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Fall 2024 UConn ECE Chinese Workshop

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On Friday, October 18th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a virtual professional development workshop for certified ECE Chinese teachers, under the guidance of Professor Chunsheng Yang, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Chinese. Instructors connected via Webex and enjoyed a discussion on program development from Ms. Chunmei Guan of Logan High School in Indiana. Later on, Professor Zhiying Qian joined us from Florida State University, and led a fascinating talk about the emerging relationship between AI and Chinese language teaching.

Thank you to all who joined us for an enriching experience!

 

UConn Chinese Courses offered through Early College Experience.

Fall 2024 UConn ECE Biology Workshop

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On Tuesday, October 15th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for certified ECE Biology teachers, under the guidance of Professor Thomas Abbott, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Biology. Instructors convened on the UConn Storrs Campus and enjoyed an invigorating field walk through campus, and the surrounding forests. 

Thank you to all who joined us for an enriching experience!

 

UConn Biology Courses offered through Early College Experience.

Fall 2024 UConn ECE Environmental Science (NRE) Workshop

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On Tuesday, October 15th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for certified ECE Environmental Science (NRE) teachers, under the guidance of Professor Morty Ortega, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for NRE. This was an exciting opportunity for our NRE community to meet offsite, at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) in New Haven, CT. Instructors were treated to several informative talks, beginning with a discussion on integrated tick management research at the CAES led by wildlife biologist Dr. Scott Williams. Entomologist Dr. Megan Linske then delivered a fascinating lecture entitled “Diversity and Disease: Assessing Backyards for Tick Bite Prevention and Awareness”, all before lunch! The afternoon concluded with a final talk by entomologist Dr. Kelsey Fisher, which discussed Monarch butterfly biology and conservation needs. 

And, fun fact! Both Dr. Williams and Dr. Linske received their Ph.D.s from the University of Connecticut.

Thank you to all who joined us for an enriching experience!

 

UConn Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE) Courses offered through Early College Experience.

Fall 2024 UConn ECE CE (Engineering) Workshop

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On Tuesday, October 8th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for certified ECE Engineering teachers, under the guidance of Professor Sarira Motaref, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Engineering. The event included a variety of enrichment opportunities, including a discussion on Neuroinclusive teaching strategies, and an opportunity to engage with the teaching resources that UConn makes available to its ECE instructors. Instructors were also given the chance to interact with representatives from UConn’s undergraduate chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), all before lunch! The afternoon was devoted to presentations from our own ECE Engineering instructors, who were given the chance to share strategies and student work from their own classrooms. 

Thank you to all who joined us for an enriching experience!

 

UConn Civil Engineering Courses offered through Early College Experience.

Fall 2024 UConn ECE HIST 1300 (Medieval Studies) Workshop

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On Friday, October 4th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for certified ECE Medieval Studies teachers, under the guidance of Professor Sherri Olson our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Medieval Studies. Special guest, Christine Cooper-Rompato | English | USU gave a presentation on the Mali Empire in Western Africa, and tasked attendees with discussing their own personal connections to the continent of Africa, as well as engaging with a variety of resources (maps, articles, video, historical documents, etc.) to enhance understanding.

Thank you to all who joined us for an enriching afternoon!

 

UConn History Courses offered through Early College Experience.

Fall 2024 UConn ECE Philosophy Workshop

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On Wednesday, September 25th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for certified ECE Philosophy teachers, under the guidance of Professor Mitch Green, our ECE Faculty Coordinator for Philosophy. The event included an exercise on paper grading, an illuminating discussion on artificial intelligence in the classroom, and a guest lecture from Professor Yarran Hominh from Bard College focusing on political philosophy and its relation to human agency.

 

Thank you to all who joined us for an enriching afternoon!

 

UConn Philosophy Courses offered through Early College Experience.

Fall 2024 UConn ECE U.S. Hist/MAST/AMST Workshop

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Fall 2024 UConn ECE U.S. Hist/MAST/AMST Workshop

On Friday, September 27th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for approximately 75 certified ECE U.S. History, Maritime Studies, and American Studies teachers, under the guidance of Professors Mary K. Bercaw Edwards (MAST), Laurie Wolfley (MAST/AMST), and Matt McKenzie (AMST/HIST) our ECE Faculty Coordinators.

The event kicked off with an illuminating discussion led by Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, Mystic Seaport's Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories, which focused on the origins and sources of the museum's current Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea exhibit.

Following this conversation, instructors broke into small groups and engaged in four activities across the museum. Beginning with a tour of the Charles W. Morgan, the oldest commercial ship still afloat in the US, our group then got some hands-on experience with rope-making, followed by an opportunity to observe primary sources from the Morgan's heyday at the museum library. Finally, we explored the Entwined exhibit, which centers Black and Indigenous voices and histories and their interconnectedness, and unravels dominant, white-centric narratives of maritime history in Turtle Island, or North America.

This event was a new foray into offering interdisciplinary professional development experiences for instructors, allowing them to connect with faculty and instructors from several academic disciplines.

UConn U.S. History, American Studies, and Maritime Studies courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Classics Workshop

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Spring 2024 UConn ECE Classics Workshop

On Wednesday, June 5th, UConn Early College Experience hosted a professional development workshop for approximately 20 certified ECE Classics teachers, under the guidance of Professor Sara Johnson, our  ECE Faculty Coordinator for Classics.

Following a collegial conversation and opening remarks from Professor Johnson, the group delved into a discussion concerning the current climate surrounding UConn Classics courses at the university.

Later participants engaged in an insightful exploration of "Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr, a text distributed to all attendees prior to the workshop which fostered an enriching dialogue among the group.

UConn Classics courses offered through Early College Experience.

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Art Workshop

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Spring 2024 UConn ECE Art Workshop

On Tuesday, June 4th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Art, Professor Emerita of Illustration, Department of Art & Art History, Cora Lynn Deibler met with a group of 16 UConn ECE certified Art Instructors for a professional development workshop.

After welcoming comments from Prof. Deibler, the teachers joined for a roundtable discussion regarding the fundamentals of drawing. They acknowledged the fundamentals of drawing can initially be "boring" for today's young student artists as their usual visual world is fast, colorful, and immediate. While educators recognize the value of foundational work, they also know they are competing with TikTok, anime, and drawing apps. They shared strategies and insights into captivating Drawing I students, discussing impactful assignments and classroom activities that yielded enthusiastic responses from their students.

Later in the day, the group was privileged to gain insights from Professor Deibler and guest speakers Kathryn Myers, Professor of Art at UConn, and Jeanne Ciravolo, a distinguished faculty member of UConn's Department of Art and Art History, who also serves as the Director of the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery. Together, they explored portfolio preparation and admission criteria, providing valuable guidance to support students contemplating applications to collegiate-level art programs.

UConn Art courses offered through ECE

Spring 2024 UConn ECE Statistics Workshop

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Spring 2024 UConn ECE Statistics Workshop

On Monday, May 20th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Statistics, Prof. Nalini Ravishanker met with a group of 44 UConn ECE certified Statistics teachers for their annual professional development workshop. The day included a presentation by James O’Donnell, Prof. Marine Sciences Department, UConn, and Director of Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA): “Analyzing Coastal Flooding in CT and Climate Resilience”. Prof. O’Donnell spoke about the impacts of sea level rise, and more technically about the changing risk of flooding at the shoreline.

Later Elizabeth Schifano, Prof. and UG Program Director, Statistics spoke about data science programs at UConn. After a short break, the group reconvened to discuss a variety of topics including:

  • Homework assigning and grading at UConn (Amie O’Brien).
  • Mixture of traditional lecture & working problems in class vs. doing more hands-on investigations and labs, experiments where students use inference procedures (Amy Bigelow).
  • Switching from traditional textbook problems to one more involved free response problem set each week (Amy Bigelow).
  • Combined AP/ECE classes - finishing the entire curriculum by the beginning of May (before AP exam), what do the ECE students do in May-June? (Marcjanna Lungarini).

UConn Statistics courses offered through ECE.