Abstract
This special issue highlights the work of several higher education practitioner–scholars who describe their approaches to facilitating participation in STEM courses and programs. Writing from the standpoint of chemistry, mathematics, and ecology in publicly supported universities, the authors discuss their pedagogical or curricular choices with reference to the broader structures and systemic considerations that sometimes limit and sometimes enable faculty effort. In this editorial, we reflect on the ways in which these authors invoke their own practitioner agency to establish equity-based innovations in higher education STEM settings.
Highlights
IntroductionClose your eyes and think about the usual learning environment of university mathematics
Introduction to Special Issue on IncreasingParticipation in Higher Education STEM ProgramsSusan Staats 1, * * and Amy Lee 2, *College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, 159 Pillsbury Dr SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USACollege of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, 315 Pillsbury Dr SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USAReceived: 25 April 2020; Accepted: 2 May 2020; Published: 14 May 2020 AbstractThis special issue highlights the work of several higher education practitioner–scholars who describe their approaches to facilitating participation in STEM courses and programs
Nieminen and Valtteri Pesonen [1] considered both types of structures in reporting on a comprehensive revision of an introductory mathematics class at a Finnish university that was intended to remove barriers of physical or perceptual access. They reported on two studies that listened closely to students with disabilities as they navigated an undergraduate class in linear algebra that was substantially designed around Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Universal Design for Assessment (UDA) principles
Summary
Close your eyes and think about the usual learning environment of university mathematics. Our authors are working in publicly supported universities in the varied fields of chemistry, mathematics, and ecology, but they have all been able to facilitate and assess important innovations that respond thoughtfully to structural barriers at multiple levels Through this issue, we wish to open space for us to speak to each other, to share our models for taking action to disrupt practices, policies, and pedagogies. “Close your eyes and think”: even the voice of Nieminen and Valtteri Pesonen’s comment is unusual in academic writing [1] This collection of papers opens a wider space for higher education faculties to discuss how they organize their pedagogical or curricular choices with reference to the broader structures and systemic considerations that sometimes limit and sometimes enable faculty effort towards more inclusive higher education STEM programs.
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