Roundtable on Systemic Change and the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education

This project aims to serve the national interest by coordinating and catalyzing national efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education so that learners are better prepared to be scientifically informed members of society and participate in the future STEM workforce. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science Education and Board on Higher Education and Workforce will utilize the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education to harness and accelerate on-going, evidence-based efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education while at the same time developing strategies for responding to the major transformations that face higher education in the coming decades.

Through a series of interconnected projects and convenings, the Roundtable will help the field anticipate STEM teaching and learning needs in light of the rapidly changing social and economic environment. The projects and convenings will engage experts with diverse roles within higher education (such as classroom teaching, laboratory instruction, research on education, professional development for faculty and instructors, department chairs, deans, provosts, and presidents) as well as experts from different sectors within and around higher education..

The Roundtable is designed to identify gaps in current efforts, establish priorities for key next steps, and connect people and projects in the service of improving undergraduate STEM education. This work will be enacted through workshops, conferences, planning meetings, targeted work group efforts and through a suite of engagement and communication activities that both collect and disseminate information as well as facilitate information sharing and relationship development.

The Roundtable’s mechanism of action is based on the research on networks, literature on the spread of innovations, and research on evidence use. The Roundtable is designed to serve as a network of networks linking key stakeholders and representatives of groups from academia, government, professional societies, and industry. This has the potential to allow for more coordinated advances that improve students learning experiences in undergraduate STEM education and leverage existing work to increase impact across the higher education ecosystem.

The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.