Education Commons^™

Book Review: Teaching Asian America In Elementary Classrooms, Jenna Cushing-Leubner

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Book Review Rodríguez, N.N., An, S., & Kim, E.J. (2024). Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms. New York: Routledge.

192 pp.

Pb. $23.96 ISBN-13: 978-1032597157

Teaching And Learning In Stem With Computation, Modeling, And Simulation Practices, Alejandra J. Magana

Purdue University Press Books

Computation, modeling, and simulation practices are commonplace in the STEM workplace, yet formal training embedded in disciplinary practices is not as standard in the undergraduate classroom. Teaching and Learning in STEM With Computation, Modeling, and Simulation Practices: A Guide for Practitioners and Researchers gives instructors a handbook to ensure their curriculum bridges the gap between the classroom and workplace by equipping students with computational skills and preparing them for a rewarding career in STEM. Grounded in theory and supported by fifteen years of education research at the undergraduate level, this book provides instructional, pedagogical, and assessment guidance for integrating modeling …

Eipeck: Assessing Educators’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge For Engineering Integration In K-12, Pilar Pazos, Francisco Cima Cohuo, Jennifer Kidd, Kristie Gutierrez, Krishnanand Kaipa, Orlando Ayala

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Global efforts are underway to include engineering in pre-college curricula. In the USA, this pursuit led to the inclusion of engineering content in the most recent version of the Next Generation Science Standards that guide K-12 science. As these standards become part of the K-12 curriculum, teachers face the challenge of gaining basic engineering literacy, while developing the associated inclusive pedagogies necessary to integrate engineering content into their classrooms. In this context, teacher preparation programs can benefit from easy-to-implement tools that measure preservice teachers’ readiness to integrate engineering content in their future classrooms. This work describes the development and validation …

The Intersection Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy And Engineering Design In Secondary Stem, Mariam Manuel, Jessica Gottlieb, Gina Svarovsky, Rebecca Hite

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The instructional practices of the engineering design process and culturally responsive pedagogy have each garnered national attention and multiple decades of research. Findings from the respective literature bases call for educators and policymakers to integrate these two pedagogical approaches into K-12 classroom instruction. Scholars have argued that this integration would improve student engagement and academic achievement. There is a significant amount of research that supports the positive student outcomes associated with each approach, yet there remains a dearth of literature that addresses the integration of these two practices into the science and mathematics content areas. The movement around educational reform …

Expressed Willingness Of Stem Teachers To Teach Engineering, Zerrin Doganca Kucuk, Selvet Ece Genek, Hayriye Sinem Bozoglu, M. Sencer Corlu

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Teaching engineering at the middle and high school levels has been a topic of discussion among scholars regarding the challenges it creates. One of the most critical challenges at the school level is identifying qualified teaching staff to lead engineering courses. The present study explored teachers’ willingness to lead an engineering course and the reasons behind their willingness or unwillingness to do so. The study involved 434 participants, who were enrolled in a STEM professional development program and were diverse regarding their teaching subjects, the grade levels they taught, and the locations of their schools in Turkey. In this mixed-methods …

Understanding The Impact Of Professional Development For A Cohort Of Teachers With Varying Prior Engineering Teaching Experience, Jennifer Kouo, Medha Dalal, Eunsil Lee, Bruk Berhane, Olushola Emiola-Owolabi, Jumoke Ladeji-Osias, Cheryl Beauchamp, Ken Reid, Stacy Klein-Gardner, Adam Carberry

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Engineering for US All (e4usa) is a National Science Foundation-funded first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at making engineering more inclusive and accessible to underrepresented populations. The ‘‘for us all’’ mission of e4usa encompasses both students and teachers. Paramount to the success of e4usa was the construction of professional development (PD) experiences to prepare and support teachers with different levels of engineering teaching experience as they implemented the e4usa yearlong course. The perspectives of nine teachers with varying degrees of engineering teaching experience were examined during two PD opportunities to compare experiences and dynamics between the teachers. Data sources consisting of focus groups …

Covid-19 As A Magnifying Glass: Exploring The Importance Of Relationships As Education Students Learn And Teach Robotics Via Zoom, Jennifer Kidd, Krishnanand Kaipa, Kristie Gutierrez, Min Jung Lee, Pilar Pazos, Stacie I. Ringleb

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Ed+gineering, an NSF-funded program, adapted hands-on robotics instruction for online delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative multiple case study shares the experiences of participating education students in spring 2021 as they collaborated virtually with engineering students and fifth graders to engineer bioinspired robots in an afterschool technology club adapted to be virtual. The online context reduced the education students’ interactions with people other than the engineering students and fifth graders on their team and thus positioned COVID-19 as a metaphorical magnifying glass amplifying the critical role that these relationships played in influencing the project’s outcomes. Through analyzing …

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms Of Leadership In Higher Education, M. Cristina Alcalde, Mangala Subramaniam

Navigating Careers in Higher Education Series

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms of Leadership in Higher Education focuses on the experiences of women of color in leadership roles in higher education. Top roles historically have gone to white men, and leadership has not reflected the range of identities and people who make up higher education. Why? And why does this problem continue to this day? Most importantly, what can be done to bring about meaningful change?

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness gathers a range of first-person narratives from women of color and examines the challenges they face not only at a systemic level, but also at a deeply personal …

Teacher Experiences In A Community-Based Rural Partnership: Recognizing Community Assets, Tawni Paradise, Malle R. Schilling, Jake Grohs, Jordan L. Laney

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The purpose of this research study is to understand teacher experiences throughout their second year of engagement in the Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools partnership. This partnership is an assets-based community partnership in a rural environment between middle school teachers, regional industry, and university affiliates that is focused on implementing recurrent, hands-on, culturally relevant engineering activities for middle school students. This qualitative study uses constant comparative methodology informed by grounded theory on teacher interviews to capture both teacher experiences in the partnership as well as teacher-identified assets in their classrooms and school communities. Using the …

Online Learning And Changing Lesson Plans, Devin R. Capece

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of students around the United States and the world into an environment of isolation, which included their education. Trying to continue with schooling became a significant challenge for many teachers. As an effort to cope with this new situation, teachers worked to adapt their lesson plans and teaching styles to an online format. Throughout the pandemic, they were met with varying degrees of success, each having their own experiences developing online lesson plans. Many were able to develop new strategies centering on new innovations and existing technologies to maintain their students' engagement in their studies.

Enhancing Preservice Teachers’ Intention To Integrate Engineering Through A Cross-Disciplinary Model, Francisco Cima, Pilar Pazos, Jennifer Kidd, Kristie Gutierrez, Stacie Ringleb, Orlando Ayala, Krishnanand Kaipa

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Although elementary educators recognize the importance of integrating engineering in their classrooms, many feel challenged and unprepared to teach engineering content. The absence of effective engineering instruction in teacher preparation programs leaves future educators unprepared for this challenge. Ed+gineering is an NSF-funded cross-disciplinary model between education and engineering aimed at increasing preservice teachers’ preparation, confidence, and intention to integrate engineering into their teaching. Ed+gineering partners education and engineering students in cross-disciplinary teams within the context of their respective university courses. As part of their coursework, the teams plan and deliver culturally responsive engineering lessons to elementary school students under the …

Knowing The World Through Mathematics: The Interconnections Between Social Justice And Mathematics For Preservice Mathematics Teachers, Gabrielle Gagnon

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Elementary Teacher Adaptations To Engineering Curricula To Leverage Student And Community Resources, Jennifer L. Chiu, Sarah J. Fick, Kevin W. Mcelhaney, Nonye Alozie, Reina Fujii

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This paper addresses an important consideration for promoting equitable engineering instruction: understanding how teachers contextualize curricular materials to draw upon student and community resources. We present a descriptive case study of two 5th grade teachers who co-designed a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned curricular unit that integrated science, engineering, and computational modeling. The five-week project challenged students to redesign their school grounds to reduce water runoff and increase accessibility for students with disabilities. The teachers implemented the project with one Grade 5 class with a large proportion of students having individualized learning plans and cultural backgrounds minoritized in science, technology, …

You Want Me To Teach Engineering? Impacts Of Recurring Experiences On K-12 Teachers’ Engineering Design Self-Efficacy, Familiarity With Engineering, And Confidence To Teach With Design-Based Learning Pedagogy, Shaunna Smith, Kimberly Talley, Araceli Ortiz, Vedaraman Sriraman

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This paper reports on findings from a group of ten teachers who were enrolled in a semester-long, graduate-level educational technology course that used design-based learning to explore the integration of making and the engineering design process into a variety of K-12 educational contexts. Using convergent mixed methods, this study examines how the course impacted teachers’ familiarity and confidence in teaching the engineering design process, as viewed through their pre- and post-semester engineering design self-efficacy scores and their weekly reflective journal entries. These measures are important factors for developing teacher experience and confidence in integrating engineering and design-based learning strategies within …

Animal-Assisted Interventions: Relationship Between Standards And Qualifications, Greta Kerulo, Niko Kargas, Daniel S. Mills, Graham Law, Rise Vanfleet, Tracie Faa-Thompson, Melissa Y. Winkle

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Ethical practice of animal- assisted interventions (AAI) requires appropriate qualifications and experience for all parties involved. Recently introduced and updated Standards of Practice emphasize the importance of AAI- specific training and qualification for different types of AAI, which should only be delivered within the scope of one’s professional competence. The purpose of this study was (1) to explore how a self- selected group of practitioners delivering AAI describe their work in relation to recent attempts to develop a terminological consensus (IAHAIO, 2014, 2018), and (2) to describe how AAI best practice recommendations (AAII, 2018) are implemented into professional practice among …

Profile Interview With Dr. Jill Newton, Kylie Arnholt, Emma Copp, Kelly Hock, Meredith Marsden

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Dr. Jill Newton has been a professor in the Math Education Department of the College of Education since 2008. She started the Tanzania study abroad program in 2010, and has been taking education and non-education students since. The program goes for a month and the students get to teach in local schools and experience small town life in Tanzania. Students take classes to get towards their Global Studies minor, and get to live at Fish Eagle Point during their stay. The curriculum is focused on teaching across cultures and learning about the education system worldwide, but most importantly, students are …

Establishing A Content Taxonomy For The Coherent Study Of Engineering In P-12 Schools, Greg Strimel, Tanner Huffman, Michael Grubbs, Eunhye Kim, Jamie Gurganus

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Engineering education has increasingly become an area of interest at the P-12 level, yet attempts to align engineering knowledge, skills, and habits to existing elementary and secondary educational programming have been parochial in nature (e.g., for a specific context, grade, or initiative). Consequently, a need exists to establish a coherent P-12 content framework for engineering teaching and learning, which would serve as both an epistemological foundation for the subject and a guide for the design of developmentally appropriate educational standards, performance expectations, learning progressions, and assessments. A comprehensive framework for P-12 engineering education would include a compelling rationale and vision …

Recognition And Positional Identity In An Elementary Professional Learning Community: A Case Study, Christopher G. Wright, Rasheda Likely, Kristen B. Wendell, Patricia P. Paugh, Elizabeth Smith

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Professional learning communities are typically conceived of as spaces for reducing teacher isolation, supporting informed and committed teachers, and fostering student academic gains. Focusing on a professional learning community that supported the teaching and learning of engineering in elementary schools, we also conceived of this learning environment as a space for negotiating a teacher-of- engineering identity. Calling attention to emergent issues of power and status through a lens of positional identity, this article examines a Black female educator’s sense of self as a teacher-of-engineering and how this perception was informed by participation in the professional learning community. Findings reveal that …

Mastery Learning In Action: One District's Journey Toward The Continuous Improvement Of Assessment Practices To Positively Impact Student Learning, Michael Carpenter, Justin Rentschler, Stephanie Zee

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

In the last year, Southwest Allen County Schools (SACS) instituted a “Portrait of a Graduate” vision in their community. This vision provides all stakeholders with information on the skills graduates from SACS will possess at the end of their senior year of high school. To accomplish this, SACS wanted to examine how well the teaching, learning, and reporting of learning aligned. One aspect of this process was to examine how well report cards were communicating student learning and progress to parents and students. To achieve this goal, SACS collected survey data from a variety of community members that evaluated their …

The Effect Of Teacher Professional Development On Implementing Engineering In Elementary Schools, Teresa Porter, Meg E. West, Rachel L. Kajfez, Kathy L. Malone, Karen E. Irving

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Increased attention on the implementation of engineering education into elementary school classrooms aims to start preparing students early for potential engineering careers. In order to efficiently and effectively add engineering concepts to the curriculum, appropriate development and facilitation of engineering design challenges are required. Therefore, professional development programs are necessary to educate teachers about engineering and how to adequately teach it. This paper explores the effects of an engineering professional development program for practicing teachers. The program included training elementary teachers about how to implement units from Engineering is Elementary (EiE) by the Science Museum of Boston into their classes. …

Elementary Teachers’ Positive And Practical Risk-Taking When Teaching Science Through Engineering Design, Jeffrey Radloff, Brenda Capobianco, Annie Dooley

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This study examines the perspectives of three generations of elementary teachers learning to teach science using engineering design and the risks associated with implementing this innovative type of reform-based science instruction. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and teacher reflections. Data analysis entailed open coding and document analysis. The findings indicated that there were four types of perceived risks: practical, pedagogical, conceptual, and personal. First-generation teachers exhibited conceptual risk-taking behavior, while second- and third-generation teachers reported practical, pedagogical, and personal risks. Benefits of risk-taking included increased student engagement in science, improved self-confidence in teaching science, and greater teacher …

The Impact Of Pbl As A Stem School Reform Model, Michael R. L. Odell, Teresa J. Kennedy, Eric Stocks

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Project/problem-based learning (PBL) can provide an effective model for school reform when implemented with fidelity. In the report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, it was recommended that if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the 21st-century economy, there must be a serious effort to “enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in STEM” (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007, p. 6). The report included the recommendation that states develop statewide specialty STEM high schools (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, …

Recursive Reflective Reports: Embedded Assessment In Pbl Courses For Second Language Teacher Education, Cynthia A. Caswell

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

This conceptual article begins with a general definition of reflection and the soft skills of PBL: collaboration, agency, and metacognition. Then it presents theoretical frameworks for reflection from second language teacher education (SLTE) (Farrell, 2015; Pennington & Richards, 2016) and illustrates six types of reflection with examples from the field of SLTE. The article features a reflective self- and peer-assessment instrument, utilized in a graduate SLTE program. The standard yet flexible template of the reflective teaching report (RTR) allows these teacher educators to interact with their students’ development in the soft skills and the content of the SLTE knowledge base. …

Performance Assessment Practice As Professional Learning, Vanessa Svihla, Tim Kubik, Tori Stevens-Shauger

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

While performance assessment (PA) is well aligned to project-based learning (PjBL), teachers find it challenging to design and implement PA that is faithful to the authentic context of their projects and viewed externally as rigorous. In contrast to standardizing PA tasks — thereby diminishing authenticity — we formed a research-practice partnership (Coburn, Penuel, & Geil, 2013) that developed and used a “shell” to guide teachers in planning, implementing, and engaging in rigorous dialogues that evaluate and elevate PA practice across four PjBL schools. Drawing from analysis of artifacts and audio-recorded professional development sessions, we highlight how the effort to standardize …

From Creative Writing To A Self’S Liberation: A Monologue Of A Struggling Writer, Ethan Trinh

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The pressure of being alone in a new country and of surviving in a competitive academia has scared me to death. I cannot find any better way to heal me other than writing. Writing helps me make sense of the worlds and come closer to my true self. This piece is journeying from my own struggles of a Vietnamese, queer, immigrant teacher to accept who I am as a writer. In addition, writing this piece helps me get closer to decademizing academic writing in higher education.

Refining An Instrument And Studying Elementary Teachers’ Understanding Of The Scope Of Engineering, Jacob Pleasants, Joanne K. Olson

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

To effectively incorporate engineering into their instruction, K–12 teachers need sufficient knowledge of the engineering discipline. An important component of teachers’ engineering knowledge is their understanding of the nature of engineering: what engineers do, the epistemological underpinnings of engineering, and the relationships between engineering and other fields of study. In this study, we present a quantitative tool that was developed to assess teachers’ knowledge of a particular nature of engineering dimension: the scope of engineering, which describes the demarcation between engineering and non-engineering. This tool was used to assess the knowledge of teachers and engineering graduate students, before and after …

Student Success And Retention From The Perspectives Of Engineering Students And Faculty, Amy Chan-Hilton

ASEE IL-IN Section Conference

Student retention and success is a complex issue, with many factors that impact an individual student’s retention and these factors varying across all of our students. At the University of Southern Indiana (USI), efforts within engineering, as well as across the college and university, have included intentional academic support services (such as expanded advising and tutoring services) and student development programs and extracurricular activities to foster student communities and a student’s sense of belonging. In addition, evidence indicates that implementing curricular changes across an engineering program and within specific courses, such as implementing active learning, instructional innovations, and high-impact practices, …

Cambodian American Views Of Partnerships In Public Education, Peter T. Keo

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This study elicited the views of Cambodian American adults regarding public school partnerships. The central argument is that the paucity of extant literature and research on Southeast Asian American (SEAA) family-school partnerships in public education renders these individuals invisible. Given the fluid and dynamic lived experiences across and within the SEAA community, there is a critical need for empirical research that addresses issues particular to ethnic groups. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect data from Cambodian American respondents. Findings suggested the importance of culture and structure in building critical partnerships.

Guest Commentary: Citizenship, Economics, And Morality, Thomas Lucey, Mary Beth Henning

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

No abstract provided.

Problem-Based Learning In Teacher Education, Susan M. Bridges

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

No abstract provided.