This paper highlights an investigation of how middle school students responded to a theatre performance designed to portray science as a humanistic and relatable endeavour that youth -- similar to the youth in the audience -- engage in during their everyday lives. The play included in this study was generated as a part of a design research project…

Given biotechnology's emergence as a major competitor in the Pittsburgh region, critically linking education to industry through the Community College of Allegheny County's Biotechnology Workforce Collaborative (BWC) provided a well-trained workforce. The collaborative also sought to increase the number of women in the sciences, specifically…

University earth science departments seeking to establish meaningful geoscience outreach programs often pursue large-scale, grant-funded programs. Although this type of outreach is highly successful, it is also extremely costly, and grant funding can be difficult to secure. Here, we present the Geoscience Education Outreach Program (GEOP), a…

Built as one of 60+ hubs on the HUBzero platform, STEMEdhub was developed in 2011 as a resource for research, education, and collaboration in STEM education. The hub currently supports 82 different groups. In this article, the authors describe two specific groups (SLED and AAU) that are taking advantage of numerous communication and resource tools…

Lab components of undergraduate science courses typically have students complete highly directed cookbook-like laboratory activities. These experiences rarely engage students in a meaningful manner and do not accurately convey what the work of science entails. With funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), we have created more…

An innovative, three-year seminar program was developed for undergraduates at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) that supplements the core chemistry curriculum by teaching the auxiliary skills necessary for life as a professional chemist. Advising, good laboratory practice, and information literacy are the strategic components of this program that…

This paper discusses a novel structure for providing a high-impact, first year experience for science students. ASTER (Access to Science Through Experience in Research) is an extracurricular certification program designed to introduce our students to the research culture via seminar attendance, journal clubs, book clubs, and lab visits.…

The main areas of difficulty experienced by those teaching and learning organic chemistry at high school and introductory university level in Ireland have been identified, and the findings support previous studies in Ireland and globally. Using these findings and insights from chemistry education research (CER), the Organic Chemistry in Action!…

Dual-enrollment (DE) science courses offer a way to strengthen the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics pipeline between high school and college. These courses offer high school students the opportunity to experience college science in a more supported environment, allowing them to adjust to the different academic and social demands…

Funding agencies and the science education community at large have pursued strategies for increasing K-12 outreach by scientists and for improving instructional practices in higher education classrooms. However, the simultaneous achievement of both goals is generally not a target for single projects or even single programs. A 4-year project…

The Akamai Workforce Initiative (AWI) is a program that seeks to develop a skilled local STEM workforce to meet the needs of Hawai'i's growing high-tech industry. Launched as an internship program in 2002, AWI is the result of a long-term collaboration among the University of California Santa Cruz's Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators…

Do you have an idea for a new activity or laboratory exercise that you would like to incorporate into your course but feel unsure as to how it will be received by your students? This was our concern when developing first-year biology labs for a biology majors' course at University of Windsor. Through a Centred on Learning Innovation Fund (CLIF)…

Engineering education directly supports the nation's capacity for economic growth, infrastructure renewal, and security, as well as environmental and human health. Numerous reports have recommended federal support to advance our understanding of how students learn, how faculty teach, and how teaching and learning are assessed. The U.S. National…

On September 22, 2012, NSF announced its decision to fund a three-year project, "Models for Information Assurance Education and Outreach" (MIAEO). In the first year of grant operation, MIAEO has invited 18 high school students, two K-12 teachers, and two CSUB student assistants to conduct research explorations in the fields of…

We report on a two-year NSF-funded project to strengthen connections among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. One component of this project was to produce some initial data on the effectiveness of Interdisciplinary Lively Applications Projects (ILAPs) in teaching science and engineering undergraduates. ILAPs are…