2014 SENCER Summer Institute University of North Carolina at Asheville July 31 – August 4, 2014
An initiative of The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement Supported in part by the National Science Foundation
www.ncsce.net www.sencer.net
Twitter: @NCSCE Twitter: @SENCER
In this Brochure: About the SENCER Summer Institutes Who Should Attend?
3-6 5-6
Applying for SSI 2014
7
SSI 2014 Themes
8
SSI 2014 Leadership
9-10
SSI 2014 Agenda
11-13
New Participant Orientation
13
About SENCER and UNC Asheville
14
About Asheville, North Carolina
15
Sunday activities in the area
15
SSI 2014 Pricing
16
Getting to SSI 2014
16
Accommodations
16
Travel
16
Deadlines and Dates to Know
17
Application Instructions
17
About NCSCE
18
About SENCER
18
About SENCER and NSF
17
About SENCER - ISE
19
About Engaging Mathematics
19
Contact Information
20
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 2
About the SENCER Summer Institutes (SSI) Would you like to… • Apply the science of learning to the learning of science? • Design more effective courses, labs, and programs? • Stimulate greater interest in—and reduce the fear of— science and mathematics? • Enable your students and the people you serve to engage with complex, contested, compelling civic issues? • Help students make intellectual connections across the curriculum? • Enlist students and community members in producing new knowledge? • Assess teaching and learning more comprehensively and effectively? • Promote life-long learning, your own included? • Empower graduates and citizens for effective civic engagement? Are you looking for opportunities to… • Connect with others facing similar challenges and striving for similar aims? • Form productive and durable collaborations? • Learn how to guide, support, and sustain change in your institution/community? • Contribute to public policy deliberations and decisions? • Share what you have learned with others? • Expand the application of SENCER strategies to STEM majors, the social sciences and humanities, K-12 schools, community partners, and the informal science education community? • Acquire institutional and extramural support for your endeavors? • Enjoy the company of a vibrant, diverse, open, and welcoming community of practice?
If you found yourself answering “yes” to some of these questions, then we invite your application to the 2014 SENCER Summer Institute.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 3
About the SENCER Summer Institutes (SSI)
The 2014 SENCER Summer Institute (SSI) will be hosted by the University of North Carolina at Asheville from July 31 - August 4. First held at Santa Clara University in 2001, the SENCER Summer Institutes have been the cornerstone of our National Science Foundationsupported faculty development and community-building strategy. Held annually at a different host college or university, the SENCER Summer Institutes offer intensive, residential learning opportunities for educators, academic leaders, community partners, and students. Participation is by invitation only, following a review of applications. Now in our 14th year, the SENCER Institutes attract and enroll a diverse community of newcomers and returning “alumni.” We invite applications from individuals, small groups, and formallyorganized teams. Teams (consisting of four or more members) are eligible to receive modest grant awards to support program implementation. These awards, made possible by NSF support, have been instrumental in catalyzing reform efforts on campus. The Summer Institute program is fast-paced and challenging. A variety of learning strategies are employed, including: • All-Institute plenary sessions on topics of broad significance, • Intensive half-day, hands-on professional development workshops,
• Concurrent 60-90 minute sessions that feature campus reports and/or enable participants to address topics related to teaching, goal setting, design, and assessment.
• Poster presentations from invited participants, and
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 4
About the SENCER Summer Institutes, Continued
Who should attend? The Summer Institute brings together people who are interested in using civic issues to engage learners. Most participants have backgrounds in the STEM disciplines. In the past few years, we have also attracted participants from almost every field (notable among these are economics, rhetoric and English, art, psychology, nursing, and teacher education). Faculty members from all sectors of higher education have traditionally been the largest category of participants, closely followed by academic leaders responsible for curriculum and program implementation. This group includes department chairs, deans, vice presidents, provosts, and presidents. In addition to the SENCER program, the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement has several related initiatives from which the Summer Institute draws participants.
• Our SENCER-ISE project connects formal (university and college)
educators with informal science educators from institutions such as museums, science centers, research institutes, and conservancies. The presence of informal science educators inspires new collaborations and suggests a productive pathway to encourage life-long learning from students whose engagement with STEM while at college may be minimal and fleeting.
•
A new project, Engaging Mathematics, will bring mathematics faculty whose main interest is in connecting mathematics learning to civic questions, in order to increase the capacity of students and citizens to understand numbers and probability claims.
“The SENCER Summer Institute opened up my mind to the myriad pedagogical possibilities AND the political realities involved in implementing them. It helped me be a more effective advocate for better teaching both to the faculty and to other administrators. What I learned extended well beyond the sciences — in my role as Provost I find that the issues of changing classroom culture transcend the disciplines, and my several visits to SSI paved the way for me to do a better job of supporting change for the benefit of students.” -Gail Simmons, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Manhattanville College
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 5
About the SENCER Summer Institutes, Continued •
Our EpSCOR and Keck Foundation-supported efforts to encourage state-wide or regional collaborations, along with folks from the GLISTEN project focused on the issues of the Great Lakes, will offer opportunities for participants to connect with existing regional efforts, or envision ones of their own.
Community partners (informal science educators, public benefit corporations and groups, and government) have found Summer Institute participation can lead to strengthened collaborations and partnerships on research and public education projects. Teams are greatly enriched when representatives of these sectors are included. With our new interest on learning across the spectrum, we have welcomed K-12 educators from public and private schools.
Students provide invaluable, learner-centered perspectives on the effectiveness of teaching strategies and the attractiveness of proposed course content. We have observed that the most successful and robust models of the SENCER approach have been those that included substantial contributions by students in their initial development and rollout. Attendance by students as members of an institutional design team is an effective strategy for ensuring that a team’s “final product” will be a good one. SSI attendees from all sectors, disciplines, ranks, and regions report being both professionally enriched and energized by the Summer Institute community and the professional development opportunities offered. Participants learn how to incorporate SENCER ideals in their professional practice, or how to do effective assessments, and how to advance change in their institutions. SSI attendees are also responsible for the overall intellectual quality of the Institute experience. Everyone is expected—and counted on—to both lead and learn. “Networking” in an intellectually-stimulating environment of mutual support and serious commitment is perhaps most important feature of the Institute experience. SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 6
The Application Process We welcome your application to SSI 2014. The appropriate forms can be found online at the link below. All applications received by April 1, 2014 are guaranteed consideration by SENCER and National Center staff. Applications submitted after the due date will be considered on a space available basis. Team applications received by the due date will be guaranteed eligibility for Post-Institute Implementation Awards. http://www.sencer.net/Symposia/ssi2014participation.cfm Following a review of all applications, invitations to the Institute will be issued. The summer institute program is customized to meet the needs of invited participants as expressed in their applications. Applicants whose materials are received by April 1, 2014 will be notified of their status by April 7, 2014. A Note on the Post-Institute Implementation Awards NCSCE awards competitive Post-Institute Implementation Awards in the Fall following the SENCER Summer Institute. We are generally able to make awards to up to 40 applicants based on merit. These $3,000 sub-awards, supported through a grant from the National Science Foundation, are intended to promote the institutionalization of SENCER projects on campus, particularly those that emphasize measurable and achievable goals, and innovative evaluation strategies. All eligible recipients are invited to an orientation meeting held during the Summer Institute. For information of current and past awardees, please visit http://www.sencer.net/Symposia/symposiaarchives.cfm.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 7
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
1
SSI Leadership SENCER treats all participants as leaders and learners. Those who plan SSI 2014 are learners as well. We hope to cultivate our capacities as natural scientists and to use our observations and what we learn from working together to shape and re-shape what we do. We will have some special help in this work from invited scholars and leaders, including several SENCER fellows and senior associates, who have served as "faculty" for our previous SENCER Summer Institutes. Some of the featured plenary presenters and programs for SSI 2014 are: Dan Kahan of Yale University will return for a second year to continue our collective exploration of the relationships between education, opinion, public policy choices, and democracy. This year’s featured SENCER “program in action” will be provided by students and faculty members from the West Point SENCER team who will describe how their focus on energy strengthens disciplinary learning while promoting a capacity to address challenging, unscripted problems. Sue Ellen McCann and colleagues from KQED in San Francisco will help us understand the uses and misuses of new and old media in support of learning, as we forge alliances between informal and formal educators committed to improving our understanding of complex issues
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 9
2
SSI Leadership, Continued As we prepare for SENCER’s 15th anniversary next year, our closing plenary will be offered by Sherryl Broverman of Duke University, who will help us understand the powerful consequences of our work. She will narrate how a course on HIV disease at her university led to to the establishment of a school for girls in Kenya. Her story reveals how internationalizing the perspectives of students on two continents improves more than just STEM learning. New SENCER backgrounders will also be featured at SSI 2014. Sam McFarland of the University of Western Kentucky has written “A Brief Primer on Human Rights” in connection with membership in the AAAS Coalition of Human Rights. Karen Oates of Worcester Polytechnic and Jessica Wyndham of AAAS will discuss Sam’s backgrounder and how it relates to the human right to enjoy the benefits of science. Natalie Kuldell of MIT, this year’s SENCER visiting scientist, has written a backgrounder on Synthetic Biology. SENCER leaders who are PULSE Fellows, Ellen Goldey of Wofford College and Alix Fink of Longwood University, will be invited to join this discussion and bring us up to date on advances in biology education. Glenn Odenbrett, the founder and director of the GLISTEN project, will present his new backgrounder on the undergraduate stewardship liaisons and new advances in communitybased service learning. By popular demand, our Science and Public Policy Symposium will be offered again this year as a pre-Institute event (July 30). Janice Ballou, Joe Karlesky, Dan Kahan and others will guide this lively symposium. Participation is by invitation and a separate application is required. Please indicate your interest in the symposium on your application to the Institute. Scheduled Consultations with a leader in the SENCER community are offered for groups (2-3 people) and teams (4 or more people). Matches are based on the group or team's specific needs and interests. If you are interested in a consultation, please be sure to indicate so in the appropriate section of your SSI 2014 application.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 10
1
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Agenda Though the general themes for SSI 2014 have been determined, the topics of concurrent sessions and workshops are tailored each year to the interests of SSI participants as stated in the applications.
July 30, 2014
All activities will be held on the University of North Carolina Asheville campus Science and Public Policy Symposium 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (includes dinner)
July 31, 2014
All activities will be held on the University of North Carolina Asheville campus Science and Public Policy Symposium 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. SSI New Participant Orientation 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. SSI 2014 Opening Plenary Address and Gala Welcome Dinner 4:30 p.m.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 11
2
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Agenda, Continued August 1, 2014 Institute Sessions 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. All-Institute plenary sessions Concurrent sessions Work sessions Team and Group Consultations Poster Presentations Networking Reception 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
August 2, 2014 Institute Sessions 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. All-Institute plenary sessions Concurrent sessions Work sessions Team and Group Consultations Poster Presentations Dinner Honoring NCSCE Community Leaders 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 12
3
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Agenda, Continued August 3, 2014 Institute Sessions 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. All-Institute plenary sessions Concurrent sessions Work sessions Team and Group Consultations Tours and Trips 2:00 p.m.
August 4, 2014 Institute Workshops 8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Lunch and Closing Session 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Institute Adjourns 1:00 p.m.
Added for 2014 SSI New Participant Orientation In response to feedback from SSI 2013 evaluations, we are introducing an orientation program for new participants at the Summer Institute to be held prior to the opening plenary address and welcome dinner on July 31. The program will include a review of the history of SENCER, the theory behind our work, and how to make the best use of your time at the Institute. SENCER’s wide range of resources and assessment tools will also be covered. SENCER Senior Scholars and Leadership Fellows will be on hand to meet with participants and answer questions.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 13
About SENCER and UNC Asheville UNC Asheville is North Carolina's designated public liberal arts institution, and embraces creative expression, the centrality of learning, rigorous undergraduate scholarship, exemplary teaching, and an informed commitment to serving the community. UNC Asheville serves as the host institution for the SENCER Center for Innovation – South. In addition to offering SENCER courses for both science and nonscience majors, UNC Asheville applies the SENCER philosophy to its Integrative Liberal Studies (ILS) Topical Clusters, in which each of our students is required to complete three courses (natural science, social science, and an elective) from a list of courses focused on an important societal topic. Additionally, UNC Asheville shares with NCSCE, a commitment to sustainability. The university’s sustainability efforts include student projects such “green reps,” an annual Green Fest, the installation of water bottle refilling stations, and the creation of a forest permaculture garden. Campus features such as ground-source heating and cooling systems, the solar thermal systems, native landscaping, rainwater harvesting, and “gray” water loops (reusing wastewater that can be recycled on-site) all contribute to the university’s sustainability efforts. This, and other information on UNC Asheville sustainability is available at: unca.edu/features/sustainable-direction
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 14
About Asheville, North Carolina Close to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville provides visitors with a rich mix of historical and natural attractions. Asheville is home to a burgeoning tech sector, a well-preserved historic downtown, many artistic and cultural events such as the yearly Shindig on the Green, well as educational institutions such as the University of North Carolina at Asheville. More information about Asheville is available at exploreasheville.com
Sunday Activities around Asheville On Sunday, August 3, SSI Attendees will have the opportunity to explore Asheville on a number of planned trips and excursions around the city and environs, including: • The Biltmore House – America’s Largest Home • Hiking Trails • A Trolley Tour around the City • Asheville Brewery and History Walking Tour • Asheville Urban Trail Further information about SSI Sunday activities, and how to sign up will be provided along with Institute acceptances. SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 15
Institute Pricing Thanks to underwriting support we receive from the National Science foundation, we are able to offer invited participants a registration fee of $650 per person. This fee includes: • Meals during the Institute, • Enrollment in Institute sessions and workshops, • Team/group consultations, • The SSI New Participant Orientation, • Educational materials, and • Shuttle bus transportation between the UNC Asheville campus and the SSI 2014 group hotels on all days of Institute activities.
Getting to and Lodging at SSI 2014 Accommodations Off-Campus Lodging: SENCER has secured discounted group rates of $78.50 per night ($157 for single occupancy) at The Four Points by Sheraton and the Renaissance Asheville Downtown hotel. SENCER will provide shuttle bus transportation from these hotels to the UNC Asheville campus for Institute activities. On-Campus: SSI participants also have the option of utilizing on-campus lodging a rate of $41 per night ($75 for single occupancy). SSI participants will be in buildings with residence hall support, and with other SSI participants. The total cost (registration and lodging) per person for SSI attendance is estimated at $964 for those staying in hotel housing with double occupancy, and $814 for those staying in University housing with double occupancy, plus travel. More information on accommodations will be provided with Institute acceptances. Travel UNC Asheville is located at 1 University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804 Air: The closest airport to SSI 2014 locations is the Asheville Regional Airport (AVL). It is approximately a 2-hour drive from the Charlotte Airport (CLT) Bus: Greyhound offers bus service to Asheville, NC, and local bus services to the UNC Asheville campus Car: Parking is available on campus, and costs $5.00 for the duration of the institute. Parking is also available at the institute hotels, and is free of charge. SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 16
Important Dates and Deadlines April 1, 2014 Individual, Group, and Team application deadline. April 7, 2014 Applicants notified by SENCER staff regarding Institute attendance. July 7, 2014 Payment deadline for SSI 2014 registration fees. July 30, 2014 Pre-institute Symposium on Public Policy July 31 - August 4, 2014 2014 SENCER Summer Institute September 30, 2014 Deadline to submit an application for a SSI 2014 Post-Institute Implementation Award *Additional deadlines will be communicated to accepted applicants after April 7.
Application Instructions Participation in the Institute is by invitation following submission of an application that indicates your interest in participating in the Institute and review by SENCER staff. All applications should be sent by email to SENCER@SENCER.net. We welcome participations by individuals, groups of two or three people and teams of four or more people. The application is available at: http://www.sencer.net/Symposia/ssi2014participation.cfm
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 17
About NCSCE As a nation, we can not afford to lose the benefits that accrue when students achieve high levels of competence in a variety of critical, 21st century skills, especially those developed and nurtured through study in the STEM fields. The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) offers programs, services, and assets to colleges, universities, schools, and community organizations designed to make STEM education real, relevant, rigorous, and responsible, and support student success and achievement. Our Center’s programs emphasize attention to students not just as candidates for college degrees, but as citizens who contribute to the essential work of creating, applying, and disseminating knowledge — the knowledge we need to make our democracy.
About SENCER Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) courses and programs connect science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content to critical local, national, and global challenges. Students and faculty report that the SENCER approach makes science more accessible, real, and relevant to the welfare of our democracy. SENCER improves science education by focusing on real world problems and, by so doing, extends the impact of this learning across the curriculum to the broader community and society. We do this by developing faculty expertise in teaching ‘to’ basic, canonical science and mathematics ‘through’ complex, capacious, often unsolved problems of civic consequence.
SENCER and NSF Since 2000, SENCER has enjoyed the support of the National Science Foundation through the NSFDUE 1224488, TUES program.
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 18
SENCER-ISE The Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities Informal Science Education initiative explores and evaluates ways to support sustainable partnerships between informal science and higher education professionals around issues of civic consequence. The goals of the SENCER-ISE are to: • Form partnerships between higher education and informal science education professionals around compelling civic issues and examine whether these partnerships can bring about a transformation in STEM educational practices, • Create durable partnerships between educators from these sectors and by so doing provide models for others in the wider educational community to follow, and, • Instill in college graduates and ISE audiences the idea that informal science education institutions and activities are a credible, accessible source of high quality “life-long learning” on matters of science, public policy, personal well-being, and public welfare. SENCER-ISE is funded by the National Science Foundation (DRL 1237463) and The Noyce Foundation.
Engaging Mathematics The Engaging Mathematics (EM) three-year initiative aims to significantly increase the use of the SENCER model, and other progressive pedagogies, by a national community of mathematics scholars capable of creating, implementing, and sustaining reforms in mathematics education. Previous SENCER work has allowed the National Center to apply the already wellestablished SENCER approach to college-level mathematics courses, with the goal of using civic issues to make math more relevant to students. Engaging Mathematics is funded through the National Science Foundation's TUES-II program (DUE-1322883).
SENCER Summer Institute 2014 Brochure Page 19
Contact Us For questions about SSI 2014, please contact: Kyle Simmons Faculty Development Events Program Coordinator (202) 276-2343 kyle.simmons@ncsce.net
NCSCE and SENCER Address: NCSCE 2000 P Street NW Suite 740 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 483-4600 SENCER@SENCER.net
For more information about NCSCE and SENCER: Please visit our website at SENCER.net.
All brochure images are property of NCSCE Staff or used with permission from their owners. Images may not be used without permission of the NCSCE.