Breakout Sessions for Friday, February 23, 2024

A significant disparity exists in the quality of education between urban and rural areas in Latin America. While urban centers and towns benefit from well-equipped schools staffed by qualified educators, facilitating effective teaching and learning, rural schools still face numerous challenges. Despite a relatively high level of student engagement in the learning process at the elementary level in rural areas, there is a substantial exodus of students from the rural education system at the high school level. This departure is not only marked by sheer numbers but also by a stark contrast to the educational opportunities available in urban high schools. One possible factor contributing to students leaving these schools is the shortage of qualified subject-specific teachers capable of delivering high school-level content in a way that resonates with students. Research on this issue suggests that there are several factors responsible for the challenges faced by the rural education system. Some of them: 1. Limited access to the didactic and pedagogical resources that urban areas enjoy. 2. Need for more familiarity with technology and its educational benefits. The ongoing pilot experience aims to investigate and develop a methodology to address the needs of rural schools. This methodology includes 1) providing well-prepared teachers through remote learning, 2) granting access to high-quality educational materials through a learning management system, and 3) implementing a hybrid learning approach that combines the expertise of urban teachers with the practical support of local educators.

In this break-out session, a panel of teaching mentors for the NIH funded IRACDA program will discuss their academic experiences. They will talk about the challenges they have faced and the successes they have had. The discussion will focus on how these experiences are helping them serve as mentors for scholars preparing for a career in academia. The panel will be moderated, and the audience will have ample opportunities to participate.

Are you interested in further discussions about making science and mathematics relatable to students in the classroom? Engage with the Symposium plenary speakers as they engage in discussion with participants about implications, actions, and advocacy related to ideas discussed throughout the day.

Computer graphics utilize the practical application of computer science principles to create and manipulate visual content. The application of 3D computer graphics crosses many industries, including CAD design, games, filmmaking, animation, architectural simulation, scientific visualization, and medical simulation. In this poster session, we will show selected student works that showcase the intersection of computer science and visual innovation. Drawing from my experience in visualization research and the emerging field of art and technology, I bring valuable insights to the computer graphics track. I have designed the course with a project-based approach, emphasizing hands-on learning and real-world application. Through this framework, students acquire essential technical skills while developing the critical thinking mindset necessary for advancement in this field. At Governors State University, 3D courses are offered to undergraduate and graduate students, with most majoring in Computer Science and a few from the Arts and Media Department. The 3D Series starts with “3D Modeling” and “3D Animation” as the foundation. We then use advanced rendering algorithms and procedural Physical-based Shading techniques to make these models look photo-realistic in “3D Rendering” class. Once students grasp the fundamentals, they can progress to specialized courses like "Game Design," "Game Modeling and Animation," and "Intro to Virtual Reality." Within these modules, students can apply their coding abilities to create compelling 2D/3D games, mesmerizing virtual environments, and simulations.

With the increasing prevalence of AI in our daily lives, it is essential to explore its applications in various domains, including game design. By working on game projects that incorporate AI techniques such as machine learning, pathfinding algorithms, and procedural content generation, students not only enhance their game design skills but also deepen their understanding of AI principles. This presentation will include an overview of machine learning (ML) fundamentals, covering key concepts and the essential tools and components needed to train ML agents effectively. The session will also showcase several examples of reinforcement learning, imitation learning, pathfinding, and procedural content generation. Additionally, there will be a live demonstration of ML agent training.

Absences can have significant effects on both students and instructors, including lost learning time, difficult logistics surrounding missed work, and unclear communication between students and instructors. These absences are taken for a variety of reasons, many of which cannot be predicted before the start of the course, impeding instructors’ ability to plan for that student’s absence and affecting students’ learning outcomes. Given that the rate of absences taken by a student typically correlates with worsened course performance, how can instructors design policies that maximize student learning, ensure equity, and align with the instructor’s goals for the course? This workshop aims to help instructors reflect on their personal values surrounding student absences, analyze the parts of equitable and effective absence policies, and apply those principles to the needs of their own courses. Participants will develop a framework for absent students in their own courses by investigating both the components of an effective and equitable absence policy and the structure of their courses, followed by a brief review of relevant literature and original research conducted by the moderator. After establishing sets of values specific to their own courses, participants will provide suggestions for peers’ absence policies before reflecting on how these suggestions point towards the goals of the course and attitudes toward absent students initially expressed. Lastly, instructors will reassess the values they identified at the start of the session and how their absence policies reflect those values. How do the experiences of other instructors in similar and dissimilar situations inform more effective absence policies? Do the absence policies established in the course benefit the course’s structure, and how can the alignment between the two be improved? Participants will conclude by reflecting critically on the elements of their absence policy and the expected utility of that policy to both themselves and students.

Governor State’s Drone engineering club focuses on Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) systems, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and its integration into UAVs. With the resources collected and connections developed over the past few years, we have created an environment that fosters growth, learning, and teamwork amongst like-minded students from diverse backgrounds. We have safely flown various mapping missions over corn fields to reconstruct 2D, 3D, and thermal images at our club aircraft hangar. We will demonstrate software developed over the past year via collaboration with various students during this symposium. This software implements Keyboard control, Face Detection AI using the cv2 pipeline, and sensor data collection in the DJI Tello EDU drones. Due to its diverse applications and powerful capabilities, this software is coded entirely in Python, using a PyCharm EDU. Libraries utilized include but are not limited to cv2, djitellopy, and tkinter. We will also show pictures showing the ins and outs of our hangar, where we build software and hardware for our UAV projects, 3D printing, and flight simulator.

In this session, we will host a panel discussion featuring panelists and a moderator. The panelists will be participants of the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) postdoctoral training program, which is funded by the NIH. They will share their experiences of teaching in the program, discussing both the challenges they faced and the successes they achieved. The focus of the discussion will be on how this experience is helping them prepare for a career in academia.

Sequences of genomes from across the tree of life are being accumulated at an unprecedented rate. This presents a remarkable opportunity for students to engage in experiential learning by engaging with these genomes in the classroom. Genomic techniques are advancing the discovery of genes, proteins, and species with increased accuracy compared to classical microbiology or molecular methods. In order to maintain such rapid expansion, future scientists will require familiarity with tools for genomic analysis, the ability to utilize them, and the capacity to interpret their results. As part of two funded NSF RCN-UBE Incubators, we have been working to develop equitable research experience-based classroom exercises in the Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase; a free data science platform). This presentation will focus on KBase, StRoNG Net, and two CUREs developed and implemented at Northeastern Illinois University. These CUREs apply genomic, metagenomic, and bioinformatic analysis tools, available in KBase, to explore two questions. The first is studying microbial circadian rhythms in novel genomes and the second evaluates the effects of fertilizer use on plant growth and the composition of root and soil microbial communities. Both exercises work to provide online and in-person opportunities for students to engage with cutting edge bioinformatics tools and enhance undergraduate classroom research experiences.

This preliminary study analyzes patterns and propensities from twenty-three Taiwanese adults who, based on their own acknowledgment, did not perform well in mathematics as a student. Much research in mathematics education aims to provide better or different mathematics teaching, accommodations, and updated curriculum to try to ‘solve’ or ‘fix’ students who did not meet expectations. The goal has always been to prevent students from failing. There is almost no literature, however, on how a student who failed in mathematics overcomes the emotionally damaging experience, or how they learned to move forward. This IRB-approved study has several goals: First, to offer narrative evidence of what can happen when a student falls short of the model minority expectation that “all Asians are good at math.” Secondly, the study explores how ‘failure’ in mathematics affected participants personally, and more importantly, how they were able to move forward and live a successful life. Finally, the personal experiences of people who struggled with mathematics may inspire others who are struggling, and help teachers better understand how to empathize with students who are not at the top of their mathematics class.

In this interactive session, participants will be asked to share their thoughts about the experiences of students who failed and how they may or may not have received the support they needed afterward. Some participants may have stories of their own academic failure to share.

The goal of this research is to try to understand both students and teachers from a position of self-compassion and how to encourage empathy and kindness in the aftermath of a failure. Our participants will be invited to try to imagine moving forward as a student and the emotional difficulties that ensue after a failure.