The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) is an independent interdisciplinary institute at IUPUI founded in 2016 by Pratibha Varma-Nelson, to increase the capacity for innovation and research in STEM education delivered through colleges and universities. Initially developed with support from the schools of Engineering and Technology, Science, and Informatics, SEIRI is dedicated to advancing the state of the art of STEM education research and practice. SEIRI’s work is guided by its design logic with a core research-to-practice model. Through our work, SEIRI seeks to build institutional capacity for innovative STEM education.
Components of the design logic
- External Funding: A strong research-to-practice core drives proposals for external funding, which in-turn, enhances and expands research-to-practice.
- Research: Investigating fundamental questions of how college students learn STEM.
- Evaluation: Assessing the effectiveness of STEM faculty’s existing and proposed educational practices and research.
- Innovation: Developing and promoting novel pedagogies with faculty to improve the success and persistence of STEM learners from all backgrounds.
- Capacity Building: Supporting STEM faculty in participating in the scholarship of STEM teaching and learning to reform STEM curricula.
A fundamental component of the research to practice core of the SEIRI design logic is capacity building for discipline based education research (DBER), STEM education research, and STEM education innovation. Within the School of Science, SEIRI’s Seed Grant (SSG) program has extensively supported educational research and innovation. SEIRI has supported normalizing computation in undergraduate physics as well as the restructuring of physics labs. In Chemistry, SEIRI has supported research on Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) which is integrated into core chemistry courses such as CHEM 105, 106 and 341, peer led undergraduate research, and learning through chemistry outreach. In Earth Science, SEIRI has supported the integration of urban ecology and first in the nation urban field camps.
For a complete list of SSG grants funded please visit https://seiri.iupui.edu/fundingopportunities/ssg/.