Education Commons^™

The Mathematics Of Skateboarding: A Relevant Application Of The 5es Of Constructivism, William H. Robertson

William H. Robertson

South Of The Border: A Librarian’S Service Experience In Nicaragua (Poster), Debbie Morrow

Debbie Morrow

I spent eleven days in May 2012 in Estelí, Nicaragua, as a volunteer member of a presenter team offering a workshop to engage Nicaraguan college students and faculty in learning concepts of sustainable and relevant innovation and development. The program, the Applied Global Innovation Initiative (AGII) at Grand Valley State University, has been evolving since 2004 in an ongoing relationship with La UNAN, the Nicaraguan national university system. Nicaragua, at the base of the socioeconomic pyramid, is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. AGII’s vision statement reads, “Empowering people to change their world with their resources.” Their mission states, …

Teachers Take Control! Implementing The Ngss As Team Inquiry, Steven R. Rogg Ph.D.

Steven R Rogg

STEM commentators have noted the obvious - that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) promise to improve STEM education only if implemented fully and with fidelity. Clearly, TEACHERS are essential if the potential of the NGSS are to be realized. As new curricula and assessment systems evolve, it will be TEACHERS who translate resources to create powerful student learning experiences. This session examines experience- and research-based ideas for teacher teams to take charge of NGSS implementation as professional inquiry. The dynamic is expected to be highly interactive.

15-Up And Counting, Reading, Writing, Reasoning : How Literate Are Australian Students? : The Pisa 2000 Survey Of Students' Reading, Mathematical And Scientific Literacy Skills, Jan Lokan, Lisa Greenwood, John Cresswell

Dr John Cresswell (retired)

This report presents evidence on the performance in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of 15 year old students, their schools and their countries, interpreted from an Australian perspective. It gives insights into factors that influence the development of these skills at home and at school, and discusses implications of the results for policy development. Chapter 5 focuses on results for the Australian states and territories and for other sub-national groups. Results achieved by Indigenous students and by students with language backgrounds other than English are included in this chapter. The sixth chapter describes the Australian PISA participants in some detail, …

Mapping The Common Core State Standards: To Advanced Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching, Julianna Connelly Stockton, Nick Wasserman

Julianna Connelly Stockton

No abstract provided.

Discovering And Developing Diverse Stem Talent: Enabling Academically Talented Urban Youth To Flourish, Stephanie Pace Marshall, Glenn W. "Max" Mcgee, Eric Mclaren, Catherine C. Veal

Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education, Plucker, Burroughs, and Song (2010) provided compelling evidence that "the presence of an excellence gap is demonstrated on both national and state assessments of student performance," with "economically disadvantaged, English Language Learners, and historically underprivileged minorities representing a smaller proportion of students scoring at the highest levels of achievement" (p. 28). Three "case stories" of students from IMSA illuminate some of the (a) challenges and opportunities inherent in igniting STEM talent in urban youth and ensuring their success; (b) principles for designing and creating learning experiences and environments that ignite and nurture the …

Who Is Participating In Geoscience Teacher Education Workshops, Why Are They Doing It, And What Are They Learning?, Scott A. Nowicki

Scott A Nowicki

Presented here are evaluation results from the geoscience teacher education workshop: Invigorating High School and Middle School Earth Science Through Inquiry and Student Research (2010) and Climate Change Science: Content and Inquiry Methods for Secondary Teachers (2011). This program was conducted by PI Dr. Larry Rudd at Nevada State College and Co-I Dr. Steve Rowland at UNLV under the state-funded Nevada Collaborative Teacher Improvement Program (NeCoTIP). During five years of summer workshops (2007-2011) over 70 middle and high-school in-service teachers in the Clark County School System participated in a combination classroom and field-based professional development program focused on local geologic …

Assessing Impulsive-Analytic Disposition: The Likelihood-To-Act Survey And Other Instruments, Kien Lim, Amy Wagler

Kien H Lim

The likelihood-to-act (LtA) survey is a 32-item instrument that measures impulsive and analytic dispositions in solving math problems. In this research report, we compare it to other instruments related to the impulsive-analytic construct such as Frederick’s Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) and the Barratt Impulsive Scale in terms of mean scores, Cronbach alpha values, and correlation values. Both LtA-Impulsive and LtA-Analytic subscales have acceptable reliabilities of 0.79 and 0.83 respectively. The LtA-Analytic and LtA-Difference (analytic-impulsive difference) correlated well with other the Need for Cognition subscale and CRT scores. The correlations involving LtA-Impulsive subscale were unexpected and call for further investigation.

The Hammer-And-Nail Phenomenon In Mathematics Education, Kien Lim

Kien H Lim

"For a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is a proverb that can be used to highlight the phenomenon that students tend to rely on familiar ideas as opposed to taking time to think about and analyse a problem. Presented in this theoretical paper is the usefulness of the hammer-and-nail metaphor, other related theoretical constructs, pedagogical causes of student impulsive behaviours, and pedagogical suggestions for addressing them.

Impulsive-Analytic Disposition In Mathematical Problem Solving: A Survey And A Mathematics Test, Kien H. Lim, Amy Wagler

Kien H Lim

The Likelihood-to-Act (LtA) survey and a mathematics test were used in this study to assess students’ impulsive-analytic disposition in the context of mathematical problem solving. The results obtained from these two instruments were compared to those obtained using two widely-used scales: Need for Cognition (NFC) and Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS). The exhibited correlations of the LtA scores with the NFC, BIS, and a math test provide evidence of the criterion validity of the analytic LtA items, and suggests further revision of the impulsive LtA items to improve the overall measurement validity of the LtA scale. Students LtA scores were found …

Mathematical Literacy: Are We There Yet?, Ross Turner

Ross Turner

The North Dakota Space Robotics Program: Teaching Spacecraft Development Skills To Students Statewide With High Altitude Ballooning, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Fevig

Jeremy Straub

The University of North Dakota is serving as the lead institution in a statewide effort to develop student spacecraft engineering skills. This effort, which is part of the North Dakota Space Robotics Program (NDSRP), provides students the ability to participate in the design, development and fabrication of a small satellite analog that is launched by a high altitude balloon. The first iteration of the NDSRP Near-Spacecraft Project is generating a functional prototype of a remote sensing payload, which will perform onboard image processing. This project included undergraduate and graduate students from two institutions and five different academic departments. The students …

Formalizing Mission Analysis And Design Techniques For High Altitude Ballooning, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Fevig

Jeremy Straub

High altitude balloon (HAB) missions can be and are used to teach concepts related to spacecraft and satellite design. A HAB mission, however, presents unique characteristics, which must be understood and respected to produce a desirable outcome. Because of this, flying an unaltered satellite design as a HAB payload would be as undesirable as utilizing an unaltered HAB design as a satellite. A well-defined process for HAB mission design is thus needed. The process presented mirrors commonly used space mission design processes to facilitate easy transition between the two. It is also comparatively simple, due to the smaller scale of …

Finding What Women Want: Developing Strategies To Increase Recruitment And Retention In Along With Attracting External And Internal Sources Of Funding, Shweta Chopra, Gary R. Bertoline, Chad M. Laux

Shweta Chopra

Numerous reports have discussed the dearth of women in Science, Technology, Engineering; Mathematics (STEM) fields. Almost two-thirds of young children of age group 9-15 state that they enjoy science, but girls’ attitudes and interests change by middle school. During high school, girls and boys take the same number of science courses. In addition, girls perform as well as boys in those courses. Despite comparable performance levels, girls rarely continue studying science at college level. Lack of female progress in STEM education has been observed in STEM fields despite multiple measures taken by universities, colleges, schools, industries, and other organizations dedicated …

Improving Automaticity With Basic Addition Facts: Do Taped Problems Work Faster Than Cover, Copy, Compare?, James Cressey, Kristin Ezbicki

James Cressey

This small pilot study compared the effectiveness of two interventions to improve automaticity with basic addition facts: Taped Problems (TP) and Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC), in students aged 6-10. Automaticity was measured using Mathematics Curriculum-Based Measurement (M-CBM) at pretest, after 10 days, and after 20 days of intervention. Our hypothesis was that the TP group will gain higher levels of automaticity more quickly than the CCC and control groups. However, when gain scores were compared, no significant differences were found between groups. Limitations to the study include low treatment integrity and a short duration of intervention.

The Impact Of Analyzing Correct Versus Incorrect Student Work Samples On Students’ Mathematical Proficiency, Lauren Jeneva Moseley

Lauren Jeneva Moseley

The purpose of this study is to determine if any gains in mathematical understanding differ if calculus learners analyze correct or incorrect student work samples and to investigate students’ perceptions of the effect of analyzing student work samples on their understanding of mathematical concepts. Calculus students will be assigned to two groups: one group analyzing correct student work samples and one group analyzing incorrect student work samples. What difference, if any, exists between groups in determining correct solutions to problems similar to the work samples analyzed? What difference, if any, exists between groups in whether they replicate errors similar to …

Enhancing Precalculus Curricula With E-Learning: Implementation And Assessment, Janet Callahan, Seung Youn Chyung, Joanna Guild, William Clement, Joe Guarino, Doug Bullock, Cheryl Schrader

Janet M. Callahan

During Fall semester of 2007, a semester-long, quasi-experimental study was conducted at Boise State University to investigate the effectiveness of a systematically sequenced and managed, self-paced e-learning activity on improving students’ academic performance and motivation. A total of 125 students enrolled in 3 different sections of a Precalculus class participated in the study. The e-learning activity was implemented in 2 of the 3 sections as a required homework assignment. Students enrolled in one of the 2 selected sections were all engineering majors. The 3^rd section was a control group that did not use the e-learning activity. A pre-test, measuring …

Source Text Re-Use In Engineering Thesis And Dissertation Literature Reviews: A Comparison [Transcript], Edward J. Eckel Mr.

Edward J Eckel

Using random samples of 125 engineering master's theses and 125 doctoral dissertations from the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database, the author conducted 30 Google searches of random seven word strings from the literature review sections for each thesis/dissertation, looking for textual matches to scholarly sources. The author then did a statistical comparison for significance between the thesis and dissertation data for the following measures: length of the longest verbatim string found for each thesis/dissertation, and the number of verbatim matches found for each thesis/dissertation. This study is designed to explore the following research question: Do engineering master's theses have more …

Logo Programming (Part 1) - A Creative And Fun Way To Learn Mathematics And Problem-Solving, Abhay B. Joshi, Sandesh R. Gaikwad

Abhay B Joshi

Programming means tapping into the computerʹs immense power by talking with it directly. Through programming, children use the computerʹs terrific power to draw graphics, design animation, solve mathematical or word puzzles, and even build robots. This idea was first proposed in the famous book ʺMindstormsʺ by Seymour Papert and has subsequently been appreciated and praised by educators and parents all over the world.

Through programming, students discover that the computer is a powerful and flexible tool. Using interesting ideas embedded in programming environments, students solve problems in their favorite subjects, and also develop interest in ʺdifficultʺ subjects like Math and …

Logo Programming (Part 2) - A Creative And Fun Way To Learn Mathematics And Problem-Solving, Abhay B. Joshi, Sandesh R. Gaikwad

Abhay B Joshi

Programming means tapping into the computerʹs immense power by talking with it directly. Through programming, children use the computerʹs terrific power to draw graphics, design animation, solve mathematical or word puzzles, and even build robots. This idea was first proposed in the famous book ʺMindstormsʺ by Seymour Papert and has subsequently been appreciated and praised by educators and parents all over the world.

Through programming, students discover that the computer is a powerful and flexible tool. Using interesting ideas embedded in programming environments, students solve problems in their favorite subjects, and also develop interest in ʺdifficultʺ subjects like Math and …

Broadening The Concept Of 'Just What They Need' In Mathematics Education, Erin Wilding-Martin

Erin Wilding-Martin

Discovering And Developing Diverse Stem Talent: Enabling Academically Talented Urban Youth To Flourish, Stephanie Pace Marshall, Glenn W. "Max" Mcgee, Eric Mclaren, Catherine C. Veal

Eric McLaren

The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education, Plucker, Burroughs, and Song (2010) provided compelling evidence that "the presence of an excellence gap is demonstrated on both national and state assessments of student performance," with "economically disadvantaged, English Language Learners, and historically underprivileged minorities representing a smaller proportion of students scoring at the highest levels of achievement" (p. 28). Three "case stories" of students from IMSA illuminate some of the (a) challenges and opportunities inherent in igniting STEM talent in urban youth and ensuring their success; (b) principles for designing and creating learning experiences and environments that ignite and nurture the …

Assessing High School Gifted Student Progress In Science Through Misconceptions And Mosart, Christopher G. Kolar, Evelyn Ho-Wisniewski

Christopher G. Kolar

This paper reports how 188 high school students identified as gifted in science were assessed with the Misconceptions-Oriented Standards-Based Assessment Resource for Teachers (MOSART). Students enrolled in a year-long science-centered curriculum where this instrument appeared to be a means of identifying standards-aligned progress, avoiding ceiling effects and reliance on content mastery. This paper discusses two questions: 1. Is the MOSART a valid measure of conceptual understanding in gifted students? and 2. Can the MOSART be used with this population to measure growth in understanding? We present results from the physics and chemistry tests, and consider results from the earth science …

Introducing Nonlinear Problems To Undergraduate Engineering Students, Mulukutla S. Sarma, Karl E. Lonngren

Sarma Mulukutla

It is argued that preparing good engineers to the present day challenging industry should involve the extension of homework problems to include realistic complications of nonlinearity and extensive use of the available computing facilities. This point of view has been illustrated through a simple Faraday's law problem of an electromechanical system that exhibits nonlinear effects if the resistance of the rails is taken into account. The procedure that is employed in this paper to solve the nonlinear equation is simple enough to be introduced at an undergraduate level for the engineering students

Enhancing Student Learning Experience In Lean Manufacturing With Industry Engagement, Chad M. Laux, Shweta Chopra

Shweta Chopra

Engagement with industry professionals is important to meeting Engineering Technology curriculum goals. Bringing industry representatives (guest speakers) to engage in the classroom, involving students with professional chapters involved in Lean, student field trips and incorporation of a virtual plant tour is based upon a classroom model that incorporates industry advisory board feedback. The model for teaching an introduction to lean manufacturing course introduces students to lean thinking ideas in addition to introducing students to industry professionals as well. This provides students with an opportunity to bridge the gap between classroom education and real world experience. In this paper we are …

Excellent Adventures In Global Collaboration, Glenn W. "Max" Mcgee, Aracelys Rios

Glenn W. "Max" McGee

No abstract provided.

Discovering And Developing Diverse Stem Talent: Enabling Academically Talented Urban Youth To Flourish, Stephanie Pace Marshall, Glenn W. "Max" Mcgee, Eric Mclaren, Catherine C. Veal

Glenn W. "Max" McGee

The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education, Plucker, Burroughs, and Song (2010) provided compelling evidence that "the presence of an excellence gap is demonstrated on both national and state assessments of student performance," with "economically disadvantaged, English Language Learners, and historically underprivileged minorities representing a smaller proportion of students scoring at the highest levels of achievement" (p. 28). Three "case stories" of students from IMSA illuminate some of the (a) challenges and opportunities inherent in igniting STEM talent in urban youth and ensuring their success; (b) principles for designing and creating learning experiences and environments that ignite and nurture the …

Enhancing The Cs Curriculum With With Aspect-Oriented Software Development (Aosd) And Early Experience, Konstantin Läufer, George K. Thiruvathukal, Tzilla Elrad

Konstantin Läufer

Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) is evolving as an important step beyond existing software development approaches such as object-oriented development. An aspect is a module that captures a crosscutting concern, behavior that cuts across different units of abstraction in a software application; expressed as a module, such behavior can be enabled and disabled transparently and non-invasively, without changing the application code itself. Increasing industry demand for expertise in AOSD gives rise to the pedagogical challenge of covering this methodology and its foundations in the computer science curriculum. We present our curricular initiative to incorporate a novel course in AOSD in the …

The Extreme Software Development Series: An Open Curricular Framework For Applied Capstone Courses, Konstantin Läufer, George K. Thiruvathukal

Konstantin Läufer

We describe an open, flexible curricular framework for offering a collection of advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in software development. The courses offered within this framework are further unified by combining solid foundations with current technology and play the role of capstone courses in a modern software development track. Our initiative has been very successful with all stakeholders involved.

Specialized Science High Schools: Exploring Contributions Of The Model To Adolescent Talent Development Specialized Science, Christopher G. Kolar, Tracy L. Cross, Rena F. Subotnik, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius

Christopher G. Kolar

As the field of gifted education shifts much of its focus to domain-specific talent development, specialized science high schools are taking their place on the stage. Back in 1981,Bloom and Sosniak argued persuasively that talent development cannot take place exclusively in schools. They stressed that schools were not prepared to offer the required levels of expert teaching, time, and effort. Yet, specialized science high schools, by design, are staffed with teachers with advanced degrees, offer relatively flexible schedules, interested peers,reasonable access to appropriate technology, and connections with research institutions to provide apprenticeships for the most motivated and interested students.