Proposal Title

Future-proofing science students: developing professional identity

Session Type

Plenary

Room

HSB 35

Start Date

5-7-2019 1:00 PM

Keywords

professional character, STEM education

Primary Threads

Teaching and Learning Science

Abstract

Today’s science students face the prospect of beginning careers in a workplace that is being profoundly reshaped by the integration of cognitive technologies, accelerated business cycles and the adoption of the open talent economy. For this next generation of professional scientists, work will become an ambiguous and fluid enterprise, demanding high levels of competence in innately human skills, constant retraining, and capacity for adaptation. For many in the future STEM workforce, the lack of career permanence may strain their capacity to develop and maintain a professional identity by which they derive a sense of agency through their work. The long-term cost of this looming threat is unknown, but parallels can be drawn with contemporary mental health challenges, including impostor syndrome, in undergraduate science programs.

Current undergraduate science education is heavily weighted toward developing disciplinary content mastery and focused expertise. Although these outcomes will remain vital as differentiators for work performance, are we doing enough in today’s classrooms and labs to promote the human skills and critically reflective habits of mind that will bolster our students’ autonomy and resilience throughout their careers?

This talk will explore the role modern universities play in STEM workforce training, scenarios for the future of science knowledge workers, and the necessity for professional identity development as a foundation for career fulfillment. Examples will be shown of how leader character dimensions, a science competency framework and critical reflection work have been integrated into both curriculum and counseling practice as a first step in shifting the culture of undergraduate liberal education in ways that expand learning outcomes without sacrificing content.

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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Jul 5th, 1:00 PM

Future-proofing science students: developing professional identity

HSB 35

Today’s science students face the prospect of beginning careers in a workplace that is being profoundly reshaped by the integration of cognitive technologies, accelerated business cycles and the adoption of the open talent economy. For this next generation of professional scientists, work will become an ambiguous and fluid enterprise, demanding high levels of competence in innately human skills, constant retraining, and capacity for adaptation. For many in the future STEM workforce, the lack of career permanence may strain their capacity to develop and maintain a professional identity by which they derive a sense of agency through their work. The long-term cost of this looming threat is unknown, but parallels can be drawn with contemporary mental health challenges, including impostor syndrome, in undergraduate science programs.

Current undergraduate science education is heavily weighted toward developing disciplinary content mastery and focused expertise. Although these outcomes will remain vital as differentiators for work performance, are we doing enough in today’s classrooms and labs to promote the human skills and critically reflective habits of mind that will bolster our students’ autonomy and resilience throughout their careers?

This talk will explore the role modern universities play in STEM workforce training, scenarios for the future of science knowledge workers, and the necessity for professional identity development as a foundation for career fulfillment. Examples will be shown of how leader character dimensions, a science competency framework and critical reflection work have been integrated into both curriculum and counseling practice as a first step in shifting the culture of undergraduate liberal education in ways that expand learning outcomes without sacrificing content.