Brady Nygaard, Biology Major




Brady Nygaard

Biology Major

I love the small classroom feel and comfort. The transition from high school to college was more manageable on this scale. I'm a biology major, and I play baseball. I've found an unbreakable team bond and lifelong friends here.




Dr. Sarah Sletten - STEM Education for the Real World



Dr. Sarah Sletten

Assistant Professor of Biology

STEM Education Coordinator Education

video_graphic.jpgSTEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is really a set of principles that are used in pedagogies. MSU has embraced a shift toward a more student-centered classroom, and welcomed the natural reverse, which is a teacher-centered classroom. It's important to me to let my ebook_graphic.jpgclasses be led by the students. Our classrooms are busy and engaging. They're always busy doing something, and demonstrating knowledge with their teammates. We mimic what careers will look and feel like - after all, college is preparatory for real world experience. In these core areas - science, technology, engineering, and math, you're never working in isolation. These industries focus on team approaches to problem solving and constructive learning. So, the courses and programs at MSU prepare students for the same environment.

I have the ability to make my assessments really authentic, which supports a true STEM education. Science is a lot of fun. Even when I was young, the subject intrigued me. I loved collecting data. I remember sitting on my deck and counting the cars that drove past my house. I'd make a bar graph showing the different color vehicles I'd seen that day! I have always been that person who really wants to question things. I want to find new things. That is what science is.