Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

The Underrepresentation Of Black Females In Cybersecurity, Makendra Latrice Crosby

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The significance of cybersecurity methods, strategies, and programs in protecting computers and electronic devices is crucial throughout the technological infrastructure. Despite the considerable growth in the cybersecurity field and its expansive workforce, there exists a notable underrepresentation, specifically among Black/African American females. This study examines the barriers hindering the inclusion of Black women in the cybersecurity workforce such as socioeconomic factors, limited educational access, biases, and workplace culture. The urgency of addressing these challenges calls for solutions such as education programs, mentorship initiatives, creating inclusive workplace environments, and promoting advocacy and increased awareness within the cybersecurity field. Additionally, this paper …

Determining The Difficulty And Discrimination Parameters Of A Mathematics Performance-Based Assessment, Abraham Gyamfi, Douglas G. Wren

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

Performance-based assessment (PBA) is different from traditional testing methods in that PBA presents real-life problems for students to solve by integrating critical thinking with their content knowledge and skills. Implementing PBA regularly in mathematics classes is associated with improved student achievement and motivation to learn; however, there are concerns about the general lack of psychometric data to support the use of performance assessments. To address such concerns, this study applied item response theory to estimate the difficulty and discrimination indices of items that comprised a newly developed mathematics PBA. Data were collected by administering the PBA to 750 senior high …

Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Virginia Computer Science Standards Of Learning: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study, Valerie Sledd Taylor

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Computer science education is being recognized globally as necessary to better prepare students in all grade levels, K-12, for future success. As a result of this focus on computer science education in the United States and around the world, there is an increased demand for highly qualified teachers with content and pedagogical knowledge to successfully support student learning. As a result, there is a call to include and improve the computer science training offered to pre-service teachers in their educator preparation programs from methods courses to practicum and student teaching experiences. Thus, it is important to understand how pre-service teachers …

Using Self-Based Methodologies To Unpack Mathematics Teacher Educators' Work, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, Signe E. Kastberg, Melva R. Grant, Jennifer Ward, Sue Ellen Richardson, Olive Chapman

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Narrative inquiry, self-study, and autoethnography (i.e., self-based methodologies) are methodologies used by mathematics teacher educators (MTEs). These methodologies have opened up the field by unpacking and unearthing MTEs' work communicating findings from their practices. Building from our previous working groups at PME-NA 2018-2020, we sustain a community where MTEs can feel supported in their study design, implementation, representation of findings, and publication using self-based methodologies. At PME-NA Philadelphia, we will continue our work at PME-NA Mexico on self-based methodologies to develop perspectives on philosophical underpinnings of self-based methodologies and addressing trustworthiness and authenticity in our reports.

Mathematics Teacher Educators Using Self-Based Methodologies, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, Jennifer Ward, Sue Ellen Richardson, Melva R. Grant, Dana Cox, Signe E. Kastberg, Olive Chapman

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Narrative inquiry, self-study, and autoethnography (i.e., self-based methodologies) are becoming a more common choice of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs). This has opened new possibilities and challenges for early career MTEs as they try to disseminate their findings in mathematics education journals. Building from our working group at PME-NA 2018 and 2019, we respond to the need for creating a community where MTEs can feel supported in their study design, implementation, representation of findings, and publication using self-based methodologies. This year, we continue our focus on mentoring and scholarship on self-based methodologies. We invite English- and Spanish-speaking MTEs with research projects …

Mathematics Teacher Educators' Exploring Self-Based Methodologies, Elizabeth Elizabeth, Signe E. Kastberg, Dana Cox, Jennifer Ward, Olive Chapman, Melva R. Grant

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Historically underused methodologies in mathematics teacher education such as narrative inquiry, self-study, and autoethnography (i.e., self-based methodologies) are becoming a more frequent choice of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs). This has opened new challenges for MTEs as they try to disseminate their findings in mathematics education journals. Building from our working group at PME-NA 2018, we respond to the need for creating spaces (communities) where MTEs can feel supported in their study design, implementation, representation of findings, and publication using self-based methodologies. This year, we shift our focus from discussion to mentoring and scholarship on self-based methodologies. We invite MTEs with …

Combining Different Motivation And Cognitive Supports In Undergraduate Biology In Different Contexts: Lessons Learned, Avi Kaplan, Jennifer G. Cromley, Tony Perez, Ting Dai, Kyle R. Mara, Michael Balsai

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Researchers acknowledge that students’ learning and achievement requires both effective cognition and the motivation to apply it. In addition, both cognition and motivation are multidimensional, each involving different processes that may be less or more salient in different contexts. However, most basic research and intervention studies focus on either cognition OR motivation, and commonly only target a single process. We designed an intervention to investigate the role of different combinations of cognitive and motivational supports in first-year undergraduate introductory biology courses. We sought an online delivery approach with minimal burden on the instructor that can accompany any such course. Building …

Factors Contributing To Student Retention In Online Learning And Recommended Strategies For Improvement: A Systematic Literature Review, Pauline S. Muljana, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

This systematic literature review investigates the underlying factors that influence the gap between the popularity of online learning and its completion rate. The review scope within this paper includes an observation of possible causal aspects within the non-ideal completion rates in online learning environments and an identification of recommended strategies to increase retention rates.

Background

While online learning is increasingly popular, and the number of online students is steadily growing, student retention rates are significantly lower than those in the traditional environment. Despite the multitude of studies, many institutions are still searching for solutions for this matter.

Methodology

A …

Mobile Learning And Cognition, Helen Crompton, Diane Burke

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The rise of mobile learning in schools during the past decade has led to promises about its power to extend and enhance student cognitive development – for example, by providing greater pedagogical opportunities for students (Mifsud, 2014). However, others claim that mobile devices are most often used to support traditional pedagogical approaches whereby students only passively consume content (Cochrane & Antonczak, 2014; Frohberg, Goth & Schwabe, 2009; Rushby, 2012). As schools invest resources in providing students with opportunities to use mobile devices as tools for learning, it is important to critically examine their use in practice.

Measuring Presence: A Review Of Research Using The Community Of Inquiry Instrument, Ana E. Redstone, Jill E. Stefaniak, Tian Luo

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

This systematic review provides a summary of studies on teaching, social, and cognitive presences in the community of inquiry (CoI) model using the CoI instrument in a higher education setting since its development in 2008 by Arbaugh et al. A total of 24 peer-reviewed studies on the CoI instrument from 2008–2017 were selected and analyzed explore the types of research on the instrument in higher education settings have been published, ways the instrument has been used for learning and teaching, and the implications the instrument poses for online instructors and instructional designers. It is organized into 4 themes: testing the …

Using Mobile Learning To Supports Students' Understanding In Geometry: A Design-Based Research Study, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The use of mobile learning offers new affordances to teaching and learning. In this study, students from two fourth grade classes used iPads in dyads and groups to learn about angle. Using a design-based research methodology, which included observations, video, researcher journals, and artefact collection, a local instruction theory was developed on how students can learn about angle concepts through mobile learning activities. The local instruction theory is comprised of two components: (a) a seven lesson curriculum for 4th grade students on developing an early understanding of angle utilizing a mobile learning approach, and (b) additions to the scholarly theories, …

Faculty Employment Status And Student Characteristics As Predictors Of Student Success In Modularized Developmental Mathematics, Leonda Williams Keniston

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Approximately two-thirds of incoming community college students are considered academically unprepared for college-level work and lack adequate literacy and mathematical skills needed to learn at the postsecondary level. To address these realities, individual community colleges and state-wide systems have responded by redesigning developmental curricula and course structures into modularized programs that accelerate student progression through developmental sequences. Simultaneously, community colleges are hiring more adjunct faculty to meet the ever-growing demand to educate students in these programs.

Data were collected for a study of the Virginia Community College System 2012 developmental math redesign to primarily examine the effects of adjunct faculty …

Obstacles To Developing Digital Literacy On The Internet In Middle School Science Instruction, Jamie Colwell, Sarah Hunt-Barron, David Reinking

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Obstacles, and instructional responses to them, that emerged in two middle school science classes during a formative experiment investigating Internet Reciprocal Teaching (IRT), an instructional intervention aimed at increasing digital literacy on the Internet, are reported in this manuscript. Analysis of qualitative data revealed that IRT enabled students to explain and demonstrate appropriate strategies for locating and evaluating information on the Internet when they were asked to do so. However, students did not use these strategies or they quickly abandoned them when working independently or in small groups during inquiry projects. Data revealed three obstacles that inhibited efforts to promote …

A Program Evaluation Of Supplemental Instruction For Developmental Mathematics At A Community College In Virginia, Marilyn Lawson Peacock

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

With the current emphasis on accountability and the importance of math skills in our present economy, the success of developmental mathematics students at community colleges is critical. How to improve the success of these developmental students has become the impetus for many educational initiatives. One educational innovation in tutoring, called supplemental instruction, has been successfully applied to high-risk courses which are defined to have a failure rate in excess of 30%. Mid-Atlantic Community College, in its Title III grant which seeks to improve the success of developmental students, selected supplemental instruction as its initiative. This program evaluation investigated the effects …

Investigating The Relationship Between High School Technology Education And Test Scores For Algebra 1 And Geometry, Richard R. Dyer, Philip A. Reed, Robert Q. Berry

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The standards-based reform movement in education that began in the 1980s has evolved. In the 1990s, the focus was on producing subject-area content standards and modifying instruction. Today, the focus has shifted to assessment, and for technology education, demonstrating the impact on children and the efficacy of the discipline within general education. The purpose of this study was to compare the Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course mathematics performance of high school students who completed courses in illustration and design technology to students who have not completed an illustration and design technology course. The following research questions were developed for this …

What Do We Value? Research On Technology Education Problems, Issues, And Standards In The United States, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Technology education has seen significant changes since the early 1990's. The paradigm shift from industrial arts has been widely received. Communication tools have merged the global community and standards have helped unify content. While many of these changes have been positive, there are compelling calls for research to support technology education practice. How are we addressing this need? More importantly, is the research we are conducting adding value to technology education practice? This study presents a review and synthesis of published research, as well as graduate research, to address these questions. Specifically, research that has addressed recognized problems and issues …