Conference Boosts Successful Teaching, Learning

Noah Finkel­stein

The sev­enth annual Suc­cess in the Class­room: Shar­ing Prac­tices that Work con­fer­ence is set for Wednes­day, Feb. 15, on the top floor of the Stu­dent Union Build­ing. The lun­cheon keynote address by Noah Finkel­stein, direc­tor of Inte­grat­ing STEM Edu­ca­tion for CU and asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of physics at the Uni­ver­sity of Col­orado, con­cerns “A Schol­arly Approach to Sci­ence Edu­ca­tion: Key Tools for Trans­for­ma­tion at a Crit­i­cal Time Nation­ally.” The con­fer­ence is free and open to the public.

This UNM com­mu­nity con­fer­ence is by instruc­tors for instruc­tors, pro­vid­ing a forum to share insights into suc­cess­ful teach­ing and learn­ing. Oral and poster ses­sions cover a vari­ety of themes and include a ses­sion on the tran­si­tion from face-to-face to online teaching.

After decades of research into stu­dent learn­ing, assess­ments and cur­ricu­lum design, physics is con­sid­ered one of the lead­ing fields engaged in discipline-based edu­ca­tional research. Finkelstein’s address frames the national scene of physics edu­ca­tion and reviews find­ings the on suc­cesses and chal­lenges of discipline-based edu­ca­tional research at the Uni­ver­sity of Col­orado. As a result of edu­ca­tional pro­grams at Col­orado, physics stu­dents now learn more, per­form­ing as much as three times bet­ter on mea­sures of con­cep­tual mas­tery; the uni­ver­sity has tripled the num­ber stu­dents becom­ing teach­ers, espe­cially in areas of high need such as math, physics and chem­istry; and the uni­ver­sity has com­mit­ted sig­nif­i­cant infra­struc­ture to sup­port fac­ulty and stu­dents in edu­ca­tional research and transformation.

Finkel­stein also presents a work­shop on “Inter­ac­tive Engage­ment Tech­niques, Assess­ments, and Their Research Basis” on Thurs­day, Feb. 16, with a choice of two ses­sions, 9–11 a.m. and 1:30–3:30 p.m. The inter­ac­tive ses­sion exam­ines the the­ory and prac­tice of some of the fast-growing tools used to trans­form tra­di­tional chalk-talk lec­tures into inter­ac­tive and student-centered classes, even for large-enrollment class­rooms. Par­tic­i­pants exam­ine tools includ­ing personal-response sys­tems or “click­ers,” inter­ac­tive com­puter sim­u­la­tions, tuto­ri­als and tech­nol­ogy and Web-based tools for teaching.

Reser­va­tions are required to attend the lun­cheon keynote address on Feb. 15 and work­shop ses­sions on Feb. 16., but no pre-registration is required for other con­fer­ence sessions.

Con­tact the Office of Sup­port for Effec­tive Teach­ing at (505) 277‑2229 or oset@unm.edu.