Education Commons^™

Art, Math, And Physics; All About For, Chris Brownell, Steve Pauls

The STEAM Journal

Anish Kapoor’s public sculpture “Cloud Gate” and Frame of Reference.

Macromolecules And Monologues: How Science And Arts Classes Motivate Students For College, Alejandra Acosta

The STEAM Journal

This study investigates how science and performing arts classes motivate high school students, particularly students of color, to pursue higher education. The changes in funding and perceived importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) vs. Visual Performing Arts (VPA) classes and programs, as well as the underrepresentation of students of color in these areas, make this topic important. Existing literature independently examines the positive effects of science and arts classes on student success but fails to compare the benefits of these programs and to include the student voice. Through the use of participant observation, questionnaires, and interviews, this study …

Encouraging Teachers To W.A.I.T Before Engaging Students In Next Generation Science Standards Steam Activities., Mason Kuhn

The STEAM Journal

Effective art integration in K-12 curricula has clear benefits for classroom teachers (i.e. student achievement on standardized tests, student engagement, improving critical thinking). This paper proposes a framework based off of Claudia Cornett's levels of art integration. Teaching With About and In Through (WAIT) the arts can serve as a model for teachers who want to transform their science lesson to include art integration.

Reframing Steam Pd, Tiffiny Jackson

The STEAM Journal

The reflection addresses the important changes in approach to professional learning experiences in STEAM.

Engaging Many Minds: Nurturing Collaboration In A Steam Context, Mark Dzula

The STEAM Journal

This field note describes a recent interdisciplinary project facilitated by Jeremy Gercke, an art teacher at the Bishop's School in La Jolla, California. The project creates ceramic tile markers for flora around the Bishop's School campus. The markers feature QR codes linking to websites populated with student content, including: drawings, information, and oral histories. In this project, Mr. Gercke synthesizes his interests as an artist; maximizes his social connections to mentors, peers and students; and bridges disciplines to create opportunities for interdisciplinary (STEAM) inquiry.

Ecoscience + Art Initiative: Designing A New Paradigm For College Education, Scholarship, And Service, Changwoo Ahn

The STEAM Journal

The paper presents a new initiative, EcoScience + Art, which blooms at George Mason University. The creator explains the background, history, and recent activities of the initiative, and also introduces an on-going special project called “The Rain Project”, a student participatory project to design, construct, and monitor a green infrastructure (i.e., floating wetland) for sustainable stormwater management on campus. The special project is geared to design and present a new paradigm to integrate college education, scholarship, and service. The relevance of the initiative and the special project to STEAM education is discussed.

Putting The Team In Steam: The Art Of Robot Making, Teresa Walker, David Thompson

The STEAM Journal

What began as a life partnership has evolved into an early learning STEAM team. Artist, David Thompson, uses science, technology, engineering and math, on a daily basis, to create robots and much more. Teresa Day Walker is an assistant professor of early childhood education. Through necessity they discovered their combined talents could be used to promote STEAM in early childhood. David and Teri teamed up to provide a nearly impromptu robot making demonstration for 100 kindergarten students. After reading their co-authored book, Robot Hide and Seek, both, clay based and 3-D modeled images were used to generate interest and …

What’S Wrong With Interpretive Dance? Embracing The Promise Of Integrating The Arts Into Stem Learning, Ruth D. Catchen, Carolyn Decristofano

The STEAM Journal

Curriculum developers Ruth Catchen and Carolyn DeCristofano explore the benefit and protocol to integrate the arts into STEM.

Designing For Immersive Technology: Integrating Art And Stem Learning, Jane Crayton, Vanessa Svihla

The STEAM Journal

Students struggle to learn science, technology, engineering and mathematics concepts. The arts have been proposed as a means to engage students in STEM education, resulting in the idea of STEAM. This study investigates how two students in a six-week summer program solved technological and design production problems to create public service announcements for the immersive fulldome on the topic of water conservation. Qualitative data were collected, including interviews, observations, artifacts of student work and reflections. Qualitative analysis focused on integration of STEM content and practices with the arts. The study contributes to what is known about how people learn when …

Beer And Brewing In German Culture: Bridging The Gaps Within Steam, John D. Sundquist

The STEAM Journal

A university-level course on science, history, and culture of beer and brewing offers students from a wide range of disciplines a unique opportunity to learn from each other. They gain an appreciation for STEAM and the interaction of a number of disciplines while examining a subject of growing interest. This paper provides a brief description of such a course and includes specific examples of ways in which students explore science, engineering, humanities and the arts, as these areas of research come together in the study of beer and brewing.

Pigs Feet, Jesse W. Standlea

The STEAM Journal

My sculpture “Pigs Feet” has literal foundations upon casts of live pig’s feet. I locally sourced the pig’s feet before casting them. My sculpture makes use of a once cutting edge casting technology, alginate. Alginate molds were once the standard in dentistry. Alginate is an appealing casting material as it is refined from brown seaweeds, is both food and skin safe, it is suitable for educators, for artists and engineers alike.

From Stem To Steam: Reframing What It Means To Learn, Nicole M. Radziwill, Morgan C. Benton, Cassidy Moellers

The STEAM Journal

Although involvement in art and design have been shown to play an essential role in catalyzing STEM research, true integration is still an area of active research. The realization of STEM education via STEAM lends itself to interactive and participatory dialogic art; this juncture provides a nonjudgmental space to cultivate the question-making aspect of inquiry, the ability to comfortably hold uncertainty, and a sensitivity to the process of discovery. Even though STEM education can (and often is) inquiry-based, assessments still tend to focus on whether knowledge or skills have been obtained, and this is no different than the current general …

Guidelines For Good Mathematical Writing, Francis Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Communicating mathematics well is an important part of doing mathematics. Many of us know from writing papers or giving talks that communicating effectively not only serves our audience but also clarifies and structures our own thinking. There is an art and elegance to good writing that every writer should strive for. And writing, as a work of art, can bring a person great personal satisfaction.

Within the MAA, we value exposition and mathematical communication. In this column, I’m sharing the advice I give my students to help them write well. There are more extensive treatments (e.g., see Paul Halmos’s How …

Extended Book Review: Really Big Numbers, By Richard Evan Schwartz; The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life Of Paul Erdös, By Deborah Heiligman; The Short Seller, By Elissa Brent Weissman, Gizem Karaali

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

The genre of math lit for children is not huge, but it is growing. My kid loves the early reader books by my friend and colleague Julie Glass (A Dollar for Penny (1998), The Fly On the Ceiling (2000)). I found Izolda Fotiyeva’s Math with Mom (2003) too late for my daughter but will definitely read it with my son. For a neat twist on the traditional alphabet book, I recommend The Technical Alphabet (2014) by the engineer sisters Lavanya and Melissa Jawaharlal. More recently a colleague introduced me to Laura Overdeck’s Bedtime Math series; these will soon join …

Mathematical Writing: What Is It And How Do We Teach It?, Byung-In Seo

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommends that students be able to communicate mathematics, using correct and appropriate language, by eighth grade [8]. Mathematics teachers at all levels agree that they have the responsibility to teach their students content-specific writing, but many feel that they don’t have the tools to do this work. This article offers a foundation and methodologies for different writing assignments that can be used in mathematics classes.

Reflections On Math Students’ Circles: Two Personal Stories From Colorado, Diana White, Lori Ziegelmeier

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Math Students’ Circles provide an opportunity for mathematicians to work in their communities to engage young students in mathematics as a human, aesthetic, and social endeavor. Sometimes referred to simply as Math Circles, these venues give mathematicians experience in introducing children to topics not typically seen in school curricula in an exciting, hands-on format. This article explores two Math Students’ Circles (MSCs) in the state of Colorado from the point of view of two pre-tenure faculty members. One participated in MSCs for four years while working on her Ph.D. in mathematics, the other started an MSC as an offshoot of …

On Similarities And Differences Between Proving And Problem Solving, Milos Savic

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A link between proving and problem solving has been established in the literature [5, 21]. In this paper, I discuss similarities and differences between proving and problem solving using the Multidimensional Problem-Solving Framework created by Carlson and Bloom [2] with Livescribepen data from a previous study [13]. I focus on two participants’ proving processes: Dr. G, a topologist, and L, a mathematics graduate student. Many similarities between the framework and the proving processes of Dr. G and L were revealed, but there were also some differences. In addition, there were some distinct differences between the proving actions of the …

Attitudes And Experiences In Liberal Arts Mathematics, Jennifer Clinkenbeard

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

For many university students, the last formal experience in a mathematics classroom is a single semester “general education” mathematics class. Traditionally, students in this type of class often hold negative attitudes towards mathematics. Here I study a sample of students from this population (49 students at a large, urban, comprehensive public university enrolled in a “math for liberal arts majors” course) to research whether a positive experience in a freshman-level general education mathematics course correlates with a positive change in the students’ attitude towards mathematics in general. I also explore which specific aspects of such a course contribute most to …

E-Brock Bugs©: An Epistemic Mathematics Computer Game, Laura Broley, Chantal Buteau, Eric Muller

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Devlin in [7] argues that video games are an ideal medium for the teaching and learning of mathematics, though he points out that very few ’good’ mathematics video games exist. Building on a probabilistic board game developed in the 1980s, we created a mathematics computer game, E-Brock Bugs. The design of the game carefully follows Devlin’s principles of a good mathematics video game, including a well-developed storyline, the selection of an in-game avatar, and an environment where mathematics arises in a natural and meaningful way. As a result, we argue that E-Brock Bugs is an epistemic computer game [1]; …

To The Mathematical Beach, Francis Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

What context am I missing that hinders my connection with my students? How often do I take the time to get to know their backgrounds? What are the primary experiences that shaped them, and do those present obstacles or opportunities for learning? And in what ways does the mathematical beach say “open to all” but still feel restricted?

These questions appear unrelated to mathematics, but if we ignore their effects, some of our students will not flourish.

Summer Cleaning: (Digital) Organizing Basics For Mathematicians, Gizem Karaali

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

At the beginning of last summer I wrote about a neat trick to make your summer a productive one. And I heard from some of you who took me up on this suggestion; it seems that this actually works for many people! So, this year, for those who are willing to experiment with new ideas, I have another summer recommendation: Let us clean!

On Mathematics And Culture: Insights From An International School, M. Sencer Corlu, Burcu Alapala

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

We explore the factors that influence the relationship between mathematics and culture in the international school context. First, we share some thoughts about international schools in general and the international mathematics curriculum implemented at the middle grades level at our school in particular. Second, we present some interesting snapshots from our culturally-diverse mathematics classrooms.

How Can Mathematics Students Learn To Play?, Christopher K. Storm, Holly Zullo

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

When we teach mathematics, we strive to teach students to think like mathematicians. In this paper we discuss one particular mathematical habit of mind that students do not naturally display. More specifically our study of voting patterns in data collected from classroom voting questions indicates that the undergraduate students who were in the classes using these questions did not understand the significance of counterexamples to statements, or lacked the ability to construct them, or both. Searching for counterexamples to disprove statements is a natural habit of mind for professional mathematicians. In this paper we give examples, and make some recommendations. …

The Case Of The Missing Speedometer: The First Day Of Calculus, Marion D. Cohen

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This article describes the way I've been teaching the first day of Calc I, my single-variable Calculus class. By the end of the hour students have (A) dictated difference quotients for me to write on the board, (B) dictated one example of the limit of difference-quotients definition of derivative of a function at a point, and (C) calculated a few derivatives. The more rigorous definitions of function, of operations on functions, and of limits can wait until later. This approach has been very successful, and students have said they "get it this time around."

Recreational Mathematics – Only For Fun?, Lovisa Sumpter

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper, I explore recreational mathematics from two perspectives. I first study how the concept appears in educational policy documents such as standards, syllabi, and curricula from a selection of countries to see if and in what way recreational mathematics can play a part in school mathematics. I find that recreational mathematics can be a central part, as in the case of India, but also completely invisible, as in the standards from USA. In the second part of the report, I take an educational historical approach. I observe that throughout history, recreational mathematics has been an important tool for …

Improving Project Success In An Online Mathematics Course, David Shoenthal

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

With more mathematics courses migrating to online environments, it is important to know whether these courses are comparable to their face-to-face counterparts. To that end, in two different years, I taught an online and a face-to-face section of the same finite mathematics course. After analyzing the data regarding differences in the two sections for the first year, I incorporated changes intended to improve the consistency of project success between the two sections as well as the overall success of the class projects in the online section. My main tool was mimicking the interaction of group members and providing immediate instructor …

On The Persistence And Attrition Of Women In Mathematics, Katrina Piatek-Jimenez

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivates women to choose mathematics as an undergraduate major and to further explore what shapes their future career goals, paying particular attention to their undergraduate experiences and their perceptions of the role of gender in these decisions. A series of semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with twelve undergraduate women mathematics majors who were attending either a large public university or a small liberal arts college. This study found that strong mathematical identities and enjoyment of mathematics heavily influenced their decisions to major in mathematics. At the career selection stage, these women …

Theatre As Education: Creating And Performing A Play With Elementary School Students, Sarah C. Lopez

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper is an exploration of the concept of theatre as education and what I learned about teaching, transformation, and failure through my thesis project. In order to explore these ideas, I reflect on my experience creating and performing a short play with a group of eight 2^nd and 3^rd grade students over the span of nine weeks. I pinpoint the parts of the process that worked well and discuss how these techniques and activities could be used to enhance curriculum and learning in the classroom. I also discuss which parts of the process failed and what I …

Increasing The High School Graduation Rate Of Native American Students In Public Schools, Sierra M. Gibson

CMC Senior Theses

Native American students obtain the lowest on-time high school graduation rate among all races and ethnicities in the United States. Through an analysis of previously published literature and seven interviews conducted by the author, this paper sets out to identify the key barriers Native students face when working toward their high school diploma. This paper will argue that, together, a history of abusive educational tactics and an institutionally racist policies and practices adopted by the U.S. Department of Education have made it challenging for Native students to complete high school on time.

What's In A Name? Effects Of The "Mentally Ill" Label On Autonomy, Miriam E. Cruz

CMC Senior Theses

Over the past years, mental health has attracted increased attention throughout the world, in the form of initiatives, programs, support groups, etc. all with goals to increase awareness and support of mental health. The stark discrepancy between the vision driving this mental health movement and our reality comes from a basic misunderstanding. While there are both legislative and cultural efforts in place to reform our mental health system, the two must work hand in hand in order to affect substantial change. Rather than producing a collaborative effort, our legislators and society tend to ignore each other, resulting in isolated attempts …