Professional Development for Freshmen Research Initiative Teaching Assistants

Sandquist, Elizabeth

Professional Development for Freshmen Research Initiative Teaching Assistants

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auto_convert.pdf (115.32 KB)

Date

2016-01-01

Authors

Sandquist, Elizabeth

Organizational Units

Organizational Unit

Graduate College

Organizational Unit

Genetics, Development and Cell Biology

Organizational Unit

Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL)’s mission is to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through the development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse learners as part of successful and varied professional careers. It was established with the intent of preparing future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across the nation, to ultimately improve the STEM learning of all students, at every college and university, and thereby to increase the diversity in STEM fields and the STEM literacy of the nation. The three CIRTL core ideas are Evidence-based Teaching, Learning Communities, and Learning-through-Diversity.

Department

Graduate CollegeGenetics, Development and Cell BiologyCenter for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning

Abstract

In the 2012 Report to the President by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and

Technology, it was predicted that the U.S. will require 1 million additional STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professionals in the next decade if it is to maintain its international standing as a leader in science and technology. As such, retention of undergraduates in the STEM disciplines are critical to meet this goal. Research by the council found that loss of high achieving students was due to uninspiring introductory courses, and students of groups underrepresented in STEM fields found the research environment uninviting. An imperative of the report was to improve the first two years of STEM education at academic institutions, followed by recommendations to adopt evidence based teaching practices and the replacement of traditional laboratory courses with discovery based research.