Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

A Survey Of Elementary Educators' Self-Efficacy Related To Stem Education, Elizabeth Mckenzie Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

While the call for STEM and engineering design has increased since the release of the Next Generation Science Standards, the implementation of STEM in elementary grades has been slow. A variety of factors play a role in why educators, schools, or districts make the informed decisions they do regarding curriculum and instruction. Identifying strengths and challenges elementary educators face in implementing STEM into the curriculum can guide schools and districts in creating supports for increasing STEM in the elementary grades. This study sought to create and test a survey instrument for use with elementary educators in a large urban district …

The Efficacy Of Educational Robotics In An Integrated Stem Elementary Curriculum, Colleen Marie Cannon-Ruffo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

While there has never been a greater demand for STEM education, the U.S. is still struggling to define and implement this type of instruction. Identifying innovative and effective ways of improving STEM education in the K-12 environment is vital to the U.S. to remain economically viable on a global level. The multidisciplinary aspect of educational robotics facilitates an integrated approach to STEM learning which espouses the educational theories of Constructionism and Computational Thinking. The purpose of this study was to compare the cognitive and affective out-comes of participation in an integrated STEM curriculum based on educational robotics. The integrated STEM …

A Case Study Of A Stem Specialist Co-Teaching Model, Kristen Lynn Witt

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This research is focused on elementary science teaching and learning with support of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) specialist because science tends to be nearly absent from self-contained classrooms in the primary grades. Research has established STEM education needs to increase, however, a key question for researchers remains who should teach science and how we can improve teacher efficacy for science education. The purpose of this study is to discover the impacts of a STEM specialist’s role on an elementary school’s daily science instruction. “Impact” refers to teachers, administrators, and student’s value in science education, teacher’s confidence in …

Dominant And Critical Mathematics: A Multi-Case Study Examining Mathematics Teachers’ Equitable Teaching Practices, Laura Zamudio

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the field of mathematics education, it is common for studies to use test scores to examine racial and socio-economic achievement gaps. The results of such studies have influenced mathematics teachers to address issues of equitable access and achievement as part of closing existing gaps (Gutiérrez & Ezekiel Dixon-Román, 2011). However, closing achievement gaps does not mean that equity has been addressed if marginalized students continue to express a cultural disconnect from the field of mathematics (Lubienski & Gutiérrez, 2008).

This qualitative multi-case study seeks to attend to these issues by exploring the understandings of equity and equitable teaching practices …

Context Is Critical: K-5th Grade Three-Act Math Tasks, Lindsey Herlehy

Publications & Research

Mathematicians view mathematics within interesting and natural contexts. In this session, participants will engage and explore Three-Act Math Tasks; a story-telling pedagogical strategy that elicits student curiosity, collaboration, and questioning while redefining the term “real-world context” and the role that students play in the learning process. Resources will be provided