On Friday, December 4th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Anthropology Associate Professor Dr. Alexia Smith met with ECE Anthropology Instructors for their annual professional development conference. Instructors received two books in preparation for the meeting.

• White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
• Eating Culture by Gillian Crowther

The group had a productive conversation about the two books and discussed strategies for teaching race and racism today as well as ways to use ethnographic observations of food as a platform for discussing broad anthropological concepts.

UConn Anthropology courses offered through UConn ECE.

On Thursday, December 10th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Math, Assistant Professor in Residence, Anthony Rizzi met with ECE Math Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. Instructors received a copy of How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng.

The group met in both small breakout groups and as a whole group to discuss teaching during a pandemic, best practices for teaching Math 1030Q and 1131Q/1132Q and strategies for covering course materials. Later the group discussed Part 1 of How to Bake Pi and how it to relate the concepts to their students.

UConn Math courses offered through UConn ECE.

On Friday, October 16th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Political Science, Prof. Fred Turner met with ECE Political Science Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

First, David Yalof, Professor and Department Head with UConn’s Department of Political Science chaired a group discussed about teaching political science courses in the current global climate, and later we were fortunate to have Dr. Meira Levinson, Professor of Education Harvard Graduate School of Education share her talk “Teacher Speech and Dilemmas of “Partisanship” in K-12 Classrooms”. Participants broke into groups to discuss a case study: “Talking Out of Turn: Teacher Speech for Hire” by Ellis Reid, Meira Levinson, and Jacob Fay.

Resources can be referenced at: http://justiceinschools.org

UConn Political Science classes offered through UConn ECE.

On Wednesday, October 20th UConn Early College Experience and staff from UConn’s Homer Babbidge Library met with ECE Library Media Specialists via WebEx to provide an update regarding library access, resources and information.

Topics covered in the first session include:

• Computer Services (NetID, Software, UConn Anyware) – ITS Staff
• Borrowing and Library Cards- Kim Wilk
• Interlibrary Services – Terry Palacios
• UConn Library Website & Online Resources Highlights – Sheila Lafferty

 

Later in the morning the group split into breakout sessions. Sessions were:

• STEM Resources – Renee Walsh
• English (English 1010, English 1011) – Beth Rumery
• History – Shelley Goldstein
• Professional Development Resources – Sheila Lafferty

Resources can be referenced at: https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/ECE.  

On Wednesday, October 28th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Economics. Prof. Natalia V. Smirnova met with ECE Economics Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

The day was broken into three sessions:

Remote Active Learning with FRED Interactives

Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Senior Economic Education Specialist

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Bio: https://research.stlouisfed.org/staff/mendez-carbajo/

 

Teaching New Tools of Monetary Policy

Scott A. Wolla, Economic Education Coordinator

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Bio: https://research.stlouisfed.org/staff/wolla

 

Teaching Digitally Minded Students during the Pandemic and Beyond

Carlos J. Asarta, Professor of Economics, Director – Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, University of Delaware

Bio: https://lerner.udel.edu/faculty-staff-directory/carlos-asarta/

 

Instructors were also provided with a copy of “More from Less : The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources– and What Happens Next” by Andrew McAfee.

 

UConn Economics classes offered through UConn ECE.

On Friday, October 30th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Philosophy. Prof. Mitch Green met with ECE Philosophy Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Prof. Lauren Bialystok, from the University of Toronto discussed her research “ Presentation on Philosophy in Ontario High Schools” and later “Secondary Teacher Preparation for Philosophy Teaching”.

Later in the afternoon, Prof. Green and Instructors discussed the book “Existentialism, A Very Short Introduction” by Thomas Flynn. Which was provided to instructors prior to the workshop.

 

UConn Philosophy courses offered through UConn ECE.

On Wednesday, November 18th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Sociology. Prof. Mary Bernstein met with ECE Sociology Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Prior to the meeting the group read “Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear” by Aaron Kupchik. The morning was spent discussing their teaching environments and school security.

UConn Sociology courses offered through UConn ECE.

On Wednesday, November 18th UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for History Prof. Kenneth Gouwens met with ECE European History Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Featured presentation by Dr. Paula Findlen, Pierotti Professor, Dept. of History, & Co-Director, Suppes Center for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Stanford University.

“The Scientific Revolution: Paradigm Shifts, Old and New”

Following the lecture, Prof. Findlen discussed her current research and then lead a discussion of some historical documents.

UConn History courses offered through UConn ECE.

On Tuesday, December 1st UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Human Development and Family Sciences Dr. Shannon Weaver met with ECE HDFS Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Featured presentation by Kaylee Jangula Mootz.

UConn HDFS courses offered through UConn ECE.

On Thursday, December 3rd  UConn Early College Experience and UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Physics David Perry met with ECE Physics Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

The group had a lively conversation regarding UConn physics labs and the labs Instructors are overseeing in the high schools both in an in person and remote learning settings. Also discussed were questions about course content and final exams.

Later the group viewed a presentation by Profs. Gerald Dunne and Jon Trump, Department of Physics, University of Connecticut titled, Black Holes: The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.

 

UConn Physics courses offered through UConn ECE.