Thanks for sharing your project with us!  How do you decide on the service learning project for each year and who makes the decisions regarding timeline, deliverables, and design?

I caught at the beginning of the film that one of the goals was for non-STEM majors to develop science literacy. I'm intrigued to know more about how you defined science literacy - and why that was one of your goals (over say developing science skills)?

Thanks for sharing this outstanding work. I have a couple of questions about the term "cluster course."

1. Do the participating students enroll in both the science course and the business course?

2. Am I correct in assuming that the cluster course idea is a larger structure that can accommodate many different course pairings? In other words, is the EPMA just one instance of a cluster course?

Your project is very similar in spirit to the Common Problem Project described in our video. We have students from STEM classes working collaboratively with students from the humanities to address real-world problems from their local communities. We would welcome your feedback on what we're doing.

 Hi, Bruce.  Thanks for watching and for your questions!

1) Students who participate in EPMA are simultaneously enrolled in both the project management course and the environmental science course.

2) The "cluster" is a liberal studies requirement at Westminster College.  It is a pairing of two courses, from two different disciplines, to a common cohort of students, an interdisciplinary experience.  At WC, there is a good bit of flexibility in terms of how much the two courses in the cluster are integrated.  Our EPMA program is at one extreme, where the content and project is integrated into both courses, and both professors attend all class/lab meetings of both courses.  A truly unique aspect of the EPMA program is the embedded leadership seminar.   For approximately 1.5 hrs each week, a third professor works with the students to develop leadership and soft skills.  The students are then able to hone these skills as they work on the project work in small teams.  (The students generally view the leadership portion of the cluster the most valuable part of the experience.  However, I don't think they would have that same perception if they weren't using those leadership and soft skills in the project aspect of the EPMA program.)

The Common Problem Project sounds quite similar.  I will definitely check it out!

 

This is a great project.  How do I hitch our wagon in the School of Communication to it?

Check out this video from IUP. It may give you some ideas!

https://stemforall2019.videohall.com/presentati...

Ali

Really great work! I imagine that teaching STEM material to both STEM and non-STEM majors (and likewise teaching business material to business and non-business majors) has its challenges. Do you find you need to differentiate learning? What contributes to your success in engaging students from (seemingly) disparate backgrounds in knowledge/interest?

Hi, Becca.  Thanks for your question.  It is certainly true that teaching STEM material to a mixed cohort of business and STEM students has it challenges.  As an example, during lab #1 this semester I was asked by a business major to explain the concept of pH, when pH is second-nature to our STEM majors.  A fundamental understanding of pH was critical for this year's project, in which we were studying abandoned mine drainage.

I would not say that we differentiate instruction.  Rather, we start instruction from basic principles, but we progress pretty quickly to fairly meaty content for both the project management and STEM courses.  I think the success in our model comes from two, interrelated aspects:

1) Application of the content to real-world issues.  In order to apply the content, the students in many ways have to "figure it out."  Sure, we as faculty can help and we give them the basic content and skills at the start of the semester, but they often rely on their peers to help them learn what they need to know in project work.

2) Cross-functional teamwork and learning.  Our students do project work in teams in which the teams include both STEM and business majors.  The STEM majors help the business students apply scientific techniques, while the business students help the STEM students apply business skills.  Both cohorts of students benefit from this approach.  Not only are they learning content and skills from another discipline, they are learning to communicate their own disciplinary knowledge to someone outside their discipline.

Direct communication and interaction with the community partner who explains the real-world problem that the students are working on is what really engages and motivates the students, regardless of major.  Students want to help make the world a better place.  They see value in a real-world project in which they can make a difference.  Finally their coursework counts for "more than a grade."

Nice video!  The students did a great job!  I really enjoyed working with them!  I really like the idea of the cluster course.  It provides the students from different educational programs to be exposed to a completely different field and a chance to collaborate with each other as people do on projects in the so called "real world".  Great experience for all involved.

 

This cluster kicked my booty but I’m so glad I got this real world experience!! (I’m the one in the pink hat, blue blazer, and I was showing off a worm I found in the lab!) 

This is such a fantastic idea.  Have you been able to work with local partners to create/identify internship opportunities for the students in this cluster course?  Great work!

Hi Helen,

As Bruce Mattingly mentioned above, our Common Problem Project, has some similarities with your project. As he noted, we open it up to a number of pairings between STEM and other disciplines, and there's more of a focus on problem-solving than service learning. I was particularly interested in your assessment approach. I wonder if there's opportunity to compare notes in the future and learn from each others' projects.

The video mentioned that you'll be taking this model into other academic disciplines and other institutions. Do you anticipate any challenges in accomplishing these goals?

Hello, Helen. I appreciated the opportunity to watch your video and to see this collaborative project in action!

I am intrigued by the exposure students have to content-specific academic language (you mentioned "pH"), which can have broader applications in adult life rather than being limited to one's field or profession. It seems the same will likely happen for the STEM students who are exposed to the "language of business", when they could learn some very practical terms to use in their daily lives. Do you have any anecdotes to illustrate this for the STEM students' heightened awareness of business language? It seems this cross-disciplinary experience can, consequently, help those students involved become more well-rounded individuals and informed citizens. Additionally, with each passing cohort, do you find that instructors identify increasingly more terms to teach explicitly because of the content-specific gaps students might present in class?

Have you had any students who eventually decide to minor in the "other" discipline after having participated in this experience? At our institution, I often have students join our TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) minor from fields such as Adolescence Education math, science or social studies after taking one required course and being exposed to a world they had not realized existed. If students do not have time or space in their schedule to add the minor, others go on to specialize in TESOL in their graduate studies. Do you have any instances of students who have chosen to minor or pursue their graduate studies in the "other" field after having participated? This opportunity for connection seems to have benefits for the institution as a whole.

Lastly, this experience seems that it would very positively influence future STEM and business teachers to engage in interdisciplinary work at the high school level. Have you had any pre-service teachers in your cohorts, and if so, have you had follow-up communication with them to see if and how they are applying what they learned through this experience to their own teaching?

Thank you for the creative and innovative work you're doing with today's future leaders!

Best,
Shena

P.S. As we met in sixth grade and have been collaborating since then, it is an honor to watch this as your higher ed. colleague, and to see the connection between our institutions in this thread. As Bruce and I work in the same building, I am very happy to serve as a liaison between WC and SUNY, as this seems to be no accidental connection!

Hi, Shena.  Thanks for you comments and questions!  One great anectdotal story comes to mind with reference to the STEM students' awareness of business language.   One biology major from last year's cohort had a summer research experience in a hospital setting.  He was working on a research team, and the PI on the project showed the team a Gantt chart for the project work.  Out of all the people, including professionals on the research team, our student was the only one who had any knowledge or experience with a Gantt chart.  He ended up explaining it to people in the group!  One great example of many...

We have not had many students add a STEM minor.  We do have many STEM students that minor in business, and our cluster course does make that route more appealing for some students.  Given your comment, we might want to consider pathways that make a STEM minor more appealing for our business students.

We have not had any pre-service teachers in our cohort yet.  I agree that it could encourage interdisciplinary work at the high school level.  Given the emphasis on project-based work and experiential learning in the high school setting, I agree that pre-service teachers would benefit from exposure to the EPMA program.

Thanks for your offer to be a liaison with Bruce.  I think our team could gain a lot from conversations with his team!