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Changing STEM Cultural Environments

July 13, 2009

Efforts to change the culture of teaching and learning in STEM departments should focus on illuminating and then shifting faculty's cultural schema for teaching and learning. A recent analysis by Matthew Hora and Susan Millar suggests that reshaping organizational culture may require comprehensive efforts to change the structural, social, and symbolic milieu in which individuals operate. Cultural change also requires addressing individuals’ habits of mind. To accomplish this, leaders are encouraged to (a) conduct regular institutional assessments prior to program planning, (b) design neutral spaces in which different groups may interact, (c) recruit a skilled culture-broker when working with interdisciplinary groups, (d) marshal existing resources and reform projects to collectively target key leverage points, and (e) focus on developing cohorts of STEM educators in specific departments. Read the Working Paper here.