Campus Programs

2012 Summer Undergraduate Research Assistantship (SURA)

The Maine Physical Sciences Partnership (PSP) invites applications from undergraduates in Maine to participate in a seven-week summer program on the University of Maine campus during the summer of 2012.  Click here for more information.

Faculty Course Modification Incentive Grants

The Maine Physical Sciences Partnership project is pleased to invite faculty to apply for incentive grants for the purpose of integrating student-centered, research-supported teaching practices into University of Maine STEM courses. The grant guidelines are found in pdf PSPcourseproposals and doc PSPcourseproposals formats. The deadline for the current round of proposals is November 30, 2011. Instructions for submitting a proposal are found in the attached grant guidelines.

Workshops for STEM Graduate Student Teaching Assistants

We offer periodic workshops for graduate students about a variety of teaching- and learning-related issues. These 2-hour workshops address topics such as assessing student learning, incorporating active learning strategies into your classes, and handling a range of issues you may encounter while being a TA. Please contact Erik daSilva (erik.dasilva@maine.edu) for more information.

Upcoming workshops:

Stay tuned for the 2012/2013 TA Workshops!

2011/2012 workshops:

What learning happens outside the classroom? - Students’ Study Skills and the Role of Homework in Learning. Mitchell Bruce, John Thompson, Natasha Speer, Thursday, October 27, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium (165 Barrows Hall)

Making Things “Click” in the Classroom - Uses of Personal Response Systems (Clickers) in the College Classroom. Michelle Smith and Frank Dudish, Thursday, November 10, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium (165 Barrows Hall)

Scaffolding Undergraduate Peer Facilitation: The Maine Learning Assistant Program - Over the next few years, many of you may find yourselves teaching alongside undergraduate peer instructors who are participating in the Maine Learning Assistant Program. In this workshop, we will provide a brief overview of our campus programs and give you some firsthand experiences with the unique kinds of professional development opportunities that the program offers. Mitchell Bruce, MacKenzie Stetzer, and François Amar, November 30, 3:10 – 5:00 Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium (165 Barrows Hall)

Inquiry-based labs: Allowing students to be scientists, even in large courses on tight budgets - As shown by numerous studies, inquiry-based learning is the best way to teach science. But how do we create and teach inquiry-based labs effectively, and how do we do this even in large courses, especially when hampered by shrinking budgets? In this workshop, we will examine specific low-cost labs designed for our introductory biology courses here at UMaine where enrollment is up to 800 students. We will do some inquiry-based exercises and look at methods of assessing student performance that minimize grading-time without compromising the writing and thinking done by students. Mary Tyler, Professor of Zoology, School of Biology and Ecology, Thursday, February 2nd, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., Vincent Hartgen Lecture Hall (100 Lord Hall)

Using free-response questions to probe student thinking - Instructors at all levels can gain valuable insight into student ideas by carefully examining written student work. While most of us have experience grading student responses to written questions, the use of the same written responses for formative assessment poses its own unique challenges. In this workshop, we will use actual student responses to an optics question in order to explore a variety of issues related to the role of free-response questions in formative assessment. MacKenzie Stetzer and John Thompson, Wednesday, March 14th 3:30 – 5:30 p.m., 310 Boardman Hall

Maine Learning Assistants

Follow this link for more information