SUNY Oswego Institution-Wide Reform of Science, Mathematics & Technology Instruction

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Project Summary: SUNY Oswego Institution-Wide Reform of Science, Math, & Technology Instruction This project to reform science, math, and technology (SME&T) instruction for all undergraduate students at SUNY Oswego has five objectives. First is the improvement of introductory SME&T courses for both general students and science majors. Faculty supported by the project are strengthening a wide range of existing SME&T courses and develop new issues-oriented, interdisciplinary courses. The criteria for excellence defined by national science and math education reform documents and by the new SUNY Oswego General Education Program is the benchmark for this process. The result is a suite of required courses which provide all students (majors and non-majors, women and minorities) with direct experience with inquiry in a collaborative setting and active learning of important SME&T concepts in a real world context. Second, faculty development activities are providing sustained opportunities for faculty development in the areas of effective SME&T pedagogy (inquiry, active learning, conceptual understanding, real world context, and collaboration) and instructional technologies. This development is stimulated through two summer institutes, held in 1998 and 1999, and by follow-up activities throughout each subsequent academic year. Faculty have opportunities to learn and share effective pedagogical strategies, enhance their interdisciplinary knowledge base, and learn about and implement innovative instructional technologies. Third, as part of these professional development opportunities, new partnerships are being formed with regional businesses across departments to improve SME&T course offerings. Fourth, in order to create an environment that encourages faculty to seek new connections among disciplines and engage in thoughtful pedagogies, the faculty reward system is being examined. The goal of this element of reform is to redefine of the reward structure so that it supports a scholarship of pedagogy a nd interdisciplinary instruction, not only in SME&T, but across all disciplines. Fifth, the existing institutional structures are being streamlined and augmented to provide a mechanism for sustaining growth in professional development, partnerships, and a supportive faculty reward system, not only in SME&T but across all disciplines.