What's Your Network?  Project
Kaleidoscope
Elizabeth McCormack
For most of us, our research communities have been
critical to our career development. This has certainly been the case
for me, and until recently, this community was pretty much unrivaled
in my professional life. Lately however, I've been enjoying a second
community just as enabling and informative and most importantly, just
as inspiring. This network is the web of interactions surrounding Project
Kaleidoscope (PKAL).
PKAL is a growing set of connections between individuals
and institutions concerned with and committed to efforts to improve
undergraduate science, math, engineering and technology (SME&T)
education. PKAL's work addresses the full scope of this endeavor including
issues concerning faculty, curriculum, research and facilities, as
well as joining in broader institutional and national debates on education
in fields of SME&T. Interacting with this community has enriched
my classroom and teaching labs and led to a new level of enjoyment
and success in working with students both at the undergraduate level
and the graduate level. It has guided me in thinking broadly about
my role in my department, in my institution, and in articulating goals
for teaching that compliment my research goals.
Below are listed some of the activities that constitute
PKAL. In the last ten years nearly 4500 academics representing more
than 850 diverse college and universities have participated in PKAL-sponsored
events and activities. As PKAL enters its second decade, its goals
have grown to include broadening its network to make more connections
with educators and researchers at universities including young scientists,
postdoctoral fellows and graduate students just embarking on academic
careers.
PKAL Summer Institutes and Workshops
The Institutes take place for two weeks each summerin
2001, they will be in Snowbird, Utah. They are thematic, changing each
summer, with several programs running at the same time. They provide
unique planing opportunities for teams to develop tailored approaches
to meet departmental and institutional goals to reform and improve
undergraduate science and math education on their campuses. They facilitate
faculty and institutions to take new directions in classrooms and labs
by embracing key developments in science and technology, by addressing
new societal challenges to education and by encouraging all educators
to affect the lives of their students on the campus and beyond. PKAL
has effectively served as an intelligence-broker and network-builder
by hosting over 100 workshops that serve as a venue to exchange best
practices about "what works" to strengthen student interest
and learning.
PKAL Faculty for the 21st Century (F21)
Most would agree that quality education is critically
dependent on faculty who are intellectually energetic, up-to-date in
their field, passionate about student learning, implementing new technologies
and pedagogies, and committed to research as an effective learning
experience for students. To sustain systemic reform in science and
math education, PKAL has built a network, now over 1000 strong, of
faculty from a diverse set of institutions that constitutes a broad
community of educators that meets annually at a PKAL F21 National Assembly
to inform, challenge and support each other.
Publications
PKAL collects and publishes materials that emerge from
the various institutes and workshops and distributes them for the larger
community. These are valuable resources. Major volumes addressing critical
issues in transforming science and math education serve as handbooks
for reform. PKAL Volume IWhat Works: Building Natural Science Communities has
served many faculty and institutions working to strengthen their programs
for over a decade. PKAL Volume IIIStructures for Science: A Handbook
for Planning Facilities for Undergraduate Natural Science Communities is
regularly used by campuses planning new science buildings. The most
recent publication, Then, Now & in the Next Decade: A Commentary
of Strengthening Undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering and
Technology Education, sets forth new goals and parameters for reform
efforts in the 21st century.
How can you get involved?
Visit the PKAL web site to
learn more about PKAL activities and publications.
As an academic dean or Provost, sponsor a promising
young faculty member to join the Faculty of the 21st Century.
As a faculty member, ask your dean to nominate you to become a member
of the Faculty of the 21st Century.
Put together a team of both faculty and administrators
to attend a PKAL Summer Institute to learn about and plan for reform
in science and math education on your campus.
Attend a PKAL F21 National Assembly as an F21 member
to focus on "what works" for student learning, recruitment
and retention and to make connections with colleagues across all
disciplines to talk about career related issues that go beyond disciplinary
boundaries.
Contact a PKAL Faculty of the 21st Century
member near you by visiting the PKAL
web site and start networking and find out what PKAL has done
for them.
I invite you to learn more about this truly transforming
community. Share your own experiences in SME&T education and learn
from others.
Elizabeth F. McCormack,
Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor on the Rosalyn R. Schwartz Lectureship
in the Physics Department at Bryn Mawr College and PKAL F21 Class
of 1996.
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