1. Active STEM Classrooms
Helping Students Engage and Thrive
Active STEM Classrooms
Barbra Sobhani
Fall 2016

2. Active Learning
Collaboration
Active Learning
Access

3. Active learning Active techniques include: Group exercises Activities
Project based Learning
Inquiry activities
Discussions that engage students in problem-solving and deep processing of information.
Stephan, W., & Stephan, C. W. (2001). Improving intergroup relations. New York: Sage Publications.
Gasiewski, J. A., Eagan, M., Garcia, G. A., Hurtado, S., & Chang, M. J. (2012). From gatekeeping to engagement: A multicontextual, mixed method study of student academic engagement in introductory STEM courses. Research In Higher Education, 53, doi: /s y

4. Why Active Learning? Alignment with research on how students learn
Addresses the changing nature of students (info access)
Supports a transdisciplinary shift
Employers also want non-cognitive skills
Balance depth vs. breadth of material

5. Underrepresentation in STEM
Women in STEM fields: the numbers

6. Underrepresentation in STEM
Full NSF Report 2015

7. Red Rocks Community College
RRCC Office of Inclusion and Diversity October 2015

8. Addressing Diversity in STEM: Financial aid indicators
10 participants; mix of FT and PT
Higher percentages of women and minorities receive Pell Grants at the Community College level
*Data from AACC and AGI Status of the Workforce reports

9. Addressing Diversity in STEM: First generation (FG) Students

10. LIFG Students in STEM The “Invisible” minority
RRCC is rapidly becoming a predominantly LIFG institution
Students sense of belonging is often impeded*
*See reference

11. LIFG Student Barriers to Success
Human Capital
Cultural Capital
Social Capital
Financial Capital
Belonging Uncertainty
Walton and Cohen (2007), Ward, et al (2012), Schwalbe (2007)

12. Belonging Uncertainty
Academic Integration
Cultural Integration
Social Integration
Human Capital
Cultural Capital
Social Capital
Financial Capital
Belonging Uncertainty
Walton and Cohen (2007), Ward, et al (2012), Schwalbe (2007)

13. Common Student Barriers to Engagement in the Classroom
No sense of belonging
Lack of self-advocacy
Difficulty making social connections
Time management
Preparation for class

14. What closes the achievement gap?
Increasing student engagement
Connecting the student to community
Understanding cultural context
Creating a multi-contextual environment

15. Activity 1: Exploring Cultural Context

16. Cultural/Teaching Autobiography
Our own cultural experiences form the lens through which we view the world around us. In today's diverse world of higher education, understanding how this affects interaction with students who do not share that same cultural context is very important. Successfully engaging students in STEM requires meeting them where they are and helping them see how science/math is relevant to their lives.

17. Alicia Chavez (University of New Mexico) has developed a framework for reflecting on how the cultural context in which we were raised manifests itself in our psychological makeup and how that impacts the way we teach and interact with students. Chavez's process for developing an autobiography includes:

18. Step 1: Describe your cultural identity in general.
Born as…. Born into….. Learned……..
ME!

19. Step 2: Choose 3 major values or traits originating from your culture
Step 2: Choose 3 major values or traits originating from your culture. For each trait
Describe it.
Discuss the assumptions and beliefs that underlie it.
How does it manifest itself in your life and behaviors?
How does it manifest in your teaching and the way you interpret, judge, design for, and interact with students?
How is it helpful to your effectiveness as an educator? How is it limiting?

20. Step 3: Reflect
Analyze how this suite of values and traits affects your view of and work with students, especially those who have different cultural values than your own.

21. Cultural Self-Awareness Worksheet
Cultural Identity:
Value:
Value:
Value:
Origin:
Assumptions:
Current
Reinforcer:
Origin:
Assumptions:
Current
Reinforcer:
Origin:
Assumptions:
Current
Reinforcer:
Behavior:
Behavior:
Behavior:
Cultural Self Awareness Worksheet developed by Alicia Fedelina Chávez, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy, University of New Mexico

22. Identity and performance

23. Stereotype threat
Landmark study by Steele and Spencer (Univ of Michigan):
Strong women and men math students were recruited
One group was given a math test and told that it showed gender differences in the scores
The second group was given the math test and told that it showed no gender differences in the scores

24. When told the test showed gender differences, women performed worse than equally skilled men
When told the test showed no gender difference, the women performed at the same high level as the equally skilled men, the underperformance disappeared

25. Stereotype threat
Women and minorities underperformed when they were under the identity contingency of stereotype threat, but not when that contingency was removed.
The impact their identities had on them changed dramatically from one situation to the next

26. Stereotype threat Resource:
Whistling Vivaldi: how stereotypes affect us and what we can do by Claude M. Steele

27. Test for Implicit Bias
A set of tools to help individuals assess their cultural blind spots are the tests is run by Project Implicit. The Implicit Associate Tests (IATs) aim to investigate thoughts and feelings that exist outside of conscious awareness or conscious control. These implicit biases do not necessarily constitute prejudice, but they can be predictive of behavior in the absence of conscious efforts to be egalitarian.
On the website there are tests probing biases on a number of different axes, including:
Skin Tone: Assesses unconscious bias regarding lighter vs darker skin tone
Gender - Science: Assesses unconscious bias regarding women in the sciences vs the liberal arts
Gender - Career: Assesses unconscious bias regarding traditional gender roles
Race: Assesses unconscious preferences regarding blacks and whites
Sexuality (Gay-Straight): Assesses unconscious bias regarding homosexual vs heterosexual

28. Identity and context

29. Activity 2: LC/MC One Page Worksheet
Complete the characteristics table on two levels:
The Individual Level:
Quickly chose between the two parallel statements in each column that best characterizes you as you work or study within the context of the most familiar educational setting (e.g., department, college, campus, etc) but not at home or other non-academic communities.
Circle the letter “M” (for “me”) on either the right or left comment. If you feel you are “both” or “can’t decide,” mark the “M” in the middle between the comments.

31. Activity 3: LC/MC One Page Worksheet
Complete the characteristics table on two levels:
The Institutional Level:
Now, do the same but select the most appropriate statement or characteristic that best describes the institution in that same educational setting.
Circle the letter “O” (for “organization”) on either the right or left comment. If you feel you are “both” or “can’t decide,” mark the “M” in the middle between the comments.

33. The Emerging Multicontext World Definition of “Cultural Context”:
Hall defined it as inter-cultural communication based on observations of interpersonal transactions across a wide variety of cultural interfaces. That transaction takes account of how information is handled and how cultural messages are transmitted.
Cultural context translates behavior into meaning – why do people do what they do and how that affects everything around us both consciously and unconsciously.

34. LOW CONTEXT HIGH CONTEXTMC
Interaction
Emphasis on words to supply meaning & low use of non-verbal signals
Communication is direct
Disagreement is depersonalized
Interaction
High use of non-verbal signals with words to contextualize meaning.
Communication is indirect
Disagreement is personalized

36. Example: Lab Activities LC HC
Individuated
Traditional science lab
Follow a procedure
Get a result
Analyze result
Integrated
Inquiry based lab
No set procedure
Student discovers
Develops context
This is why we need a variety of learning strategies

37. Brainstorm: Identify an LC and HC aspect of one of your classes

38. Strategies
Reframe Emphasis on relevance Attract Create community Thrive Raise expectations for success

39. Activity 3: Action Plan

40. ENGAGE and INSPIRE