Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Integration Of Fifth Grade Math And Science Curriculum, Accompanied By Increased Parental Involvement, Produces Higher Virginia Test Scores., Kathy Diane Perkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Educational Society, through much research and testing, discovered that American students are not performing as well on the academic level as their counterparts. As a nation the math and science scores fell behind other tested disciplines. The Virginia Department of Math and Science Report Card scores confirm that students are struggling in these areas.

As a resolution to correct this problem a proposal for the integration of fifth grade math and science curriculum accompanied by increased parental involvement was devised. The program involved thirteen elementary students and their parents. Pretesting, math and science labs, worksheets, posttesting, and a …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2007, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V03n3, Autumn 2007, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--Iowa Science Teachers Section Fall Conference

--Myrle Burk Scholarship Winners

--Project WET Update

--Academy Awards

--Opportunities for Learning

--ISTS Fall Conference Workshops

--Increasing Academy Membership and Recognition Across the State

--Financial Statement

Impact Of New Science And Engineering Graduates On Intrastate Labor Markets, Philip A. Trostel

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

A major policy issue confronting states is the level of state support to higher education. A crucial question in this policy debate is whether a state's production of college graduates has a proportionate effect on the level of college attainment in the state. Although it is widely accepted that rising college attainment leads to rising prosperity, there is widespread concern that many new college graduates will take their state-supported degrees to labor markets in other states. The belief that state support to higher education subsidizes the workforce development of other states undermines states' incentives to promote wider access to higher …

Motivation And Performance In Computer Science: Test Of An Integrative Theory, Katherine A. Selgrade

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design and empirically test a parsimonious integrative motivation theory. The theory integrates aspects of expectancy theory, social cognitive theory, goal-setting theory, and commitment theory. The theory was tested with 170 undergraduate, students in an introductory computer science (CS) course.

The study tested relationships among the following variables: CS self-efficacy, mathematics ability, affective commitment to the CS class, goal orientation, effort, and performance. The study also tested the interactive effects of effort and ability on performance. Structural equation modeling was used to test the measurement model and a series of nested structural models. Findings …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2007, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V03n2, Spring 2007, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--Election Information

--Financial Statement

--IJAS Represented at American Junior Academy of Science

--Expedition Iowa Update

--Gifts Received 2006

--Schutte Receives National Biology Teaching Award

Does Increasing Biology Teacher Knowledge Of Evolution And The Nature Of Science Lead To Greater Advocacy For The Teaching Of Evolution In Schools?, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

This study investigated whether or not an increase in secondary science teacher knowledge about evolution and the nature of science gained from completing a graduate-level evolution course was associated with greater preference for the teaching of evolution in schools. Forty-four precertified secondary biology teachers participated in a 14-week intervention designed to address documented misconceptions identified by a precourse instrument. The course produced statistically significant gains in teacher knowledge of evolution and the nature of science and a significant decrease in misconceptions about evolution and natural selection. Nevertheless, teachers' postcourse preference positions remained unchanged; the majority of science teachers still preferred …

Toward Common Nomenclature And Definitions For Natural Science Professional Collections-Related Positions, Paisley S. Cato, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Programs Information

Analysis of recent literature and experience with professional positions in several institutions provided the basis for proposing a basic grouping of titles for positions relating to the natural sciences collections profession. Six groups ore proposed with recommendations for education, experience, knowledge, and skills to support the key responsibilities of the positions. Discussions and critiques of these groupings ore anticipated to refine and ultimately result in a standardized nomenclature for natural science collections-related positions.

Facilitating Identity Formation, Group Membership, And Learning In Science Classrooms: What Can Be Learned From Out Of Field Teaching In An Urban School, Stacy Olitsky

Stacy Olitsky

This paper explores both the obstacles and the possibilities for students developing identities associated with science by engaging in solidarity-building classroom interactions. Data come from ethnographic research conducted in a diverse eighth-grade urban magnet school classroom in which the teacher taught out of field for part of the year. Contrary to expectations, more students participated and reported enjoying science when the teacher was out of field. Analysis of classroom interactions indicated that while in field, the teacher primarily engaged in “front stage” performances that hid her struggles with the material and accentuated students’ views of science as an elite status …

Promoting Student Engagement In Science: Interaction Rituals And The Pursuit Of A Community Of Practice, Stacy Olitsky

Stacy Olitsky

This study explores the relationship between interaction rituals, student engagement with science, and learning environments modeled on communities of practice based on an ethnographic study of an eighth grade urban magnet school classroom. It compares three interactional events in order to examine the classroom conditions and teacher practices that can foster successful interaction rituals (IRs), which are characterized by high levels of emotional energy, feelings of group membership, and sustained interest in the subject. Classroom conditions surrounding the emergence of successful IRs included mutual focus, familiar symbols and activity structures, the permissibility of some side-talk, and opportunities for physical and …

Identity, Interaction Ritual, And Students' Strategic Use Of Science Language, Stacy Olitsky

Stacy Olitsky

An important part of learning science is formulating ideas, debating explanations, and talking about science with others. Yet students may still avoid “talking science” in class even if they are familiar with the content knowledge. Drawing on data from an ethnographic study of an eighth-grade urban science classroom, I argue that students’ expressions of knowledge in science class can be considered a strategic move, or a choice, aimed at supporting identity claims and increasing the likelihood of engaging in successful interaction rituals characterized by entrainment and solidarity. The results of this study suggest that a student’s knowledge of the subject …

Learning From People, Things, And Signs, Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Starting from the observation that small children can count more objects than numbers—a phenomenon that I am calling the “lifeworld dependency of cognition”—and an analysis of finger calculation, the paper shows how learning can be explained as the development of cognitive systems. Parts of those systems are not only an individual's different forms of knowledge and cognitive abilities, but also other people, things, and signs. The paper argues that cognitive systems are first of all semiotic systems since they are dependent on signs and representations as mediators. The two main questions discussed here are how the external world constrains and …

The Complementarity Of A Representational And An Epistemological Function Of Signs In Scientific Activity, Michael H.G. Hoffmann, Wolff-Michael Roth

Michael H.G. Hoffmann

Signs do not only “represent” something for somebody, as Peirce’s definition goes, but also “mediate” relations between us and our world, including ourselves, as has been elaborated by Vygotsky. We call the first the representational function of a sign and the second the epistemological function since in using signs we make distinctions, specify objects and relations, structure our observations, and organize societal and cognitive activity. The goal of this paper is, on the one hand, to develop a model in which both these functions appear as complementary and, on the other, to show that this complementarity is essential for the …

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V03n4, Winter 2007, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--Focus on an Institutional Member

--120th Annual Meeting of the Iowa Academy of Science

--GLOBE Activities for You and YOUR Students

--Committee on Committees and Elections Report to the Iowa Academy of Science Membership

--Financial Statement

--New Member Referral Program Report

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V03n1, Winter 2007, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--New IAS Membership Brochure

--Evolution and Intelligent Design Conference

--REAP-CEP Program Funds Project WET

--National Outstanding New Biology Teacher

--119th Annual Meeting

--Financial Statements 2007

--Expedition Iowa

--A Message from Our President

--IAS Section Update

--Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science Update

--Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award

Weather Factors Influencing Winter Roosts Of American Crows In Central Iowa, Joshua D. Obrecht, Stephen J. Dinsmore

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

We investigated the effects of season and weather on the winter roosting behavior of American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) in central Iowa from January through March 2006. The peak number of birds recorded at a roost in Ames, Story County was 9,000+ in early February, and the number of individuals entering the roost decreased through February and March. Crows tended to enter the roost later in the day as winter neared completion. High wind speed and low light intensity caused individual to enter the roost earlier in the day. Temperature did not affect arrival time of crows. Wind speed, light intensity, …

Editorial Board & Iowa Academy Of Science Officers And Directors

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Cover - Table Of Contents

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

An Inventory Of The Vascular Flora Of Hamilton County, Iowa (2001-2004), Jimmie D. Thompson

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

A botanical survey of the vascular flora of Hamilton County, Iowa was conducted from 2001 to 2004. During this survey 973 taxa (761 native) were encountered. A search of the literature and a survey of Iowa State University's Ada Hayden Herbarium for additional documented specimens added 28 taxa to the flora. This total of 1001 taxa places Hamilton County fourth in vascular plant richness among inventories conducted in Iowa since 1950. A checklist including common names of most taxa, habitat and abundance data for all taxa encountered during the current survey is presented. Information on earlier collections includes source and …

Front Matter

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Narrow Sense Heritability And Additive Genetic Correlations In Alfalfa Subsp. Falcata, Heathcliffe Riday, E. Charles Brummer

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The complex genetics of autotetraploid alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) make additive genetic variance component estimation difficult. Halfsib family variances often are used to estimate additive genetic variances and, by extension, narrow sense heritabilities and additive genetic correlations. These estimates contain a portion of the dominance variance. Using such calculations, in conjunction with parent-offspring covariance estimates, the dominance component can be separated from the additive genetic component. This is rarely done. This study reports average estimates across 30 populations, of both additive and dominance variance component estimates based on between halfsib family variance and parent-offspring covariance for biomass yield, plant height, …

Fall And Winter Food Habits Of Bobcats (Lynx Rufus) In Iowa, Kelcey J. Brockmeyer, William R. Clark

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a widely distributed native felid of North America but nearly disappeared from Iowa due to habitat loss and unregulated harvest that occurred during the century after European settlement. Bobcats are repopulating the state and are now relatively common in southern Iowa. This study was part of a research project to understand the ecology of the species in Iowa's landscape so that conservation plans could be established. We determined food habits by the examination of stomach contents from 100 bobcat carcasses that were accidentally killed in traps, killed by automobiles, or radio-marked individuals found dead during …

Laboratory Abrasion Of Crinoid Columnals And The Provenance Of The Chariton Conglomerate, South-Central Iowa, Justin C. Kraber, Steven H. Emerman, Matt R. Bennett, Lyndon R. Hawkins, Jewell E. Moore, Rebekah Ellenwood, Kristine L. Robson, Adam Finken

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The Chariton Conglomerate is a quartz limestone conglomerate of Pennsylvanian age found in six exposures in southern Iowa and three exposures in northern Missouri. Distinctive features of the exposures in Iowa include quartz granules and rounded crinoid columnals. The objective of this study was to determine whether the quartz clasts could have originated in the crystalline rocks of Minnesota or Wisconsin. The average paleocurrent direction measured in interbedded sandstones was 178° (S.D. = 35 °). The average roundness of 75 crinoid columnals extracted from four exposures in Iowa was 30% (S.D. = 14%), defined as

roundness(%) = (D-d)/D x 100, …

A Classroom Teacher's Reflection On Learning Sustainability, Sandra Wooltorton

Sandra Wooltorton