Scaffolding

Yale’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) promotes equitable and engaged teaching throughout the University, and supports students across the curriculum as they take ownership of their learning. As part of the CTL’s mission, it encourages innovation and enhancement in teaching and learning through the considered use of technology.

The "Being Human in STEM” project started as a class in fall 2016, adopting the same format as a course from Amherst College by Dr. Sheila Jaswal. The project will help establish a dialogue between STEM students and faculty, while working together to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of STEM at Yale.

The Helmsley Charitable Trust supports four Helmsley Postdoctoral Teaching Scholars at Yale University, two in physics and two in math. The Helmsley Scholars pioneer innovative teaching approaches in their respective Yale departments as well as at area partner institutions, employing the use of instructional technology and evidence-based teaching methods shown to increase student persistence in STEM.

The Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching work to transform STEM education through evidence-based practice. At regional Summer Institutes, college and university faculty, instructional staff, and future faculty develop teaching skills at multi-day workshops. Workshop topics focus on current research, active learning, assessment, and inclusive teaching provide to create a forum to share ideas and develop innovative instructional materials designed for implementation at home campuses.

The Yale Scientific Teaching Course works to improve undergraduate STEM education by training a new generation of scientific teachers to bring the spirit and rigor of research into the undergraduate classroom. Graduate students and postdocs who take Theory and Practice of Scientific Teaching develop a working knowledge of scientific teaching, namely how to engage students through active learning, how to effectively use assessments to gauge student learning, and how to build an inclusive learning environment for all students

As a direct result of the AAU STEM Initiative, we have implemented numerous professional development activities for our faculty. Professional development is being implemented in a multi-pronged fashion, and includes observation and feedback for faculty, and multiple professional development activities including multi-day summer institutes, a mentoring program, a community of practice, and a speaker series.

The University of Virginia has converted several current classrooms into active learning spaces and are planning renovations to the Chemistry and Biology buildings incorporating significantly more active learning spaces.

The Authentic Learning Initiative is designed to engage faculty conversations around the topic of authentic learning and assessment. By creating learning environments using authentic contexts that ensure assessment truly measures whether students can use their knowledge effectively and realistically.

UVA's Nucleus program is designed to help faculty improve STEM education in large enrollment, introductory-level courses using research-based pedagogies and assessment—and to help faculty and departments sustain improvements.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's (UW-Madison) Delta Program in Research, Teaching, and Learning promotes professional development in teaching for graduate students and post-docs so that they can successfully implement and advance effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences as part of their careers.