UPDATE: The second Seminar on Science Pedagogy was rescheduled for July 11–17, 2021.

CIC is proud to announce the opening of the application process for the second round of a new seminar that aims to improve teaching effectiveness and student learning in introductory biology, chemistry, and physics courses.

CIC was awarded a grant by the W. M. Keck Foundation in support of two seminars, one in July 2019 and one in July 2021, for faculty members at CIC institutions. The seminars will use methods based on research in cognition and neuroscience that have been shown by Stanford University physicist and Nobel laureate Carl Wieman, with colleagues at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of British Columbia, and Stanford, to yield significant improvements in student learning in science courses at all levels. In this model, faculty members serve more as coaches than lecturers while students are challenged by increasingly complex problems; prompt and extensive feedback allows students to emulate how scientists think and then to discover new knowledge.

The active learning model that Wieman advocates has been implemented, with success, at large research universities, but science departments at CIC member institutions are well situated to take quick advantage of these new methods. As a recent CIC report demonstrates, smaller colleges and universities already produce disproportionately large numbers of graduates in the STEM disciplines who continue to graduate work and careers in those fields. Students who major in the STEM disciplines persist to graduation at a higher rate at private than at public colleges and universities and they complete their degrees in a much shorter time. (See Strengthening the STEM Pipeline: The Contributions of Small and Mid-Sized Independent Colleges (CIC 2014).)

The effective teaching of science is now a national priority. Employers are eager to hire individuals who have knowledge of one or more STEM disciplines, while it is increasingly recognized that all college graduates should obtain a better working knowledge of science as part of their general education. A report by the Association of American Universities on undergraduate science, Progress Toward Achieving Systemic Change: A Five-Year Status Report on the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, which was published in 2017, makes an excellent case for more attention to improvements in teaching science and outlines ways for research universities to proceed.

There is no fee for participation in the Seminars on Science Pedagogy thanks to the generous support of the Keck Foundation.

UPDATE: The second Seminar on Science Pedagogy was rescheduled for July 11–17, 2021, in Oakland, CA.

The first seminar was held on the campus of Holy Names University in Oakland, California, July 15–19, 2019.

CIC will select nine institutions to participate in the 2020 seminar through a competitive application process. Each institution is expected to support a team of four faculty members from no more than two disciplines (biology, chemistry, or physics), including at least one department/division chair or dean. Team members will complete extensive preparatory work prior to the seminar, including assigned readings and an assessment of current teaching methods and student learning in introductory science courses. In the year following the seminar, at least two faculty members from each team will teach at least one introductory course per semester using the methods learned in the workshop. The team members also will serve as resources to help at least one of the departments incorporate the methods into all introductory courses, with full implementation in the second year following the seminar. Seminar participants will submit a final report at the end of the second year following the seminar and will be encouraged to present the results of the departmental transformations at meetings of their professional organizations.

These commitments will be supported and encouraged by CIC through the work of a seminar evaluator, who will assist institutions in establishing baseline data prior to the seminar and in collecting outcomes data during the two subsequent years. The evaluator will confer with participants with periodic conference calls and a site visit.

Teams of faculty members and administrators of CIC institutional members are eligible to apply for acceptance to the seminars. Participating faculty members must be full time and likely to continue on the faculty beyond the end of the project.

CIC seeks to attract a group of institutions to the seminars that is diverse demographically and in institutional type. Priority will be given to institutions that seek to serve first-generation and lower-income students through the program and, consistent with the interests of the Keck Foundation, to institutions in the western part of the United States. Institutions selected for the 2019 seminar are not eligible to apply for the 2020 seminar.

1. Why are the seminars limited to courses in biology, chemistry, and physics?
   The seminars are limited to courses in these three areas to encourage sharing of content expertise and the development of student exercises across institutional teams, since nearly all colleges offer courses in those areas. Institutions with interdisciplinary introductory courses in these areas are eligible to apply.
   
   
2. Why are participants being selected a year in advance?
   CIC will select participants a year in advance for two reasons. The seminar facilitators will assign extensive readings that participants should complete before the seminar. In addition, team members and their departments will collect assessment data on current teaching practices in introductory courses during the 2019–2020 academic year. Data will be used to establish baselines on student learning in introductory courses so that the impact of grant-supported activities can be determined. The program evaluator will help teams structure these assessments.
   
   
3. What travel allowance is provided by the grant?
   The grant provides for up to $1,000 per team in approved travel expenses.
   
   
4. What is the schedule for the 2020 seminar?
   The seminar will be held July 20–24, 2020. Activities will begin at 9:00 a.m. each day and run through 5:30 p.m., with a break for lunch. Expect team or individual work to be assigned for the evenings.
   
   
5. Who are the facilitators for the first seminar?
   The facilitators for the first seminar are: Warren Code, associate director, Faculty of Science Skylight Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of British Columbia; Georg Rieger, professor of physics and director of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative for the department of physics and astronomy, University of British Columbia; and Michelle Smith, associate professor of biological sciences, Cornell University. All three facilitators have extensive experience with the methods and materials to be developed in the seminar and have been trained by Carl Wieman.
   
   
6. What follow-up support will be available to institutions after the seminar?
   The facilitators will offer webinars for the group, as well as conference calls and a site visit for each institution.

​Please contact Kathy Whatley, CIC senior advisor for academic programs, at kathy.whatley@cic.nche.edu, or Stephen Gibson, director of programs, at sgibson@cic.nche.edu or (202) 466-7230 with any additional questions about the Seminars on Science Pedagogy or the application process.