East Carolina University

2012-2013 Unit Annual Progress Reports

Unit: Center for STEM Education reporting to Department of Mathematics, Science and Information Technology Education.

As agreed upon in 2009, deans should forward Unit Annual Reports to the Provost or Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences by June 30th of every year.

Unit Report

· Summarize unit highlights of the reporting period in teaching. Provide bulleted listings and brief descriptions of accomplishments. Indicate how these highlights support/do not support the unit’s goals and objectives for this academic year.

o The Center and the Center Director have no teaching responsibilities

· Provide verification that faculty who offer courses using online instruction have completed annual training about distance education.

o The Center and the Center Director are not responsible for any online courses

· Summarize unit highlights of the reporting period in research/creative activity. Provide bulleted listings and brief descriptions of these activities. Indicate how these accomplishments support/do not support the unit’s goals and objectives for this academic year.

o Proposal activity

§ Center Director is co -PI on the grant proposal: STEM MAGIC (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Motivating Advancement for Girls' Introduction to College) submitted to the National Science Foundation. The proposal partnerships include the College of Education, College of Arts and Sciences and College of Technology and Computer Science. The proposal is to support STEM Girls Day and STEM Girls Summer Camp to promote women in STEM fields.

§ The Center Director is Senior Personnel on the grant proposal: ECU Connects! - Expanding the STEM pipeline through long-term partnerships between schools and industry submitted to the National Science Foundation. Partners include the College of Education and the College of Technology and Computer Science, three local businesses and three local school districts. The proposal is to improve teaching middle grades disciplines by partnering teachers and businesses and then developing new instructional units. .

§ Center Director is co-PI on the grant proposal: SM2ART Works (Science and Mathematics for Minorities Aimed at Relevant Thinking Works), submitted to National Science Foundation (NSF). This proposal is in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pitt County, College of Human Ecology, College of Education and other community partners. The intention is to use trained mentors to incorporate STEM instruction into Boys & Girls Clubs.

§ The Center Director is co-PI on a proposal: Crystal Island Game Based Learning Environment to the Gates Foundation. Partners on this proposal include NC state University and GO-Science. The proposal is to support the enhancement, piloting, refinement, usability, outcome strategies, and adoption strategies for the Crystal Island software system.

§ Center Director is co-PI on NerouBLAST (Building Lessons for Addiction Science Teaching) submitted to the National Institutes of Health. Partners include College of Education, College of Human Ecology, and College of Arts and Sciences. The proposed project would provide instruction to high school teachers on the science of substance abuse, provide for them to design instructional modules and implement these modules in classrooms.

§ The Director has met with the group intending to prepare a STEM Advance proposal in 2013.

§ The Director has met with the group intending to submit a proposal, SUMS for STEM, to the National Science Foundation in November, 2013. This grant would provide mathematics instruction to students entering ECU during the summer prior to their freshman year so that they would be able to enroll in Calculus as freshmen.

§ The Center Director has written letters of support for Dr. Thomas Crawford in the Department of Geography for an NC Space Grant to design high school curricula using Geographic Information Science and for Joseph Wilck and Paul Kauffmann in the Department of Engineering to the NSF to design a course on Using Engineering Economics.

o Publications:

§ The Director published: “Approaches to Studying the Enacted Mathematics Curriculum.” Book review published online in Teachers College Record.

§ The Center Director is co-author on a manuscript, “Food-based Science Curriculum Increases 4th Graders Multidisciplinary Science Knowledge”, submitted to the Journal of Food Science.

o One of the goals of the Center is to procure funding for Center activities. Another Goal is to create an awareness of the Center. These activities address this goal.

· Summarize unit highlights of the reporting period in service. Provide bulleted listings and brief descriptions of these activities. Indicate how these accomplishments support the unit’s goals and objectives for this academic year.

o Committees

§ Director is member of the North East Regional School for BioAgriculture Professional Development Task Force. This group meets to discuss the development of plan to use funds from the Carnegie Foundation to utilize NERSBA as a source for professional development for High School Mathematics teachers. Members include faculty from NERSBA, staff from DPI, the New School Project and Horizon Research.

§ The Director is on the Board of Directors of GO-Science, an organization planning to open a STEM Center in Greenville, NC.

§ The Director is a member of the North Carolina STEM Leadership committee of the North Carolina Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center.

§ The Director participated in the North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair

§ Although the state-support network of Center Directors no longer exists, the few remaining Directors continue to meet to share experiences.

o Programs (students)

§ Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics currently under the direction of Sr, Mary Farwell, is one of the major programs of the Center. During the Summer, 2012, close to 90 high school juniors from across the state attending ECU form 4 weeks participating in two or more of ten different courses and conducting research. For the summer of 2013, the state has awarded us funds to bring 120 students to campus.

§ The Center participate in STEM Girls Day, a day on which over 100 middle school girls from Pitt County spent a half day on campus learning about STEM Careers.

§ The Center took a leadership role in High school STEM day, a day on which almost 300 high school juniors from eastern North Carolina spent a day on campus learning about STEM Careers.

§ The Director serves as a judge for the North Carolina Space Grant during the North East Regional North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair: Over 120 students presented science fair topics for judging.

§ The Center took the lead in coordinating the Science Olympiad, a competition for students during which they complete science related activities

§ The Center organized AP Review Day, a Saturday during which over 50 high school students spent the day reviewing for the AP examination, working with a teacher other than their regular classroom teachers

o Programs (teachers)

§ The AP Institute is a week long program for high school teachers intending to teach AP courses offered by the College Board and hosted by ECU. ECU did not host an AP Institute in summer 2012, but will be offering workshops in Calculus, Statistics, Biology and Chemistry. To date (5/5/2013) there are 30 teachers registered for summer 2013.

· Describe any multi-year trends that support the unit’s strategic goals, activities, and products.

o The newly hired Director of the Center for STEM Education was presented with two sets of goals for the Center. The Director’s contract states that the position is to establish continuing relationships with STEM-oriented businesses and industries, K-16 educators, and community leaders in eastern North Carolina; work collaboratively to secure funding from federal agencies and private foundations to improve the quality of K-16 STEM education and STEM workforce development; promote an educational environment in the region that nurtures STEM education for K-16 students, including preparation and instruction for future student employment in STEM professions or teacher preparation for K-12 STEM education; and serve as a regional clearinghouse for STEM teacher professional development and for dissemination of information to the public regarding STEM Center activities. The Mission and Vision of the Center approved prior to the hiring of the new Director states that the goals are Improving the quality and quantity of K-12 teachers of science and mathematics; providing strong experiences in science and mathematics for all K-16 students while increasing the number of graduates pursuing careers in STEM disciplines; creating a supportive environment for multidisciplinary research, evaluation, and assessment while bridging the gap between educators and STEM professionals; and encouraging community engagement that leads to increased university partnerships with school districts, business and industry, and the community.

o In addition to the activities described above, the Center Director devoted efforts to getting to know the Center, ECU and the region. To that end over 55 people were interviewed about the STEM activities and needs in eastern North Carolina.

o Since the Center is in the midst of reorganization, there are no trends to report.

o Link to COE Strategic Plan: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/ipar/planning/StrategicPlans.cfm

§ It would appear that the Center activities this year align with the College of Education Strategic Plan:

· Goal 3: The COE will ensure that ECU and the COE are positioned to address North Carolina's PK-20 education challenges.

o Outcome Objective: The COE will increase the number of professional development opportunities for PK-20 educators.

· Goal 5: The COE will extend our partnerships with government, business, and education to focus on emerging areas of need.

o Outcome Objective: The COE will advance its viability, productivity, and effectiveness through increased partnerships to support regional economic priorities.

· Summarize key issues still to be addressed in the unit in order of importance (i.e., resource needs, space, pending challenges). Provide bulleted listings and brief descriptions of issues.

o Of equal importance is funding and staffing. The Director has written a number of grant proposals, but, while sustaining activity, these would not necessarily lead to strategic goals. Currently the Center is staffed by the Director, one administrative assistant with some responsibilities to the Department, the Summer Ventures Director (part-time), a faculty member borrowed from another department the equivalent of one day a week, a retired teacher who works one day a week and a group part-time student workers. The process has begun to hire an Assistant Director to provide some constancy.

o The vision that has begun to emerge during this year of exploration needs to be solidified and put into writing. This vision would lead to a series of programs.

o An Advisory Board that would support the vision of the Center needs to be formed.

o Clarification is needed about the article that appeared recently in the Greenville Reflector that the current building housing the Center is scheduled for demolition.

· Describe the unit’s future plans with respect to growth or reduction and the way in which you will address the UNC Strategic Plan

o After spending ten months getting to know the history of the Center, the university, college and department, the school system and area with its needs, the emerging vision has several components. Of primary importance is to serve as a point of contact for the many programs and individuals in the area concerned with STEM Education. The second focus needs to become strategic about being a direct service provider to the teachers of STEM disciplines in the area. This focus includes increasing the usage of the Center’s 5000 item Lending Library. A third focus is to continue ad increase support of K-20 students. A fifth focus is on providing support to colleagues in the multiple STEM-related disciplines at ECU in their STEM-related outreach and grant writing. Funding raising will of necessity always be focus. Underlying all of these ideas is the need to increase awareness of the existence of the Center.

o It remains important for the current and eventual Center staff to be involved in statewide, regional and national agendas

o Link to UNC Strategic Plan: http://www.northcarolina.edu/strategic_direction/Overview.htm. These goals seem most closely aligned with Goals 2 and 3 of the recent UNC Strategic Plan, Our Time Our Future. These two goals are captured in the phrases strengthening academic quality and serving the people of North Carolina.

o This vision also is aligned with the receommendations of Startegies that Engage Minds, the first NC STEM ReportCard produced by the North Carolina Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center in Spring, 2013.

COE OAA: COE Additions: 3/21/2013