SSI 2014 Themes The Summer Institutes have always provided opportunities for participants to connect learning to matters of real world significance. While elucidating what we call “the SENCER approach,” the SSI core program includes attention to what contemporary cognitive science tells us about how people learn. Effective curriculum design, goal setting, and assessment are overarching aims. SSI also provides strategic advice and assistance for achieving reform goals, building partnerships, and making new collaborative connections. These core program elements are articulated through themes that vary from year to year. For 2014, the special themes will be: the connections among STEM education, public opinion, public policy, and democracy; promotion of interdisciplinary learning; the relationship of STEM education to workforce preparation, and civic engagement; how new media can enhance learning; the new assessment landscape; and the internationalization of the STEM curriculum. A variety of sub-themes will be featured, including: • Recognizing and promoting the role of community colleges in STEM education, • Developing “STEM-capable and confident” K-12 teachers, • Building relationships between colleges and informal science educators, • Strengthening collaborations to meet critical regional challenges, • Realizing the potential that students have for stimulating important educational reform, and • Overcoming the stumbling blocks of STEM education (especially in mathematics) to successful college completion.
Professional Recognition SENCER Summer Institutes are an occasion to recognize the professional achievements of those within our community of practice. SSI 2014 will include the announcement of the newest class of the NCSCE Leadership Fellows, the 2014 recipients of the William E. Bennett Award, and recognition of exceptional publications, and other achievements in student learning and STEM education.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 8