Faculty Roles
in STEM
Partnerships
James E. Hamos
Directorate for Education &
Human Resources
November 2009
Integration of Research
and Education
One of the principal strategies in support of
NSF's goals is to foster integration of research
and education through the programs, projects
and activities it supports at academic and
research institutions. These institutions provide
abundant opportunities where individuals may
concurrently assume responsibilities as
researchers, educators, and students, and where
all can engage in joint efforts that infuse
education with the excitement of discovery and
enrich research through the diversity of learning
perspectives.
Grant Proposal Guide; NSF 09-29
Why Does NSF Emphasize
Research and Education?
 NSF-funded projects should integrate research
and education by advancing discovery and
understanding while at the same time
promoting teaching, training, and learning;
ways in which the proposed activity will
broaden the participation of underrepresented
groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability,
geographic, etc.); how the project will enhance
the infrastructure for research and/or
education, such as facilities, instrumentation,
networks, and partnerships
Why Does NSF Emphasize
Research and Education?
 NSF’s core constituency that spans the
Foundation – mathematicians, scientists
and engineers
 NSF programs seeks to bring their
substantial intellectual engagement to
issues in K-12, undergraduate and
graduate education
Areas of faculty involvement in K-12
teaching and learning




Pre-service teacher training
In-service teacher development and support
Curriculum and standards construction
Scholarship
Pre-service teacher training
 Model exemplary pedagogy
 “Teachers teach the way that they were taught.”
 “If you want to continue to believe your
instruction is as good as it can be, do not
inspect it too closely.”
 With increasing STEM course requirements
for elementary teachers, redesign what is in
the increased course load
 Advocate for students to become teachers
 Science and engineering as practice
In-service teacher development
and support
 Listen
 Science and engineering as practice
 Offer Professional Development – but it must
be long-term and intentional
 Create and join in induction programs;
mentor new teachers
 Participate in Professional Learning
Communities
Curriculum and standards construction
 Participate in ongoing discussions on
standards, assessment and K-16 alignment –
observe movement towards national core
standard
 Bring together STEM teaching and learning
with cognitive/learning sciences
 How People Learn, Adding It Up, Taking Science to
School, Learning and Understanding
 Neuroscience ↔
Cognitive Neuroscience ↔
Cognitive/Learning Sciences ↔
Education Science/Engineering
Curriculum and standards construction
 Engage in new visions of advanced courses
 Advanced Placement redesign
 Engineering, Computational Thinking, Energy,
The Environment, Climate Change, Sustainability
Scholarship
Georgia Board of Regents
Policy 8.3.15, Work in the Schools
The BOR values USG faculty engagement with K-12 schools. BOR
Policy 8.3.15 states BOR expectation for faculty engagement with
the public schools in institutions that prepare teachers. The Board
expects presidents, provosts, academic vice presidents, and deans
of colleges of education and arts and sciences in institutions that
prepare teachers to advocate for, assess, recognize, and reward
practices consistent with this policy. Faculty effort under the
provisions of this policy is anticipated in teaching, scholarship,
and/or service. The USG values all types of faculty scholarship,
including the Scholarship of Discovery, the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning, and the Scholarship of Engagement. All faculty
members are encouraged to enhance their classroom instruction by
using scholarly teaching. It also is important for faculty to assist in
improving teaching quality and student learning in K-12 classrooms
by service to the schools.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Definition: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is the "systematic
examination of issues about student learning and instructional
conditions which promote the learning (i.e., building on previous
scholarship and shared concerns), which is subjected to blind review by
peers who represent the judgment of the profession, and, after review,
is disseminated to the professional community" (Research Universities
Consortium for the Advancement of the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning).
Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
 Evidence that the faculty member’s scholarship in the schools or in the
university classroom is public, peer reviewed, and critiqued
 Evidence that the faculty member’s scholarship is exchanged with
other members of professional communities through postings on
websites, presentations to h/her department or college, presentations
at professional conferences, and/or written up and published.
 Evidence that the scholarship builds upon previous scholarship and
shared concerns
 Evidence that the scholarship contributes new questions and
knowledge about teaching and learning
Scholarship of Engagement
Definition: The Scholarship of Engagement in schools is characterized
by the following:
 It is to be conducted as an academic engagement with the public
schools.
 It is to involve the responsible application of knowledge, theory and/or
conceptual framework to consequential problems.
 It should test a research question or hypothesis.
 One must be able to use the results to improve practice and inform
further questions.
 Resulting work should be available for dissemination for peer review of
results.
Evidence of the Scholarship of Engagement:
 Evidence that the faculty member designs and implements a research
agenda in at least one area of need recognized by the public schools
 Evidence that the faculty member applies relevant knowledge toward
resolution of the identified need
 Evidence that the faculty member assesses the impact of the
engagement
 Evidence that the faculty member disseminates for peer review the
results of the outreach
Using the Inventory of Teaching and Learning (ITAL), PRISM has studied
whether or not participation in learning communities (LCs) increases K-12
teachers’ uses of varied teaching practices in science and/or
mathematics classes, and if having an IHE faculty member engaged in
LCs increases teachers’ uses of varied teaching practices. In a 2006
study, based on ITAL data from over 4000 STEM teachers, those who
participated in PRISM LCs reported greater emphasis on standards-based
teaching and learning practices than those who did not. Moreover,
teachers who participated in PRISM LCs that had IHE faculty
members reported greater emphasis on both inquiry-based and
standards-based teaching and learning practices than participants in
PRISM LCs that did not have higher education involvement.
Improved Mathematics Scores – GA High School Graduation Test
2003-04
6 PRISM Districts pass rate 
the state average pass rate
2006-07
11 PRISM Districts pass rate 
the state average pass rate
Enhancing Support of Transformative
Research at the National Science Foundation
Science progresses in two fundamental and equally valuable ways.
The vast majority of scientific understanding advances
incrementally, with new projects building upon the results of
previous studies or testing long-standing hypotheses and
theories. This progress is evolutionary—it extends or shifts
prevailing paradigms over time. The vast majority of research
conducted in scientific laboratories around the world fuels this
form of innovative scientific progress. Less frequently,
scientific understanding advances dramatically, through the
application of radically different approaches or interpretations
that result in the creation of new paradigms or new scientific
fields. This progress is revolutionary, for it transforms
science by overthrowing entrenched paradigms and
generating new ones.
NSB 07-32; http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/documents/2007/tr_report.pdf
14
Identify 3 educational breakthroughs
or educational changes that have
altered/transformed the face of
education.
15
What educational breakthroughs
would you want to see now as a
result of research? What are the
roles of STEM faculty in these
breakthroughs?
16