SICB 2021 Conference Symposium: Biology Beyond the Classroom: Experiential Learning through Authentic Research, Design, and Community Engagement

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This award funds a symposium to be held at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) on effective teaching approaches for engaging diverse groups of students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The meeting typically attracts approximately 2,000 scientists, most of whom are responsible for teaching university courses and will be able to quickly implement changes in their teaching to better support students. A total of 16 symposium speakers from a range of institutions will present their work on innovative teaching approaches, providing essential training for attendees. This project will also support the facilitation of a community outreach workshop led by aspiring teenage scientists who will share their experiences enhancing science understanding in their neighborhoods. Together, the symposium presentations and workshop will provide essential professional development for integrative biologists to fill a need among university-level instructors and ensure more equitable institutions of higher education. In addition, an “Ask an Education Expert” booth on experiential STEM learning will be available to all SICB attendees throughout the meeting. Results will be disseminated through publications and social media, and participants will submit pedagogical materials to SICB’s Research and Education Resources online, open-access database, thereby expanding the impact beyond the meeting. This project provides support for an education-focused symposium at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) to be held in Washington, D.C., in January 2021. Symposium speakers will showcase innovative approaches for engaging undergraduate and graduate students in experiential science learning. Specifically, the symposium will highlight three high-impact practices that allow students to take their science learning outside of the classroom for increased relevance and authenticity: 1) Course-based undergraduate research (CUREs), 2) Digital fabrication in makerspaces, and 3) Service- or Community-based learning. Although each topic is unique, all provide an alternative approach to traditional lectures and have proven effective at appealing to diverse groups of students who are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM workforce. Further, each symposium speaker will contribute a manuscript for publication in the SICB journal, Integrative and Comparative Biology. In addition, symposium participants will contribute to two joint papers, one a review and the other which will provide insights into grand challenges currently facing the field of STEM education and recommendations for key shifts that are necessary to broaden participation in the next decade. The symposium presentations and deliverables will advance knowledge of effective teaching practices and research methods to investigate the efficacy of those practices for an audience of integrative biologists and educators, many of whom have not received formal training in teaching or education research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.