The CREATE for STEM is Michigan State University's hub for research and innovation in STEM education. Our goal is to improve teaching and learning in the STEM disciplines for students from grades K-16 through research and development efforts that inform teachers, curriculum designers, school leaders and policy makers.
As a collaborative research institute, we bring together faculty from the Colleges of Natural Science, Engineering, and Education who share an interest in building research-based innovations and a passion for improving education for all students. CREATE serves as a springboard and a hub for new ideas and intellectual collaboration. Together, we help bring to fruition projects that will make a difference in the teaching and learning of STEM for all learners in Michigan, and across the country and the world.
Within the STEM education fields, we aim to
- Innovate by being on the forefront of developing new curriculum materials, use of technology, professional development, policy approaches, and research methods to improve teaching and learning;
- Investigate by researching the effectiveness of innovations in the fields of STEM education and using research to inform and improve all aspects of education delivery and assessment; and
- Inform by publishing research and other materials to researchers, teachers, scientists, and policymakers to support continued improvement in both understanding and outcomes in the field.
Research Areas
CREATE engages in research across a number of areas, pursuing new ideas and projects that will have impact on the field. We are at the forefront of Creating and Investigating change in undergraduate education through initiatives in Discipline-Based Educational Research in departments (DBER). CREATE developers and researchers have led the design of innovative science curricula from K-16, and researched in detail the impacts of new methods of teaching on student learning, engagement, faculty and communities. CREATE leads in professional learning for teachers and school leaders, and in assessment design in the STEM fields. Our international collaborations span the globe, with partners in over a dozen countries. Our curriculum and assessment work has increasingly explored artificial intelligence (AI) methods to support teachers and learners in new and creative ways.
Within each of these areas, we build interdisciplinary and intergenerational research groups, foster new talent, provide seed money for initial work and support the grant writing process. CREATE is also a hub for the exchange of information and ideas, sponsoring conferences, workshops, seminars, and visiting scholars to enhance the interest in STEM Education and develop capacity in these fields here at MSU.
