STEM Educators' Lecture
Each spring the CAT hosts the STEM Educators' Lecture, an interactive workshop featuring a speaker who is advancing the field of STEM pedagogy through their research and/or practice. While STEM-focused, faculty and teaching assistants from all disciplines are welcome.
STEM Educators' Lecture 2023:
Utilizing an Ethical Reasoning Framework to Create More Equitable STEM Education presented by Cynthia Bauerle, Professor of Biology at James Madison University
March 28, 2023
Approaches to STEM education which explore the role and impact of science on addressing complex societal challenges can provide learners the opportunity to develop scientific understanding in a human context and consider an ethically-grounded 21st century STEM education. These skills are essential for participating in a citizenry grappling with the impact of scientific and technological advances amidst pervasive social and global inequities, political disruption and rapidly emerging impacts of climate change. In addition, attending to socio-ethical dimensions of STEM education can result in more inclusive classrooms and curricula, enabling educators to model equitable ways of learning and doing science.
This interactive lecture will introduce the Ethical Reasoning Instrument (ERITM), a tool that guides us on how to integrate eight characteristics of ethical reasoning practice into the design of student learning activities, outcomes assessment, and pedagogy. The ERITM provides inherently more equitable learning experiences for students as it gives faculty the opportunity to develop courses that cross disciplinary boundaries, account for cultural differences, involve collaboration and communication in making ethical decisions in science, and engage students in critical reflection and problem solving. Faculty will consider questions such as, “Does the course provide opportunities for students to learn about inequities in science and the consequences of ignoring inequities in the practice of science?” “Are learning assessments constructed in a way to ensure equity for learners?” as they consider how to use the ERITM in designing and teaching more ethically-grounded and equitable STEM courses.