Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

The Effect Of An Historical Geology Course On Students’ Attitudes Towards Science And Their Knowledge Of Deep Time As A Threshold To Their Knowledge Of Evolution, Allan Nolan

Dissertations

In America there exists a conflict between a small group of its citizens and the concept of evolution. Researchers have studied this conflict and the ways in which teachers might approach educational methodologies that not only address evolution in a sensitive manner, but also remain legally acceptable.

This research was designed to address teaching evolution in the context of deep time – the concept that time is vast and that geology and biology operate in a timescale of hundreds of millions to billions of years. In previous peer-reviewed works, it has been stated that deep time acts as a threshold …

Tangible Teaching: The Effect Of Physical Modeling On Community College Students’ Understanding Of Conservation Of Matter, Erick T. Moffett

Dissertations

Students’ weak understanding of conservation of matter is well documented; however, there is a paucity of research that provides science educators with actual examples of empirically proven curricula employing physical modeling that can be used in the chemistry classroom to teach this fundamental concept. An intervention (three sequential physical modeling activities) was developed and evaluated. The intervention was administered to two sections of a General Chemistry I course at a community college in the southeastern United States, and pre-test/post-test data using a published instrument were collected to evaluate the physical model’s effectiveness in developing students’ understanding of conservation of matter …

A Study Of The Teaching Beliefs Of Globe Teachers, Laila Ali

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the teaching beliefs of GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) teachers, and to analyze their pedagogical practices. This study contributes to bridging the gap between our understanding of teachers’ beliefs of teaching science with inquiry and practicing science in class with inquiry. A descriptive research approach was used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data was collected from seventy-two trained GLOBE teachers across the U.S. using Qualtrics.com.

Quantitatively, the pedagogical beliefs of GLOBE teachers were measured using the Beliefs about Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL) questionnaire. Differences between …