The sustained recruitment and retention of students in STEM majors is a national concern. Although the rate of attrition in these majors is comparable to other majors, the demand for trained scientists to enter the workforce with a baccalaureate degree is high. To enhance retention and support of STEM students from their first year until…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) represent an economical and practical way for institutions to equitably offer research experiences to large numbers of students. Although the benefits of CUREs are well documented, most CURE models are not guided by theory and are discipline specific, which limits their application. We used a…

Many institutions are preparing graduate students and postdoctorals (future faculty) for effective teaching in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Interestingly, little is known about beneficial features of teaching-development (TD) programs for future faculty after they transition into professoriate roles, and…

The emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is resulting in more opportunities for scientists and teachers to collaborate. The relationships can result in failed collaborations or success. We recently completed a 6-year regional project that used several approaches to develop scientist-teacher relationships.…

As part of a Howard Hughes Program for Innovation in Science Education grant at Iowa State University, a series of interdisciplinary graduate teaching assistant learning communities (TALC) were developed. The purpose of these communities was to create an environment to facilitate teaching assistants' pedagogical development and training to enhance…

K-12 education has identified an important need for culturally relevant practices among underrepresented minority students in the classroom. Research has shown that minority students perform better in multicultural learning environments that place an emphasis on addressing both the student's social and academic needs. Accordingly, Central State…