Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Implementing A Blended Model Of Mathematics Instruction – Issues And Outcomes, Natasha Brewley, Alvina Atkinson, Barry Biddlecomb

SoTL Commons Conference

The session will present issues and results from the implementation of a blended instruction model at the authors' institution. The blended instruction model involves coming together as a class less often and encourages student learning by making them more responsible for their learning outside of the classroom. In addition to describing the authors' home institution, this presentation will have three objectives: (1) Describe the blended instructional model (What is Blended learning and what does it look like?), (2) Present student evaluations. (What have students said about taking a course like this?), and (3) Present quantitative comparisons between blended and traditional …

Methodology And/Or Technology: Making Difference In Improving Students' Problem Solving Skills, Zdeslav Hrepic, Katherine Lodder, Kimberly Shaw

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019) (Archived)

Wirelessly networked, in-class computing opens a wide array of possibilities for active instructional methodologies (Hrepic, Rebello, & Zollman, 2009). Earlier studies showed a substantial potential that the pen input computers combined with interactive software like DyKnow (www.dyknow.com) may have in facilitating students’ problem solving ability. The session has two goals. The first one is to demonstrate the instructor-student classroom interaction dynamics enabled or facilitated by DyKnow software and pen-input computers. The second one is to present selected research findings associated with student learning while using this technology. The most recent of our studies was to isolate the effect of the …

Building Transformative Leaders In Stem Education, Julia Metzker, Karynne Kleine, Laurie Huffman

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019) (Archived)

Representatives from Georgia College will use their experiences as members of the Innovative Course-building Group, a structured collaboration across departments and disciplines, to stimulate a discussion with attendees about building strong faculty leaders capable of making the important structural changes needed to address curriculum issues in the STEM fields. Our goal is that you will leave this roundtable with an action plan for engaging STEM faculty at your institution.

A Medley Of Successful Active-Learning Methods, Sarah Formica

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019) (Archived)

This workshop will present a medley of active-learning methods that have been implemented successfully in physics courses. The participants will engage in methods that include Just-in-Time Teaching, clicker questions, whiteboard activities, and virtual experiments. The workshop goal is to show how these active-learning methods can be applied in a STEM classroom to increase students’ conceptual understanding and problem solving skills.

Improving The Use Of Data In Early Reading Intervention Programs In Northwest Florida, Carla J. Thompson

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Improving student performance for high-need student populations by improving the use of data in decision-making for early reading intervention programs in northwest Florida is the focus of this research to practice effort. The study is conceptually based on using a relational-feedback intervention (RFI) database model in early learning environments. The innovative use of data is the incorporation of trained classroom observers who performed over 2,000 observations (30 minutes each) in randomly selected reading (K–3) classrooms over a 2-year period using a quantitative observation tool that depicts 85 differentiated reading strategies. The RFI database model aligns classroom observation data to student …

The Accuracy Of Metacomprehension Judgments: The Biasing Effect Of Text Order, Tracy Linderholm, Xuesong Wang, David J. Therriault, Qin Zhao, Laura Jakiel

Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Two experiments tested the hypothesis that relative metacomprehension accuracy is vulnerable when readers' cognitive efforts are biased by text order. It is proposed that the difficulty level of initial text information biases readers' estimates of text comprehension but is correctable when more cognitive effort is applied.

Method: In both experiments, participants were randomly assigned to read a series of expository texts in one of two text order conditions: easy-to-hard and hard-to-easy. Readers made estimates of their comprehension and took comprehension tests over their understanding of the texts in the series in order to determine relative metacomprehension accuracy.

Results: Experiment …

Session D-2: Including World Religions In World History, Christian D. Nokkentved

Professional Learning Day

The major religions of the world are fascinating and belong in world history curricula, but can be challenging; especially if students are to be given the opportunity to read in the scriptures of diverse religions. This presentation will provide participants with a structure and suggested resources for setting up learning experiences that will facilitate student discussion of basic texts.

Session E-1: Self-Paced Proficiency Based Physics – Updates And Extensions, Brooke Schmidt, Eric Hawker

Professional Learning Day

This presentation will cover how a typical introductory physics course has been transformed into one that is self-paced and proficiency graded. The changes were made so that each student would be challenged at his/her level and therefore be more engaged in the course. This structure allows the teacher to individualize instruction of the students. The presentation will also cover adjustments that were made to this model based on student feedback and experiences. The model used to make this course self-paced and proficiency graded should be transferable to other courses.

Session E-5: Anatomy Of A Learning Network, Tracy Miller

Professional Learning Day

In recent news articles, debates have challenged the quality of online classes vs. face-to-face. Participants will “storyboard” an online experience based off a typical classroom lesson and discover if they can create their own online extension activity. Get ready to work your creativity muscle in hopes of navigating the online frontier. March 2^nd, be part of a learning network! If you liked “Putting the ‘e’ in Learning” from last year, consider this your next step.

Session C-1: The U .S. Civil War: Global Perspectives, Steven Buenning

Professional Learning Day

In Lincoln’s words, the Civil War would preserve the United States as “the last, best hope of earth”. A crucial turning point in U.S. history, the Civil War, was also an important global event. Viewed from broader economic, political, cultural, and social perspectives, the causes and consequences of the Civil War resonated worldwide. By using recent scholarship, this session will provide a context for helping students understand the place of the Civil War in global history. An original, document-based question will be presented, along with teaching methods developed by an AP history exam reader.

Session C-2: Social Media And Crowdsourcing For Educators, Shawn Mccusker

Professional Learning Day

What if you had the ability to brainstorm with the best educators from around the country, sharing ideas, materials and strategies to create the best lessons possible? This is a reality. Using social media like Twitter and various web technology, teachers from all fields are generating peer reviewed and "crowd-sourced" resources that are available for free online. This process has recently been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post as the leading edge in educational professional development. Most importantly it will save you time. Find the best resources faster and have more time for student instruction. Learn …

Session D-6: Teaching Modern Physics, Peter Dong

Professional Learning Day

Modern physics is an excellent way to get students interested in physics – the “weirdness” of relativity and quantum mechanics captures the imagination. This presentation discusses how to teach the subject in a way that encourages this interest. This year’s session will focus on teaching quantum mechanics in a way that is interesting to students and avoids common misconceptions.

Session D-3: Discrete Mathematics: A Great Curriculum Connector, Donald Porzio

Professional Learning Day

Many topics that fall under the umbrella of Discrete Mathematics cut across the traditional high school curriculum areas of algebra, geometry, and pre-calculus. Come try some classroom-ready hands-on Discrete Mathematics activities that illustrate the true interconnectedness of mathematics.

Session B-1: The Prize: Teaching Early Illinois History To Secondary School Students, Claiborne A. Skinner Jr.

Professional Learning Day

This presentation will outline ways in which Illinois can be placed at the center of the story of colonial America and the events which triggered the Revolutionary War. The discussion will be accompanied by a bibliography of relevant secondary readings for instructors, lists of public domain primary sources for students, websites where these can be obtained, lists of Illinois historical sites connected to these materials, and suggestions as to how to interpret these sites for students.

Session B-2: Docsteach – An Online Tool For Teaching With National Archives Documents, Kristina Maldre

Professional Learning Day

The latest National Archives web site, DOCSTEACH, invites teachers to explore thousands of documents in a variety of media from the National Archives holdings – items such as George Washington’s draft of the Constitution, photographs capturing WPA and Civil Rights activities across the country, and Ronald Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech. This session will provide educators with an overview of DOCSTEACH and help prepare them to create and use primary-source based, interactive learning activities with their students.

Session C-1: What Goes Up Must Come Down – Are All Parachutes Created Equal, Mary Lou Lipscomb, Elizabeth Martinez

Professional Learning Day

Participants engage in a guided inquiry: making a parachute and investigating its falling behavior; then develop a list of questions about the behaviors and determine which are testable. Next, small groups each choose one question to test and do so. Finally participants reflect on the process skills used. Although designed as a professional development activity, the lesson may be used with students to focus on testable questions or process skills necessary for scientific investigation.

Session C-2: Putting The “E” In Learning, Tracy Miller

Professional Learning Day

Find out about web resources you can use with your class. Think creatively in designing an interactive environment to help foster collaborative teamwork. Wikis, blogs and electronic portfolios: what it all means, and how to meet students’ learning objectives.

Session A-1: Environmental Chemistry – Chemistry In Context, Branson Lawrence

Professional Learning Day

The use of the ACS curriculum combined with group and individual projects to teach entry level chemistry through the context of environmental chemistry.

Session A-1: The Cuban Missile Crisis: Understanding The Impact Of Personality On Leadership, Lee Eysturlid

Professional Learning Day

This session will explore the impact of the various types of personalities that were involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis. These differences had a direct impact on the way each leader reacted to the stresses and demands of the crisis as well as their own political objectives. Attendees will come away with an immediately teachable topic on world leadership and the Cuban Crisis as an event.

Session A-2: Leaders In World History: Role Play And Essay Writing, Steven Buenning

Professional Learning Day

Costumed students role-play world leaders in a classroom-tested simulation. This extended exercise builds skills in critical thinking, research, essay writing, oral communication, small group interaction and technological application. In the process, students develop their own ideas about the characteristics of a good leader.