Educate the Whole Student by Integrating STEM, Liberal Arts, and Social Responsibility
Synergies in Teaching and Learning
How to Synergize
Synergies in Practice
“How can I integrate my STEM course with a humanities, arts, or social science course, to enable students (and teachers) to make meaningful connections between STEM, liberal arts, and social responsibility?”
"I will answer this question by looking at the convergence of Our University's strategic process and the teaching, learning, and transformation process.”
Synergies is a (teaching and learning project) framework that aims to educate the whole student by enabling the integration of STEM with liberal arts and social responsibility. We educate students through teaching and learning activities that are attached to the courses that we teach. Each course has specific course objectives (COs) and student learning outcomes (SLOs). COs focus on the content of the course and the skills that are important to address the content. SLOs are the overarching "products" of the course and are evidence that COs were achieved. We want to integrate our courses in a meaningful way, which raises the question: “how can I integrate my STEM course with a humanities, arts, or social science course, in a way that enables students (and teachers) to make meaningful connections between STEM, liberal arts, and social responsibility?”
Convergence of Our University's Strategic and Teaching & Learning Processes
A Course's SLOs Mapped to "Five Minds for the Future"
"If the role of education is to develop the five minds for the future, then OU's Outcomes should be mapped to the five minds for the future. Therefore, each course’s SLOs are connected to the five minds for the future."
Synergy Between Two Courses
"Hence, the Five Minds for the Future in conjunction with an Educational Institution's Outcomes provide a meaningful way to connect different courses and achieve a Type I Synergy."
Currently working to create Type II - VI synergies using the "five minds for the future".
Notes
Although I present Synergies by referring to Our University's vision, etc., one may replace "Our University" with any other educational institution and carry on the analysis proposed by Synergies.