Topic: Evidence-Based Approaches to Curriculum Reform and Assessment
When: Monday, August 16 from 12 - 1 pm
Where: Virtual (sign up for the Zoom link)

The next dB-SERC lunch discussion will take place Monday, August 16 from 12 – 1 pm. Dr. Melanie M Cooper from Michigan State University will give a talk titled "Evidence-Based Approaches to Curriculum Reform and Assessment". The abstract is below:

There is growing body of work from the learning sciences providing us with insights into how people learn; and from Discipline Based Education Research (DBER) we know what discipline-specific difficulties students face. However, it is quite surprising that relatively little of this understanding has made its way into the design of science and engineering curricula offered at most colleges and universities. This presentation will focus on the need for evidence-based curriculum transformations, the research findings that can guide them and how we might assess the results of these transformations. An approach to systemic reform that focuses on core ideas, scientific practices, and cross-cutting concepts, will be discussed. Examples of such curriculum reform efforts “Chemistry, Life, the Universe and Everything” (CLUE) and the subsequent organic chemistry version (OCLUE), will be presented, along with the evidence to support such transformations.

Bio:
Melanie Cooper is the Lappan-Phillips Professor of Science Education and Professor of Chemistry at Michigan State University. Her recent research includes the development and assessment of chemistry curricula based on theories of learning and evidence about how people learn, the impact on student learning, and how students perceive these transformed curricula. She was a member of the leadership team for the development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and has served as a member on the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Education (BOSE), and for reports on Discipline Based Education Research (DBER), and Undergraduate Research Experiences (URE). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received a number of awards including the Royal Society of Chemistry Education Award, the American Chemical Society Award for Achievement in Research on Teaching and Learning in Chemistry, the Norris award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching of Chemistry, the Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award from the Society for College Science Teaching, and was awarded an honorary D.Sc. from the University of South Florida. She earned her B.S. M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Manchester, England.