Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Comparing Biology Grades Based On Instructional Delivery And Instructor At A Community College: Face-To-Face Course Versus Online Course., Amanda Rosenzweig

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Through distance learning, the community college system has been able to serve more students by providing educational opportunities to students who would otherwise be unable to attend college. The community college of focus in the study increased its online enrollments and online course offerings due to the growth of overall enrollment. The need and purpose of the study is to address if there is a difference in students’ grades between face-to-face and online biology related courses and if there are differences in grades between face-to-face and online biology courses taught by different instructors and the same instructor. The study also …

Seeing The Chemistry Around Me – Helping Students Identify The Relevance Of Chemistry To Everyday Life, Tracy Lynn Moore

Dissertations

The study attempted to determine whether the use of a series of reading and response assignments decreased students’ perceptions of chemistry difficulty and enhanced students’ perceptions of the relevance of chemistry in their everyday lives. Informed consent volunteer students enrolled in General Chemistry II at a community college in the southeastern United States during the Spring 2012 semester participated in this study. Students were assigned to read a series of short articles that connect chemistry to a specific aspect of everyday life and then answer a series of questions for each article. Open-response research instruments (initial questionnaire and final questionnaire) …

Teachers Take Control! Implementing The Ngss As Team Inquiry, Steven R. Rogg Ph.D.

Steven R Rogg

STEM commentators have noted the obvious - that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) promise to improve STEM education only if implemented fully and with fidelity. Clearly, TEACHERS are essential if the potential of the NGSS are to be realized. As new curricula and assessment systems evolve, it will be TEACHERS who translate resources to create powerful student learning experiences. This session examines experience- and research-based ideas for teacher teams to take charge of NGSS implementation as professional inquiry. The dynamic is expected to be highly interactive.

The Power To Transform: Leadership That Brings Learning And Schooling To Life, Stephanie Pace Marshall

Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

The Power to Transform is a call to re-conceive and re-design schooling. Rather than offer “best practices” or “prescriptive solutions,” it invites leaders of all ages and walks of life to think differently about learning and schooling. It illuminates the “why” and “what” of educational transformation and explores its deepest roots. It offers new language, new design principles, a new framework, and a new map for creating vibrant, imaginative and adaptive learning landscapes that integrate the dynamic properties of living systems with the generative principles of learning. It is from this natural integration that the new story of learning and …

Science Literacy For The 21st Century, Stephanie Pace Marshall, Judith A. Scheppler, Michael J. Palmisano

Stephanie Pace Marshall, Ph.D.

Presents a collection of essays by prominent scientists, scholars, and educators on ways to transform science education in the United States and promote a more literate society. Edited by Marshall, Palmisano and Scheppler of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, this remarkable collection of forward-looking essays are written by such distinguished scientists and science educators as Stephen J. Gould, Howard Gardner, Lawrence M. Krauss, Mae C. Jemison, and James Trefil.

Parts Of The Whole: The Virtue Of Books, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column argues that the majority of commercial textbooks do not serve students well. Strategies for change include clearly distinguishing the textbook requirements of different priority subjects and assembling writers who can address, in addition to content development, the cognitive level of the children as well as writing in an age-appropriate way. A discussion of the forces that produce current texts leads to the recommendation that textbooks be a focus of research and improvement rather than the byproduct of an individual’s lecture notes.

Academic Excellence In Action: A Case Study Of Effective Instructional Methodologies Of Middle Grades Math Teachers, Nancy Hutchison

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to analyze highly effective math teachers in a middle school in Tennessee and describe the methodologies utilized in their middle grades classrooms. This case study was an instrumental single case study within a bounded system. Effective math teachers employ certain methodologies consistently in their classrooms that can be utilized by other teachers to help students achieve academic success. Tennessee's First to the Top Act (2010) requires using teacher effect data to comprise 35% of teachers' retention/dismissal evaluation scores and requires a concentrated focus on seventh grade mathematics instruction. Questionnaires, interviews with math teachers …

Enhancing Content Knowledge Of In-Service Science Teachers Through Model And Modeling, Naheed Perveen, Sadia Muzzafar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The guiding question for this paper is; how does model and modeling enable student-teachers to develop a conceptual understanding of the cell as a structural and functional unit of living things? A teaching unit ‘The Cell’ was designed in view that models are a major teaching and learning tool for developing scientific thinking, whereas modeling means a process of forming representation. The teaching and learning strategies reported here encapsulated four modeling phases. Firstly, student-teachers modeled historical development of cell through a time line and role play and discussed the evolutionary and tentative nature of science. Secondly, the candy factory analogy …

Teacher Certification And Student Achievement, Patricia Lewis Moss

Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to determine if there is a significant difference between the achievement of students who are taught by traditionally prepared teachers and that of students who are taught by alternatively prepared teachers. The study further addressed the perspectives of both groups of teachers regarding selected dimensions of teaching.

The findings indicated that, overall, no significant difference existed in student achievement on MCT2 math scores for teachers who were alternatively prepared or traditionally prepared. However, there were significant differences in student achievement in grades 6 and 7 when examined by teacher preparation type. There was …

Effective Science Teaching In A High Poverty Middle School, Georgette Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative case study described the characteristics of science teachers in a high poverty urban middle school whose 2010 scores on South Carolina's Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) ranked second in the state. Data was obtained through classroom observations, open-ended interviews, school documents, and photographs taken inside the school from ten participants, who were seven science teachers, a science coach, and two administrators. Findings revealed a school culture that pursued warm and caring relationships with students while communicating high expectations for achievement, strong central leadership who communicated their vision and continuously checked for its implementation through informal conversations, frequent …

Umass Boston Anthropology Outreach, Claire L. Gold

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The program serves as a science enrichment program for the Boston area K-12 public schools where science teachers are provided with fossil casts of early human ancestors and the expertise of UMass Boston faculty. The program helps students further their understanding of biological evolution and the program was free to13 prequalified Boston area schools.

The Relationship Between Teacher Absenteeism And Fourth-Grade Student Mathematical Achievement, Charles Michael Brouillette

Doctoral Dissertations

Within public schools throughout the United States, an emphasis has been placed on improving education for all students. In turn, this has resulted in legislators and policymakers placing an emphasis on assessing student learning and holding the education community accountable. In this study, the researcher examined one variable in the accountability effort: teacher absenteeism. The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher absenteeism and fourth-grade student mathematical achievement.

Data for this study were generated from nine school districts located in northern Louisiana. Data consisted of attendance records of fourth-grade teachers and student performance on the …

Comparison Of The Effects Block And Traditional Schedules Have On The Number Of Students Who Are Proficient On The Biology End-Of-Course Test In Forty Public High Schools In The State Of North Carolina, Tonia Bonner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the difference between the number of overall students, African-American students, and students with disabilities on a semester 4 x 4 block schedule who were proficient on the North Carolina Biology End-of-Course Test and the number of the same group of students on a traditional 45-50 minute yearlong schedule who were proficient on the NC Biology End-of-Course Test in the state of North Carolina during the 2009-2010 school year. A causal-comparative design was used and three null hypotheses were tested using chi-square analysis. Archival data was used. The results showed that there was a significant association between the …

The Development Of Professional Expertise Through Reflection In The Principalship, Eric Mclaren

Eric McLaren

The study of principals as learners is important because the landscape of public education is changing. Schools are becoming more diverse and the demands on schools more varied and complex. The role of the principal is increasingly ambiguous, complex, and varied. Principals must adapt and develop'their professional practice. Effective principals learn from experience to meet the shifting expectations of the role and the needs of the school. Multiple learning experiences help principals become more proficient in their jobs. Initial certification, induction into the role, continuing professional education, and learning from experiences are means to the development of expertise. This study …

Preparing Students For Careers That Do Not Yet Exist, Glenn W. "Max" Mcgee

Publications & Research

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), as a self-described "teaching and learning laboratory for imagination and inquiry," has a history of pursuing innovations closely aligned with the vision and framework of the National Science Education Standards. Innovations include both methods and materials for inquiry-based student instruction as well as for delivering professional development for pre-service and practicing teachers. Instructional innovations described include yearlong student inquiry and research projects (SIR), self-paced physics instruction, student-driven energy and engineering projects, instruction in innovation and entrepreneurialism, and a host of student-led outreach activities to "ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds of students …