CREATE for STEM was delighted to host a multi-day conference in September 2019 that brought together the Crafting Engagement for Science Environments projects' principal investigators from Finland with the principal investigators here at Michigan State University.
Dr.'s Joe Krajcik, Lappan-Phillips Endowed Professor of Science Education and CREATE Director, and Dr. Barbara Schmidt, Hannah University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at MSU, welcomed Dr. Jari Lavonen and Dr. Katariina Salmela-Aro, both from the University of Finland, along with several of their colleagues who had contributed to the CESE research.
CESE has been and continues to be an exciting and fruitful collaboration, focused on student engagement, Project-Based Learning, social and emotional learning, and creating a growth-mindset in traditionally underserved communities. An efficacy study has resulted in very positive data showing that the treatment group, on whom PBL instruction was used, score higher as measured by a three-dimensional science test. These results show the promise of utilizing PBL approaches in aligning science instruction with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
