For future success, it's critical to support instructors and enable student-centered undergraduate STEM education
Classroom Innovation

Transforming STEM education for undergraduates


For future success, it's critical to support instructors and enable student-centered undergraduate STEM education

Key points:

Engaging in and offering full access to effective STEM education is a critical part of equipping undergraduate students with the skills necessary to make future discoveries and innovations, according to a forthcoming book from the National Academies Press.

The book, Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education: Supporting Equitable and Effective Teaching, notes that “commonly-used methods of teaching undergraduate STEM education benefit only a relatively small percentage of learners, leading many to choose not to enroll in STEM courses or pursue STEM careers. This trend severely limits participation in the STEM careers that play a critical role in our nation’s prosperity. High quality instruction, learning, and engagement in STEM should be a key priority for colleges and universities across the United States.”

Higher-ed leaders, instructors, and stakeholders should advocate for changes and transformation in undergraduate STEM education to help all learners thrive, according to the book.

Principles for Equitable and Effective Teaching, presented in the book, offer guidance for instruction.

Those principles include:

  1. Students need opportunities to actively engage in disciplinary learning
  2. Students’ diverse interests, goals, knowledge, and experiences can be leveraged to enhance learning
  3. STEM learning involves affective and social dimensions
  4. Identity and sense of belonging shape STEM teaching and learning
  5. Multiple forms of data can provide evidence to inform improvement
  6. Flexibility and responsiveness to situational and contextual factors support student learning
  7. Intentionality and transparency create more equitable opportunities

Of particular importance is improving experiences in foundational STEM courses, the book notes, because these courses can often dissuade students from continuing STEM learning. Instead of weeding out students, students’ experiences in these courses should improve and foster their curiosity and engagement in STEM education.

When STEM courses are designed around effective and equitable teaching practices, course goals will become clear to students, and students will engage in their STEM learning in ways that respect their identities–making students the primary drivers of their learning.

Find additional information on the book here.

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Laura Ascione
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