry-based science education (IBSE), problem-based learning and project-based learning in the context of STEM education. “At the third millennium in the midst of the digital age, it is expected that emerging technologies will be able to accelerate scientific literacy and enable the majority of citizens to enjoy the blessing of STEM.“ (Chen, 2017: XV) Additionally, the authors analyse advantages and some aspects STEM education, contemporary trends in modern professions and present several examples of good practice. The article also presents the results of research carried out among academic staff, teachers and students on educational trends and technologies. The survey showed a huge gap between the students’ needs and the proposals for organizing the educational process put forward by teachers and academic staff. Interdisciplinarity - an important concept related to STEM-education is highlighted. The authors describe and compare educational technologies, IBL, PBL, PrBL. The stages of IBL provide an opportunity to analyse and implement educational technology in the educational process. In particular, the authors offer instruments for IBL. One of them is the creation of an inquiry learning space Go-Labs that allows for connecting different applications to organize activities at all stages of the research process