Education Commons^™

Chemistry Student Attitudes And Utilization Of Office Hours, Dieng Barbacar, Edgar Gomez, Andre Rodriguez

Publications and Research

While research has demonstrated that faculty-student interactions increase retention and graduation rates, faculty often report that their office hours are underutilized. To better understand students’ attitudes, usage and plans towards faculty hours a survey was administered in the second to third week of the fall 2018 semester to students in 5 sections of general chemistry courses. The goal was to better understand how students perceive the benefits and hindrances of office hours, along with current or planned attendance. Prior to survey administration, it was speculated that not attending office hours could be because they were not scheduled at a convenient …

Peer-Leaders’ Perceptions Of Learning After A Semester Of Peer Facilitation, Yasmine A. Soofi, Nadia Kennedy

Publications and Research

The study examines the perceptions of a group of new peer-leaders of their learning during a semester of peer-leading training and experience working with a group of students. Data was collected through individual interviews in the beginning of the semester and through administering a survey at the end of the semester. The data was organized, analyzed and presented at the poster session.

Nasa Maa (Murep Aerospace Academy) Stem Project At York College: Ensuring Future Stem Pipeline, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Shuayb Siddique, Matthew Khargie, Brandon Dhanraj, Zachary A. Sanichar, Mildred M. Selby, Chabenauth Ramnauth, Theresa Deepan, Yougeeta Singh, Krishna Mahabir, Sashi Singh, Omadevi Singh

Publications and Research

Our ongoing K1-12 NASA-supported STEM activities has served over 5000 children since 2015, largely from groups that are undeserved and underrepresented in the sciences. These STEM activities have been successfully delivered for several years and include earth science, meteorite geology, rocketry, aerodynamics, star gazing, EV3 Mindstorm robotics, basic coding exercises, wind tunnel, 3D-printing, etc., conducted largely through our present MAA (MUREP Aerospace Academy) Project. Corporate funding from the Con Edison and National Grid ensures additional STEM dissemination to the students during the summer operation. Significant positive component of the MAA program is the availability and willingness of the former student …

Recruiting And Retaining K9–16 Students Through Field- And Laboratory - Based Geoscience Experiences, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer, Arif M. Sikder, Krishna Mahabir, Ality Aghedo, Charren Cabaroy, Mildred M. Selby, Gugu Ginindza, Leonardo Sanchez

Publications and Research

Since 2004, we have been directly involved with the GSA to provide access and opportunities for K9-16 students, particularly those interested in the broader aspects of geoscience-related topics, to present their field-and- laboratory based research outcomes at professional conferences and to learn from each other. So far, well-over 400 students from the U. S. and abroad have taken advantage of this opportunity and participated our topical sessions. It is quite gratifying to report that many of these students, as a result of their attendance at the GSA conference, felt a continuing need for exposure to high-level professional venues with effective …

Between Paralysis And Empowerment: Action In Mathematics For Social Justice Work, Lidia Gonzalez

Publications and Research

In this article, I focus on my experiences teaching a seminar in critical pedagogy and the math for social justice (MfSJ) work that grew from of my students’ reflections as to how they might promote change towards justice. The course was designed to acquaint students with the research literature in critical pedagogy as we explored the social, political, cultural, and economic realities around our system of public education. Yet there came a point where students questioned the value of such exploration as they genuinely considered what to do next. I, too, struggled both to support the students I was working …

How Songbirds Learn To Sing Provides Suggestions For Designing Team Projects For Computing Courses, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Radhika Natarajan, Lior Baron

Publications and Research

Understanding how our brain works and how we learn is perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing twenty-first computer science. Songbirds are good candidates for trying to unravel some of this mystery. Over the last decade, a large amount of research has been made to better understand how songbirds learn complex songs. The Canary (Serinus canaria) and the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) have been widely used bird models to study these brain and behavior relationships. Like songbirds, we humans are vocal and social learners. In such learners, the development of communication is initially steered by social interactions with adult tutors. …

Product Development Process And Student Learning In An Engineering Technology Capstone Project: Electrical Go-Kart, Angran Xiao, Andy S. Zhang, Joyce Tam

Publications and Research

Project based learning (PBL) is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore, solve real world problems and gain knowledge through developing real products. In our Engineering Technology program, a project based capstone design class is offered that provides graduating seniors a hands-on opportunity to experience team-based design under conditions that closely resemble current industry practice. In this paper, we introduce a capstone project, an electrical go-kart. A group of 20 students spent 15 weeks and around $600 designing and building a working electrical go-kart. This multidisciplinary project allows students to integrate knowledge from across the core curricula, and …

Peer-Led Team Learning Bridges The Learning Gap In A First-Year Engineering Technology Course, Chen Xu, Ohbong Kwon, Juanita C. But, Benito Mendoza, Janet Liou-Mark, Robert Ostrom

Publications and Research

Electrical Circuits (EMT 1150) is a first-year engineering gateway course for Electromechanical Engineering Technology (EMT) associate degree students. It is a five-credit course with a combined lecture and laboratory components. Topics in the lecture portion introduces the physical basis and mathematical models of electrical components and circuits. The laboratory sessions of the course are performed on a breadboard using the digital multi-meter, oscilloscope, and function generator. In the past ten consecutive semesters, the average enrollment for EMT1150 was approximately 144 students per semester with an average of 73% passing with a D or better and 64% passing with a C …

The Effects Of Peer-Led Workshops In A Statics Course, Melanie L. Villatoro, Karla Karolin Peña, Janet Liou-Mark

Publications and Research

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an 8% increase in employment for civil engineers is expected in the next decade.1 To assist in attracting more undergraduates to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering Technology, New York City College of Technology has implemented an instructional strategy in one of the main gatekeeper courses. Statics has been identified as a course where undergraduates either decide to retain in their Civil Engineering Technology major or transfer out to another one. To provide more support for undergraduates taking this course, the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) strategy was adopted. This study compared the final …

Outcomes Of An Academic Scholarship Program At The City University Of New York – New York City College Of Technology, Sunghoon Jang

Publications and Research

We are on a threshold of a revolution in technology education where human knowledge is increasing at an extremely rapid rate. In the wake of these technological advancements, the required workforce skills and competencies are constantly changing. This combination of human knowledge and technological advancements is placing a demand on educators to prepare students with strong integrated technical skills in their selected educational discipline, as well as professional skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. The purpose of the Academic Scholarship Program at the New York City College of Technology – City University of New York was to develop …

Proceedings Of The Cuny Research Summit: Creativity In Stem, Malgorzata Marciniak, Bronislaw Czarnocha

Publications and Research

The Research Summit “Creativity is STEM” was organized by the Mathematics Teaching Research Journal (MTRJ) and the CUNY Research Foundation. The event gathered over 70 participants from across CUNY and beyond. We spent time discussing various aspects and approaches to creativity and shared our observations about facilitating creativity in the classroom, during research projects, and in our daily life.

Edited by Malgorzata Marciniak and Bronislaw Czarnocha, the proceedings contain six presentations by professors of Mathematics, Sciences and Engineering from across CUNY and beyond, and five presentations by students reporting their research conducted in the context of student-faculty research.

On The Use Of Semantic-Based Aig To Automatically Generate Programming Exercises, Laura Zavala, Benito Mendoza

Publications and Research

In introductory programming courses, proficiency is typically achieved through substantial practice in the form of relatively small assignments and quizzes. Unfortunately, creating programming assignments and quizzes is both, time-consuming and error-prone. We use Automatic Item Generation (AIG) in order to address the problem of creating numerous programming exercises that can be used for assignments or quizzes in introductory programming courses. AIG is based on the use of test-item templates with embedded variables and formulas which are resolved by a computer program with actual values to generate test-items. Thus, hundreds or even thousands of test-items can be generated with a single …

A How-To Guide On Bringing Undergraduate Research To Community And Technical Colleges, Angelo Kolokithas, Olga Calderón

Publications and Research

Increasing the interest and participation of students in STEM is a priority for colleges, universities, and the nation as a whole. As new generations of students embark in training and in learning novel technologies to deal with the challenges of emerging infectious diseases, crop and food production, and the development of new and better sustainable alternatives in the face of a changing environment on our planet, we must also evolve our approach to teaching and learning. One strategy that may be found helpful as students face the challenges ahead is to instill inquiry and problem-solving skills as part of their …

Nsf Noyce Recruitment And Mentorship, Fangyang Shen, Janine Roccosalvo, Jun Zhang, Yanqing Ji, Yang Yi, Lieselle Trinidad

Publications and Research

This research discusses the detailed experiences of recruitment and training of Noyce interns to become qualified STEM teachers. In this paper, both successful experiences and challenges in the first four years of a NSF Noyce project are discussed with the three-tier model. In addition, this model has proven to be effective by using two types of evidences. First, the survey data collected from over twenty-five STEM teacher candidates is described. Secondly, the actual interview data and student feedback are reported.