Education Commons^™

Strategies To Increase Engagement In K-12 Stem Programs Among Bipoc Students Grades 3rd – 8th, Denisha C. Griffey

Dissertations

The WIRE Youth Development Programs, housed within the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI foster two enrichment programs geared towards strengthening the gap in academic knowledge through STEM/STEAM activities. Since its inception, WIRE has impacted over 1,000 youth grades 3-8 among the BIPOC population through its programs, most notably the WIRE Math and Science Summer Camp and Saturday Academy. In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many K-12 education school systems switched to remote learning. As a result of this transition, there was a decrease in access …

Using Visual Imagery To Develop Multiplication Fact Strategies, Gina Kling

Dissertations

The learning of basic facts, or the sums and products of numbers 0–10 and their related differences and quotients, has always been a high priority for elementary school teachers. While memorization of basic facts has been a hallmark of elementary school, current recommendations focus on a more nuanced development of fluency with these facts. Fluency is characterized by the ability to demonstrate flexibility, accuracy, efficiency, and appropriate strategy use. Despite recommendations to focus on strategy use, there is insufficient information on instructional approaches that are effective for developing strategies, particularly for multiplication facts. Using visual imagery with dot patterns has …

The Experiences Of Undergraduate Saudi Students In The Stem Trajectory: A Closer Look At Major Choice And Persistence Intentions, Manal Almalki

Dissertations

STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) are a key source of economic progress in many countries. As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia works toward an innovative and knowledgeable economy, more qualified national professionals in STEM are needed. Nevertheless, the problem of STEM attrition is still insufficiently explored in Saudi Arabia, which may indicate a gap between skills of the Saudi workforce and the country’s need for economic development. Therefore, this study attempts to provide more information about the STEM trajectory in Saudi Arabia, underline possible attrition points that require more attention, deliver a better understanding of the factors that …

In An Era Of Soft Skills: Investigating Teamwork Skills In The Geosciences, Samuel Cornelius Nyarko

Dissertations

Geoscience employers have increasingly called for student competency in three sets of skills – technical, field and soft skills. One major soft skill identified by employers is teamwork, which is critical in laboratory and field-based activities. At the same time, educators seek to inculcate in students a stronger focus on the development of teamwork skills as they are useful for knowledge sharing and problem solving. This interconnected value of teamwork in both the workforce and academia means students’ preparation should include learning teamwork in the geoscience. However, before educators can design strategies that help students learn critical teamwork skills, we …

Maintenance Of Cognitive Demand During Repeated Task Enactments Using A Teaching Practice That Builds On Student Thinking, Joshua M. Ruk

Dissertations

Maintaining high levels of cognitive demand during task enactments can improve student learning in classrooms. Influences such as teachers' beliefs about their students’ abilities, and the curriculum that a teacher uses can affect the factors that contribute to the maintenance of cognitive demand. My study adds to what we know about such influences by looking at how a teaching practice that builds on student thinking affects the factors that contribute to the maintenance of cognitive demand, by asking:

1. What does the maintenance of cognitive demand look like when teachers are attempting to attend to student thinking during task enactment?
2. How …

Investigating The Relationship Between Departmental Support Structures, Self-Efficacy And Intention To Persist: An Examination Of Students' Experience In 19 Physics Graduate Programs Across The United States, Diana Sachmpazidi

Dissertations

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate programs experience consistently high attrition rates. Moreover, persistent disparities exist in racial and gender representation. Women and People of Color are significantly underrepresented and have higher attrition rates than men and white and Asian American students. To date, little work is done to understand graduate student attrition or persistence. There is also a lack of information regarding the causes of demographic disparities in attrition. Most past studies in this context have focused on students' attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Moreover, student self-efficacy is a contributing factor for undergraduate student retention. Yet, there …

The Social Support Networks Of Students Who Identify As Black And Latino/A/X In Stem And Sbe Graduate Programs At Predominantly White Institutions, Kristi A. Tullis

Dissertations

Graduate students from historically underrepresented minority (URM) groups (those who identify as Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino/a/x, Native American, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders and/or Alaska Natives) encounter systemic and institutional hindrances to degree completion when enrolled in STEM doctoral programs at predominantly white institutions (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010). Support networks have been identified as an important component for retention and success for graduate students from URM groups (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Clewell, 1987; Johnson-Bailey, Valentine, Cervero, & Bowles, 2008; Joseph, 2012; Sweitzer, 2009). This study investigates the composition and structure of URM graduate students’ support networks, where their support comes from, in what capacity, …

The Impact Of The Advisor-Advisee Relationship Among Black And Latino/A/X Stem Graduate Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Tasia C. Bryson

Dissertations

An advisor is often the most central and powerful person influencing a student’s trajectory through graduate school (Barnes & Austin, 2009). This dissertation consisted of three articles that focused on the impact of the advisor-advisee relationship among Black and Latino/a/x students in STEM graduate programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) from the student perspective. Two frameworks were used to analyze data and guide the research: Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and Critical Race Theory (CRT). BFT was used to explore Black women’s experiences at Predominately White institutions as it provides an in-depth understanding of Black women’s perspectives. CRT was used when …

Are They Ready? Implementing 21st-Century Learning Skills Integration Into Indonesia Science Instruction, Esty Haryani

Dissertations

Science and technology education are essential subjects for achieving the desired workforce skills for the 21st century (Bybee & Fuchs, 2006). In 2017, Indonesia adopted the 21st century learning and innovation framework into its national curriculum to address the demand to improve students’ readiness for the complexity of the future whether for the work environment or in their personal lives. This learning and innovation skills framework focuses on the development the skills of creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration, and communication, known as the 4Cs. However, there is little knowledge on the integration of these skills into …

Female Graduate Students’ Experiences And Career Orientations In Stem: A Comparative Case Study, Jasvir K. Pannu

Dissertations

Regardless of implementation of government policies to promote STEM education and eradicate the underrepresentation of women and minorities, the number of women choosing STEM throughout their educational career remains low. In 2018 65% doctorate degrees were awarded to men and only 35% to women. Moreover, 40% of all students enrolled in doctorate programs drop out before completion. The process of socialization in graduate school and students’ non academic responsibilities play critical roles in graduate students’ success and future career orientations. Processes of socialization involve interactions with faculty, peers, and administration while taking courses and conducting dissertation research. Non academic engagements …

Student Perceptions Of Their Undergraduate Science Laboratories, Eva N. Nyutu

Dissertations

The science laboratory learning environment has been a distinctive area in science education since the 19th century. The science laboratory environment has been examined extensively at the high school level using the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI). There are, however, very few studies about the science laboratory environment done at the college level. An instrument that may be helpful for college instructors is one that assesses the degree to which students perceive the laboratory as intended by their science instructors. An examination of the literature indicated that there are no validated and reliable instruments for measuring student perceptions of what …

Teacher And Parent Perspectives On Alignment To The Next Generation Science Standards Following Teacher Professional Development, Adam C. Channell

Dissertations

Science teachers are receiving professional development (PD) since the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013. Following PD, teachers are facing several challenges while attempting to implement NGSS in their classroom, some of which include budget constraints, administrative support, and student preparedness (Banilower et al., 2013). Additionally, Channell and Cobern's (2018) study on teachers’ experiences aligning to NGSS following PD adds parent pushback to this list of challenges. This study seeks to address a set of interconnected issues related to teachers creating and administering lessons aligned to the NGSS that they have created following PD, and subsequent …

The Relationship Between Student Math Achievement And Teachers Utilizing A Process Involving Interim Instructional Assessments, Douglas B. Greer

Dissertations

According to recent national and state level assessments, only about one-third of Michigan students are proficient in secondary math. Previous studies have been inconsistent in demonstrating the impact of an interim assessment process on student achievement, especially with high school mathematics. Moreover, previous studies were not found to utilize Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) to test such a relationship, especially a three level HLM that links secondary students to a primary math teacher. Therefore, the purpose of my study was to ascertain the extent to which math teachers utilized an interim instructional assessment (IIA) process within middle and high schools, and …

The Role Of Sampling Variability In Developing K-8 Preservice Teachers’ Informal Inferential Reasoning, Omar Abu-Ghalyoun

Dissertations

Recent influential policy reports, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS-M, 2010) and Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education Report, (GAISE, 2007), have called for dramatic changes in the statistics content included in the K-8 curriculum. In particular, students in these grades are now expected to develop Informal Inferential Reasoning (IIR) as a way of preparing them for formal concepts of inferential statistics such as confidence intervals and testing hypotheses. Ben-Zvi, Gil, & Apel, (2007) describe IIR as the cognitive activities involved in informally making statistical inferences. Over this path from informal to formal inference, many important …

Impacts Of Cohort Membership On Teacher Candidates In An Alternative Certification Program, Katherine Eaton

Dissertations

Post baccalaureate teacher education programs are an effective way to increase the teaching pool with candidates who are content experts (Beijaard et al. 2004; Brantlinger, A., & Smith, B., 2013; Zeichner, K. M., & Schulte, A. K., 2001; Schultz, K., & Ravitch, S. M. 2013; Humphrey et al., 2008). Many of these programs utilize a cohort model design where students progress through the program together as a group (Maher, M. A. 2005; Jorissen, K. T., 2002; Ross et al., 2006; Mandzuk, D. et al., 2005). In his book, Deep Knowledge (2013), Larkin describes the complex nature of preparing candidates for …

A Model For Propagating Educational Innovations In Higher Stem Education: A Grounded Theory Study Of Successfully Propagated Innovations, Raina Khatri

Dissertations

A critical problem in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is the slow uptake of innovative teaching strategies and materials. Developments from the STEM education research community can be shown to improve learning and retention outcomes, but the majority of new teaching strategies go unused by instructors. This problem is increasingly acknowledged by funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, which now calls for “transferability and propagation” to be addressed throughout a project’s lifetime in the request for proposals. However, few publications synthesize what is known about propagating innovations into usable, actionable recommendations for developers in the …

Ldentifying And Characterizing Cognitive Factors Significant To Practicing And Learning Meteorology, Peggy M. Mcneal

Dissertations

To see the world as a meteorologist, one must understand and interpret atmospheric processes through representations depicted on two-dimensional weather charts and maps that encode large amounts of spatial and numerical data. This is a cognitively demanding and spatially challenging task, especially for students with burgeoning levels of meteorology knowledge, who lack the expertise of practiced meteorologists that read such charts and maps with ease. With little prior work informing meteorology and meteorology education through a cognitive science lens, this study surveys the literature and follows models of discipline-based education and cognitive science research to identify the discrete intelligence factors …

Employing Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis To Better Understand The Relationship Between Individuals’ Anthropogenic Climate Change Acceptance And Belief In Anti-Climate Change Dissenter Messages, Andrew Phillip Keller Bentley

Dissertations

Organized climate change dissention groups spend a considerable amount of time and energy developing messages designed to convince the public that anthropogenic climate change is neither a reality nor a threat. These messages work against the efforts of climate educators and can be divided into two categories; messages that provide alternative explanations for warming, or messages that attack the work of scientists studying anthropogenic climate change. There has been a lack of research regarding any correlation between individuals’ agreement with these messages and their rejection of anthropogenic climate change. Establishing a correlation would be an indication that educators should take …

Effects Of Historical Story Telling On Student Understanding Of Nos And Mendelian Genetics, Cody Tyler Williams

Dissertations

Science education researchers have long advocated the central role of the nature of science (NOS) for our understanding of scientific literacy. NOS is often interpreted narrowly to refer to a host of epistemological claims associated with the process of science and the limitations of scientific knowledge. Despite its importance, practitioners and researchers alike acknowledge that students have difficulty learning NOS and that this in part reflects how difficult it is to teach. Many teachers are uncomfortable with taking time away from traditional science content instruction. One promising method for teaching NOS and science content involves an explicit and reflective approach …

An Investigation Of Turkish Middle School Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Orientations Towards Direct And Inquiry Instructional Approaches, Selcuk Sahingoz

Dissertations

One of the most important goals of science education is preparing effective science teachers which includes the development of a science pedagogical orientation. Helping in-service science teachers improve their orientations toward science teaching begins with identifying their current orientations. While there are many aspects of an effective science teaching orientation, this study specifically focuses on effective pedagogy. The interest of this study is to clarify pedagogical orientations of middle school science teachers in Turkey toward the teaching of science conceptual knowledge. It focuses on what instructional preferences Turkish middle school science teachers have in theory and practice.

The purpose of …

Using Concept Maps To Monitor Knowledge Structure Changes In A Science Classroom, Leah J. Cook

Dissertations

The aim of this research is to determine what differences may exist in students’ structural knowledge while using a variety of concept mapping assessments. A concept map can be used as an assessment which connects concepts in a knowledge domain. A single assessment may not be powerful enough to establish how students’ new knowledge relates to prior knowledge. More research is needed to establish how various aspects of the concept mapping task influence the output of map creation by students. Using multiple concept maps and pre-instruction and postinstruction VNOS instruments during a 16-week semester, this study was designed to investigate …

Pedagogical Moves As Characteristics Of One Instructor’S Instrumental Orchestrations With Tinkerplots And The Ti-73 Explorer: A Case Study, James L. Kratky

Dissertations

Those supporting contemporary reform efforts for mathematics education in the United States have called for increased use of technologies to support student-centered learning of mathematical concepts and skills. There is a need for more research and professional development to support teachers in transitioning their instruction to better meet the goals of such reform efforts.

Instrumental approaches to conceptualizing technology use in mathematics education, arising out of the theoretical and empirical work in France and other European nations, show promise for use to frame studies on school mathematics in the United States. Instrumental genesis is used to describe the bidirectional and …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Whether Elementary Teachers’ Science Kit Usage And Beliefs Can Predict State Science Assessment Scores, Tony E. Rice

Dissertations

The purpose of this survey was to describe and analyze the perceptions of elementary school teachers’ in a Midwestern state concerning their use of a science kit program, including to what extent a school’s state science assessment scores can be predicated from the level of science kit usage.

Prior research indicates that elementary school teachers lack the confidence in teaching science primarily because of their weak undergraduate training in inquiry-based instruction and the lack of a strong science background. Authors such as Dickerson et al. (2006) and Riggs and Enochs (2006) argued that science kits and the materials included in …

Preservice Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge For Nature Of Science And Nature Of Scientific Inquiry: A Successful Case Study, Gunkut Mesci

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation project is to explore preservice science teachers’ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for targeted aspects of nature of science (NOS) and nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI). Through multiple data sources, it is examined how preservice science teachers’ understanding of NOS and NOSI have changed over the program, and manifests itself in their classroom practice. This is an exploratory multiple case study of participants’ experiences and developments during a teacher development program. Data is collected in the form of open-ended surveys, interviews, observations, lesson plans, video materials, and teaching documents. After all data is collected, …

Guided Educational Tourism As Informal Science Education: An Empirical Study, Joseph Martin Lane

Dissertations

The scientific research and education communities have long had the goal of advancing the publics’ understanding of science. Informal science education is a powerful mechanism for shaping human conduct, enhancing quality of life, and advancing the publics’ understandings and values regarding science. Guided educational tours (that present science content) provide visitors with unique opportunities to observe and discuss scientific phenomena in the field. Available empirical research related to learning science from guided educational tours is, at best, limited. Research leading to the development of effective guided educational tours that present and interpret scientific information is of interest to both non-profit …

Females In Automotive Careers: Career Decision-Making Influences And Experiences During University Preparation And Beyond, Russell A. Leonard Jr.

Dissertations

Today, women fill nearly 50% of the jobs in the U.S. economy (U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2014). While women are making progress in many careers once considered male only, they are still underrepresented in the male-dominated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers, filling only 25% of available STEM jobs (Beede et al., 2011). The problem is not a lack of interest in STEM subjects, but a “leaky pipeline” that develops early in adolescence. By the eighth grade, half as many girls are interested in STEM careers as boys (National Science Foundation [NSF], 2007). Even after graduation from college, women …

Assessing The Impact Of Historical Story Telling On Student Learning Of Natural Selection, Janice Marie Fulford

Dissertations

Research suggests that because of its historical nature, the learning of evolutionary biology is problematic compared to that of other science disciplines. While explanations used in historical sciences often employ historical narratives, which are distinct from narratives in other contexts, such as stories, the two types of narratives have structural similarities that suggest the potential role of stories based in the history of science for the teaching of evolutionary biology. Stephen Klassen, a prominent science educator, has studied how stories from the history of physics can promote the learning of and attitudes towards science. Klassen’s pioneering work identifies structural components …

A Study Of Conceptual And Language Issues Surrounding Weight, Weightlessness, And Free Fall: Textbook Analysis, Instructional Design, And Assessment, Rex Taibu

Dissertations

Science education is an interdisciplinary field that has developed from and continues to rely on research in the fields of cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, sociology and history. This clearly reflects that learning and teaching can be studied from multiple perspectives. Despite these wide ranging roots, contemporary science education by and large is not informed by the work of research on linguistics, and in particular, the role of language in mediating conceptual understanding. The term “weight” has multiple meanings in both science and everyday language, and this unfortunately creates inherent difficulties for teaching and learning. The present study addresses a need …

Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes And Beliefs Toward Statistics: Developing An Initial Profile, Christina M. Zumbrun

Dissertations

Over the last several decades, mathematics education researchers have given increased attention to students’ and teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward mathematics and statistics, but no work has been done that examines practicing secondary mathematics teachers’ (SMTs’) attitudes and beliefs towards statistics in light of the GAISE framework and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). This study begins to address this gap in the research by creating the Teacher Attitude and Beliefs toward Statistics Survey (TABSS), a synthesis of items taken from the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (Schau, 2003), the Statistics Course Attitude Scale and newly developed items …

Uganda Science Teacher Educator: A Concurrent Mixed Methods Investigation Of Nature Of Science, Pedagogy And Classroom Learning Environment Perspectives, Robert Elisha Musookho Kagumba

Dissertations

This study investigates the perspectives of Uganda science teacher educators on three areas foundational to science education reforms: Nature of science, preferred science pedagogy and classroom learning environment. Uganda has embraced science education reforms but classroom science teachers struggle to implement them. Could these struggles be attributed to their science teacher educators’ perspectives? Using a concurrent mixed method design, the study profiles the views of 63 science teacher educators in Uganda.

Data were collected using four instruments: Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry, Pedagogy of Science Teaching Test, Views of Nature of Science survey and Constructivist Classroom Learning Environment …