Sciencewomen

I'm digging out of a mound of to-dos, but wanted to make you aware of two opportunities to explore feminist pedagogies and research methods in engineering education at the 2009 FIE later this month. Note participation in the workshop requires advance registration. Please share this notice with other colleagues who might be interested, and feel free to contact me with questions. On behalf of all the presenters, thank you, and we hope to see you in San Antonio

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S3A: Workshop: Feminist Engineering Education: Building a Community of Practice
Sunday October 18 from 6-9 pm in El Mirador East
(requires advance registration)

Abstract: As a result of a series of papers and special sessions held at FIE between 2004 and 2008, a community of CSET educators interested in exploring feminist pedagogies has formed at FIE. Past participants in these sessions have expressed a desire to learn more about what makes a set of pedagogies "feminist." At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of research papers at FIE that draw on feminist research methods or topics. This workshop is designed to meet the needs of members of the FIE community who have some experience with feminist pedagogies or research methods, and who are looking to develop intellectual relationships with others also working in engineering educational research. We will discuss the history of feminist education and feminist research methods in the US, including a connection to science and engineering education; participants will then work in small groups focusing on a sub-topic (feminist pedagogies, feminist research methods, and feminist research topics/content). We invite participants to bring part of a project (such as a syllabus or course plan, assignment, class or research project, research question or protocol) to this workshop; some time will be dedicated to the guided design/redesign of this project.

Presenters: Donna Riley, Susan Lord, Trevor Harding, Alice Pawley
Paper: http://fie-conference.org/fie2009/papers/1236.pdf

M2B: Special Session -- From Active Learning to Liberative Pedagogies: Alternative Teaching Philosophies in CSET Education
Monday October 19 from 10-11:30 pm in El Mirador West

Frontiers in Education has a history of special sessions focused on alternative and/or feminist pedagogies, and they have tended to attract a wide range of participants with varying levels of experience with such pedagogies. This special session is designed as an introduction to various alternative teaching philosophies and pedagogies, building on the past interest in such sessions and on the increasing interest in exploring philosophies of education in the context of engineering education. We will introduce participants to various theoretical frameworks of alternative pedagogies through a summary model, and facilitate small group discussions of three cases where alternative pedagogies have been or could be implemented. It is hoped that this introductory session will make such alternative pedagogical ideas more accessible to a larger number of CSET educators, allowing them to better participate in the rich and thriving conversation developing at FIE on using philosophies of engineering and education to envision new models for CSET education.

Presenters: Donna Riley, Susan Lord, Trevor Harding, Cindy Finelli, Alice Pawley.
Paper: http://fie-conference.org/fie2009/papers/1231.pdf