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STEM - Help

Guide to a variety of STEM resources to help you through your coursework.

Getting Started

Learning about STEM topics can be easy, when you know where to look! 

  • Know what you need and where to find it. 
  • Know who can help you. 
  • Get what you need and then get it done!

Good Habits - start now!

It takes a lot of work to become successful in the STEM disciplines.  That means you have to be committed to wanting to learn difficult material, practice what you've learned and test yourself on your knowledge. 

You will also need to be good at time management, because class time is not enough time to really learn this stuff.  You need to put in A LOT of hours outside of class--reading, doing example problems and homework assignments, experiment report writing, and yes, sleeping! 

Find or create a small study group with classmates. 

Reach out to the Tutoring Center and find a tutor to help you with difficult courses. 

Make an appointment to check in with your professor!  You can't be shy about asking for help. 

If you want the career, then you need to put in the work TODAY!  Most of the STEM courses build off of some basic foundational knowledge, so each week and each assignment is essential in getting you to the end of the semester.  If you miss anything or aren't too sure about a topic, it can hurt you in future weeks.  Don't give up!  Stay on top of your assignments and stay in communication with your professor, especially if life gets complicated.

Books

What Every Science Student Should Know

A guide for STEM students who want to excel--both in school and beyond.   Based on years of research and interviews with successful scientists and science students, this book is designed for college students on the path to a STEM career, helping them avoid pitfalls and obstacles and find success both academically and in the real world.   Like an experienced lab partner or a candid advisor, the book provides both realistic practical advice and encouragement, covering the entire college experience including:   choosing a major mastering study skills doing scientific research finding a job building and maintaining a love of science that will keep you motivated   Written by recent science graduates including former editors-in-chief of the prestigious Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, this guide can help get you through the ups and downs of undergrad life--and help you excel as both a student and a scientist.

Essential Skills for Science and Technology

The essential guide for any student studying science or technology. This book introduces the core academic skills students in this area need to learn and apply to succeed at university. If focuses on three key skills areas- research, argumentation and critical analysis; quantitative methods;and the conventions of written and oral communication.It explains how to read scientific literature and understand its different language style, terminology, data and argument analysis, and conflicting interpretations. Next, the book tackles how to take data from a range of sources to construct your own perspective on a scientific issue and how topresent it in both written and oral forms. Lastly, it assists with one of the most fundamental of all tools for any branch of science- an understanding of the basic laws of mathematics.Key topics include an introduction to tertiary study, e-learning and assessment; reading scientific literature, thinking and arguing critically; writing, research and presenting; and quantitative methods including fundamental mathematics, calculus, problem solving and statistics.Focused on step-by-step skills development, this book aims to help readers become better students who are more likely to succeed.

This Book Will Not Be on the Test

The problem with higher education today is that colleges are not transparent about their students' academic lives, so families don't know what their students should experience or accomplish in college. This book is part on-the-ground college insider tell-all memoir and part study skills bible. It's brutally honest, relatable, entirely free of jargon, and alerts parents to a huge problem in American education today--high school doesn't prepare students to thrive in college. Offering explicit study skills solutions for the academic, financial, and mental health problems caused by this unfortunate reality, This Book Will Not Be on the Test helps students, parents, teachers, and administrators have more rewarding experiences in schools, to the great benefit of themselves and their school communities. It shows students how to learn more and earn better grades in less time so that they can make the most of their college investment; it shows what parents can expect from their kids' college experiences; and it shows administrators what the schoolwork is really like at the level below or above their current professional context. Every parent will recognize their college-bound children somewhere in this book.

Schaum's Outline of College Physics, Twelfth Edition

Tough Test Questions? Missed Lectures? Not Enough Time? Textbook too Pricey? Fortunately, there's Schaum's. This all-in-one-package includes more than 700 fully-solved problems, examples, and practice exercises to sharpen your problem-solving skills. Plus, you will have access to the revised online Schaum's.com website--it's just like having your own virtual tutor! You'll find everything you need to build confidence, skills, and knowledge for the highest score possible. More than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them succeed in the classroom and on exams. Schaum's is the key to faster learning and higher grades in every subject. Each Outline presents all the essential course information in an easy-to-follow, topic-by-topic format. Helpful tables and illustrations increase your understanding of the subject at hand. Schaum's Outline of College Physics, 12th Edition features: * Updated content to match the latest curriculum * Over 700 fully-solved problems * Hundreds of practice problems with answers * Clear explanations for all physics concepts * An accessible outline format for quick and easy review * Access to revised Schaums.com website

Schaum's Outline of College Chemistry

Tough Test Questions? Missed Lectures? Not Enough Time? Fortunately, there's Schaum's. More than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them succeed in the classroom and on exams. Schaum's is the key to faster learning and higher grades in every subject. Each Outline presents all the essential course information in an easy-to-follow, topic-by-topic format. You also get hundreds of examples, solved problems, and practice exercises to test your skills. This Schaum's Outline gives you 1,340 fully solved problems Clear, concise explanations of all college chemistry concepts Support for all the major textbooks for college chemistry courses Fully compatible with your classroom text, Schaum's highlights all the important facts you need to know. Use Schaum's to shorten your study time--and get your best test scores!

Schaum's Easy Outline of Calculus, Second Edition

When you need just the essentials of calculus, this Easy Outlines book is there to help If you are looking for a quick nuts-and-bolts overview of calculus, it's got to be Schaum's Easy Outline. This book is a pared-down, simplified, and tightly focused version of its Schaum's Outline cousin, with an emphasis on clarity and conciseness. Graphic elements such as sidebars, reader-alert icons, and boxed highlights stress selected points from the text, illuminate keys to learning, and give you quick pointers to the essentials. Perfect if you have missed class or need extra review Gives you expert help from teachers who are authorities in their fields So small and light that it fits in your backpack! Topics include: Functions, Sequences, Limits, and Continuity, Differentiation, Maxima and Minima, Differentiation of Special Functions, The Law of the Mean, Indeterminate Forms, Differentials, and Curve Sketching, Fundamental Integration Techniques and Applications, The Definite Integral, Plane Areas by Integration, Improper Integrals, Differentiation Formulas for Common Mathematical Functions, Integration Formulas for Common Mathematical Functions

Schaum's Outlines of Biology

Tough Test Questions? Missed Lectures? Not Enough Time? Fortunately for you, there's Schaum's Outlines. More than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them succeed in the classroom and on exams. Schaum's is the key to faster learning and higher grades in every subject. Each Outline presents all the essential course information in an easy-to-follow, topic-by-topic format. You also get hundreds of examples, solved problems, and practice exercises to test your skills. This Schaum's Outline gives you: Practice problems with full explanations that reinforce knowledge Coverage of the most up-to-date developments in your course field In-depth review of practices and applications Fully compatible with your classroom text, Schaum's highlights all the important facts you need to know. Use Schaum's to shorten your study time-and get your best test scores! Schaum's Outlines-Problem Solved.

Strategies for Success

Strategies for Success, Second Edition provides a series of study skills activities designed to foster student success in college mathematics. Lynn Marecek and MaryAnne Anthony-Smith encourage students to take an active approach in determining what they need to do to become successful math students. These proven, class-tested activities have been developed over many semesters from the authors' firsthand experience with their own students. nbsp; This workbook contains 44 activities, in ready-to-use worksheet format. The activities can be used in several ways-individual work, group work, or large group discussion. They can be used in class or assigned as homework. An accompanying Instructor's Guide is available that contains instructions and implementation strategies for each activity to help instructors easily integrate Strategies for Success into their classes. nbsp; Some of the topics covered include Notebook Preparation, Reading a Math Textbook, Successful Student Behavior, Time Management, Test Preparation Skills, Study Group Ideas, and much more. The Second Edition also includes several new activities that focus on specific study skills needed by students doing their homework exercises on a computer in online, hybrid, emporium, or redesign formats.

Reading and Study Skills

By focusing on a wide range of reading and study skills required in the academic world, Reading and Study Skills gives instructors the flexibility to address student needs that might otherwise require several texts. The highly versatile organization divides topics into focused, self-contained modules that can be covered in any order resulting in a text that can be adapted to fit any teaching or learning situation. From its step-by-step, comprehensive coverage of the essential reading and study skills, to its practical, sensible style and tone, this text encourages and motivates students to get the most out of their reading and shows them how to master key study skills in order to have rewarding college experiences.

College Reading and Study Skills

College Reading and Study Skills teaches reading, critical thinking and study skills for today's diverse students, encouraging them to apply these integrated skill sets to their coursework and future academic success.   Kathleen McWhorter wrote College Reading and Study Skills, primarily, for courses that are half reading, half study skills. Emphasizing comprehension and metacognition, College Reading and Study Skills approaches reading and study skills as essential skills necessary for college success.  The text focuses on reading and learning as a cognitive process, encouraging students to approach reading as an active mental process of selecting, processing, and organizing information to be learned.

Find Your Path

Scientists offer personal accounts of the challenges, struggles, successes, U-turns, and satisfactions encountered in their careers in industry, academia, and government. This insightful book offers essential life and career lessons for newly minted STEM graduates and those seeking a career change. Thirty-six leading scientists and engineers (including two Nobel Prize winners) describe the challenges, struggles, successes, satisfactions, and U-turns encountered as they established their careers. Readers learn that there are professional possibilities beyond academia, as contributors describe the paths that took them into private industry and government as well as to college and university campuses. They discuss their varying preferences for solitary research or collaborative teamwork; their attempts to achieve work-life balance; and unplanned changes in direction that resulted in a more satisfying career. Women describe confronting overt sexism and institutional gender bias; scientists of color describe the experience of being outsiders in their field. One scientist moves from startup to startup, enjoying a career of serial challenges; another spends decades at one university; another has worked in academia, industry, and government. Some followed in the footsteps of parents; others were the first in their family to go to college. Many have changed fields, switched subjects, or left established organizations for something new. Taken together, these essays make it clear that there is not one path to a profession in science, but many. Contributors Stephon Alexander, Norman Augustine, Wanda Austin, Kimberly Budil, Wendy Cieslak, Jay Davis, Tamara Doering, Stephen D. Fantone, Kathleen Fisher, David Galas, Kathy Gisser, Sandra Glucksmann, Daniel Goodman, Renee Horton, Richard Lethin, Christopher Loose, John Mather, Richard Miles, Paul Nielsen, Michael O'Hanlon, Deirdre Olynick, Jennifer Park, Ellen Pawlikowski, Ethan Perlstein, Richard Post, William Press, Beth Reid, Jennifer Roberts, Jessica Seeliger, David Spergel, Ellen Stofan, Daniel Theobald, Shirley Tilghman, Jami Valentine, Z. Jane Wang, Rainer Weiss

Count Girls In

Maybe you have a daughter who loves cooking, soccer, and musicals. Maybe she's a social butterfly, an athlete, a fashionista, and a humanitarian who wants to change the world. Be honest-do you think, Well, she's clearly not a math and science kid? Do you assume that certain classes and careers won't appeal to her? Count Girls In challenges these assumptions and presents a totally different way of thinking: there is a place for all girls and young women-not just the science fair winners and robotics club members-in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, if we can keep their (and our) minds and options open and meet them where they are. To succeed in STEM fields today, girls don't have to change who they are. A girl who combines her natural talents, interests, and dreams with STEM skills has a greater shot than ever before at a career she loves and a salary she deserves. Count Girls In encourages parents and other adults to raise authentic young women who have the confidence to put STEM to work in a way that best serves them and their passions. The authors, both STEM professionals, present compelling research in a conversational, accessible style and provide specific advice and takeaways for each stage of schooling, from elementary school through college, followed by comprehensive STEM resources. This isn't a book about raising competitive, test-acing girls in lab coats; this is about raising happy, confident girls who realize the world of opportunities before them.

Studying and Test Taking

Studying for a test can be a daunting task. Some people wait until the last minute while others are organized and prepared when the time comes. Good study habits are all about paying attention in class, taking good notes, finding a quiet place where you can concentrate, and planning ahead! Learn how to reduce anxiety before a test by following a few simple rules that will help you to ace your next big test. This book will allow students to determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Study Skills 1

Themes: Study Skills, Reproducible Activities, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books, Nonfiction, Tween, Teen, Young Adult. From reducing the stress of test taking to looking up words in a dictionary, these workbooks have it all. Includes organizing for study, improving memory, taking notes, goal setting, and more. Topics Include: Organizing for Study; Improving Memory, Anatomy of a Textbook, Taking Class Notes, The Vocabulary of Tests, and more...

Study Skills 2

Themes: Study Skills, Reproducible Activities, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books, Nonfiction, Tween, Teen, Young Adult. From reducing the stress of test taking to looking up words in a dictionary, these workbooks have it all. Includes organizing for study, improving memory, taking notes, goal setting, and more. Topics Include: Time Management, Planning and Goal Setting, Developing a Learning Style, Paraphrasing and Summarizing, Answering Essay Questions, and more...

On Course Study Skills Plus Edition

ON COURSE: STRATEGIES FOR CREATING SUCCESS IN COLLEGE AND IN LIFE, STUDY SKILLS PLUS, 3rd Edition, empowers you with the tools you need to take charge of your academic and lifelong success. A self-assessment at the beginning of the text helps you identify behaviors and beliefs you may wish to change in order to achieve more of your potential in college and in life. Through short articles and distinctive guided journal entries, the author encourages you to explore and develop eight keys to your success: personal responsibility, self-motivation, self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, lifelong learning, emotional intelligence, and self-esteem. As you develop these skills, you'll find yourself making more effective choices and achieving greater success. The "Toolbox for Active Learners" provides numerous study skills that will help you excel in all of your college courses. As you learn these new strategies, you'll have the opportunity to practice applying them to solve academic challenges. With improved critical and creative problem-solving, you'll be able to achieve greater success in all parts of your life. Another self-assessment before and after the "Toolbox for Active Learners" will show you how much you've learned about being an effective learner.

Improve Your Study Skills

Whether you're starting a new course, undertaking training or simply want to pass your driving test, you will find this practical guide invaluable. Full of advice on how to maximize your study time, Improve Your Study Skills will give you all the skills you need to achieve your goals. Book jacket.

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?

From iconic actor and bestselling author Alan Alda, an indispensable guide to communicating better-based on his experience with acting, improv, science, and storytelling The beloved actor shares fascinating and powerful lessons from the science of communication, and teaches readers to improve the way they relate to others using improv games, storytelling, and their own innate mind-reading abilities. With his trademark humor and frankness, Alan Alda explains what makes the out-of-the-box techniques he developed after his years as the host of Scientific American Frontiers so effective. This book reveals what it means to be a true communicator, and how we can communicate better, in every aspect of our lives-with our friends, lovers, and families, with our doctors, in business settings, and beyond.

Evaluating Research

The third edition of Evaluating Research by Francis C. Dane and Elliot Carhart provides students with the skills to read and evaluate research studies. Aimed at courses where it is more important for students to develop an understanding of methods, rather than conduct their own research, this book covers all aspects of reading social, behavioral, and health science research from the basics, such as the structure of reports and accessing research, as well as overviews of the main types of research methods. The authors emphasize critical reading skills to enable students to become experts in evaluating research, so students can decide whether to incorporate that research into their future professional activities.  Each chapter includes an overview at the beginning and exercises at the end to reinforce the content learned. Starting from the basic principles of why we do research, the book moves readers through the practicalities of finding studies to the principles of the scientific method and how to break down and analyze research reports. New to the third edition, Understanding Checks placed throughout each chapter help students cement their learning. The organization of the book is now more logical, with a new chapter on accessing research up front and ending with a chapter on statistical analyses. New research examples throughout, including such topical examples as mindfulness, college attendance, and bias in healthcare, help students see the relevance of research in their lives.

Presenting Science Concisely

Imagine you are a scientist faced with presenting your research clearly and concisely. Where would you go for help? This book provides the answer. It shows how to use story structure to craft clear, credible presentations. In it you will find exercises to help you give both short and long presentations. Elevator pitches, lightning talks, Three Minute Thesis (3MT®), and conference presentations are all covered as are suggestions for longer presentations. Separate chapters address good poster design, how to tailor your talk to an audience, and presentation skills. Throughout the book the focus is on creating surprising, memorable stories. Scientific presentations are true stories about new discoveries. They are surprising because every new discovery changes our understanding of the world, and memorable because they move audiences. The book also covers: · Randy Olson's And-But-Therefore (ABT) narrative form · Mike Morrison's Better Poster designs · Eye-tracking analyses of posters by EyeQuant · Numerous case studies and examples from different scientific fields · Links to videos of exemplary presentations With light-hearted illustrations by Jon Wagner this book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in all areas of science, and other disciplines too.