Director Biography

 My name is Brad Hoge, and I'm the Director of HUNSTEM. I have a Ph.D. in paleoecology and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction. I currently teach science education and natural science at the University of Houston - Downtown, but I've taught at every age level at one point in my life or another, including preK (I was Dr. Brad the Science Dad, some of the proudest years of my life), elementary (as a science specialist), middle and high school (as a classroom teacher in both public and private schools in Texas and Louisiana). I also worked at The Children’s Museum of Houston for a short time as science curator. While there I got to work on the Magic School Bus Inside the Earth travelling exhibit. I also served as an advisor for the third season of the PBS show, and I wrote the content bible for the Inside the Earth CD ROM game. I was a full-time parent for nine years prior to coming to UHD, and I'm a poet by hobby. This odd background gives me a unique perspective on science education, and I'm not shy, so you never know what you'll find on HUNSTEM. Check out HUNBlog to see what I mean.

The HUNSTEM Advisory Board was formed early in the process to provide advice and guidance towards the design and content of the web-site. Barbara Foots, Education Director of The Visual Realization Program, serves as our Education Consultant as well as being on the board. Barbara has authored numerous documents and has worked on science projects and programs for universities, businesses, and professional organizations. She has also served on various science task forces, advisory boards, and committees at the local, state, and national levels. The board also contains members from local schools, Informal Science Institutions, professional STEM organizations and industry. The advisory board met twice during the early development of the project and now meets at least twice a year to review changes and discuss new directions for the project. 

Focus groups were formed of early, elementary and secondary teachers to review the site and make comments and suggestions. These teachers completed a survey and met with us to discuss their impressions and ideas.  Smaller focus groups of school administrators, education specialists, STEM professionals and informal science educators were also consulted. 

These discussions often took place at conferences and meetings where HUNSTEM was presented and discussed.                                             These meetings included the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, The Informal Science Education Association Annual Meeting, The Science and Engineering Council of Houston Annual Retreat, Harris County Department of Education meetings, Houston Independent School District Regional In-Services, Southwest Association for Educators of Teachers of Science Annual Meetings, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science                                                                 Southeast Region Annual Meeting.

Research of the literature on constructivism, PBL, inquiry, education standards, computer-based learning, web-based learning communities, and informal science education (Slough, et.al, 2005) was also conducted by faculty and staff of the University of Houston – Downtown including the Director of HUNSTEM, Dr. Brad Hoge, Dr. John Aoki, Dr. Scott Slough and others. To read the paper we wrote about our thinking and the foundation for HUNSTEM, go to: E-LEARN

SITE

HUNSTEM is unique in many ways. HUNSTEM is a complete learning community. We organize resources for teachers, students, parents, school administrators, professional educators, and community organizations. Each facet of the learning community has their own gateway with resources organized around their needs and interests, but all resources are interwoven to bring these separate parts of the larger community together in as many ways as possible. HUNSTEM is also unique in its span. HUNSTEM provides links to resources across K-16, and organizes them by subject and age-level. Separate gateways for age-level appropriate resources are provided in drop-down menus on the home page as well as through pathways within the visitor specific gateways within the body of the home page. Subject specific resources are also available through each gateway as well as through the lesson database, a topics map, and the site map. One other way that HUNSTEM is unique is in its design that uses images and icons to identify organizations and topics of interest to users. HUNSTEM is a gateway for all users, from the technology shy to the experienced web surfers. Designing a site that is inviting to the tech-shy while also being inviting to the tech-savvy, is a unique challenge. HUNSTEM accomplishes this by being inviting, easy and fun, while maintaining a professional appearance with advanced search and navigation tools and interactive features.

No learning community can remain intact unless it grows and evolves. HUNSTEM provides this structure because HUNSTEM is not just a web site, HUNSTEM is a learning community. HUNSTEM employs a staff of dedicated professionals constantly searching for new and better resources and working with local, regional and national entities to maintain a vibrant interface, an active community and continuing relevance. HUNSTEM is also a model of web-based learning community development that can be used in any urban community. This model is based on the three-part mission, and on the design of the site.

HUNSTEM is a liaison for collaboration and community building. We don’t wait for teachers to come to us, we act to bring resources to teachers, students and parents. We work with professional organizations and help build collaborations so that resources in specific content areas can be brought together into a single source. The Greater Houston Energy Education Collaborative is one example of this sort of collaboration. HUNSTEM is working with the Greater Houston Partnership, the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, local industry representatives, professional organizations, informal science centers, and local school district representatives to identify and encourage the best programs and resources for K-16 energy education. HUNSTEM has built a web site for the collaborative and acts as liaison for anyone looking for resources or looking to add their resources to the site. We developed interactive forms to submit information for consideration, and we maintain a list of liaisons for specific organizations willing to provide resources through the site.

HUNSTEM involvement with the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH) is another example of a successful partnership. We are also working with CSTEM, TSELA, EEE, HAPT, and others. Check our HUNSTEM Partners tab on the index page to learn more.