Education Commons^™

Project-Based Science Instruction For General-Education Undergraduates And Seventh Graders: Practices, Proficiency, And Pitfalls, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

For three semesters we conducted a general-education course designed for both undergraduates and seventh-graders in which students investigated contaminant sources and water quality of a local stream. The middle school students attend a local, county school that draws its students from disadvantaged areas of the town of Richmond, Kentucky. Undergraduates were general-education honors students with little predilection toward science. The instructors guided undergraduates through the project, and our honors students then mentored the middle-schoolers in their scientific endeavors.

Both sets of students serially investigated the chemical and biological properties of a typical upland stream (Tates Creek, Madison County, Kentucky) impacted …

Project-Based Science For General Education College Students And Seventh Graders: Pitfalls And Pointers, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie, Tara Shepperson, Linda Frost

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We teach a general-education science course for honors students, who in turn mentor disadvantaged seventh graders through a water quality investigation of a local stream. Activities for both groups involve all aspects of a scientific project: scientific background, local context, project design, data collection and analysis, and communication of scientific results. On successive weeks, we first lead our college students through each step in the process then the honors students mentor middle school students through those same steps. College and middle school teachers act as facilitators, and each honors student is responsible for about 6 to 8 middle schoolers. The …

Science, 7th Graders, And A Stream: An Integrated, Experience-Based Science Course For Honors Students, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie, Tara Shepperson, Linda Frost

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We report pedagogical results from a novel, integrated, experience-based science course for honors students funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The course seeks to improve science instruction and attitudes toward STEM disciplines for both honors students and underprivileged seventh-grade students by using honors students as learning mentors.

Project-Oriented Science Instruction Involving General-Education Undergraduates Serving As Mentors To Underprivileged Middle-Students Students, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie, Tara Shepperson, Linda Frost

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We report results from a novel, project-based science course funded by the NSF for general-education students in the EKU Honors Program and for middle school students. Key aspects of the course are: (1) instruction in the natural sciences adopting a regional context; (2) investigation of the water quality of a local stream involving all portions of a scientific study from planning to data collection and analysis to presentation; and (3) direct mentoring of underprivileged, seventh-grade students by honors students in project activities, including trips to campus for laboratory work and presentations. The course is meant to provide high-quality scientific instruction …

Using The-Math-You-Need Modules In A General Education, Oceanography Course, Walter S. Borowski, E. Baer, J. Wenner

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The Math You Need (TMYN) is a series of on-line tutorials designed for students to increase their mathematical abilities while taking geology and other science courses. The aim of the program is to increase the quantitative abilities of students while demonstrating mathematical applications in an effort to make students more comfortable with and aware of the utility of mathematics. Over two semesters, we implemented targeted-TMYN modules into a general-education oceanography course that is typically populated by non-science majors with a wide variety of mathematical skills before calculus. Students participate voluntarily in TMYN modules with extra credit given for their successful …

Stressing Concepts And Teaching In The Classroom: A Low-Technology Approach Using Concept Tests And Classroom Polls, Walter S. Borowski

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Electronic student response technologies can be used effectively to increase learning in the classroom. Although these systems are not terribly expensive, their purchase may be out of reach for many departments and institutions. Here we model a low-technology approach that stresses active learning, peer teaching, and testing student understanding of key concepts by using think-pair-share sessions and in-class responses to key concept-test questions.

Questions used in class are chosen carefully to emphasize a concept essential to understanding some aspect of geoscience in an introductory geology course. Each class involves the introduction of a key concept question or questions followed by: …