See http://michianastem.org/forums

1. Collaborating for Education
and Research:
Why Forum IV
Thomas Loughran
Department of Physics
Forum IV, January 22, 2011
University of Notre Dame

2. Our perplexing situation
We are part of a very rich collaborative network of educators
● good people, good will
● considerable experience
● a history of collaboration
With such a rich network, it's hard to imagine how the news
about education is so bad. Yet it is.
● test scores, graduation rates, international rankings all low
● inadequate funding, short supply of qualified teachers
● accelerating change widens gaps, threatens qualifications
● challenge of 21st C skills: working the wrong problem?
● solutions raise as many new questions as they solve
○ high stakes testing, school choice, state mandates...

3. A remarkable opportunity
Yet our resources are substantial
● research on learning advancing, action research growing
● better recognition and characterization of problems
● best practices, exemplary programs disseminated widely
● backward design produces measurable interventions
● increased collaboration around solutions
● new models of professional engagement emerging
In the face of such remarkable educational need, these
resources present an almost unparalleled opportunity to do a
great deal of good
At a crucial moment, we are in the right place

4. Not too heavy
Michiana can become a bright light in education, a superb
place to live, an economically competitive and socially thriving
region
This task is no harder than other great tasks
● the American revolution
● our response to Sputnik
● many tasks in science

5. Consider the CMS detector
The Compact Muon Solenoid Detector

6. A two decade effort, to start with...
1990 first design
proposal
2000 HS physics
teachers help with
design details
2001 HS juniors
manufacture over
500 components
2010 signal from
first collisions traffics across optical decoding units built by
those Michiana students, some now out of graduate school

7. A two decade effort in Michiana?
Human beings can make these kinds of heavy lifts, together
We need that kind of effort to revitalize Michiana
Collaborators are coming together on the right kind of scale
Strategies for transformation are being explored
What good alternative do we have? We can't stay here.

8. NDeRC's strategy:
Integrated STEM Community
Forecast at last year's Forum, linked here.
Three key ideas
● Craft
● Community
● Culture
Community is required to sustain the development of a craft
around common activities--the STEM disciplines. The craft of
education is the effective invitation into that community
As the craft advances, culture deepens and guides
● making what is good, seem good
● two requirements: sustainability and connectivity

9. Sustainability
Communities must endure to advance and transmit crafts
● promising approaches abandoned breed cynicism
Need flexible stability
● a broad spectrum of engagement
● balanced dinner, every night, with different menu items
Stability can be promoted in budgets: "hard money"
● a stabilizing step: ND's Director of Community Engagement
● k12hub.nd.edu
Stability can be promoted through flexibility
● Forum III : $24K :: Forum IV : $4K

10. Connectivity
Cultures supporting crafts do their
work through contact
Contact is expensive
Expense threatens sustainability
● "lab space" at a premium
● "e" in NDeRC: extended = greater surface area = efficiency
Efficient contact can be achieved through online connectivity
● asynchronous contact requires less expensive time
● subscribe once, make contact in least expensive times
● blogs: threads knitting together the fabric of a community
Click to say yes: autosubscription to NDeRC Community Blog

11. http://erc.nd.edu/blogs
Read, share, comment, request, write!

12. Sessions and Tables
Research Experiences for Teachers (RET@ND)
NDeRC Institutes
● BioEYES, NANO, ASTRO, GENO, ENVIRO,
● Particle Physics Masterclass
● NDeRC Fellows
Family and Neighborhood initiatives
● No Parent Left Behind, Parent University
● Home Management Resources
● College Board and other projects
NISMEC - ISTEM initiatives

13. NISMEC and ISTEM
Joe Bellina will bring people up to speed on the current state of the Indiana
Science Initiative for the adoption of inquiry based instructional materials K-8.
Gordon Berry will discuss (1) the State's goals for introducing the "Modeling
technque" into high school physics, chemistry and biology classes, and (2) the
specific workshops that are being planned by NISMEC and others for the
summer of 2011. Other NISMEC teacher and student programs will also be
discussed.
Through her collaborations with the College Board, Karen Morris has
been involved in programs that span middle-to-high school. Today, she is
presenting some of the information being developed about how to engage
middle school students to become successful in high school - and ultimately in
college.
Amanda Serenevy, Riverbend Community Mathematics Center

14. Indiana Recertification of Teachers
Joyce Johnstone, Ph.D.
● Ryan Director of Educational Outreach in the Institute for
Educational Initiatives (IEI)
● Named Professor of the Year by the Indiana Council for
Exceptional Children (INCEC)

15. Family and Neighborhood
No Parent Left Behind
● Stuart Greene and Joyce Long
Home Management Resources
● Gwen DeLee, Founder
● Juanita Townsell, graduate, counselor
Karen Morris
● Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry Outreach Coordinator
Congressman Joe Donnelly, Indiana 2nd District

16. On to lunch
Lunch for everyone
Groups set up for elective lunchtime discussion groups
Collaboration Opportunities Fair
Schmitt Fellows