WISER (Workshops on Infrastructure for STEM Education Research) Workshop I:
Advancing the Infrastructure for Educational Research in all STEM Disciplines

Goals

• to advance the STEM education research infrastructure in all disciplines
• to bring together prominent STEM education research interests to learn more about the strengths of work in other STEM disciplines, to cross-pollinate efforts

Products

• a conference report that includes
  • summary of results from a preconference survey on successes and perceived needs of STEM education research
  • summary of status of STEM education assessment (i.e., available instruments)
  • summary of desired advances in the national infrastructure for STEM education research
  • proposed future directions for STEM education research based upon these infrastructure advances

Tentative Agenda

Prior to the conference

• Participants answer a few questions about the current state of educational research in their discipline.
• Local staff compiles responses and sends a summary to participants.

July 12, 2007

Opening Plenary: The Current State of STEM Education Research: Introductory comments, a vision for the workshop, and a brief summary of participant responses to the pre-conference questionnaire

Breakout I: Envisioning the role DANSER can fill: Groups, organized by discipline, will address potential benefits of and challenges to DANSER. Each group will prepare a poster for use after lunch. A graduate student will be assigned to each group to assist with the logistics of poster preparation.

Lunch

Plenary: Summarizing Infrastructure Needs and New Possibilities: Participants will have the opportunity to view and discuss the posters of other disciplines. The focus will be on synergies and shared challenges. A general discussion from this session will determine the topics for the following breakout session.

Breakout II: Dealing with Challenges: Interdisciplinary groups will discuss topics and questions based on challenges posed in the previous discussion.

Break

Reconvening of entire group: Facilitators from each group provide a summary, group discussion

July 13

Plenary: Interacting with DANSER: This brief discussion will describe the different roles played by people who will interact with the DANSER site: instrument author, non-author researcher, instructor, and student.

Breakout III: Roles within DANSER: Groups will be cross-disciplinary by roles. Each group will view the site and discuss issues particular to that role.

Break

Reconvening of entire group: Facilitators from each group provide a summary, group discussion

Lunch

Plenary: Operations, Anticipated Next Steps: presenting a brief vision of how the DANSER consortia might operate, setting up discussions of next steps, creating charges for reports

Breakout IV: Next steps: Groups organized by discipline to address issues related to generating buy-in from their discipline and steps to take between this workshop and WISER II.

Break

Reconvening of entire group: Facilitators report back, and the group discusses ideas for WISER II, as well as what should happen before WISER II.