Education Commons^™

A Look At Minimizing Student Loan Debt, While Maximizing Advanced Educational Opportunities, Karla Bradford

The Siegel Institute Journal of Applied Ethics

Poverty is a reality for many who obtain a degree of higher education and enter the workforce immediately after graduation. Funding an education for many may lead to student loan debt that is often virtually impossible to repay. This often leads many to believe that the debt incurred from obtaining a degree of higher education may not be worth the gain. The purpose of this paper is explore several articles that report on higher education as it relates to poverty, student loan debt, and salary pay scales for degrees and professional trade certifications. While investigating those related themes, this paper …

A Brief History Of Stem And Steam From An Inadvertent Insider, Lisa G. Catterall

The STEAM Journal

This article traces a history of STEM and STEAM from the perspective of someone involved in arts integration research for the last 35 years, and proposes a vision for the next steps. It also provides an assessment of the risks inherent in current trends of STEAM roll-out in schools, from the lack of resources for professional development to the burgeoning market in STEAM kits and activity books that do not lead to the original learning goals of STEAM.

Eği̇ti̇m Si̇stemi̇mi̇z Ve 21. Yüzyil Hayali̇mi̇z: 2045 Hedeflerine İlerlerken, Türkiye Için Stem Odaklı Ekonomik Bir Yol Haritası, Mehmet Aydeniz

Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Publications and Other Works

Bilimsel ve teknolojik gelişmeler, yeni sanayilerin oluşmasında, ülkelerin askeri savunma kapasitelerini artırmada, mevcut sanayilerde üretkenliği tetiklemekte, hayat kalitesinin yükselmesinde ve eğitimin erişebilirliğinde önemli bir rol oynamaya devam etmektedir. Dolayısıyla bir Ülkenin ekonomik gelişimi, bilimsel çalışma yapabilme kapasitesine, teknolojisinin gelişimine, girişimcilik ortamı ve inovasyon yapabilme kapasitesine bağlıdır.

Ekonomiye önemli katkıları olan bilimin ve teknolojinin gelişmesi, STEM alanlarında gerekli ön bilgi ve becerilere sahip, problemlere yaratıcı bir bakışla yaklaşabilen, özgür düşünebilen, sorgulayan, inovatif çözüm üretebilen, dayanışmayı önemseyen bir nesil yetiştirebilen okulların varlığına bağlıdır.

Peki Türk Eğitim Sistemi, Ülkemizin ekonomik yarışabilirlik potansiyelini yükseltecek, savunma kapasitesini artıracak, bölgesel liderliğinin bir adım öne çıkmasını sağlayacak …

What's In The Soup? I Look Into Fusion Within Different Stem Programs, David Ellis

David Ellis

Developing Ict Skills Of Stem Teachers In Mexico: The Key Role Of The Tutorial Function, Alexander N. Chen, David Mccalman, Mark E. Mcmurtrey, J. Gabriel Domínguez Castillo, Víctor Manuel Cab Pech

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

It is well documented in distance education literature that one of the factors that are considered essential to the success of an online course is the tutorial function. The role of counselor consists of assisting and encouraging students, building learning activities, and developing support strategies for the use of technology. The tutor thus was assessed as one element of great importance in on-line education, and, to some, an essential feature of this mode. In this paper, the importance of the tutorial function and its effect on the development of skills for using information and communication technology (ICT) in science, technology, …

Successful With Stem? A Qualitative Case Study Of Pre-Service Teacher Perceptions, Stacie H. Nowikowski

The Qualitative Report

This research is a qualitative case study of pre-service teachers’ experiences with a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) module during a middle level interdisciplinary course in the teaching of mathematics and science. Data were collected through document analysis of participant reflection journals (during six distinct stem tasks) and college curriculum as well as an analysis of researcher observations of the STEM activities. While the first and last tasks were reflective and designed to identify pre-existing STEM experiences and post-module knowledge, respectively, the other four STEM tasks simulated student-centered STEM activities common to the middle level classroom. The data were …

Let's Get Physical! Teaching Mathematics Through The Lens Of Physics, Peggy Bertrand Ph.D., Lauren Jeneva Clark Ph.D.

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Mathematics

In 2017, a professional development project, Let's Get Physical! Teaching Mathematics through the Lens of Physics, was funded by a Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) grant, and was hosted by the University of Tennessee Department of Mathematics. These proceedings contain physics-based secondary mathematics lessons that guided this project. For example, in one lesson, tracking the behavior of live insects helps students learn about displacement, velocity, geometry, and measurement. In another, dropping coffee filters helps students learn about drag, logarithms, and graphical methods. Lasers and lenses can be used to teach reflection and refraction, and one …

Finland: An Exemplary Stem Educational System, Hui Fang Huang "Angie" Su, Nancy Ledbetter, Jocelyn Ferguson, La'trina Timmons

Transformations

There is a need for an increase in the number of students entering fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the only way for that to happen is for educational reforms to be put into place (PCAST, 2012). Improvement and focus on STEM education are a concern of all nations whether they have an emerging economy or one that is long established. The world of the 21st century is such that in order to compete globally countries must invest in STEM education (Kennedy & Odell, 2014). The United States scores on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) …

Theoretical Stem Program Proposal, Nancy L. Ledbetter

Transformations

Many schools are turning towards STEM to help students prepare for the future and to mend deficits in science and mathematics programs that are proving less than successful. This article provides background, theoretical support, and a plan for how to transform a school from a traditional model to a model STEM school.

Impacts Of Professional Development In Integrated Stem Education On Teacher Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectancy, And Stem Career Awareness, John Geoffrey Knowles

Purdue Polytechnic Doctoral Dissertations

This research analyzed the effects of teacher professional development and lesson implementation in integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) on: 1.) Teacher self-efficacy and their confidence to teach specific STEM subjects; 2.) Teaching outcome expectancy beliefs concerning the impact of actions by teachers on student learning; and 3.) Teacher awareness of STEM careers. High school science and technology education teachers participating in the Teachers and Researchers Advancing Integrated Lessons in STEM (TRAILS) project experimental group attended a ten-day summer professional development institute designed to educate teachers in using an integrated STEM education model to implement integrated STEM lessons. The …

Students Explore Fossil Creatures Of The Cambrian Period Burgess Shale Through Model-Making, Andrea Anderson, Ksenia Zhbanova, Phyllis Gray, Jolene K. Teske, Audrey C. Rule

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This practical article features an arts-integrated science unit on fossils of the Burgess Shale for fourteen elementary/ middle school students at a weeklong summer day camp. The day camp had a theme of recycling, reduction and reuse; all of the fossil models had substantial recycled components to support this theme. Next Generation Science Standards were supported by the course activities in which students examined fossil specimens, images, and comparative modern relatives to determine the anatomy and lifestyles of Burgess Shale Cambrian Period fossil animals (e.g., Olenoides trilobites, Anomalocaris, Canadaspis, Opabinia, Wiwaxia, Hallucigenia) through making scientific …

Ecosystem Food Web Lift-The-Flap Pages, Dana L. Atwood-Blaine, Audrey C. Rule, Hannah Morgan

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

In the lesson on which this practical article is based, third grade students constructed a “lift-the-flap” page to explore food webs on the prairie. The moveable papercraft focused student attention on prairie animals’ external structures and how the inferred functions of those structures could support further inferences about the animals’ diets. In general, most students made simple causal connections between an animal’s observable characteristics and the food it would probably eat. Some students were also able to make multi-agent connections to develop a more complex mental model of a food web. Ultimately, the lift-the flap project was engaging to students …

Flipping About The Sun And Its Pattern Of Apparent Motion, Crystal Betts, Allison Pattee

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Arts integration has shown to enhance student comprehension, retention, and engagement, while connecting to rich science content. The integration of the Next Generation Science Standards and the National Arts Standards into a first grade lesson illustrated how the arts enhanced the students’ understandings of the sun’s apparent motion during the day, an idea that is difficult for many young children to grasp. In this project students explored the sun outdoors throughout the school day to document changes by tracing their shadows in chalk and by making a shadow clock. Students also applied the information they learned to the creation of …

Editorial: The Journal Of Stem Arts, Crafts, And Constructions As An Ideal Venue For Showcasing Application Of The Next Generation Science Standards, Dana L. Atwood-Blaine

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

The Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions is an ideal venue for disseminating new ideas, lessons, and research developed in response to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This editorial explains how arts integration is well-suited to addressing the Science and Engineering Practices and the Cross-cutting Concepts. The research articles in this issue provide evidence that arts integration is also effective at improving student retention of disciplinary content over time. Using specific examples from the articles in this issue, this editorial elaborates on the three-dimensional nature of NGSS and how the integration of arts, crafts, and constructions into science …

Volume 7, Issue 1, Catherine Scott

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) field is greatly promoted as a career path for students in recent years, and the demand for individuals specializing in STEM disciplines is expected to rise. Often, when considering STEM, one thinks of careers related to medicine, laboratory settings, or the pure sciences. However, in examining only these aspects of STEM, we may errantly overlook the impacts that P-20 education may have in using STEM as a means for improving student lives. One unique aspect of STEM is its role in helping to improve our well being as individuals and society as a …

Social Justice Driven Stem Learning (Stemj): A Curricular Framework For Teaching Stem In A Social Justice Driven, Urban, College Access Program., Paul E. Madden, Catherine Wong, Anne C. Vera Cruz, Chad Olle, Mike Barnett

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

This article presents the curricular framework for a social justice driven STEM curriculum (i.e., S_TEMJ) within an out-of-school time program for Boston Public high school students (i.e., College Bound) at Boston College. Starting with a discussion of the authors’ ideological positionality within critical social justice discourses, the authors share how Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) General Ecological Model provides a conceptual framework for operationalizing social justice inquiry with and through STEM. Positioning this curriculum within the College Bound program’s overall design gives readers a sense of how the program’s College and Career, Identity and Society, and S_TEMJ curriculums work …

"Returning To The Root" Of The Problem: Improving The Social Condition Of African Americans Through Science And Mathematics Education, Vanessa R. Pitts Bannister, Julius Davis, Jomo Mutegi, Latasha Thompson, Deborah Lewis

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

The underachievement and underrepresentation of African Americans in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines have been well documented. Efforts to improve the STEM education of African Americans continue to focus on relationships between teaching and learning and factors such as culture, race, power, class, learning preferences, cultural styles and language. Although this body of literature is deemed valuable, it fails to help STEM teacher educators and teachers critically assess other important factors such as pedagogy and curriculum. In this article, the authors argue that both pedagogy and curriculum should be centered on the social condition of African Americans – …

Editor's Introduction, Catherine Scott

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

This issue of Catalyst aims to present a collection of works that examines the role of STEM education in aiding in these opportunities not only for the PK-12 classroom, but also in the college classroom and through pre-service educator training.

How Do Undergraduate Stem Mentors Reflect Upon Their Mentoring Experiences In An Outreach Program Engaging K-8 Youth?, Kari L. Nelson, Jamie Sabel, Cory Forbes, Neal Grandgenett, William E. Tapprich, Christine E. Cutucache

Biology Faculty Publications

Background: Many university students are becoming involved in mentoring programs, yet few studies describe the impact of mentoring on the mentor. Additionally, many studies report that students graduating from college are not prepared to enter the workforce in terms of key career skills and/or content knowledge. Herein, we examine the impact of our program, NE STEM 4U (Nebraska Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for You), in which undergraduate (UG) mentors engage K-8 youth in after-school STEM experiments. The UGs reflected upon their experiences using post-mentoring evaluations, 12- and 24-week interviews, and exit surveys. Many of the questions asked of …

Stem High School Teachers’ Views Of Implementing Pbl: An Investigation Using Anecdote Circles, Aimée L. Dechambeau, Susan E. Ramlo

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been gaining in popularity, especially within the context of STEM-based (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) schools. Program assessments for these schools typically focus on student standardized test scores rather than the needs of the teachers. This study utilized anecdote circles, storytelling via moderated group discussions, to investigate teachers’ needs related to developing and implementing authentic, interdisciplinary PBL activities in an urban, public STEM high school. Teacher experiences and viewpoints were explored within three broad themes: assessment; coaching and training; and authentic learning. The analyses provide insights for transitioning a school for effective PBL implementation as well …

Do The Arts Play An Essential Role In Stem Subjects? How Steam Professional Development Affects Teacher Intent To Teach Subjects In An Integrative Manner., Stacy N. Young

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

STEAM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, is an approach to teaching that integrates these subjects together for deeper inquiry and innovation. I surveyed teachers prior to the region 1 STEAM conference in January 2017 and after to determine if they intended to change their teaching practices to integrate what they learned at the conference. Follow-up interviews were conducted to clarify survey results. Research suggests that professional development is a key component to changing teacher practices. This study seeks to extend the assertion that a conference can be the catalyst professional development tool to change teacher practice. …

Women In Stem: The Effect Of Undergraduate Research On Persistence, Jodi Christine Wilker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers constitutes a major issue in postsecondary science education. Perseverance of women in STEM is linked to a strong science identity. Experiential learning activities, such as undergraduate research, increase science identity and thus should help keep women in STEM. Most studies on research program development are from 4-year institutions, yet many women start at community colleges. The goal of this study was to fill this gap. Science identity and experiential learning theories provided the framework for this case study at a local institution (LECC). Semistructured interviews determined college science …

A Value-Based Case Study To Increasing Community Mentoring In Stem For Hispanic Students, Gilberto Moreno

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This case study investigates the implementation of a unique community-driven mentoring pilot program (PASOS2) forging stronger community and K-12 partnerships. Focused on surfacing what matters most in engaging community mentors, this case study explores a civic organization'?s quest to impact, expand, and bring value via mentoring to Hispanic students' pursuit of post-secondary studies with emphasis in STEM careers. A major stumbling block faced by many underprivileged students is the lack of mentorship vital to expanding their social capital support system. This innovative mentoring approach provides students with critical access to STEM community empowerment agents supporting aspiring students' dreams.

Analytical methods …

Critical Reflections On Teacher Conceptions Of Race As Related To The Effectiveness Of Science Learning, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Kristin Searle

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The Maker Movement’s current traction in education revolves around the notion that constructing artifacts improves student interest and engagement. Often touted as a new and important way for students to access STEM content, “making” activities offer a unique opportunity to disrupt the traditional perceptions of who can successfully “do” STEM. Blending familiar materials and practices (e.g. sewing with a needle and thread) with atypical materials (e.g., conductive thread and sewable LED bulbs), electronic textiles, or e-textiles, allow makers to create working circuits in ways that connect with their out-of-school lives, including heritage and vernacular cultural practices. This article describes the …

Cultivating Social Capital In Undergraduate Research: Key Sources And Distinctions By Gender, Heather Ann Daniels

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Women are outpacing men in overall educational attainment, however this is not the case in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields when women fall behind men. Establishing strong social connections is important to retention in STEM fields and persistence in the STEM pipeline. This study qualitatively examines what serves as social capital in STEM-focused undergraduate research and how social capital is accrued and deployed differently by men and women in ways that could be contributing to the gender gap in STEM. 17 students participating in external summer research programs at 12 different universities were interviewed at 3 points in …

Towards A Unified Theory Of Engineering Education, Oscar Humberto Salcedo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons and activities as students apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in contexts that make connections between school, community, work, and the global enterprise enabling STEM literacy (Tsupros, Kohler and Hallinen, 2009). The purpose of the Dissertation is to develop a unified theory of engineering education based on philosophies of mathematics, science, technology & engineering, and engineering education. Using purposive sampling methods, the Thesis constructs "representative" philosophy statements from the STEM fields based on the criteria of Constructivism, Progressivism, and/or Pragmatism. These statements are …