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Full-Text Articles in Education

Female Students’ Academic Engagement And Achievement In Science And Engineering: Exploring The Influence Of Gender Grouping In Small Group Work In Design-Based Learning Contexts In High School Biology, Miancheng Guo Oct 2018

Female Students’ Academic Engagement And Achievement In Science And Engineering: Exploring The Influence Of Gender Grouping In Small Group Work In Design-Based Learning Contexts In High School Biology, Miancheng Guo

Doctoral Dissertations

In the past 30 years, although much effort has been made to narrow the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), females are still largely underrepresented in some important STEM fields, such as physics and engineering (NSF, 2007). To deal with this situation, people from different sectors have long reached a common understanding: Educators must improve school girls’ interest, participation and engagement in STEM subjects (e.g., Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2013). In the K-12 classroom, small group work has been shown to promote an equitable environment for girls’ learning in science and have a positive impact …


Stem Pipeline For Students With Disabilities: From High School To Intentions To Major In Stem, Joshua Bittinger Jul 2018

Stem Pipeline For Students With Disabilities: From High School To Intentions To Major In Stem, Joshua Bittinger

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) major declaration intentions of students with disabilities as they graduated high school and entered college. I used data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) because data collection began in high school and followed students into college, facilitating research focusing on access. Before investigating major declaration intentions, I critiqued the definition and measurement of disability in the HSLS:09, drawing from survey research methods literature. The two subsequent analyses focused on psychological and structural components, respectively. My focus on psychological components drew from Eccles and colleagues’ (1983) expectancy-value framework. …


The Role Of Prior Knowledge, Situational Interest, And Case Study Pedagogy In The Undergraduate Biology Classroom., Ally Hunter Jul 2018

The Role Of Prior Knowledge, Situational Interest, And Case Study Pedagogy In The Undergraduate Biology Classroom., Ally Hunter

Doctoral Dissertations

In the undergraduate science classroom, case study pedagogy is method that uses stories with dilemmas and/or questions to convey scientific content. Case study pedagogy shows promise as an active learning pedagogy to meet the demands of 21st century biology education initiatives; however, there is a dearth of information on how students learn with case studies in the undergraduate biology classroom. The purpose of this study was to investigate variables that impact learning with case studies (prior content and contextual knowledge, situational interest, and pedagogical strategies) and the relationships between those variables to further understand how students learn with case studies …


Motivation And Gender Dynamics In High School Science: The Effect Of Gender Composition On Motivation In Small Group Inquiry And Engineering Tasks, Julie Robinson Mar 2018

Motivation And Gender Dynamics In High School Science: The Effect Of Gender Composition On Motivation In Small Group Inquiry And Engineering Tasks, Julie Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations

While current research shows that the gender gap in science achievement has disappeared (Miller, Blessing, & Schwartz, 2006), girls continue to show declining levels of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) engagement in school. Literature shows that various societal and educational factors impact girls’ STEM motivation disproportionately to boys (Bennett & Hogarth, 2009; Breakwell & Robertson, 2001; Brotman & Moore, 2008; Campbell & Clewell, 1999; Cokadar & Kulce, 2008; Huebner, 2009; Jovanovic & King, 1998; Lee, 1998; Miller, Blessing, & Schwartz, 2006; Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003; Solomon, 1997). The onset of this phenomenon occurs in the middle school years …


Multiple Representations Of The Fundamental Theorem Of Calculus As Enacted In The Curriculum, Sense-Making And Gender, Ileana Vasu Mar 2018

Multiple Representations Of The Fundamental Theorem Of Calculus As Enacted In The Curriculum, Sense-Making And Gender, Ileana Vasu

Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple representations of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC) are deemed essential to creating mathematical habits of mind, but not all classroom instruction includes them. This study articulates the relationship between college students’ experience with multiple representations of the FTC, gained through the enacted curriculum, and their use of multiple representations when problem solving or discussing the FTC. It suggests that students’ use of multiple representations directly relates to their curricular experience, which outweighs a student’s own inclination towards any particular representation. It further suggests that the relationship between classroom experience with a particular representation of the FTC, and its …


Engagement And Positive Psychology For Stem Learning And Beyond, Mark Tuominen, Lori Tuominen Jan 2018

Engagement And Positive Psychology For Stem Learning And Beyond, Mark Tuominen, Lori Tuominen

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Positive psychology is the study of how people flourish. A considerable amount of recent scientific research is now showing how the basic tenets of positive psychology used in schools can boost engagement, learning and wellbeing for students and teachers. These principles apply to any type of learning, including STEM courses. The concepts and practices of positive psychology effectively serve as affective multipliers, enhancing learning success and personal wellbeing. This seminar will introduce a sampler plate of ideas and activities from their course for first-year UMass students, entitled “Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness, Creativity, and Accomplishment.”


18 Years Of Science And Engineer Saturday Seminars, Chris Emery, Morton Sternheim Jan 2018

18 Years Of Science And Engineer Saturday Seminars, Chris Emery, Morton Sternheim

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

The Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars (SESS) are in their eighteenth year of presenting engaging science and engineering half day seminars to STEM teachers. Offered for five Saturdays once or twice a year, there have been 140 sessions altogether. The average attendance is 30 or so middle and high school teachers. Each teaches about 100 students, so the potential impact is impressive.


Seminar Descriptions, Morton Sternheim Jan 2018

Seminar Descriptions, Morton Sternheim

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

No abstract provided.