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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Education
Strongly And Weakly Directed Approaches To Teaching Multiple Representation Use In Physics, Patrick B. Kohl, David Rosengrant, Noah D. Finkelstein
Strongly And Weakly Directed Approaches To Teaching Multiple Representation Use In Physics, Patrick B. Kohl, David Rosengrant, Noah D. Finkelstein
David Rosengrant
Good use of multiple representations is considered key to learning physics, and so there is considerable motivation both to learn how students use multiple representations when solving problems and to learn how best to teach problem solving using multiple representations. In this study of two large-lecture algebra-based physics courses at the University of Colorado (CU) and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, we address both issues. Students in each of the two courses solved five common electrostatics problems of varying difficulty, and we examine their solutions to clarify the relationship between multiple representation use and performance on problems involving …
Fostering Preservice Teachers' "Nature Of Science" Understandings In A Physics Course, Ehsan Kattoula, Geeta Verma, Lisa Martin-Hansen
Fostering Preservice Teachers' "Nature Of Science" Understandings In A Physics Course, Ehsan Kattoula, Geeta Verma, Lisa Martin-Hansen
Geeta Verma
In this paper, the authors examine an algebra-based physics course designed for preservice teachers and explore how the course integrated two pedagogical strategies to bridge the gap between inquiry-learning experiences and the teachers' nature of science (NOS) understandings. The results of this research show that the explicit, reflective process allowed participants to examine their NOS understandings, which thereby fostered changes in their understanding.
Shark Teeth Classification, Tom Brown, Sally Creel, Velda Lee
Shark Teeth Classification, Tom Brown, Sally Creel, Velda Lee
Faculty and Research Publications
On a recent autumn afternoon at Harmony Leland Elementary in Mableton, Georgia, students in a fifth-grade science class investigated the essential process of classification--the act of putting things into groups according to some common characteristics or attributes. While they may have honed these skills earlier in the week by grouping their own shoes or school supplies, this class provided the unique opportunity to classify objects that are inherently fascinating to students--shark teeth fossils! This article describes how by using the teeth to estimate the length of ancient sharks, students got a classification activity they could really sink their teeth into.
How "Bright" Is It To Use Cfls? A Look At The Controversy, Roxanne Greitz Miller
How "Bright" Is It To Use Cfls? A Look At The Controversy, Roxanne Greitz Miller
Education Faculty Articles and Research
Commonly referred to as CFLs, compact fluorescent light bulbs are rapidly replacing traditional incandescent light bulbs for residential use. However, controversy and even comic parody have arisen surrounding CFL use. CFLs contain small amounts of mercury, and several public forums and news agencies have been announcing that the breakage of a CFL in one's home may result in exposure to dangerously high mercury levels that can cause serious physical side effects. The purpose of this article is to introduce the basics of how incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs work, explain why the switch to CFLs is being promoted, and …
Strongly And Weakly Directed Approaches To Teaching Multiple Representation Use In Physics, Patrick B. Kohl, David Rosengrant, Noah D. Finkelstein
Strongly And Weakly Directed Approaches To Teaching Multiple Representation Use In Physics, Patrick B. Kohl, David Rosengrant, Noah D. Finkelstein
Faculty and Research Publications
Good use of multiple representations is considered key to learning physics, and so there is considerable motivation both to learn how students use multiple representations when solving problems and to learn how best to teach problem solving using multiple representations. In this study of two large-lecture algebra-based physics courses at the University of Colorado (CU) and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, we address both issues. Students in each of the two courses solved five common electrostatics problems of varying difficulty, and we examine their solutions to clarify the relationship between multiple representation use and performance on problems involving …
Are You What You Eat? An Inside Look At High-Tech Food, Roxanne Greitz Miller
Are You What You Eat? An Inside Look At High-Tech Food, Roxanne Greitz Miller
Education Faculty Articles and Research
If we abide by the familiar saying "you are what you eat," it is understandable that people may be concerned with the incredible advances in food science technology and their possible impacts on human health. For example, in recent years high-tech scientific processes such as genetic modification, irradiation, and cloning have all been used to increase the safety of food supply, create foods that are more appealing to eat and easier to produce, and increase crop yields. This article will summarize a few hot topics in food science, address what is currently known about the safety of these processes, and …
The Esa21 Project: A Model For Civic Engagement, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
The Esa21 Project: A Model For Civic Engagement, John Pratte, Matthew Laposata
Faculty and Research Publications
There have been many systematic approaches to solving the problem of how to make science courses interesting to students. One that is currently receiving attention in the sciences is the use of civic engagement within the classroom. This approach works well in small enrollment courses, but it is logistically difficult to implement in large enrollment courses. Large enrollment classes lend themselves more naturally to other civic engagement approaches, such as special topics courses with individual or group research projects. The authors choose to meld the two approaches, thus creating a collection of activity modules for environmental science courses that use …
How To Find Students’ Inner Geek, Marc Zimmer
How To Find Students’ Inner Geek, Marc Zimmer
Chemistry Faculty Publications
As a chemistry professor at a liberal-arts college, the author believes it is his job to find the youthful awe in his students and draw it out so that they will be intrigued once again by science and nature, so that they want to learn about equilibria, pH, and redox reactions. He has to go fishing inside their brains, to find, hook, and reel in their scientific spirit. Most of the students he teaches have not yet deeply suppressed their inner science geek. He can hook almost all of them if he uses the lures available to professors everywhere: enthusiasm, …
Making Thinking Visible: A Method To Encourage Science Writing In Upper Elementary Grades, Roxanne Greitz Miller, Robert C. Calfee
Making Thinking Visible: A Method To Encourage Science Writing In Upper Elementary Grades, Roxanne Greitz Miller, Robert C. Calfee
Education Faculty Articles and Research
In order to make a dramatic change in the way teachers approach science writing, the authors found it necessary to address both science instruction as a whole and the use of writing during various stages. To guide them in this endeavor and communicate a concrete idea of an ideal foundation for highly effective science writing to teachers, the authors turned to the CORE Model of Instruction. The CORE Model on instruction, which was originally developed as a representation of the manner in which reading and writing can be linked and reinforcing to each other, is described in this article. The …
Making Science Teams Work, Roxanne Greitz Miller
Making Science Teams Work, Roxanne Greitz Miller
Education Faculty Articles and Research
Science teachers, likely have more experience with students working together than teachers in any other subject area due to teaming students for hands-on activities. While the importance of teamwork is emphasized in the National Science Education Standards, getting teams to actually work-meaning getting students to share equally in the academic assignments and to interact in a positive and productive manner-often eludes even the best of teachers. It has been the author's experience as a middle level science teacher that effective teaming requires careful planning, clear communication with students and parents, relevant motivational strategies, and arranging the classroom and activities to …
A Study Of The Impact Of A Long-Term Local Systemic Reform On The Perceptions, Attitudes, And Achievement Of Grade 3/4 Students., James Shymansky, Larry Yore, John Anderson
A Study Of The Impact Of A Long-Term Local Systemic Reform On The Perceptions, Attitudes, And Achievement Of Grade 3/4 Students., James Shymansky, Larry Yore, John Anderson
Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works
This study reports on the effects of a major reform initiative which was implemented in the Iowa City Community Schools District. The Science: Parents, Activities, and Literature (Science PALs) Project was launched in 1994 to reform the district's elementary science program. It was designed to increase teacher effectiveness by providing a comprehensive professional development program for improving science content knowledge and science content-pedagogical knowledge, to enrich the cross-curricular connections of the science units, and to promote meaningful parental involvement in science learning. Another goal of Science PALs was to move teachers towards an interactive-constructive model of teaching and learning that …
Valuing Science Content: Science Is A Basic Skill For Everyone, James Shymansky, D. Wayne Green
Valuing Science Content: Science Is A Basic Skill For Everyone, James Shymansky, D. Wayne Green
Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works
The intent of this yearbook is to provide a positive posture for nurturing desirable changes in the status of science teaching. It is written for elementary school teachers and all who are involved or concerned with curriculum and instruction in the elementary school. The yearbook provides the basis for continued professional growth of teachers by stressing ways to logically and realistically infuse science and science-related instructions into schools and to assure that science will remain valued as new patterns of schooling evolve. As a means of promoting science relevancy and literacy, interfaces between science teaching and other areas of human …