About the AAAS-IUSE Initiative
With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program, the AAAS-IUSE Initiative (Grant No. DUE-1937267) aims to serve the national interest by synthesizing and disseminating research and knowledge about STEM teaching and learning. The goal of the Initiative is to provide principal investigators in the IUSE program, evaluators, researchers, and other leaders with an opportunity to disseminate innovative, evidence-based practices for transforming undergraduate STEM education and establish collaborations among educators, researchers, evaluators and institutions. The AAAS-IUSE Initiative project components include:
(a) Developing and maintaining a website
(b) Producing a blog focused on evidence-based approaches to support systemic change in undergraduate STEM education
(c) Convening a series of workshops to increase use and knowledge of effective undergraduate STEM education strategies
(d) Organizing IUSE proposal preparation webinars
(e) Hosting virtual events dedicated to catalyzing inclusive, transformative change in undergraduate STEM education
(f) Showcasing lessons learned during COVID-19 that can improve the future of STEM teaching and learning
(g) Co-Sponsoring two national conferences to bring IUSE PIs and projects together to collaborate and share research
About the NSF IUSE Program
The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) hold much promise as sectors of the economy where we can expect to see continuous vigorous growth in the coming decades. STEM job creation is expected to outpace non-STEM job creation significantly, according to the Commerce Department, reflecting the importance of STEM knowledge to the US economy.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) plays a leadership role in developing and implementing efforts to enhance and improve STEM education in the United States. Through the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) initiative, the agency continues to make a substantial commitment to the highest caliber undergraduate STEM education through a Foundation-wide framework of investments. The IUSE: EHR is a core NSF STEM education program that seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students.
Levers for Change Report
Leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields know a great deal about effective evidence-based teaching practices; yet there are widespread barriers to the adoption of these practices. AAAS, with support from the National
Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, engaged Sandra Laursen (University of Colorado Boulder) to lead an evaluation of the state of instructional reform across STEM fields and what helps reduce the barriers to adoption of effective practices. Levers for Change: An assessment of progress on changing STEM instruction reports findings from a cross-disciplinary working meeting held in May, 2018. Experts in STEM instruction convened within and across six broad disciplinary groups: life sciences; chemistry & biochemistry; engineering & computer sciences; geosciences; mathematics & statistics; and physics & astronomy. Reviews of the state of reform within each broad discipline are included as part of the report as well as the findings from the working meeting, which revealed several promising levers for change operating on varying levels: individual, academic unit, and systems.
