040.- Collaborating Toward Convergence Efforts for K-20 STEM Education [JSCI]

This paper delves into the application of convergence efforts within K-20 STEM education, highlighting the use of the NSF’s Collaborative Infrastructure to tackle complex social innovation challenges. By integrating diverse academic and operational disciplines, the study presents a framework that facilitates collaborative and strategic planning, ultimately aiming to enhance educational outcomes through systemic convergence and collaborative efforts.

Exciting Announcement: Publication in the Journal on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics

I am thrilled to share our latest publication in the esteemed Journal on Systemics, Cybernetics, and Informatics. The paper, titled «Collaborating Toward Convergence Efforts for K-20 STEM Education,» is a collaborative effort with distinguished colleague James Lipuma. It’s an honor to be a part of this paper (Lipuma & Yáñez León, 2022).

Paper Abstract:

The paper examines the use of NSF’s Collaborative Infrastructure and the Convergence Research approach for complex social innovation challenges used by the authors in their NSF INCLUDES project (#1744490). The paper clarified terminologies related to Convergence Research for multi-, co-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary. This paper defines and describes collaborative research at each of these interfaces. Then, it discussed critical factors for engaging in collaborative partnerships as individuals, with teams, and as organizations. Then, it presented concepts tied to individual factors for engagement with the attitude, investment, motivation, and scenario analysis method. Next, by drawing on business and management research, the Availability, Interest, and Knowledge methodology provided a simple way to identify the alignment of the vision, mission, and theory of change by understanding the why, what, and how of your actions. Following this, the authors integrated the concepts of strategic planning and logic models with the Universal Model of Strategic Planning. The authors discuss the double diamond model to represent the complex web of partnerships and the framework developed for stakeholder communication and collaboration. The result is the Collaborative Convergence Pyramid framework for negotiating understanding within a new shared space being generated together. Finally, the work concluded with a discussion of the vital roles of collaborative infrastructure and strategic planning in facilitating the Convergence Research approach with a multi-stakeholder coalition.

Read Our Paper

You can access our paper in Journal on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 351-389, 2022. Read here

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support for Leadership and iSTEAM for Females in Elementary School (LiFE) and STEM for Success from the National Science Foundation under award number #1744490 and from Howmet Aerospace Foundation. Also the work of our colleagues Bruce Bukiet (PI) and Nancy Stefen-Flurr (COPI). The authors would like to acknowledge the excellent work and support of Dr. Nagib Callaos. Support, vision, and insights on the inter-disciplinary research approach from Dr Kevin Belfield, Dean, College of Science and Liberal Arts at New Jersey Institute of Technology. NJ. USA.

Non-anonymous reviewers: Dr. John Wolf, Interim Program Director, Cyberpsychology, Assistant Dean, College of Science and Liberal Arts at New Jersey Institute of Technology. NJ. USA. For his support in reviewing this paper
Beta-Reader: Dr. Saikat Pal is the Director of the Computational Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory and the Life Sciences Motion Capture Laboratory at NJIT. For his support as the beta-reader of this paper

Disclosure statement
No conflict of interest pertains to the research presented above.
ORCID
James Lipuma https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9778-3843
Cristo Leon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0930-0179

Copyright

© All rights reserved, 2022

Sources

Lipuma, J., & Yáñez León, C. E. (2022). Collaborating Toward Convergence Efforts for K-20 STEM Education [JSCI] [Review of Collaborating Toward Convergence Efforts for K-20 STEM Education [JSCI], by B. Bukiet, S. Pal, & J. Wolf]. The Journal on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 20(1), 351–389. /Research/Collaboration & Convergence. https://doi.org/10.54808/JSCI.20.01.351