Education Commons^™

Research‐Driven Facilitation Of Systems Thinking With Computational Models In Life Sciences Education, Heather E. Bergan-Roller, Nicholas Galt, Tomáš Helikar, Joseph T. Dauer

DBER Speaker Series

Systems thinking, computational modeling, and simulating systems are examples of important skills stressed in life sciences education by Vision and Change. In response to these calls, we have designed a computational modeling and simulation‐driven intervention to supplement current instruction in the life sciences curriculum. As part of our pre‐intervention assessment we evaluated students on their systems thinking in the context of cellular respiration. For this assessment, we had students create conceptual models. We found that students with lecture instruction are able to recall more components associated with the cellular respiration process but are not better able to integrate these components …

Nebraskamath: Sharing Findings From A Statewide Partnership, Wendy M. Smith

DBER Speaker Series

I will share findings from the NebraskaMATH statewide partnership, which was funded by the NSF for $9.2million, 2009-2014. This large Math Science Partnership project included professional development and research components that targeted K-3 (Primarily Math), algebra (Nebraska Algebra) and novice secondary teachers (New Teacher Network). The Primarily Math program was the main focus of the research, and I will share findings of teacher change and the associated student achievement gains. Overall, teachers who participated in Primarily Math gained in their mathematical knowledge for teaching, their attitudes toward mathematics, and their student-centered beliefs, while seeing decreases in their mathematical anxiety. Students …

Integrating Computational Creativity Exercises Into Classes, Leen-Kiat Soh, Duane F. Shell

DBER Speaker Series

Introduction | Creative Thinking, Computational Thinking

Exercises | Overall Design & Examples

Results | Brief Overview

Logistics | Tips, Support & Feedback

Aim to improve the learning of computational thinking by blending it with creative thinking Creative thinking? • Patterned in a way that tends to lead to creative results • Not limited to the arts • An integral component of human intelligence that can be practiced, encouraged and developed within any context

CREATIVITY THINKING Epstein’s Generativity Theory breaks creative thinking down to four core competencies • Capturing novelty • Challenging established thinking and behavior patterns • Broadening one’s knowledge …

Transforming Precalculus Instruction: Evidence-Based Course Design, Wendy M. Smith

DBER Speaker Series

The UNL Mathematics Department has been focused on transforming precalculus instruction since 2012, with a goal of greater levels of student success. A short-term measure of student success is the passing rate (C or better), which has jumped from an average of 62% (2007-2011) to 80% for the past two falls. A longer-term measure of student success is recruiting and retaining undergraduates to STEM disciplines and careers. In this talk I will share specifics of the reform efforts (the who-what-when-where-why-and-how), and also share preliminary results from the research we have simultaneously been conducting into the reform efforts.

The Effects Of An Early Intervention Mastery Activity In The Mathematics Department, Nathan Wakefield, Joe Champion, Doug Dailey, Jessalyn Bolkema

DBER Speaker Series

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, nearly 1000 students sign up for one of College Algebra, or College Algebra and Trigonometry every fall. Of these students, more than 75% are first time freshman. Finding ways to motivate and encourage these students together with early identification strategy for struggling students is critical to success not just in the math course, but also in a student’s university career. This presentation will discuss the design and outcomes an early intervention mastery activity with the broad goals of helping students recall previously learned mathematics, and identifying students who are at risk for failure, all within …

Climate Change Skeptics Teach Climate Literacy? A Content Analysis Of Children’S Books, Julie Thomas

DBER Speaker Series

This research focused on skeptical climate change literature designed for children and parents. The purpose of the research was to explore how these pseudo‐educational materials convey a logic of nonproblematicity about climate change (McCright & Dunlap, 2000). Using rhetorical analyses procedures developed from previous excavations in skeptical discourses, this study identified: (a) common forms of climate skepticism, (b) frames for climate change policy making, (c) areas of contested scientific knowledge, and (d) appeals for managing the uncertainty of climate change. The results suggest that the logic of non‐problematicity about environmental problems is bolstered by contradictory forms of climate change skepticism …

Engaging Teenagers With Science Through Comics, Judy Diamond

DBER Speaker Series

Graphic novels or comics are powerful tools to motivate youth to become interested in science. Embedding science concepts into a story with graphics that appeal to teen culture makes abstract content approachable, stimulates youth interest, and promotes learning. This presentation will discuss the goals of the NIH‐funded World of Viruses and Biology of Human comic series and the research results that support using these approaches.

Is It Still Science If You Don’T Call It ‘Science’? Discovery Orientation And Science Identity Among Middle School Youth., Patricia Wonch Hill, Julia Mcquillan

DBER Speaker Series

To investigate the role of friendships in science identity formation, we are conducting a longitudinal survey of 441 students in an ethnically diverse Title I Middle School. This research-based approach, framed within a sociological conceptual model, will provide depth in our understanding of how to motivate and engage youth from groups underrepresented in biomedical science, and will contribute to the sociological literature on identity formation. Science educators assume most youth have a natural propensity toward science and inquiry, and will engage with science activities and ideas if they are presented in fun and appealing ways. We call this natural propensity …

Vehicles On The Road To Reform, Julie Thomas, Sandra B. Cooper

DBER Speaker Series

Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform‐based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents’ and veteran teachers’ influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents’ and teachers’ expectations of children’s optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semi‐structured, open‐ended interviews with novice teachers (n=20), veteran teachers (n=9), and parents (n=28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants’ discrete designations of the …