Gillian Roehrig, professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I), led a team of STEM educators to Japan for a one-week visit funded by 3M to initiate STEM education partnerships in Japan. The team included Assistant Professor Julie Brown, Ph.D.; candidate in STEM education Jeanna Wieselmann; Doug Paulson, Minnesota Department of Education STEM Specialist); and Tom Meagher, Ph.D. , the Owatonna K-12 STEM Coordinator and C&I alumni in Science Education.
The group was hosted by Professor Yoshisuke Kumano and Dr. Tomoki Saito of Shizuoka University. Dr. Saito spent time as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction as a visiting scholar last year. Professor Kumano’s team had recently visited the STEM education center to learn about K12 integrated STEM curriculum and research. This visit cemented the partnership, as the STEM education experts from the department presented research on integrated K-12 STEM education and provided a K-12 STEM workshop for principals and teachers from local schools.
The UMN STEM delegation also visited the RuKuRu STEM student camp at the Shizuoka Children’s Musuem, the Shizuoka Prefectural High School of Science & Technology, and Sagano Super Science and Global High School Kyoto to explore possible exchange opportunities for STEM high schools students and teachers.
This fall, Wieselmann will spend three months studying at Shizuoka University as a visiting scholar, where she will be extending her research on gender issues related to STEM teaching and learning at the elementary level in Japan. Roehrig will also be returning in August to present with the Shizuoka STEM group at the Japan Society for Science Education. In addition, a research project has been established with Dr. Takahiro Kayano that explores argumentation in K-12 STEM classrooms in Shizuoka and Owatonna, cementing the fruitful partnership between the two the STEM education area in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and their colleagues in Japan.
Learn more about the STEM education Ph.D. program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.
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