Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Steps For Starting A Professional Learning Community (Plc): A Literature Review, John T. Sutton

PROSPECT S-STEM

There are a number of steps that can influence and inform the creation, development, and growth of a professional learning community (PLC). It isn’t necessary to use a lock-step approach, rather it is cyclical and evolving. The steps take into consideration and accommodates the context of the institution and the need to improve for a variety of reasons. The steps allow for quick wins and changes that require significant time, research, and resolution. Always with a plan that reflects member and institutional priorities. It is hoped that by identifying what has been consistently identified as important steps to the success …

The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 55, Fall 2023), Elizabeth Joyce Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

Magazine created by and about the WKU Center for Gifted Studies.

Imagination To Innovation: Design Thinking For Young Learners, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Publications & Research

Design thinking is the intersection of engineering design and social-emotional learning. Today’s learners must be empathetic problem solvers capable of defining problems and designing appropriate solutions to meet the needs of the user. In this session, participants will experience design thinking through literature-based scenarios appropriate for early learners. They will analyze and compare their own models to those of others and compose a lesson that will engage students in the design thinking process.

Noticing Instructional Challenges In Artifacts Of Teaching, Tara Barnhart, Elizabeth Van Es

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study investigates challenges of enactment teachers notice when analyzing artifacts of teaching in a professional development focused on supporting the enactment of NGSS-aligned modeling instruction. Five secondary science teachers participated in a semester-long video club. Transcripts of the segments of their meetings in which they analyzed artifacts of practice were coded to characterize what they noticed in videos and student work samples from their own and others’ classrooms of students engaging in sensemaking. Through an inductive and iterative approach, three main linguistic challenges were identified related to the teachers’ noticing of students’ disciplinary thinking: learning how to communicate with …

Systems Thinking Applied To Higher Education Curricula Development, Reza Rahdar, Mark London, Yuetong Lin, Hong Jiang

Publications

Systems Thinking (ST) is a general and yet nebulous term that describes an approach to understanding and working with complexity in the real world. ST seeks to evaluate different behaviors of individual system elements when they operate in isolation as opposed to when they are integrated as part of a larger system and placed within a particular operating environment. The education environment consists of multiple systems with different digital content, learning goals/outcomes that serve different stakeholders including teachers, learners, and administrators. The inherent complexity and interaction among these various educational system elements and functions make this environment a worthy candidate …

Comparing Time Allocation For Teaching Science As Inquiry In Two Educator Preparation Science Methods Courses, Lori A. Dira

Faculty Journal Articles

How much time an institution allocates to content can indicate its overall importance and intended value to the educator preparation program. For decades there have been calls to integrate more authentic science inquiry experiences into not only undergraduate elementary science courses, but into all elementary educator preparation courses. Many elementary educators do not receive training on effective methods for teaching science, they will not feel comfortable and will likely have low self-efficacy. This study investigated the amount of time allocated to teaching science as inquiry and the knowledge participants had prior to and after taking an elementary teaching science methods …

The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 54, Summer 2023), Elizabeth Joyce Editor, Western Kentucky University

Gifted Studies Publications

Magazine created by and about the WKU Center for Gifted Studies.

Learning To Teach Prospective Elementary Teachers: A Narrative Inquiry Of A Newer Mathematics Content Instructor, Kelsey Quaisley

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Learning to teach mathematics content courses designed for prospective elementary teachers (PTs) is challenging. Mathematics content instructors must be prepared to not only teach mathematics content, but engage PTs in understanding children’s mathematical thinking strategies, learning trajectories, and misconceptions (Carpenter et al., 1996; Carpenter & Moser, 1982; I et al., 2020). When considering how instructors might best be prepared and supported, however, one must recognize that there is significant variation in the backgrounds and expertise of mathematics content instructors (Masingila et al., 2012; Yow et al., 2016) and little is known about the preparation, knowledge, and experiences of mathematics content …

The Impact An Inquiry-Based Learning Professional Development Has On Science And Agricultural Teachers' Intent To Use Animal Science Concepts As A Context For Teaching Science, Kasey Harmon

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

There is an emerging need for Tennessee and Nebraska high school students to increase their science proficiency. It is important that students are science literate to equip them with basic science skills needed for the workforce. Science literacy enables students to problem solve efficiently, appropriately assess societal issues, and make informed decisions. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a teaching strategy that has been shown to positively impact students’ ability to critically think and make informed decisions. Since IBL and agricultural education are centered around experiential learning, combining them gives students the opportunity to learn science in a real-world context. However, previous …

Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Native American Science Teachers Of The Great Plains: A Narrative Inquiry, Uma Ganesan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The complicated history of the education of Native American children through U.S. government-sponsored practices has led to the elimination of the Native children’s sense of Indian identity, culture, and language (Noel, 2002). In addition, increased emphasis on standardization and high-stakes accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has resulted in less culturally responsive educational efforts and more Indigenous students left behind in school systems (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008). This has led to Indigenous students being underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields where they account for only 3% of STEM workers (Fry, Kennedy, & Funk, …

Multiple Case Study Of Science And Engineering Integration In Secondary School Across Six School Districts, Elizabeth Hasseler, Elizabeth B. Lewis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

A multiple case study was conducted to investigate six districts’ approaches to integrating science and engineering curricula in their secondary education programs. Data collected included classroom observations, interviews with teachers and administrators, college transcripts, professional development, and curriculum, as well as how, and how district personnel supported, and teachers enacted classroom instruction to align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Six districts were chosen due to their ranges in their size, urban or rural context, and demographics. There were 25 participants in the study who were either district personnel or secondary teachers. All school districts in the study incorporated …

Teachers’ Contexts, Their Instruction And Math Achievement: Evidence From The 2018 Talis-Pisa Link Data, Meredith L. Wronowski, Xiaoyuan Chen

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

This study uses secondary data analysis of the 2018 TALIS-PISA link data combined with content analysis of policy and media artifacts to describe the relationship between teacher professionalization and working climate, self-efficacy, instruction, and mathematics achievement. In preliminary SEM models we identify three types of classroom instruction, Instruction Focused, Management Focused, and Comprehensive, based on a latent profile analysis of frequency of teacher behaviors. We also find that professionalization and working climate significantly predict teacher self-efficacy and instruction, but that instruction does not predict achievement when including school covariates. We also describe key differences in professionalization, climate, and math achievement …

Introduction To A Universal Performance Improvement Method (Chigen-Iku), Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

This brief article introduces a universal performance improvement method called Chigen-iku, which has been developed carefully and extensively over more than 25 years through more than 100 individual and group projects based on the principles that were selected through my doctorial study in the field of Instructional Psychology and Technology.

Integrating Virtual Reality Into The Asynchronous Learning Environment, Cheri Marcham, Dave D.C. Delcastillo, David Thirtyacre, Brian Sanders

Publications

• 4 presentations
• Covers a spectrum of subject matter
• Real to virtual and virtual to real
• Want to highlight
• What the goal was
• How it was integrated into effective learning experiences

Comparison Of Rural And Urban High School Science And Engineering Integration In Two School Districts, Elizabeth Hasseler, Elizabeth B. Lewis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

A comparative case study was conducted in an urban and rural district, focusing on how science and engineering were integrated into the high school programs. This led to the recommendation for districts to provide collaboration and mentorship opportunities that support teachers integrating engineering into their classrooms.

Session presider: Omah Williams-Duncan

Advisor: Beth Lewis

Committee members: Gwen Nugent, Justin Olmanson, Heidi Diefes-Dux

Creating A Context For Graduate Student Learning Through Constructivist Inquiry: Introduction To Academia As Learning Through Play, Lindsay M. Keazer

Education Faculty Publications

In this article, I explore the impact of receiving mentorship into research and theory of the field that was guided by a social constructivist learning lens. I reflect on the ways that my conception of research and research agenda were framed subconsciously by early experiences investigating my secondary mathematics teaching practice under the mentorship of Dr. Terry Wood. Terry mentored through listening, posing questions, creating cognitive conflict, and encouraging my autonomous exploration. What stood out from this process are the parallels between her words about constructivism, applied to the elementary mathematics classroom, and her ways of mentoring me into the …

Preservice Elementary Teachers Conceptions And Self-Efficacy For Integrated Stem, Deepika Menon, Deef A. A. Shorman, Derek Cox, Amanda Thomas

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Educational reform efforts have emphasized preparing highly competent and confident preservice teachers to deliver effective K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) instruction. Self-efficacy is a key variable that influences motivation and performance, and therefore it is necessary to support the development of preservice teachers’ integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy. This mixed-methods study investigates how preservice elementary teachers’ integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy is shaped during their participation in a newly redesigned STEM semester consisting of three concurrent methods courses (science and engineering, mathematics, and technology methods courses). The quantitative data sources included the Self-efficacy for Teaching Integrated STEM instrument administered as …

Prompt Literacy: A Pivotal Educational Skill In The Age Of Ai, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon A. Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Prompt literacy signifies a major leap in education, offering a potent tool to interact with generative AI systems. As an emerging necessity in the 21st century and beyond, it encompasses the formulation, interpretation, and analysis of AI prompts. Poised to be foundational for all future generations, this discourse brings to light its emergence in parallel with generative AI and its transformative role in pedagogical contexts for the coming decades and beyond.

Prompt Literacy For Stem Educators. Enhance Your Teaching And Learning With Generative Ai, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon Edwards, Alexandra Gearty

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Understanding Prompt Literacy and Its Role in STEM Education

● Workshop focuses on prompt literacy, a pivotal skill for educators in the digital age.

● Discuss fundamentals of prompt crafting, interpret and critique AI prompts

● Hands-on activities for prompt crafting, using CAST model

● Workshop participant backgrounds include:

• Edtech, speech-language, GenEd, Special Ed, Inclusion, AP Language, English, Business, World Languages, STEM Education, and more, across various grade levels

The Impact Of The Cuny Algebra For All Program On Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices About Teaching And Learning Mathematics, Celia C. Cruz, Rabab Abi-Hanna

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Framing Of Mathematical Discussions After Problem-Solving Through Mursion™ Simulation, Sezai Kocabas, Melva Grant, Signe Kastberg, Hanan Alyami

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Research on pre-service teachers' discussion practices has focused on decompositions of practice into subskills, while acknowledging the importance of the role of context, identity, and relationships between interactive moves. We focused on 66 elementary preservice teachers' (PSTs') framing-launching moves in discussions after problem-solving in a MursionTM custom simulation. PSTs used five moves: gathering information about student processes, focusing on problem features, task and non-task oriented social interactions, and partner talk. Empirical findings of PSTs' intentions and tacit actions coupled with study findings of the diversity in PSTs' framing moves, highlight the complexity of teacher decision making involved in discussion subsills …