Outcomes of atwo-year STEM learning pilot program that the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St.Louis(ISP)completed in partnership with St.Louis Public Schools(SLPS)and The Little Bit Foundation are encouraging.Participating teachers indicated that they felt better prepared to provide high-quality instruction and empowered to step out of their comfort zones,and students achieved higher scores than their peers on science exams.In addition,the benefits of the pilot increased over time as participating teachers had the opportunity to learn and grow.Teachers reported changing their instructional practices and providing more opportunities for hands-on,inquiry-based learning for students.Other encouraging outcomes included:Students of teachers who participated in the pilot had an average growth two times higher than their classmates in the same schools and outpaced the district average.Students in the pilot achieved higher scores than their peers on science exams,with the largest increases among those students in the most impoverished schools.Students in classrooms supported by the pilot made up 90%of third,fourth,and fifth grade entries in the second annual SLPS Virtual Science Fair.Students continued to engage in science through remote learning,despite the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. 查看详细>>

Mark McDaniel,a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts&Sciences at Washington University in St.Louis,won a$60,164 grant from the National Science Foundation for the project“Coaching to Learn:A Peer-to-Peer Intervention to Help College Students Apply and Transfer Effective Learning Strategies across STEM Courses.”The project aimed at improving undergraduate science,technology,engineering and math(STEM)education is in collaboration with Margaret L.Usdansky at Syracuse University. 查看详细>>

Washington University in St.Louis now offers amajor in environmental analysis through the Environmental Studies program in Arts&Sciences.The interdisciplinary major is aresponse to global demand for environmental and sustainability experts who can think critically,communicate clearly and solve problems in collaboration with their communities.“When you look at the big issues facing humanity,they are all touching on the environment—climate change,environmental justice,environmental health,”said David Fike,director of environmental studies,professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts&Sciences and associate director of the International Center for Energy,Environment&Sustainability(InCEES).“The new environmental analysis major will provide students afoundation in the natural sciences,the social sciences and the humanities,and give them the skills to put that knowledge into an analysis-forward framework.It’s an interdisciplinary approach that reflects what’s happening in the real world.”Previously,Arts&Sciences students who wanted to focus on the environment were largely limited to three majors:environmental earth sciences in the Department of Earth&Planetary Sciences;environmental biology in the Department of Biology;or environmental policy in the Department of Political Science.This new major provides ahome—literally and figuratively—for students who are seeking both amore applied curriculum and acohort experience.Environmental studies faculty share the second floor of the new Schnuck Pavilion with the Office of Sustainability,where many students work on university sustainability projects such as expanding solar power on campus,inventorying building energy usage and reducing food waste. 查看详细>>

A recently inked agreement between Washington University in St.Louis and Mekelle University in Ethiopia will encourage future collaborations in education,scholarship and research between the two universities.Kurt Dirks,vice chancellor for international affairs at Washington University,and Kindeya Gebrehiwot,president of Mekelle University,have signed amemorandum of understanding that agrees to explore how to foster additional collaborations and strengthen faculty relationships.Lewis Wall,the Selina Okin Kim Conner Professor in Arts&Sciences for Medical Anthropology,served as afaculty bridge between Washington University and Mekelle University.Wall,a Fulbright Scholar at Mekelle in 2014,has worked with that school’s College of Health Sciences to improve residency education in obstetrics and gynecology.In addition to his clinical work there,Wall also worked with Mekelle University on acollaborative project called Dignity Period,which ensures adolescent girls in Ethiopia have the products they need during their periods so they don’t have to skip school and can stay on top of their studies. 查看详细>>