EDUC 7773 Developing STEM Habits of Mind

The goal of this course is to extend the candidates’ experiences in the practices of STEM learning to further develop the engineering design process, authentic student research in STEM, and facilitate students’ thinking through experiences and reasoning in STEM. Candidates will extend their understanding of Course II and apply practice to the engineering design model, Project Based Learning, and authentic STEM research. Emphasis will be placed on application of technology to enhance students’ STEM experiences, the art of effective questioning, facilitating students’ thinking through experiences, reasoning in STEM education be it computational, model-based, quantitative, systems, etc. The importance of community STEM partners, be they educational, non-profit, or business, will be evaluated and aligned with educational goals to promote grant writing techniques that benefit all partners while candidates begin planning Course IV (EDUC 7774) requirements that demonstrate the application of STEM teaching and learning.

Credits

3

Student Learning Outcomes

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OUTCOMES (See School of Education Syllabus A – IV)

COURSE OUTCOMES:
Upon successful completion of this course, the candidate will be able to:

1. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to think critically, evaluate complex data, draw evidence-based conclusions, engage in effective argumentation and communicate effectively in written format. (summative)
2. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to engage students in STEM reasoning that reveals how STEM professionals think and solve problems. (formative) 
3. Candidates will demonstrate the dispositions necessary to be effective interdisciplinary STEM educators (i.e., life-long learning, value collaborations, flexible, high tolerance for ambiguity, risk taker, innovative, committed to the profession, self-reflective, perseverance). (summative)
4. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to effectively engage students in: 
   1. engineering design processes to solve open-ended problems or complete design challenges.
   2. authentic or investigative research to answer relevant questions
   3. using STEM reasoning abilities (i.e., computational reasoning, model-based reasoning, quantitative reasoning, engineering design-based reasoning, and complex systems thinking)
   4. experiential learning
   5. project management techniques
5. Candidates will demonstrate proficiency in differentiating instruction related to integrated STEM concepts.
6. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to effectively assess students using interdisciplinary STEM performance tasks and portfolio assessments and create rubrics for these assessments. 
7. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to facilitate student-led learning and to apply knowledge and skills to novel, relevant and authentic situations.
8. Candidates will demonstrate the implementation of authentic teaching and learning strategies, including project-based learning, problem-based learning, and place-based education.
9. Candidates will foster a learning environment which encourages risk taking, innovation and creativity.
10. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to facilitate student-led team-based learning with appropriate etiquette.