Dr. Rosemary R. Haggett, National Science Foundation

The opportunity for faculty and their institutions to have a major impact on undergraduate education is greater than ever. Increased national recognition of the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, coupled with rapid growth in new teaching and learning technologies, innovations in preK-12 education, increased understanding of how students learn, and successful interdisciplinary approaches, create new opportunities for improving the undergraduate educational experience. These developments provide the foundation for efforts to achieve excellence in STEM undergraduate education for all students.

What can we do to ensure that undergraduate curriculum innovation proceeds as rapidly as possible? We know that students who are active learners, who regulate their own learning and change their strategies as necessary, learn with understanding and transfer their learning more effectively. How can faculty become "active learners" themselves in order to improve their students’ learning outcomes? How can they use what they learn to speed the cycle of innovation and accomplish these improvements in undergraduate education?