In the News

Philip Bell along with project collaborators from Oakland, Irvine, New York, London and Dublin published a new journal article in Science Education called "The trouble with STEAM and why we use it anyway." The piece describes a number of key challenges with efforts to integrate the arts and STEM education, and it highlights some key dimensions of meaninful, transdisciplinary STEAM learning environments. This article is published open access. Bell is a professor of Learning Sciences & Human Development and holds the Shauna C. Larson Chair in Learning Sciences. He is also the executive director of the UW Institute for Science & Math Education.

Professor Ken Zeichner shares his perspectives on teacher education programs in Alberta based on a two-year research study.

Deb Morrison, Research Scientist for the College of Education, is featured in an article by the Financial Times titled “Schools face calls to boost environmental teaching.” In the article, she makes the case for integrating climate change into existing subjects, rather than developing standalone courses, given that timetables are already crowded and the pace of change is fast. She also stresses the importance of training teachers and emphasizing different pedagogical styles, rather than simply distributing materials in the classroom. “Without more thoughtful approaches, we’ll just have more stuff shoved on to teachers’ desks with no support,” Morrison says. “We have a lot of accountability measures for teachers but not much money to support them teaching better.”

Dean Mia Tuan's scholarly and personal background is discussed in a story about a recent reception with community leaders in Seattle.

Professor Ken Zeichner comments on school discipline and how teachers deal with disobedient students.

Better pay, student-loan forgiveness, paid internships and professional development would help Washington attract and retain high-quality teachers, Dean Mia Tuan writes in an op-ed.

Professor Elizabeth West discusses her recent study showing most research into effective educational interventions fails to include students with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Donna Anderson-Davis and Diane Smith, project directors for the UW College of Education's Center for Educational Leadership, describe how coaching as a collaborative, strengths-based process combined with inquiry cycle structure can be a powerful tool to support leadership development.

Research by the UW College of Education's Min Sun shows that student learning is not a function of just one teacher but of the combined effort of many teachers.

Professor Walter Parker comments on the “echo chamber effect” of social media and offers advice for parents on how to help children distinguish legitimate news from fake news.