The MidAtlantic Regional SENCER Center for Innovation (SCI-MA) hosts biannual conferences in area institutions where seasoned SENCER practitioners and newly interested faculty come together to hear nationally renowned teacher-scholars and to share their own ideas and experiences in teaching STEM discipline courses through timely civic questions. SCI-MA programs are open to participants from around the country, but are targeted to participants from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The Directors, together with Leadership Council members, travel throughout the area visiting campuses to speak about SENCER issues. Topics presented and discussed include the reform of undergraduate STEM education, assessment of teaching and learning, opportunities for community college articulation, efforts to coordinate a Consortium for Assessment of Student Achievement, and informal science education arenas, as well as pre-kindergarten through 12th grade STEM education with programs for pre-service teachers.
About the Host Institution: Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national public research university and the state’s preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education, with more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers has a unique history as a colonial college, a land-grant institution, and a state university. The university’s 27 degree-granting units offer majors in more than 100 fields, with thousands of courses covering the full range of human experience. Rutgers is dedicated to teaching that meets the highest standards of excellence; to conducting research that breaks new ground; and to turning knowledge into solutions for local, national, and global communities.
CONFERENCE: MidAtlantic SENCER Regional Center for Innovation, January 15, 2022: WATER
RECORDED PRESENTATIONS CAN BE FOUND AT THE NCSCE YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Full program and attendees list here:
January 15th, Saturday, 2021 via Zoom; 10:45 am to 3:45 pm EST
Virtual Conference, January 16, 2021
NARRATIVE in SCIENCE
As scientists, science educators, and science communicators, we employ narrative in a variety of ways to shape the stories we tell about our work. Narrative can be a powerful way to connect the public to the work that we do. This virtual SENCER conference will focus on the many ways we can use narrative to teach science and engage the public. Please join us to share your ideas, learn form each other and network!
We are currently accepting abstract submissions for Interactive Workshops, Discussions/Panels, and Posters focusing on “Narrative in Science.” The virtual conference will be held January 16, 2021. We anticipate a schedule that runs from about 11 am thru 4 pm EST. Submissions for presentations and registrations will be requested through a communication directly from NSCSE/SENCER once the conference date is finalized. FULL AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION DESCRIPTION HERE
PAST MEETINGS:
SCI-Mid-Atlantic Spring 2019 Meeting
The SENCER Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting WAS hosted by the New School with the exciting theme of STEM, Humanities and Social Justice. Proposals for posters, workshops, presentations are all welcome, particularly those from non-STEM disciplines and we shall be highlighting some of the exciting work being done at the New School.
October 29, 2016
Pennsylvania State University Lehigh Valley Campus
Karen Kackley and Eileen Grodziak hosted the SCI-MidAtlantic regional meeting at Penn State Lehigh Valley on October 29. The focus of the meeting was “SENCER: STEM and the ARTS,” with exciting presentations by professors across multiple institutions and departments. Jonathan Kieter, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at East Stroudsburg University, presented on “Anamorphic Art and Mathematics,” a public art project where a deliberately distorted image can be perceived as “normal” when viewed from one and only one viewing spot.
Jorge Santiago-Blay of Penn State York presented his integrated approach “The Humanities, Including the Arts, and Social Sciences in the Teaching and Learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Exploring this Ecotone and Proposing an Explicitly Inclusive Approach (ISTEM)” with highlights of STEM-Arts projects from his own courses and colleagues.
Ella Braden of Bryn Mawr College sparked a great deal of dialogue and discussion with her “STEM and Arts” mini-course. Karen Kackley and Eileen Grodziak invited brainstorming around a new course, “Coffee,” as a focus for an integrated biology, culture and political science “travel” course, with additional ideas for connections to mathematics, physics, and astronomy from Dan Jackson and Todd Retzlaff of PSU-LV.
October 15, 2016
Suffolk County Community College, Ammerman Campus
By Nina Leonhardt, College Associate Dean for Continuing Education
This all-day regional meeting at SUNY Suffolk on October 15 brought together 35 faculty and administrators from diverse educational institutions: the three SUNY Suffolk campuses, other SUNY institutions (Old Westbury and Stony Brook University), CUNY (Kingsborough Community College and College of Staten Island), Rutgers University, Rider University, Molloy College, Kapi’olani Community College and the South Huntington School District to discuss expanding the SENCER approach to teaching and learning.
This meeting was preceded by a faculty Professional Development Workshop for Suffolk County Community College faculty, that was led by Dr. Robert Franco. It focused on SENCER-izing courses through high impact teaching practices (e.g. service-learning, undergraduate research, internships); building assessment systems focused on student success; and conducting research on the impact of SENCER work. Dr. Franco also discussed how he promulgated SENCER throughout the university system in Hawai’i, a model that can be applied to the SUNY system.
Dr. David Ferguson, Academic Chair for the Department of Technology and Society, Distinguished Service Professor, Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Stony Brook University and SENCER Co-PI, delivered the keynote address entitled, “Contemporary Global Issues in STEM and STEM Education: A Stage for SENCER Teaching and Learning.”
The discussion was enriched by contributions from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Rochester Engineering Society representatives who provided STEM learning perspectives from the business, industry and research sectors. Connections and partnerships between SENCER centers for teaching and learning and the informal science educational sector (research centers, museums, aquaria, science centers and the National Park Service) and K-12 educators are forming as emerging state science standards promote the inquiry and problem-solving that have always been at the core of SENCER.
Two research paper presentation sessions and two poster sessions displayed a range of practical applications of SENCER ideals and pedagogy and allowed for a lively exchange of ideas. Suffolk faculty presented papers and posters in each of the four sessions.
The NY Partners Helmsley project was discussed and team members shared their initial implementation strategies.
Outcomes from the meeting included new collaborations to extend the applications of SENCER approaches across sectors and disciplines, and to make connections and forge networks for improving teaching and learning.
MidAtlantic Co-Directors
Dr. Monica Devanas
Dr. Kathleen M. Browne |
Leadership CouncilDr. David Ferguson Dr. Richard Grallo Dr. Heide Hlawaty Dr. Trace Jordan Dr. Ellen Mappen Dr. Eliza Reilly Dr. Patricia Wilson |
