This week marks UNT's third annual Mobile Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching (MoSI), a branch of the nationally renowned program Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching, which addresses challenges in STEM education reform that are unique to college and universities.

Dr. Lee Hughes and Dr. Mark Burleson, both from the Department of Biological Sciences, are the local Summer Institute coordinators here at the University of North Texas. Ideal for faculty and graduate students alike, the institute is designed to foster collaboration and taking a fresh look at the courses that they teach. Participants develop original, innovative classroom materials ready for immediate implementation in the semester following the workshop. In attendance this year are participants from UNT, TWU, NCTC, and UNT Dallas, which helps to foster an environment of collaboration.

"It's important to us to offer this opportunity for growth and new ideas," said Dr. Hughes. "Every year, the Mobile Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching provides our participants, no matter how long they've been teaching, with new skills to better engage students and create a learning environment where all students feel welcome and can be successful."

Dr. Jo Handelsman, a Yale University professor and Associate Director for Science at the White House, founded the Summer Institutes in 2004. The highly collaborative educational experience of the Institutes combines workshops, group discussions, and presentations to improve scientific teaching approaches in the classroom and in the lab.

This year sixteen participants are working to complete the Institute. The curriculum is beneficial to both mathematics and science instructors, as it instructs the use of data to scientifically study pedagogical methods across STEM disciplines. All participants of the Mobile Summer Institute are encouraged to be more reflective about their teaching practices and developed original, innovative classroom materials that are ready to be implemented in their classrooms in the fall.

Dr. Hughes and Dr. Burleson plan to continue the Summer Institutes at UNT; check back with UNT's Department of Biological Sciences early in the 2020 Spring semester if you are interested in participating in next year's program.