Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Stem Stories, April 2019, #1, Brooke Wiese

STEM Stories

Featured Event - NASA Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC)

Establishing Enhanced Learning Outcomes In Science For First Generational Undergraduate College Students, Marianna Burks

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

First-generation students represent an increasing percentage of the demographic for college and university enrollment at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Since 2001, results from the National Center for Education Statistics Longitudinal Study, indicates ‘higher percentages of first-generations college students attended public postsecondary institutions-76 vs. 72%’ (Redford & Hoyer, 2017). There is insufficient research, however, concerning how first-generation students’ needs are different, even unique, from those students who are second- generation and beyond attending college (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2017). Since this increase of students enrolling in post-secondary education, ‘understanding the needs of first-generation students is imperative more now …

Who Can Excel In Mathematics?, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Students may erroneously believe that mathematics ability is largely innate and fixed (Kimball and Smith 2013). The evidence seems to support these mistaken beliefs. Women and minorities score lower on the mathematics section of the SAT (College Board 2017). When assessing students’ mathematics college readiness, a larger percentage of women, African Americans, and Hispanics fell below the benchmark (ACT 2017); and, in general, in science, engineering, math, and technology (STEM) fields, the gender and racial gaps in interest, performance, and degrees awarded have not closed (Neuhauser 2015). Persistent performance gaps can serve to reinforce students’ mistaken belief that women and …

Why Domain-Specific Science Knowledge Matters In Teacher Certification: Focusing On Evidence For Effective Science Teaching, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Lyrica L. Lucas, Amy Tankersley, Elizabeth Hasseler

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The landscape of teacher preparation is complex. From a research perspective, how to prepare teachers presents as a multilevel, multivariable puzzle. For decades, federal and state policymakers, educational researchers, and administrators, along with teacher education institutions, school districts, and other stakeholders have tried to determine and measure the key malleable factors that result in effective teaching (NRC, 2010).

Periodically, state departments of education review secondary science teaching endorsement policy guidelines. As revisions occur, teacher educators in higher education and district administrators need to engage in a multidisciplinary discussion about:

1. the ways in which strong domain-specific science content knowledge contributes …

The Hottest Color For The Fastest Ride: A Problem-Based Unit Of Instruction For The Elementary And Middle School Science Classroom, Madison Wells

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

There is a major gap in the availability of Next Generation Science Standard focused curriculum that effectively utilizes technology to solve real-world problems in an authentic way. “The Hottest Color for the Fastest Ride” will allow students to participate in the real-world application of reflection absorption of light and heat due to color through designing, building, and testing two dual-tone corvettes. This three-day unit of physics instruction designed for fourth- and fifth- grade science classrooms will be tied to a grand challenge that tasks the students with designing a dual-tone car that will stay cool during Kentucky’s hot summer weather …

An Introduction To The Algebra Of Complex Numbers And The Geometry In The Complex Plane, Nicholas A. Scoville, Diana White

Complex Variables

No abstract provided.

Science In The School Library Inquiry Model (Sslim): A Mixed-Methods Case Study Of The Implementation Of A Science And Information Inquiry Curriculum In An Elementary Library, Bree L. Ruzzi

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Data indicate that students in the U.S. may start school with lower levels of science understanding and that these levels may consistently remain lower throughout their public-school career. With deficits in science achievement starting in the earliest years of students’ education, benefits may be gained by exploring alternate resources and alternative environments that can support young student’s science education and achievement. A largely unexplored area for science instruction is in the school library. This dissertation, a mixed-methods, case study, examined the creation and implementation of a novel information and science inquiry model and curriculum, SSLIM. This curriculum was created and …

Elements Of Successful Education Abroad Programs For Stem And Vocational Students: Lessons From The University Of Wisconsin – Stout, Polytechnic, Amy Kelley

Capstone Collection

In a globalized economy, wherein manufacturing and knowledge trade are international, STEM – science, technology, engineering, math – and vocational degrees lead to international career paths. International experience through education abroad is relevant, therefore, to preparing STEM and vocational students preparing for these international paths. The University of Wisconsin – Stout, Polytechnic (Stout) serves as a case-study for the question: “What elements or structures of an education abroad program should be emphasized to build programs which best serve STEM and vocational students’ unique needs, creating an optimal environment for learning and growth, while preparing them for global careers?” Data collection …

An Assessment Of The Effectiveness That Nild Educational Therapy© Has On Math, Reading, And Written Language Outcomes For Middle School Students With Academic Underachievement, Dawn Marie Brittingham

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

In the last forty years, the National Institute of Learning Development (NILD) spent time researching and cultivating the methodologies currently utilized in the cognitive mediation involving students struggling with academic underachievement. Research conducted over the last twenty years bares the efficacy and robustness that cognitive components of NILD provided to academic underachievers. Research focused on student populations enrolled in NILD Educational Therapy© (ET) divulged how NILD ET furnished research-based, cognitive techniques that scaffolded student-learning propensity. In recent years, researchers who studied academically underachieving students focused on the elementary-aged struggling learner population. In this dissertation, the researcher investigated students in the …

The Role Of Sampling Variability In Developing K-8 Preservice Teachers’ Informal Inferential Reasoning, Omar Abu-Ghalyoun

Dissertations

Recent influential policy reports, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS-M, 2010) and Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education Report, (GAISE, 2007), have called for dramatic changes in the statistics content included in the K-8 curriculum. In particular, students in these grades are now expected to develop Informal Inferential Reasoning (IIR) as a way of preparing them for formal concepts of inferential statistics such as confidence intervals and testing hypotheses. Ben-Zvi, Gil, & Apel, (2007) describe IIR as the cognitive activities involved in informally making statistical inferences. Over this path from informal to formal inference, many important …

How Participation In The Arts Impacts Learning Comprehension For High School Students During Stem Coursework At Two High Schools In Southwest Florida: A Case Study, Tiffany Lynn Jennings

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to understand how participation in the arts impacts Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) coursework for students at two Southwest Florida High Schools. Within the context of the study, the term “arts’ was used to collectively refer to all visual and performing arts courses, including painting, drawing, graphic arts, two-dimensional and three-dimensional, music, and theatre. Studies show that in order to be innovative, students need to have the experiences that the arts can foster in the right side of the brain, the side associated with creativity (Eisner, 2002). I chose a case study …

Promoting Tolerance Through Learning About Human Evolution And Creation Myths, Afsoon Alishahi

Doctoral Dissertations

The role that religion plays in the lives of humans is complex, contradictory, and deeply impactful. According to Allport (1979), religion has a paradoxical function in that it can either combat or contribute to prejudice. A meta-analysis by Hall, Matz, and Wood (2010) found a significant correlation between being deeply religious and having racial prejudice. Similarly, many social scientific studies since 1940 have concluded that religious individuals are more prejudiced than less religious individuals (Hunsberger & Jackson, 2005).

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether gaining knowledge about human evolution, creation myths, and their relationship to religious …

Does Teaching The History Of Mathematics In High School Aid In Student Understanding?, Anne Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

This research will study the effect teaching the history of mathematics in a high school classroom has on student understanding. To accomplish this, lessons both including and excluding historical background on different topics were taught in an Honors Algebra 2 class in the high school setting. This research aims to engage student learning and investigation of topics that normally do not draw a lot of student focus and spark a new or revived interest in mathematics for students by broadening lessons to include material of which students would not otherwise be exposed. The lessons themselves aim to engage other current …

Investigating The Potential For Unanticipated Consequences Of Teaching The Tentative Nature Of Science, William W. Cobern, Betty A.J, Adams, Brandy A.S. Pleasants, Andrew P. Bentley, Robert Kagumba

Science Teaching and Learning

If you are reading information supportive of climate science, you may well read that climate science is “settled science.” If you are reading something from a climate science skeptic, you may well read that climate science is “just a theory.” Given that the science education community strongly supports teaching the tentative nature of scientific knowledge, one might think that the skeptic has a legitimate argument. Experts will quickly object that such a deduction is quite wrong, and we agree. Nevertheless, we can’t help but wonder to what extent teaching the tentative nature of scientific knowledge might undermine confidence in science, …

Overview Of The 2018 Inclusion In Science, Learning A New Direction, Conference On Disability (Island), Cary A. Supalo, Jasodhara Bhattacharya, Daniel Steinberg

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

From The Co-Editors..., Todd Pagano, Sami Kahn

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

The “Soft Bigotry Of Low Expectations” And Its Role In Maintaining White Supremacy Through Mathematics Education, Laurie Rubel, Andrea V. Mccloskey

Occasional Paper Series

In this study, we offer an analysis of the phrase the "soft bigotry of low expectations" and considers its role in rhetoric about U.S. mathematics education policy and practice, especially in regards to Critical Mathematical Inquiry. From the phrase’s origins in a speech given by President George W. Bush in 2000, to its current use on social media, this phrase offers a lens into white supremacy and "tools of whiteness" (Picower, 2009), and their persistence in U.S. schooling paradigms, especially about mathematics. We analyze specific, recent instantiations of the phrase on blogrolls and Twitter, in addition to more implicit …

The World In Your Pocket: Digital Media As Invitations For Transdisciplinary Inquiry In Mathematics Classrooms, Lynette Deaun Guzmán, Jeffrey Craig

Occasional Paper Series

Building a curriculum from online digital media may provide opportunities for students to draw on their funds of knowledge, deconstruct dominant narratives, and engage with complex multimodal artifacts. We focus on an example of how we have used a digital infographic, The World as 100 People, to unpack global and local issues in mathematics classrooms. Using digital media as invitations for critical mathematical inquiry, we call for mathematics educators to push back on (1) the way mathematics should be formally taught in schools, and (2) a common practice of social media restrictions in schools.

Collaboration And Critical Mathematical Inquiry: Negotiating Mathematics Engagement, Identity, And Agency, Frances K. Harper

Occasional Paper Series

When faced with the challenge of supporting students to do the “messy” mathematical work necessary for exploring social justice problems through critical mathematical inquiry, teachers might rely on more procedural or direct instruction. Because how students learn matters as much as what they learn, this can inadvertently limit students’ engagement with mathematics. Instructional strategies designed to foster equitable collaboration can support critical mathematical inquiry by promoting norms for equitable student engagement and mathematics identity development. As teachers and students negotiate what counts as mathematics engagement and who has access to mathematics, students’ authority over mathematics and social justice issues increases.

Re-Designing Mathematics Education For Social Justice: A Vision, Fahmil Shah

Occasional Paper Series

With a recent push within recent years incorporate issues of social justice within mathematics classrooms, it is important to consider the practicality of addressing these issues in classrooms. Using a theoretical framework developed through a historical analysis of mathematics and its development in school systems around the world, this paper addresses aspects of the current US educational system that limit the feasibility of incorporating social justice in mathematics classrooms. The author also provides recommendations for the field that might pave the way for progress towards a socio-analytical focus in mathematics classrooms in the future.