Abstract Detail

Are We Having A Broader Impact?

Herrera, Jose [1].

Amplifying the ripples: Broadening the effect of your educational projects.

Educational innovation has been absent, obscured or played down during the development of most segments of our educational system. Although recent initiatives are changing the landscape, many educators interacting with undergraduates continue to use traditional and static means of dispensing and disseminating information in a scheme that has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. Moreover, recent and scientifically-based endeavors to reform educational systems have be sputtering and surviving in localized (and sometimes hostile) environments. Although the problem is complicated by sociological elements, disseminating the results of educational work, ideas and techniques may be as important as developing those tools and ideas in the first place. Often these wonderful educational ideas have not been propagated (or taken up) with the same degree of zeal present in other parts of our scientific enterprise. Moreover, although national efforts like Vision and Change are successfully advocating for systemic change in how and what we teach our students in our biology classrooms, strategies and efforts to actively propagate local, vetted and scientifically-based teaching practices and recommendations have been lacking. This presentation will offer some suggestions and commonly-used strategies aimed at increasing the impact of your educational efforts to regional and national audiences.

Broader Impacts:

1 - National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA, 22230, USA

Keywords:
Educational reform
Dissemination strategies
Biology instruction
Broader impact.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY02
Location: Delaware B/Hyatt
Date: Monday, July 9th, 2012
Time: 8:45 AM
Number: SY02002
Abstract ID:356