UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence announced the recipients of teaching grants for 2022-23. The Teaching Transformation and Innovation Grants and Teaching & Learning Scholarship Grants are offered to advance and inspire excellence in Penn State’s teaching and learning community.
Teaching Transformation and Innovation Grants
Teaching Transformation and Innovation Grants provide Penn State instructors of all ranks with the opportunity to experiment, test or implement a teaching innovation that addresses an important instructional concern.
The recipients of the 2022-23 Teaching Transformation and Innovation grants are as follows:
Seth Powless (business, Penn State Beaver) — “Using Learn-Technology-By-Doing Approaches in the Applied Mediated Business Classroom”
William Horton (biobehavioral health, College of Health and Human Development) — “Bringing Undergraduate Research to World Campus Students”
Focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Amy Camodeca (psychology, Penn State Beaver) — “Serious Games, Learning, and Creativity in the College Classroom”
Lorie Kramer (social science, Penn State Hazleton) — “Rehabilitation & Human Services’ Historical Field Trip: Building A Deeper Understanding About Past Mistreatment in the Criminal Justice & Disability Fields,”
Ginett Pineda (arts and humanities, Penn State Fayette) — “A Visit to the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh”
Anna Sigmon (science, Penn State Brandywine) — “Equitable access to chemistry modeling kits”
Focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Mesude Bayrakci Boz (Engineering, Penn State Hazleton) — “Incorporating experimental kits into a wind energy and hydropower systems course”
Qi Dunsworth (teaching initiatives, Penn State Behrend) — “Spatially Challenged? Practice Makes You Grow”
Mizanoor Rahman (engineering, Penn State Scranton) — “Robotics-Enabled Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning Scheme for Mechanical Engineering Students”
Yimin Zhu (mathematics and natural sciences, Penn State Altoona) — “Developing Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience in Chemistry”
Teaching & Learning Scholarship Grants
Teaching & Learning Scholarship Grants support instructors of all ranks who are interested in conducting research on their teaching and learning practice.
The recipients of the 2022-23 Teaching & Learning Scholarship grants are as follows:
Megan Kohler (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences) — “Identifying Barriers and Opportunities for Neurodivergent Learners in Higher Education” Research focuses on learning experiences of students who identify as neuro-divergent. The insights gained through her study are intended to guide the campus community toward establishing guidelines, best practices, and other strategies for fostering neuro-inclusive classrooms.
Amine Benkiran and David Nieves (Mathematics, Eberly College of Science) — “The Evolution and Growth of the Mathematics Learning Assistants Program at The Pennsylvania State University” Research focuses on the effectiveness of their innovative Learning Assistant (LA) program, which enables experienced undergraduate students to support the success of their peers in large-enrollment, multi-section courses.
Jacqueline O’Connor, Andrea Gregg and Erica Winegardner (Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering) — “Strategic Transfer: Integrating Active Learning and Metacognition in Thermodynamics Education” Research focuses on a novel “teach-back” technique, in which students explain how they solve a given problem to another student. The goal of the project is to create an instructor-friendly ALM implementation approach that can be shared across Penn State’s campuses.
The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.