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Subject: Kaput Center Symposium: Dr. Jennifer Lacy; The Making of a STEM Course

When: Friday, March 30, 2018
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Where: > See description for location
Description: Subject: Kaput Center Symposium: Dr. Jennifer Lacy, HS Science Teacher


The "Making" of a STEM Course


Abstract: This presentation examines making and design-based STEM education in a high school makerspace. It focuses on how the design and implementation of a Fab Lab learning environment and curriculum can affect how instructors and students see themselves engaging in science. While there is research examining design-based STEM education in informal and formal learning environments, we know little about how K-12 teachers define STEM in making activities when no university or museum partnership exists. This talk will demonstrate how a high school Fab Lab relied on artifacts and rhetoric symbolic of science and STEM to set itself apart from traditional design-based courses like woodworking, and how the credibility and status of STEM allowed the Fab Lab to attract public and private donors and students on the advanced placement coursework path. This talk will discuss the need for more research on what science learning should look like in design-based STEM education.


Biography: Jen recently earned her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With a background in science education and interests in vocational education and the "Maker Movement", her dissertation research looked at how instructors and students saw themselves engaging in science in a STEM Fab Lab course and how the Fab Lab fit into a high school that already had traditional design-based courses like woodworking and home economics. Jen currently teaches high school science in Kansas City, Missouri, and recently co-founded the nonprofit American Daughters which seeks to empower young women to become leaders in their schools and communities.

When: Friday, March 30th 4-5:30PM

Where: Room 157 at the Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in STEM Education, 200 Mill Road, Suite 150A, Fairhaven MA 02719


If you have any questions, please send an email to kaputcenter@umassd.edu
Contact: > See Description for contact information
Topical Areas: Faculty, Staff and Administrators, Students, University Marketing, Kaput Center