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Science and Mathematics Education Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Science and Mathematics Education

Textbooks, Teachers, And Middle School Mathematics Student Achievement, Susan R. Monaghan Oct 2013

Textbooks, Teachers, And Middle School Mathematics Student Achievement, Susan R. Monaghan

Dissertations (1934 -)

The purpose of this study was to extend the research on textbook effectiveness to a situated investigation of a single large urban school district in which middle schools were given a choice in selecting from three textbooks for mathematics instruction: a reform textbook, a commercially produced textbook developed in response to mathematics standards, and a traditional textbook. Its genesis is rooted in the efforts in the mathematics education community to investigate the interaction of teachers and mathematics curriculum materials, but in light of the shift to an accountability policy climate in public education. In particular, this study sought to determine …


Defining Characteristics Of An Integrated Stem Curriculum In K-12 Education, Vinson Robert Carter Aug 2013

Defining Characteristics Of An Integrated Stem Curriculum In K-12 Education, Vinson Robert Carter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to obtain consensus concerning the defining characteristics of integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum. This study utilized a three round modified Delphi study to solicit recommendations from experts of STEM education in order to: 1) create a set of categorical and defining curricular components needed to develop and implement appropriate integrated STEM curriculum; 2) identify the characteristics that set integrated STEM education curriculum apart from single-discipline curricula; 3) discuss the components necessary to gauge whether an initiative, project, or curriculum should be referred to as integrated STEM education; and 4) examine whether …


Cataloging Lesson Plans Developed By Pre-Service Science Teachers During A Summer Research Experience, Robert Tollman Mclaren Jun 2013

Cataloging Lesson Plans Developed By Pre-Service Science Teachers During A Summer Research Experience, Robert Tollman Mclaren

Physics

This study is modeled after the senior project “Teachers Who Conduct Research and their Ability to Apply their Experience to Lesson Plans” by Cal Poly student Megan Ziegler and includes an independent analysis of the 2011 and 2012 lesson plans that participants in the STEM Teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program developed as part of their summer research experience. At the end of the STAR summer research program, STAR Fellows are required to submit lesson plans. During Spring Quarter of 2012, I had the opportunity to catalog lesson developed during Summer 2011. Later in Fall Quarter of 2012, Cal Poly undergraduates …


View Of Socioscientific Issues Among Educators: The Willingness Of Teachers To Accept Ssi Into The Classroom And The Reason Underlying Those Beliefs, John Carlos Parr May 2013

View Of Socioscientific Issues Among Educators: The Willingness Of Teachers To Accept Ssi Into The Classroom And The Reason Underlying Those Beliefs, John Carlos Parr

Dissertations

Socioscientific issues (SSI) are potentially controversial topics, which can be examined using a social and a scientific perspective. The inclusion of these topics in elementary and secondary classrooms has caused a number of conflicts over the past century. In the present study, I explore the willingness of teachers to include three SSI: evolution, stem cell research, and global climate change in the science curricula. Participants included 221 educators currently employed in K-12 schools. Teachers have the greatest impact on classroom instruction, regardless of state curricula. I found most educators willing to include the three previously named SSI in the curricula, …


Landscapes To Learnscapes: Exploring Schoolyard-Based Education, Emily I. Palena, Caroline T. Spurgin Apr 2013

Landscapes To Learnscapes: Exploring Schoolyard-Based Education, Emily I. Palena, Caroline T. Spurgin

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis explores schoolyard-based education as a viable and necessary method for rectifying the shortcomings within the American public school system and the Nature-deficit Disorder epidemic. We argue that schoolyard-based education should be fully integrated into the school system, not in the sole form of popularized school gardens, but as a standard teaching method. We show this using extensive research and a case study of three elementary schools in Claremont, California.