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Science and Mathematics Education Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Science and Mathematics Education

Elements: Elementary Teachers Of Science – Building Collaborations Between Content And Pedagogy Communities, Krista Adams, Jenny Melander Nov 2013

Elements: Elementary Teachers Of Science – Building Collaborations Between Content And Pedagogy Communities, Krista Adams, Jenny Melander

DBER Speaker Series

The current UNL elementary teaching program does not include a science methods practicum in which pre‐service elementary teachers could observe and teach reformed based science lessons in the classroom setting. The science methods course was modified during Spring 2013 to address this missing component. The exploratory course engages pre‐service teachers in designing and implementing a science unit (a series of lessons) to be taught as a science club in an after school program for K – 5th grade students. In Fall 2013, the course experiences expanded to include collaborating with biomedical engineering students in connecting real‐world applications to teaching science. …


Educating Highly‐Qualified Science Teachers, Elizabeth Lewis, Aaron A. Musson, Jia Lu Nov 2013

Educating Highly‐Qualified Science Teachers, Elizabeth Lewis, Aaron A. Musson, Jia Lu

DBER Speaker Series

Understanding what makes a highly‐qualified science teacher requires careful research on teacher education programs. Existing research pertaining to secondary science preservice teachers (PSTs) is limited in the areas of: (a) mastery of subject matter knowledge; (b) evolving teaching selfefficacy, and (c) inquiry‐based enacted curricular practices. We studied each issue over the course of an intensive, 14‐month, graduate teacher certification program for practicing scientists and recent science graduates. First, we asked if there was a relationship between amount of content area undergraduate coursework and performance (GPA in core content courses) and found an expected, yet preliminary, connection between higher undergraduate GPA …


An Examination Of How Women And Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Minorities Experience Barriers In Biomedical Research And Medical Programs, Devasmita Chakraverty Oct 2013

An Examination Of How Women And Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Minorities Experience Barriers In Biomedical Research And Medical Programs, Devasmita Chakraverty

DBER Speaker Series

Women in medicine and biomedical research often face challenges to their retention, promotion, and advancement to leadership positions (McPhillips et al., 2007); they take longer to advance their careers, tend to serve at less research‐intensive institutions and have shorter tenures compared to their male colleagues (White, McDade, Yamagata, & Morahan, 2012). Additionally, Blacks and Hispanics are the two largest minority groups that are vastly underrepresented in medicine and biomedical research in the United States (AAMC, 2012; NSF, 2011). The purpose of this study is to examine specific barriers reported by students and post‐degree professionals in the field through the following …


Question Order Effects On A General Chemistry Concept Inventory, Travis Lund Oct 2013

Question Order Effects On A General Chemistry Concept Inventory, Travis Lund

DBER Speaker Series

During the development of a general chemistry concept survey, interviews demonstrated that students used distinctly different problem‐solving strategies to answer two survey questions, one verbally‐based and one pictorially‐based, despite the fact that the questions were both designed to test the same concept of strong versus weak acids. Alternate versions of the concept survey were administered, with the order of the pictorial and verbal questions reversed. A significant ordering effect was observed in the questions of interest, and the incorrect answer choices that became better or worse distractors were identified. Current findings, future directions, and practical implications for instructors and researchers …


Creating Interdisciplinary Collaborations To Support And Understand Mathematics Teaching And Learning, Ruth Heaton, Wendy M. Smith, Traci Kutaka Sep 2013

Creating Interdisciplinary Collaborations To Support And Understand Mathematics Teaching And Learning, Ruth Heaton, Wendy M. Smith, Traci Kutaka

DBER Speaker Series

Teaching mathematics is a complex endeavor and requires a deep understanding of content and pedagogy. Helping teachers learn what they need to know requires the expertise of disciplinary area faculty as well as those with pedagogical expertise. Similarly, understanding the learning of teachers or their students requires complex analyses of messy data by teams of researchers representing differing but complementary perspectives. Cases describing the nature and process of interdisciplinary teaching and research collaborations in mathematics education will be presented and analyzed for lessons learned.


Transformations In Matter And Energy: Student Learning And Inquiry To Inform Teaching, Jenny Dauer Sep 2013

Transformations In Matter And Energy: Student Learning And Inquiry To Inform Teaching, Jenny Dauer

DBER Speaker Series

Learning progressions are descriptions of increasing levels of sophistication of student reasoning about a topic based on empirical evidence. Our learning progression framework about student explanations of carbon-transforming processes (e.g. photosynthesis, cellular respiration) describes how student’s interconnected and mutually supporting ideas and practices are deeply embedded in discourse at all levels of achievement. My research is in two areas: 1) applying the learning progression framework for student explanations of carbon-transforming processes to describe the most productive pathways for student learning, 2) extending the research to student reasoning during inquiry activities about carbon-transforming processes. One finding is that students who consistently …