ACT-STEM is a five-year, NSF-funded initiative that seeks to improve the culture of teaching within STEM departments to better support the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. We are located at Middle Tennessee State University and are a collection of researchers with broad interests in STEM Education.
The primary focus of this project is implementing a two-year professional development program for a broad category of instructional faculty within higher education (e.g. teaching faculty, research faculty, adjuncts, and graduate teaching assistants). We seek to foster a teaching culture that is collaborative, inclusive, and growth-oriented through three key theoretical frameworks: self-determination, positive psychology, and diffusion of innovation.
Follow this website to see what we are up to!
As the weather warms up, we want to let you know that ACT-STEM has not been cooling down! This semester the ACT-STEM team has presented at several conferences, including the Research on Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) conference in Alexandria, VA and locally at MTSU Research Symposiums. We plan to keep showing off the hard work of our productive team, so be sure to keep an eye out for us at conferences near you!
Check out this informative interview about ACT-STEM with Dr. Bleiler-Baxter and Dr. Rushton on MTSU News!
The PI Team of ACT-STEM was recently highlighted in both the Murfreesboro Daily News, Rutherford County Breaking News, and The Tennessean. We are very grateful for the attention our initiative has received!
MTSU News took the opportunity to highlight ACT-STEM and our hard-working team! Read more through MTSU News.
We are very grateful to the NSF for funding our initiative! Follow this page to see what the ACT-STEM team is up to!
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation Award #2337168
In partnership with the MTSU Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Sciences Education Research Ph.D. program and the Tennessee STEM Education Center (TSEC)