QUARCS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Retired Professor of Geosciences
Is a retired Professor of Geosciences, Director of Faculty Development and Director of Educational Assessment from University of Wisconsin at Platteville, University of Colorado at Denver, Idaho State University and two California State University campuses. He now serves as an external mentor for STEM and Education faculty at The University of Wyoming. Ed served as the team leader of the ten faculty from four campuses that constructed and validated the Science Literacy Concept Inventory (SLCI). He now heads a second team of eleven researchers from eight institutions that currently employ the SLCI for conducting research on the relationships of metacognitive self-assessment to the success of undergraduate students' learning. He remains active as a lead researcher publishing in Numeracy, Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, a regular columnist for National Teaching and Learning Forum and Improve with Metacognition, and as a presenter in the annual and regional meetings of the AAAS, The American Psychological Association, The American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and the National Numeracy Network.
Directs the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) program at Bowdoin College, is past Chair of the Center for Learning and Teaching, and is a Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics Department. He is the past President of the National Numeracy Network (NNN 2013 - 2019), and a past chair of Special Interest Groups of the Mathematical Association of America (SIGMAA-QL, 2010-12). He has a QR textbook in its second edition, published in 2019 with Pearson, Thinking Quantitatively: Communicating with Numbers, with blog https://thinkingquantitatively.wordpress.com/ . Eric has given talks and led workshops on the topics of QR Across the Curriculum, Creating a QR Entry Point Course, Writing with Numbers, QR Assessment, and Running a QR Program; and has served on review teams of QR programs. Eric was the Principal Investigator for an NSF TUES Type I grant (2012-14), Quantitative Literacy and Reasoning Assessment (QLRA) DUE 1140562. This collaborative project builds on Bowdoin College's QR instrument which is used for advising purposes and is available to interested schools. Prior to coming to Bowdoin, Eric led the development of a Masters in Numeracy program for K-12 teachers at Alfred University as an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Education.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Amherst College
Dr. Kate Follette is an assistant professor of Astronomy at Amherst College and the Principal Investigator of the QuaRCS study, which was begun as part of her dissertation work at the University of Arizona. She is a former K12 math/science educator, and believes strongly that the purpose of introductory science courses for nonmajors extends beyond simple "science appreciation" (as interesting as science is!) to the instillation of real world skills. These include the ability to tell science from pseudoscience, to reason numerically, estimate, and analyze quantitative information. Kate taught general education astronomy courses as an adjunct instructor at Pima Community College from 2009-2014. Her science research focuses on the discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets and the disks of gas and dust from which they form.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Teaching
Dr. Sanlyn Buxner is an assistant research professor in the department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona. She teaches introductory science and research methods courses and supports institutional assessment of graduate and undergraduate programs. Her research includes examining science literacy and quantitative literacy in undergraduate science students and studying the impact of research and industry experiences for K12 teachers on classroom practice and student outcomes.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Research Associate in Biology Education Research at the University of Arizona
Is an assistant research associate in Biology Education Research at the University of Arizona, with a focus on using and assessing model-based inquiry as a platform for helping students build scientific thinking skills and an appreciation for the nature of science, as well as their own identities as developing scientists. Between August 2011 and July 2014, she worked with a team to build, implement and assess a revised introductory biology curriculum that was demonstrated to improve students' ability to use quantitative skills in biological contexts without compromising their learning of biology concepts (Hester et al. 2014).
Grew up in Argentina. She is an Associate Research Professor of Mathematics, the Director for the Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES), and a Founding Member of the STEM in HSI Working group at the University of Arizona. Guada's current work brokers intersectional spaces for institutional change in university teaching and learning, including transforming STEM education at HSIs. Trained as a mathematician, Guada has been part of many K-12 and undergraduate initiatives which inform her current work. They include: the writing of recommendations for deploying active-learning practices in mathematics, assessing the impact of active-learning pedagogies on conceptual mathematics learning, and the establishment of cross-institutional faculty collaborations for streamlining the transition from community colleges to the university. Guada is actively involved with local, national, and international organizations committed to growing equitable practices in public schools, higher education, and STEM professions.