Education Commons^™

Introduction To Series And Parallel Circuits, Craig E. Shepherd, Shannon M. Smith

Library Faculty Publications and Presentations

This lesson begins with an introduction on electricity and how it is formed at the molecular level. It then lets learners explore and define a circuit. This introduction is followed by an exploration where learners develop series and parallel circuits using LED lights and motors. Learners then consider what constitutes a series and parallel circuit, open and closed circuit, and a short circuit. The lesson concludes by having learners consider advantages, limitations, and instructional uses of various electronics kits (e.g., Snap Circuits, littleBits, LilyPad, paper circuits, conductive dough) based on their ability to display circuit paths.

College Majors And Unemployment Rates, Anna M. Gellerman, Harshita Ahuja

Publications and Research

College undergraduates often face the question of whether their major and related job force have high unemployment rates. The perceived high unemployment rates of certain majors due to circulating misinformation presents a need for comprehensive research on college majors and their associated unemployment rate. This paper dives into a ten year trend of unemployment rates by college major, and state to state variabilities of majors and their rates.

Parental Opinions And Perceptions Regarding Informal Stem Education, Christine L. Moskalik

Publications & Research

The purpose of this research was 1) to develop a new instrument to explore factors parents value regarding informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment experiences for their children in Illinois, and 2) to adapt and use an existing instrument to assess the degree to which parental perceptions of their child’s STEM attitudes and beliefs align with the child’s actual STEM attitudes and beliefs. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was implemented over two parts. During Part I, a new survey was developed to quantitatively measure the degree to which certain factors are valued by parents when considering STEM enrichment …

Thinkmed: Providing An Environment For Disadvantaged Students To Explore Stem, Steven Trinh, Lauren Dudley, Peter Chang

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

ThinkMED is a nonprofit initiative offering a four-week curriculum specifically designed to develop critical thinking and encourage evidence-based decision making. Each week’s content material revolves around the use of a ThinkMED Science Kit containing a wet lab experiment designed to supplement the content curriculum. Each experiment is formulated to be inclusive of all California Next Generation Science Standards K through 5. Contained within each week’s ThinkMED Science Kit is a unique QR code that directs the student to an interactive simulation of the experiment created by our team of computer scientists and graphic designers. At the end of each week, …

Rural Teachers' Cultural And Epistemic Shifts In Stem Teaching And Learning, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Kristin A. Searle, Andrea Hawkman, Beth L. Macdonald, Mario I. Suárez

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the ways in which integrated curriculum can improve STEM teaching and learning within rural spaces. Using a design-based research approach, this study focuses on rural teachers' experiences of professional learning and development training as they learn to engage computing and maker technologies in their elementary classrooms as tools for teaching students about difficult histories of immigration, migration, and forced relocation across the United States.

Difference In Reading Fluency Among Fifth Grade Students Attending Traditional, Stem-Related, Or Dli Programs During Soft School Closures, Patricia Daun Blanton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to raise awareness of the effects of soft school closures on student reading fluency in traditional, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-related, or Dual Language Immersion (DLI) schools. There is little research on which type of school, whether traditional, (STEM)-related, or (DLI) program is the most effective at helping students retain or improve upon their reading fluency once those students have been in an extended soft school closure. The study used Acadience reading fluency scores from the students' fourth grade mid-year scores as the covariate and their fifth grade mid-year scores as …

Increasing Gender Balance Across Academic Staffing In Computer Science - Case Study, Susan Mckeever, Deirdre Lillis

Articles

As at 2019, Technological University Dublin* Computer Science is the top university in Ireland in terms of gender balance of female academic staff in computer science schools. In an academic team of approximately 55 full-time equivalents, 36% of our academic staff are female, 50% of our senior academic leadership team (2 of 4) are female and 75% of our School Executive are female (3 of 4), including a female Head of School. This is as a result of our seven year SUCCESS programme which had a four strand approach: Source, Career, Environment and Support. The Source strand explicitly encouraged females …

Stem Club, Marissa Kraus, Ty Michael Fleshman

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

No abstract provided.

Up And Atom, Emily Plotnik, Elizabeth Struwe

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

"Up and Atom" is a hands-on and creative afterschool club geared towards fourth and fifth graders. Through conducting a variety of science experiments, the goal of this club is to inspire a creative and immersive perspective of the sciences for the younger generation.

Community Roles For Supporting Emerging Education Researchers, Christopher A. F. Hass, Emilie Hancock, Samantha Wilson, Shams El-Adawy, Eleanor C. Sayre

Mathematics Faculty Scholarship

DBER attracts many faculty from other STEM disciplines, and these faculty have little or no specific training in DBER. DBER requires a mastery of quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methodologies, and also a nuanced understanding of breadth of topic, research questions, and theoretical frameworks. This interdisciplinarity is particularly challenging for emerging DBER researchers who often switch into DBER with only discipline specific content and research training. As part of a large study about how STEM faculty become involved with DBER, we interviewed a number of emerging DBER faculty about their pathways into DBER. We conducted a thematic analysis of these interviews …

A Case Study Of Teachers Of Elementary Gifted Students And Their Perceptions Of Best Practices For Teaching Visual Spatial Activities In The Classroom, Sandra J. Young

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Elementary gifted students with spatial strengths are often overlooked, under identified, and underserved in elementary school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify how visual spatial training can be implemented in the elementary gifted curricula and how the teachers of the gifted program can be supported in their efforts to develop visual spatial activities for the elementary gifted classroom in a large, urban school district in South Carolina. There are approximately 35 teachers of the district’s elementary gifted program. This program services those students in grades 3, 4, and 5 who qualified based on state-mandated criteria. The …

Addressing Student Engagement During Covid-19: Secondary Stem Teachers Attend To The Affective Dimension Of Learner Needs, Tiffany Roman, Laurie Brantley-Dias, Michael Dias, Belinda Edwards

Faculty and Research Publications

This case study examines how a cohort of eleven induction secondary STEM teachers engaged learners during the onset of COVID-19 and their designs for student engagement given an online or blended teaching context in fall 2020. Participants attended a summer professional development workshop guided by trauma-informed teaching practices and learner engagement conceptual frameworks. Through the analysis of teacher artifacts and interviews, we identified dimensions of student engagement that teachers prioritized. Results indicate a marked increase in teachers’ attention to affective and social dimensions of learner engagement. We argue that teacher awareness and action in the affective domain of student engagement …

Stem Afterschool Club - Lava Lamps, Dylan Hiser

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

Afterschool Club that builds upon what students already know about science with fun and interactive experiments.

¿Qué Es Un Código?: Supporting Emerging Multilingual Learners In Digital Literacy, Ellen Barnett, Karina Mèndez Pèrez, Rocìo Delgado

Education Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Stem Education On Elementary School Math And Science Achievement, Jessica Leigh Bentley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following is a dissertation looking to address the impact of STEM-focused education on fifth-grade standardized test scores in mathematics and science. STEM education has become such an integral part of American education in recent years, and its importance continues to extend beyond the research available. The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the effects of a STEM-focused education on the standardized test scores of students in fifth grade. Convenience sampling was employed, with matching, to collect data from four classes of fifth grade students, totaling 226 students, from a rural school district. The 2019 Virginia Standards of …

The Recount: Black Men's Experiences Of Predominantly White Institution Undergraduate Stem Programs In The United States, James Hairston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the undergraduate experiences of Black men who completed bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at small and large predominantly White institutions (PWIs) of higher learning in the United States. This study focused on student engagement, mentorship, and experiences of racism and discrimination as three factors that might influence Black men’s completion of STEM bachelor’s degrees at PWIs in the United States. The central research question for this study was, “What contributes to the success of Black STEM undergraduate men at predominantly White institutions of higher learning?” The …

A Comparison Of Students’ Interest In Stem Across Science Standard Types, Brienne Kylie May

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to determine whether students enrolled in ninth and 10th grade science classes implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have significantly different interests in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) compared to students enrolled in classes structured around alternate state standards unrelated to the NGSS. The study also investigates how such interests may differ among genders. No research has been conducted to date to determine the potential effects of the NGSS on student interest in STEM or whether these standards impact student interest at all. This study utilizes a causal-comparative design to study the …

Facilitating Constructive Discussions Of Difficult Socio-Scientific Issues, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Rebecca M. Green, Aaron W. Harrison, Brian A. Hoover, Kenjiro W. Quides, Zachary Thammavongsy, Shana R. Welles, Bingjie Zhang, Kelsey M. Gray

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Discussion can be an important and powerful tool in efforts to build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future for STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). However, facilitating discussions on difficult, complex, and often uncomfortable issues, like racism and sexism, can feel daunting. We outline a series of steps that can be used by educators to facilitate productive discussions that empower everyone to listen, contribute, learn, and ultimately act to transform STEM.

E-Steam-Ed Individuals: The Significance Of Art In Ste(A)M, Kristen Feigel

Goal 4: Intrapersonal Intelligence Narrative

Purpose: To expose students gifted with academic and/or STEM proficiency to the benefits of Art in their education and daily lives. To offer students opportunities to try different types of art to encourage creativity and different ways of thinking.

Principal Perceptions On The Inclusion Of Music Education And Professional Development Opportunities: A Qualitative Study, Gabriel Woods

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative case study identifies perspectives that have not yet been explored and documented concerning the difference in attention across school levels when it comes to offering professional development opportunities for music teachers. The majority of previous studies have focused on STEM programming, not the arts. In this study, the researcher interviewed six K-12 principals who aided in deciding whether to include music programs to students and professional development opportunities to teachers. Two principals were interviewed in the different K-12 school levels: elementary, middle, and high schools. The results of this study add to the literature and can foster an …

Covid-19_Umaine News_Education Week Talks With Ferrini-Mundy About Stem Teaching During The Pandemic, University Of Maine Division Of Marketing And Communications

Division of Marketing & Communications

Screenshot of UMaine in the News regarding Education Week report on a symposium at the American Educational Research Association's virtual annual meeting featuring Joan Ferrini-Mundy, University of Maine System vice chancellor for research and innovation and president of the University of Maine.

Validation Of Climate And Motivational Measures For Use In The Biology Laboratory Setting, Troy O. Wineinger, Mary D. Fry, E. Whitney G. Moore

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

The purpose of this study, grounded in the Achievement Goal Perspective Theory (AGPT) and a Caring framework, was to effectively adapt previously validated measures of caring, task-involving (CTI), and ego-involving (EI) climates for college exercise classes to the college biology laboratory setting. The items’ measurement quality was assessed over two studies. Students (N_Study1 = 249, female 73%; N_Study2 = 199, female 78%) enrolled in biology laboratory courses were invited to complete a survey during the last two weeks of their laboratory course. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed overall good fit; however, two EI items had low loadings, …

Stemendously Fun Time Stem Club, Sarah Altman, Rhiannon Carlile

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

After school club for middle school students which focuses on bolstering scientific knowledge though experimentation and exploration of the scientific method.

Girls Computer Science Club, Emily Hogge, Mya Miller

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Utilizing Learning Centers To Promote Stem Development In The Early Childhood Classroom, Crystal M. Riniker

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review explores the research on incorporating STEM in the preschool classroom, in particular, learning centers. Research from the past decade shows developing the four areas of science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) in the early years is beneficial for students’ science abilities in the later grades. Studies from this review shine a light on teacher attitudes about science, the classroom environment, and approaches to learning and how they influence students’ learning of STEM in preschool.

George-Anne Deep Dive, Georgia Southern University

George-Anne Deep Dive

No abstract provided.

George-Anne Deep Dive, Georgia Southern University

George-Anne Deep Dive

No abstract provided.

Problem Centered Teaching By Tomorrow, Cassandra Armstrong

Publications & Research

Problem Centered Instruction is a great way to engage students, integrate content, and inspire learning. However, true problem centered instruction requires a major shift in both teaching and learning, requiring the one thing teachers don't have: time. In today's session, we will look at some simple strategies that teachers can put to immediate use within the classroom to help start the shift towards a student-led, problem centered learning environment.

Simplification Of Robotics Through Autonomous Navigation, Grant Turner

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With self-driving vehicles, college campus food delivery, or even automated home vacuuming systems, robotics is undoubtedly becoming more prevalent in everyday society and it can be expected to continue with time. While many people are owners, users, or even just spectators of theses robotic products or services, there seems to be a negative perception of robotics that poses an intimidation factor regarding the attempt to understand the ideas driving technology. This perception tends to view robotics as machines that require rich education to understand the complexity and interworkings of, thus attempts understand the field are neglected.

To combat this line …

Development Of A Gamified Number Line App For Teaching Estimation And Number Sense In Grades 1 To 7, Debbie Marie Versoza, Ma. Louise Antonette N. De Las Peñas, Maria Alva Q. Aberin, Agnes Garciano, Jumela F. Sarmiento, Mark Anthony C. Tolentino

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Fraction knowledge is known to be a gatekeeper to more advanced mathematical learning. On the basis of the literature on early number learning; a number line mobile application called Catch the Carrot was designed to develop students’ knowledge of whole number and fraction magnitude. This paper aims to describe the design of the Catch the Carrot app and discusses the rationale for using number lines as representational scaffolds for developing children’s understanding of numbers; particularly their estimation and number sense skills. The gamification features of the app; as well as strategies for integration in a classroom are also presented. This …