Dear colleagues,
Warm welcome to the monthly research seminar of our Learning, Culture and Interventions (LECI) expert group on Monday 20th of May at 13:00-15:00, when there will be two presentations at Siltavuorenpenger 5A, room K 218 (Minerva building).
A presentation by Associate Professor of Science Education, Cassie F. Quigley, Department of Instruction and Learning, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Title: Moving Towards Transdisciplinary Instruction: A Longitudinal Examination of STEAM Teaching Practices
Abstract:
In response to a desire to strengthen the economy, educational settings are emphasizing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum and programs. Yet, because of the narrow approach to STEM, educational leaders continue to call for a more balanced approach to teaching and learning, which includes the arts, design, and humanities. This desire created space for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education, a transdisciplinary approach that focuses on problem-solving. STEAM-based curricula and STEAM-themed schools are appearing all over the globe. This growing national and global attention to STEAM provides an opportunity for teacher education to explore the ways in which teachers implement STEAM practices, examining the successes and challenges, and how teachers are beginning to make sense of this innovative teaching practice. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the implementation of STEAM teaching practices in science and math middle school Classrooms over a three-year period in 15 different schools. This study points to specific practices of successful implementation of STEAM teaching, as well as examining the challenges of implementing this transdisciplinary approaches. This longitudinal research provides evidence on this emerging topic to guide teacher educators and researchers interested in these innovative pedagogical strategies.
Bio:
Cassie F. Quigley is an Associate Professor in science education at the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She researches teachers shift in instructional practices toward equitable approaches. This includes STEAM, problem-based, and student relevancy.
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A presentation by Lecturer Stephen J. Quigley, Department of English, University of Pittsburgh
Title: “Ghost Tours and Other Disruptions: Writing in Territorialized Spaces.”
Abstract:
How do we teach and write in sick places, physically and institutionally designed to exclude? These are homogeneous, privileged places, devoid of free speech, devoid of circulation—an unhealthy ecology formed by an underlying violence. In Placeways, A Theory of Human Environment, E.V. Walter writes about how failure to attend to our design practice leads to larger societal failings. For Walter, fixing such practices is a matter of caring enough to attend to our design. Working from Walter, this talk shares a writing project utilizing virtual reality camera technology to locate and write networks and networked processes in highly territorialized spaces I refer to as “stagnant ecologies.” Along with theorizing an expanded definition of the Greek rhetorical concept of dunamis within a framework of rhetorical ecologies, this project provides an example of how we might write our way through the assemblages that constrain our everyday knowings and doings, an example of how we might use technology to better attune ourselves and attend to our spaces and places.
Bio:
Stephen Quigley lectures in the University Pittsburgh’s composition program teaching courses in technical writing and digital media production. His research interests include new media writing pedagogies and digital s/p(l)ace rhetoric as viewed through an ecological framework. His work is published in Kairos, Computers and Composition Online, Ulmer's Textshop Experiments, The Writer's Chronicle, and New Writing. His most recent work, The Clemson Ghost Tour, might be described as a 360-degree film project that explores new methods for writing posthuman ecologies.
Everyone interested is very welcome to join the seminar!