Center for Teaching & Learning

Neuroinclusive STEM Classrooms

Fall Meeting Times: Thursdays, 3:00-4:15pm
9/19, 10/10, 10/31, 11/21, 12/5 (Spring TBD)
Light refreshments will be provided.

During our year together as a Community of Practice (CoP), we will first dialogue about the challenges experienced by neurodiverse students (and other intersecting identities). Then, we will focus on the strengths-based approach to creating a neuroinclusive STEM classroom as provided by the INCLUDE Program at UCONN so that ALL students can thrive!

This CoP is grounded in the 2024 summer institute “Building Neuroinclusive Learning Environments” at the University of Connecticut curriculum. In 2020, the Civil and Environmental Department at UCONN received an NSF IUSE grant to create a “radically inclusive” department which improves retention and learning outcomes for all students.
CoP facilitator, Bree Mathon, attended this institute after noticing the impact of more traditional classroom practices on students with neurodiversity.

This CoP is facilitated by
Bree Mathon, Senior Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Ph.D., University of Vermont, Civil and Environmental Engineering
M.S., SUNY Stony Brook, Earth and Space Sciences
Read more about Bree Mathon on her UVM biography page.
Questions? Bree.Mathon@uvm.edu

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Navigating the Friction of Content Coverage and Inclusive Excellence in Introductory STEM Courses

Fall Meeting Times: Thursdays, 12:00-1:15PM
9/5, 9/19, 10 3, 10/24, 11/14, 12/5 (Spring TBD)

This community of practice will tackle the challenging issue of creating time in our introductory courses for the activities that increase success and retention of learners from historically marginalized groups. Finding time means evaluating what our learning objectives are and why those objectives are important for our students. In the fall semester, we will identify and hone the learning objectives for our courses and examine the content and skills we are teaching, evaluating each for whether or not they are aligned with the overarching objectives and needs of the students.

In the spring semester, we will explore classroom and curriculum design strategies known to increase inclusive equity, resources available to faculty for building their capacity to use these strategies, and consider creating a proposal for summer work in course design to be supported by the HHMI grant.

This community is facilitated by
Linden Higgins, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology.
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin, Zoology
M.Ed. University of Vermont, Educational Leadership
Read more about Linden Higgins on her UVM biography page.
Questions? Linden.Higgins@uvm.edu

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Small Meals and Small Teaching

Fall Meeting Times: Thursdays, 5:00-6:30 pm:
9/12, 10/3, 10/24, 11/14, 12/4 (Spring TBD)

Our starting point is that a student’s personal history and identities should not predict success in our classes. The data for introductory STEM courses at UVM indicates we are not living this shared goal, and we have work to do. This community of practice will come together to collaboratively work toward this goal within our own classes. We will meet over dinner, and use James Lang’s Small Teaching (2016) book as the launchpad for our work. The blurb for the book on Amazon says: “… James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of small but powerful changes that make a big difference―many of which can be put into practice in a single class period.”

Our first meeting will develop community norms, and explore the breadth of what equity-minded teaching can look like. Subsequent meetings in the fall will provide a synopsis of topics from Lang’s book, and collaborative exploration of how we might apply these principles into our individual classrooms. The spring semester will focus on implementation, as we come together to discuss our experiences and support one another.

Copies of the book Small Teaching will be provided. While reading the book is encouraged, it is not expected, and synopses of the various methods proposed within will be provided.

This community is facilitated by
John Sangster, Senior Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Ph.D., Virginia Tech, Civil Engineering
Questions? john.sangster@uvm.edu

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Approachable Equity: A Space to Improve Courses for New Faculty and New Students

Fall Meeting Times: Thursdays, 12:00-1:15 pm:
9/19, 10/3, 10/17, 10/31, 12/5, 12/12 (Spring TBD)

Have you inherited your class and don’t know where to start to make it your own? Is your class getting bigger and the curriculum just isn’t working anymore? Do you know your classes could use a little touch-up but just don’t have the bandwidth to make those changes? This Community of Practice is designed for newer or first year faculty, as well as faculty teaching larger introductory or STEM D1 courses who want to make their courses better for themselves and for their students. It will be a supportive space where we will work to foster mutual understanding, interrogate our blind spots, and identify which components of our current classroom practices and curricula may be perpetuating inequities and why. We will then explore alternative approaches and tools that promote equity in our teaching and are realistic to implement, with the goal that your students’ success will not be determined by social identity.

This community is facilitated by Ari Chiapella, Senior Lecturer, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Ph.D., Portland State University, Earth Environment, and Society
Read more about Ari Chiapella on her UVM biography web page.
Questions? Ariana.Chiapella@uvm.edu

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Fulfilling the Promise of Our Common Ground: Transforming UVM’s Culture – A Howard Hughes Medical Institute Driving Change Initiative

Fall Meeting Times: TBD

UVM aspires to create an environment in which a student’s personal history and identity do not predict academic success. An important component of the Driving Change Initiative is to implement inclusive classroom practices in STEM courses by instructors who are proficient with equity minded teaching practices. To this end, we will be launching this peer-facilitated Communities of Practice. To assist our faculty in this endeavor, we invite you to join a Department Chair Community of Practice whose main focus will be an analysis of UVM data in this space, and how more wholistic department changes could have a positive impact on the learning culture.

This community is facilitated by Jim Vigoreaux, Acting Chair of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, Breazzano Family Green & Gold Professor of Biology, Joint Professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Read more about Jim Vigoreaux on his UVM biography web page.
Questions? jvigorea@uvm.edu

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