Students enrolling in Sam Houston State University’s 2-million-dollar STEM class are ditching the textbooks and the professors. The new summer program is designed so that students are in charge of their own learning experience.
SHSU is taking their students to the next level by introducing a new program that pushes the students and allows them to be their own teachers. The National Science Foundation awarded SHSU the money to support the new learning initiative. The classes are not designed to be easy, and students will be challenged in new ways in math and science.
Even with the demanding lesson plan the course is not designed for the students to fail, but rather excel in the STEM field. Students will be allowed to take math and chemistry classes that pertain to the course so when the class begins they are ready and understand the material on a deeper level.
The instructors of the new program are learning a thing or two as well, for the class is not your ordinary teaching style. The goal of the instructor is not to teach, but guide the students to the correct answer when they are struggling to find it themselves.
“The job of the instructor, most of the time, is to sit in the back of the room and watch what the students present,” program director Brian Loft said.
The program and classes will launch summer of 2018, putting SHSU on the right track to stay competitive in technology and science across universities.