Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Arts Integration In The Middle School Mathematics Classroom, Cameron Willis

Honors Projects

In this project, we explore the question "How can arts integration techniques be used in the middle school mathematics classroom to heighten student engagement and interest while also developing deeper conceptual understanding?" Through completing a lesson study over incorporating structured improvisation into a simple probability unit, seventh grade students were able to share their thoughts and feelings about using theatre to teach mathematics.

Recognizing Mathematics Students As Creative: Mathematical Creativity As Community-Based And Possibility-Expanding, Meghan Riling

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Although much creativity research has suggested that creativity is influenced by cultural and social factors, these have been minimally explored in the context of mathematics and mathematics learning. This problematically limits who is seen as mathematically creative and who can enter the discipline of mathematics. This paper proposes a framework of creativity that is based in what it means to know or do mathematics and accepts that creativity is something that can be nurtured in all students. Prominent mathematical epistemologies held since the beginning of the twentieth century in the Western mathematics tradition have different implications for promoting creativity in …

An Evolutionary Approach To Crowdsourcing Mathematics Education, Spencer Ward

Honors College

By combining ideas from evolutionary biology, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, this thesis attempts to derive a new kind of crowdsourcing that could better leverage people’s collective creativity. Following a theory of knowledge presented by David Deutsch, it is argued that knowledge develops through evolutionary competition that organically emerges from a creative dialogue of trial and error. It is also argued that this model of knowledge satisfies the properties of Douglas Hofstadter’s strange loops, implying that self-reflection is a core feature of knowledge evolution. This mix of theories then is used to analyze several existing strategies of crowdsourcing and knowledge …

Revealing Luz: Illuminating Our Identities Through Duoethnography, Carrie Diaz Eaton, Luz Marizza Bailey

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Hispanic Americans make up 15% of the current US workforce, but they only account for 7% of the STEM Education workforce [8]. One effective way to reach this population, particularly Latinas, is by providing stories and ethnographic biographies of successful Latinas they can relate to. It is important to note that Latinas have been earning PhDs in STEM disciplines outside of the US much longer than US-born Latinas have been earning them inside. Thus we offer the story of a mathematics educator, from Peru, Dr. Luz Antonia Mendizábal Gálvez de Rodriguez, a girl who was given a chance to be …

Selection Perception: Views On The Theory Of Evolution Among Residents Of Moshi, Tanzania, Robin Waterman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The theory of evolution is a major tenet of biological science and has many practical applications, particularly in agriculture, medicine, and conservation. Nevertheless, there is significant opposition to the theory and its incorporation into school curricula, largely on religious grounds. This disconnect between public opinion and scientific opinion has been studied at length in the US and to some extent in other industrialized nations, but little is known about the issue in other communities around the world. This paper will use the town of Moshi, Tanzania as a case study in community views and knowledge about the theory of evolution. …

Patent Law, Copyright Law, And The Girl Germs Effect, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "Inventors pursue patents and authors receive copyrights.

No special education is required for either endeavor, and nothing

precludes a person from being both an author and an inventor.

Inventors working on patentable industrial projects geared

toward commercial exploitation tend to be scientists or engineers.

Authors, with the exception of those writing computer code, tend

to be educated or trained in the creative arts, such as visual art,

performance art, music, dance, acting, creative writing, film

making, and architectural drawing. There is a well-warranted

societal supposition that most of the inventors of patentable

inventions are male. Assumptions about the genders …

Automating Stem Learning By Engaging In Artful-Inspired Play, Katie E. Roth

Open Access Theses

A full range of experimental methodologies split between two distinct yet related projects was performed in an effort to define ways to automate STEM learning in artful-inspired play. Both projects aim to offer impactful learning experiences through artful-inspired activities meant to automate STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning in children that are both scientifically and non-scientifically inclined. By participating in play that is both fun and engaging, learning is a byproduct of the activity which acts to automatically embed STEM knowledge and experiences within the user. Bridging the gap between STEM and artistic tendencies has the potential to provide a …

Computing Language And Thinking: Analysis, Design, And Assessment Of Introductory Computer Science Workshops In The Liberal Arts Experience, Kathleen Teresa Burke

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project seeks to assess and improve upon a new required introductory computer science workshop for first year students at Bard College. It addresses the design and implementation of the course itself, along with the improvements needed in order to continue the program. Many students are not offered computer science courses prior to college; this program has been designed to remedy that by requiring all students to learn key concepts in computer science as a part of their orientation. The program consists of a 90 minute lesson taught by professors with expertise in fields outside of computer science, in addition …

An African-Centered Approach To Land Education, Salvotore Engel-Dimauro, Karanja Keita Carroll

Publications and Research

Approaches to environmental education which are engaging with place and critical pedagogy have not yet broadly engaged with the African world and insights from Africana Studies and Geography. An African-centered approach facilitates people's reconnection to places and ecosystems in ways that do not reduce places to objects of conquest and things to be exploited for profitability and individual gain. Such an approach offers effective critiques of settler coloniser perspectives on the environment and deeper understandings of the relationship between worldview and ecologically sensitised education. Through examples from Africana Studies and Geography, this article provides an introduction to how an African-centered …

An Engineering Journey: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of African-American Engineers' Persistence, Kristy Somerville-Midgette

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological research study examined the perspectives and lived experiences of African-American female engineers related to the factors that led to their persistence to enter, persist through, and remain in the field. The study was guided by four research questions: (a) How do K-12 experiences shape African-American female engineers' decisions to enter the STEM field? (b) What persistence factors motivated African-American female engineers to enter the engineering profession? (c) What are the factors that shape African-American female engineers' persistence to progress through postsecondary engineering programs? (d) How do professional experiences shape African-American female engineers' persistence in the field? Cognitive …

Education And Women Mathematicians In The Middle East, Syeda Tooba Zahra

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Middle Eastern women have made important contributions in the field of Mathematics. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the educational background for women in the Middle East and look at the life and contribution of a sample of women mathematicians in representative Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Pakistan.

Light And Enlightenment, Jan-E-Alam Khaki

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Christian School And Public School Geometry Teachers Concerning The Beliefs Of Practices And Teaching Proofs, Benjamin Lane

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Theorists contend that mathematics teachers' beliefs influence their practices; consequently, differing Christian and public school philosophies should lead to different practices. However, some researchers have questioned if Christian education is "truly distinct" from public education. Other researchers have noted that this question is still open and that the philosophical differences between Christian and public school teachers might not be translating into differences in practices. A causal-comparative study was conducted between Christian and public school geometry teachers to investigate these differences. This study took place in Florida and Georgia using an instrument designed to measure four different aspects of teaching geometry …

Full Steam Ahead – A Collaborative Colloquium, Hilary Dito

The STEAM Journal

On February 2, 2012, Contra Costa County Office of Education organized its 2^nd Annual STEAM Colloquium: Full STEAM Ahead. This forum brought together over 150 educators, business leaders and community members to discuss and share best practices in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education

Getting Real About The E In Steam, James Catterall

The STEAM Journal

STEM and STEAM are in the news. Researchers and educators in my field (cognition, art, and creativity) argue reasons for adding the A to STEM. While I visit this below, my focus is elsewhere. In this brief essay, I want to explore the meaning and importance of the E appearing in both STEM and STEAM. What’s engineering doing in this mix? And what are some reasons for affirming the arts when the role of engineering is clarified?

The Inclusion Of The Nature Of Science And Its Elements In Recent Popular Science Writing For Adults And Young Adults, Feng Jiang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the inclusion of nature of science (NOS) in popular science writing to determine whether it could serve supplementary resource for teaching NOS. Four groups of documents published from 2001 to 2010 were included in the analysis: Scientific American, Discover magazine, winners of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, and books listed in National Science Teacher Association's (NSTA) Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12.

First, computer analysis was performed to categorize passages in the selected documents based on their inclusions of NOS. Then, follow-up human analysis was conducted to assess the frequency, …

James R. Killian, Jr., Sputnik, And Eisenhower: White House Science Advice And The Reformation Of American Science Education, 1955-1958, Dallas A. Grubbs

Student Publications

This paper chronicles the often-overlooked relationship between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Dr. James R. Killian, Jr., the first-ever appointed Presidential Science Advisor. Emphasis is placed on the role of Dr. Killian and the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) in advocating curricular reform in the fields of science and mathematics, a reformation which became doubly important following the successful launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I in 1957. This essay examines the efforts of Eisenhower and Killian to keep pace with the Russian scientific advances by improving American education in the scientific and technical fields. It concludes with a discussion …

Evolution And The Second Law Of Thermodynamics: Effectively Communicating To Non-Technicians, Alexander Schreiber, Steven Gimbel

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Given the degree of disbelief in the theory of evolution by the wider public, scientists need to develop a collection of clear explanations and metaphors that demonstrate the working of the theory and the flaws in antievolutionist arguments. This paper presents tools of this sort for countering the anti-evolutionist claim that evolutionary mechanisms are inconsistent with the second law of thermodynamics. Images are provided to replace the traditional misunderstanding of the law, i.e., “everything always gets more disordered over time,” with a more clear sense of the way in which entropy tends to increase allowing a thermally isolated system access …

From The Fair To The Laboratory: The Institutionalization Of Agricultural Science And Education In Maine, Thomas Reznick

Maine History

Up until the mid-nineteenth century, agricultural science and education in Maine were primarily local affairs. Meeting in farm clubs and attending agricultural fairs, the Maine farmer performed most research by trial and error and by meeting on common ground with other farmers to discuss what worked and what did not. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the farm clubs and county fairs waned and succumbed to the growing political influence of the Grange, which supported burgeoning agricultural scientific and educational institutions, such as the College of Agriculture and the Experiment Station. Through the auspices of the Grange, such institutions took the …

The Relationship Between Learning Style Preference And Achievement In The Adult Student In A Multicultural College., Matilde E. Roig

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Minority college students have varied learning styles and process information from distinct background and cultural perspectives, which influences their learning. Accordingly, the way faculty approach teaching affects student achievement. Few minorities are in scientific fields, with a shortage of scientists predicted. A problem exists in understanding the relationship between learning style preferences and achievement of minority college students. The purpose of the study was to investigate this relationship in adult minority students in a South Florida college's biology courses. Research questions pertained to relationships between learning style preferences, race, ethnicity and grades. This quantitative study used the online Felder-Soloman Inventory …

Does Changing The Definition Of Science Solve The Establishment Clause Problem For Teaching Intelligent Design As Science In Public Schools? Doing An End-Run Around The Constitution, Ann Marie Lofaso

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection in 1859, it sparked some of the most contentious debates in American intellectual history, debates that continue to rage today. Although these debates have numerous political ramifications, the question posed in this paper is narrow: Does the Establishment Clause permit a particular assessment of current evolutionary theory – intelligent design (“ID”) – to be taught as science in American elementary and secondary public schools? This article shows that it does not.

To understand current disputes over whether and how to teach the origins of life …