Our mission
The Raggio Center for Advancement in (STEM)2 promotes teaching, research and service in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Additionally, the Center serves as a nexus for synergistic partnerships that will advance teaching and learning through educational research and maximized engagement and outreach.
Our values
In all its activities, the Center will be guided by the following values:
- Assisting faculty and students in the College of Education and Human Development with STEM teaching, research and service activities.
- Building and fostering partnerships with stakeholders including University faculty, staff and students; Nevada school districts; other University research centers; STEM industries; and other community partners.
- Supporting STEM learning by developing outreach activities and programs for K-12th grade students across the state of Nevada.
- Advancing teaching and learning in STEM education through engaged research and scholarship.
- Recruiting, retaining and supporting the induction of STEM education students and alumni at the University of Nevada, Reno.
- Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM by providing authentic and culturally relevant opportunities for individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM. This may include the development of pathways that reduce or eliminate barriers to access and participation in STEM education programs.
Conceptual framework
The Raggio Center for Advancement in (STEM)2 promotes teaching, research and service in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Additionally, the Center serves as a nexus for synergistic partnerships that will advance teaching and learning through educational research and maximized engagement and outreach.
Synergistic partnerships
“Manifested in the thinking and actions that result from collaboration, and also in the relationship of partnerships to the broader community” (Lasker et al., 2003, p.184).
Teaching and learning
With STEM opportunities and experiences equally accessible to all, society will be able to address problems that must be examined through an integrated approach enabling the development of innovative solutions (Mohr-Schroeder et al., 2020).
Educational research
The nature of being an educator is such that the profession itself is meant to contribute to the public good (Dewey, 1927).
Maximized engagement and outreach
“The collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity” (The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2012).