During the weekend of November 13th to 15th, three Carleton faculty members attended the 2015 AAC&U Crossing Boundaries: Transforming STEM Education Conference in Seattle. The conference brought together scientists and mathematicians to talk about best practices in STEM teaching. Carleton science Professors Deborah Gross (Chemistry), Melissa Eblen-Zayas (Physics), and Debby Walser-Kuntz (Biology) co-presented on academic civic engagement. Their workshop presentation, titled “Civic Engagement Models to Foster Integrative Science Education,” focused on academic civic engagement models that both extend beyond the one course ACE model and are interdisciplinary in nature.
Professor Gross presented on an air quality project carried out by the sophomore FOCUS colloquium over the span of the academic year of 2014 to 2015. FOCUS, which stands for “Focusing on Cultivating Scientists,” supports students through their entry into the study of science/math at Carleton. Many students conducting this project in the 2014 to 2015 sophomore FOCUS colloquium have gone on to major in chemistry, biology, and psychology.
Professor Eblen-Zayas talked about the Sustainability Project, which incorporated ACE courses, special projects courses, internships, and work-study. The project spanned the entire 2014-2015 year, with participation from four different academic departments in addition to the Sustainability Office.
Professor Walser-Kuntz (Broom Faculty Fellow for Public Scholarship) presented on the Public Health Project, which involved students from eight majors enrolled in two sequential courses with an intervening two week off-campus study program. One of the outcomes Walser-Kuntz discussed is that projects with a longer time-frame have the potential to provide additional benefits for both the students and the community partners.
To learn more about public scholarship efforts and opportunities, please visit the CCCE’s Engaged Research and Scholarship page.