Beyond Content: Teaching for Student Flourishing in STEM

Dr. Melissa Dancy
North Carolina State University
Online via ZOOM presentation

Intellectually capable and motivated students frequently struggle in STEM courses due to insufficient opportunities to learn how to learn and thrive. To support students full human development, I offer a course for undergraduates, Flourishing in STEM, that significantly improves students’ academic performance, sense of meaning and purpose, self-awareness, confidence, and social skills. The class provides instruction in metacognition, positive psychology, and Aristotelian virtue ethics (character education) and is scaffolded by mindful present moment noticing and deep reflection. In this talk I will discuss the course and its structures, highlighting the mechanisms that support student flourishing. Suggestions for incorporating ideas into a content-focused course are offered. 

Dr. Melissa Dancy is an Associate Professor of Physics at North Carolina State University and a recently elected fellow of the American Physical Society. Her research focuses on improving STEM education and has focused on three main questions. 1 - How can instructors' and their departments be supported to increase their use of research based teaching? 2 - What are the barriers and possibilities of creating a fairer, more supportive environment in STEM for everyone? and 3 - How can we support students to thrive personally and professionally? 

ZOOM Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83693724505?pwd=5N2qkN3EiCCrh33Vi6rMxzG0WgkXy6.1