We need to be cognizant that we and our students have different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds and work to shape our instruction to be inclusive. In this week’s blog, we take a look at the racial and ethnic gap in the STEM workforce in the United States

In the last two blogs, we identified the magnitude of the STEM gender gap and some reasons why this gap exists. If the past blogs were a call to action to bridge the gap, this blog is the action plan.

Closing the gender gap in STEM professions requires a thoughtful review of why the gap exists. Contrary to popular belief, boys aren’t inherently better at math than girls. There are far more nuanced reasons why women don’t choose to pursue STEM professions. One of them being, that they don’t see themselves in these professions.

STEM-based occupations are projected to grow more than any other in the next ten years. So there is a need for more students to study STEM to fill those jobs - a need that could be filled by reducing the gender gap. This brings up many questions. How big is the gap? When does it start? Why is there a gap? And the most important, what can we, as teachers in STEM, do to help close that gap?

STEM subjects are integrated and that this integration needs to be emphasized in education. But we do face some challenges in realizing this vision. What are the challenges and how can we overcome them to support our students as they engage in STEM?

Teaching math online opens the door to teaching math as a concept rather than a set of skills. Use breakout groups included in web conferencing software to promote student interaction and critical thinking. One idea for a good discussion prompt is described with more to follow in the next blog post.

The power of PhET simulations is that they are fully interactive and designed to engage students from elementary to college in learning how various phenomena work. Since its founding in 2002, the types of simulations have grown to encompass all branches of science as well as math.

5 practical elearning tips and tricks from Dr. Maria Andersen. They are practical and come from someone who has taught remotely and online for more than a decade. They are tips you can only get from other teachers.

Watching the evolution of the training we're providing and how we're adjusting it to make it work better for faculty has been really rewarding. Maria is so knowledgeable on so many areas. Because of that, we're branching out to all STEM fields, not just math and science, as well as economics and finance, to help with teaching online at the college level.