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Microbes and Social Equity Symposium, Session 5: MSE Education Practices and Curriculum Design (online)

July 22, 2022 @ 12:20 pm - 4:00 pm

Symposium: This symposium will focus on developing research skills to create transformative research, including context-aware experimental designs, engaging community stakeholders as research partners, writing transdisciplinary papers, translating research into policy, and creating curriculum which melds microbes and social equity.

Session: Curriculum which blends disciplines is highly engaging, and can be used to teach complex concepts, and can help students combine their existing cultural and social identities with their growing researcher identity. However, creating an interdisciplinary curriculum can be challenging. This session frames educational conversations in MSE, and gives perspectives on creating courses that blend microbiome and social sciences for different levels of education.

1. Sarah Miller, M.S., Executive Director of Tiny Earth at University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Tiny Earth: Leveraging an instructor community to create antiracist curriculum in a research course”

2. Dr. Ally Hunter, Ph.D., Lecturer, iCONS Program and Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Youth Engagement, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Part of NSF Project RAISE (Reclaiming Access to Inquiry Science Education for Incarcerated Learners), and NSF Project INSITE (INtegrating STEM Into Transition Education for Incarcerated Youth); Dr. Melissa Zwick, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology, Stockton University; “Science through storytelling: Using case study pedagogy as inclusive practice in undergraduate microbiology.”

3. Dr. Davida Smyth, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Texas A&M University in San Antonio, “Using wicked problems to CURE your teaching”

12:30–14:15 Introduction and Speakers
14:15–14:30 Break
14:30–6:00 Breakout room discussions based on skills development, in smaller groups (
Topics in development)

Register here

Event sponsored by UMaine Institute of Medicine

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