Education Commons^™

Teaching Reproducibility To First Year College Students: Reflections From An Introductory Data Science Course, Brennan L. Bean

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Modern technology threatens traditional modes of classroom assessment by providing students with automated ways to write essays and take exams. At the same time, modern technology continues to expand the accessibility of computational tools that promise to increase the potential scope and quality of class projects. This paper presents a case study where students are asked to complete a “reproducible” final project in an introductory data science course using the R programming language. A reproducible project is one where an instructor can easily regenerate the results and conclusions from the submitted …

Using Gamification To Foster Student Resilience And Motivation To Learn, And Using Games To Teach Significance Testing Concepts In The Statistics Classroom, Todd Partridge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Two studies are outlined in this dissertation.

In the first study, elements of Super Mario Bros. videos games were used to change the way college students in a beginners’ statistics course were graded on their work. This was part of an effort to help students remain optimistic in the face of challenging coursework and even failure on assignments and tests. The study shows that the changes made to the grading structure did help students to keep trying and to use the materials given to them by their professor until they achieved their desired grade in the course, and suggests ways …

Rethinking Integrated Computer Science Instruction: A Cross-Context And Expansive Approach In Elementary Classrooms, Umar Shehzad, Jody E. Clarke-Midura, Kimberly Beck, Jessica F. Shumway, Mimi M. Recker

Publications

This study examines how a rural-serving school district aimed to provide elementary level computer science (CS) by offering instruction during students’ computer lab, a class taught by paraprofessional educators with limited background in computing. As part of a research practice partnership, cross-context mathematics and CS lessons were co-designed to expansively frame and highlight connections across – as opposed to integration within – the two subjects. Findings indicate that the paraprofessionals teaching the lessons generally reported positive experiences and understanding of content; however, those less comfortable with the content reported lower student interest. Further, most students who engaged with the lessons …

Geometry And Coding: Introducing An Interactive And Integrated Mathematics-Computer Science Unit, Kimberly Beck, Jessica F. Shumway

Publications

As part of a collaborative project between Utah State University, the Cache County School District, and Stanford, instructional units were designed for fifth-grade students. These units integrated math concepts of geometrical shapes and computer science concepts of sequences, conditionals, and loops. One component of the unit was implemented in math classrooms by math teachers, and the other component was implemented in computer labs. This presentation will focus on the math unit as presented at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM-V).

Co-Designing Elementary-Level Computer Science And Mathematics Lessons: An Expansive Framing Approach, Umar Shehzad, Jody Clarke-Midura, Kimberly Beck, Jessica Shumway, Mimi Recker

Publications

This study examines how a rural-serving school district aimed to provide elementary-level computer science (CS) by offering instruction during students’ computer lab time. As part of a research-practice partnership, cross-context mathematics and CS lessons were co-designed to expansively frame and highlight connections across – as opposed to integration within – the two subjects. Findings indicated that most students who engaged with the lessons across the lab and classroom contexts reported finding the lessons interesting, seeing connections to their mathematics classes, and understanding the programming. In contrast, a three-level logistic regression model showed that students who only learned about mathematics connections …