STEM Education
Rural STEM Education
Rural areas represent one of the most promising, and often underutilized, opportunities for STEM education to impact workforce development and rural innovation. Dr. Baran's recent work focuses on studying innovative place based and technology-enabled STEM educational models to prepare future STEM work on technology-rich environments.
TECHThrive: A Technological Vision for Thriving Rural Communities in an Innovation Economy
TECHThrive funded by Iowa State University's 2021 Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Initiative (PIRI) grant aims to enable rural innovation economy through research on cutting edge technologies for rural applications and STEM educational initiatives designed to meet the needs of rural learners. Dr. Baran is leading the STEM Education thrust in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of experts across campus.
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SCC-PG: Preparing the Next-Generation Rural Workforce Through Inclusive and Place-Based Smart and Connected STEM Educational Delivery Models
There is a lack of research on workforce development in rural communities with large migrant and refugee populations. This planning grant funded by the NSF's Smart and Connected Communities program aims to pilot new Extended Reality (XR)-enabled STEM educational delivery models developed in collaboration with youth and adults in rural communities with large numbers of low-skilled workers
STEM Education in Out-of-School Contexts
Dr. Baran developed and implemented out-of-school STEM education programs and investigated their impact on students' attitudes and interests towards STEM careers. These programs were implemented in underserved areas to increase opportunities for access to STEM education.
Integrating Engineering Design into K-12 education
Our research examines the integration of engineering into K-12 education with a focus on studying teachers' understanding of engineering design process, developing professional development programs to develop teachers' competencies for engineering design integration into their classrooms, and measuring their attitudes and understanding by building learning progressions and related measurement instruments.
STEM in Higher Education
Dr. Baran studies novel, creative and transformative approaches for STEM teaching and learning in higher education contexts. Her work aims to improve diversity of instructors and students participation in STEM education and professional development for instructors to adopt effective pedagogical techniques.
IrecognizeU: Finding the Pathway to Increasing Women Civil Engineering Students’ Feeling of Recognition to Develop an Engineering Identity [2020-22]
Women remain dramatically underrepresented in the engineering profession, and far fewer women than men persist in the field. There is considerable evidence that a lack of identification with engineering causes students to drop out despite demonstrated technical skills. This research funded by NSF focuses on addressing the critical need for improved feeling of recognition for women engineering students.
An Integrated Faculty Professional Development Model Using Classroom Sensing and Machine Learning to Promote Active Learning in Engineering Classrooms
This research, funded by NSF's EHR-IUSE program aims to establish an integrated faculty professional development model (TEACHActive) through an automated classroom observation system and a feedback dashboard on the in-class implementation of various active learning strategies in engineering classrooms. This project will contribute to the acceleration of engineering educators’ adoption and effective implementation of active learning strategies in engineering classrooms, which will positively influence student engagement. The results will have a broader impact across different majors, levels (undergraduate and graduate student training), campuses, and disciplines beyond STEM.
TEACHActive website