Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Interest-Enhancing Approaches To Mathematics Curriculum Design: Illustrations And Personalization, Virginia Clinton, Candace Walkington

Educational Foundations and Research Faculty Publications

Two common interest-enhancement approaches in mathematics curriculum design are illustrations and personalization of problems to students’ interests. The objective of these experiments is to test a variety of illustrations and personalization approaches. In the illustrations experiment, students (n = 265) were randomly assigned to lessons with story problems containing decorative illustrations, contextual illustrations, diagrammatic illustrations, misleading illustrations, or no illustrations (only text [control condition]). Students’ problem-solving performance and attitudes were not affected by illustration condition, but learning was better in the control compared with contextual illustrations. In the personalization experiment, students (n = 223) were randomly assigned to …

Teaching Stem For The Public Good, Rita Basuray

Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Stem Faculty Experience Teaching Students With Autism, Solvegi Shmulsky, Ken Gobbo, Michelle W. Bower

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

College students who have an autism spectrum condition study in STEM fields at a higher rate than their neurotypical peers, and they face documented challenges in postsecondary education. Given the proportionally higher representation of autism in STEM majors, it is important to study what works best, from an educational standpoint, for this diverse group of students. The purpose of this qualitative study is to document the experience and insight of college faculty about unique learner qualities related to autism and the qualities most needed in STEM fields. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 STEM faculty members about their experience teaching …

Elementary Education In-Service Teachers’ Familiarity, Interest, Conceptual Knowledge And Performance On Science Process Skills, Frackson Mumba, Erin Miles, Vivien Chabalengula

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

Although studies have examined teachers’ science process skills, little is known about the extent to which in-service elementary teachers are familiar with science process skills and are interested in learning more about science process skills. Therefore, the purposes of this research study were to determine (a) in-service elementary teachers’ familiarity with, interest in, conceptual knowledge of, and performance on science process skills and (b) how in-service elementary teachers’ familiarity with, interest in, conceptual knowledge of, and performance on science process skills relate to each other. Forty-eight elementary teachers in 21 schools in the United States participated in this study. Data …

Stem Stories, February 2019, #3, Brooke Wiese

STEM Stories

Program Spotlight - Iowa Lakeside Laboratory

Brookings, South Dakota: Learning Lab, Doriane Paso

Empowering Research for Educators

The following paper explores the possibilities of education in one local setting using both an insider and outsider perspective. Education is a part of society, and as society changes, why should education not change with it?

Alexa?: Possibilities Of Voice Assistant Technology And Artificial Intelligence In The Classroom, Patrick D. Hales, Melissa Anderson, Tonya Christianson, Amber Gaspar, Billi Jo Meyer, Beth Nelson, Krista Shilvock, Mary Steinmetz, Makenzi Timmons, Michelle Vande Weerd

Empowering Research for Educators

The following paper represents the combined effort of 10 educators exploring the experience and use of voice assistant technology in classrooms. This reflection and study of our classrooms looks to better understand both our use of technology and students’ use of technology in very specific ways. Is there a place for voice assistant technology in our classrooms? What benefits are there? What obstacles exist? We tell our stories and experiences here with the intent to provide context and continue the discussion among more of our colleagues.

From Assertion To Conversion: Classroom Management For 21st Century Teachers, Benjamin Halbkat

Empowering Research for Educators

The following position paper provides a new teacher's perspective on modern classroom management. Where is there room for improvement? What might the future hold?

High School Biology Preparation: Do Students Feel They Have Been Adequately Prepared For Introductory College Biology?, Mara Neitzel

Empowering Research for Educators

The purpose of this study was to determine how well students are being prepared in high school for introductory college biology courses. Specifically, the objectives of the study are as follows: To gain a better understanding about how well students feel they have been prepared for college science classes based on their high school education, to gain insight on how college preparation in high school impacts students’ self-confidence, and to determine if the accessibility of advanced education courses is influenced by the size of a high school. A mixed methods survey was distributed to freshman in the fall semester of …

In Support Of The Tinker V. Des Moines Decision, Matthew Olson

Empowering Research for Educators

The following position outlines a case for the Tinker v. Des Moines decision, including a historical and modern perspective. With freedom of speech and protest being a regular part of the discussion about U.S. society and schools, now is a good time to look back.

Activity Theory As Theoretical Framework For Analyzing And Designing Global K-12 Collaborations In Engineering: A Case Study Of A Thai-U.S. Elementary Engineering Project, Rebecca Hite, Christopher J. Thompson

Journal of International Engineering Education

The American engineering pipeline requires future workers to possess a unique skill set, comprised of content knowledge and 21st century skills, to recruit highly skilled, globally competitive engineers. Generally, 21st century skills are defined as the ability to think critically, communicate, collaborate in teams, and creatively solve problems. These skills are pertinent in training future engineers provided engineering utilizes the application of scientific knowledge within an inherently collaborative modality (the engineering design process). One component of developing 21st century skills and engineering competencies is the need for students to broaden their global awareness. Hence, American K-12 teachers are actively seeking …

Climate Change In A Differential Equations Course: Using Bifurcation Diagrams To Explore Small Changes With Big Effects, Justin Dunmyre, Nicholas Fortune, Tianna Bogart, Chris Rasmussen, Karen Keene

CODEE Journal

The environmental phenomenon of climate change is of critical importance to today's science and global communities. Differential equations give a powerful lens onto this phenomenon, and so we should commit to discussing the mathematics of this environmental issue in differential equations courses. Doing so highlights the power of linking differential equations to environmental and social justice causes, and also brings important science to the forefront in the mathematics classroom. In this paper, we provide an extended problem, appropriate for a first course in differential equations, that uses bifurcation analysis to study climate change. Specifically, through studying hysteresis, this problem highlights …

The Mathematics Of Gossip, Jessica Deters, Izabel P. Aguiar, Jacquie Feuerborn

CODEE Journal

How does a lie spread through a community? The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to provide an educational tool for teaching Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) and sensitivity analysis through a culturally relevant topic (fake news), and to examine the social justice implications of misinformation. Under the assumption that people are susceptible to, can be infected with, and recover from a lie, we model the spread of false information with the classic Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model. We develop a system of ODEs with lie-dependent parameter values to examine the pervasiveness of a lie through a community.

The model presents the opportunity …

An Epidemiological Math Model Approach To A Political System With Three Parties, Selenne Bañuelos, Ty Danet, Cynthia Flores, Angel Ramos

CODEE Journal

The United States has proven to be and remains a dual political party system. Each party is associated to its own ideologies, yet work by Baldassarri and Goldberg in Neither Ideologues Nor Agnostics show that many Americans have positions on economic and social issues that don't fall into one of the two mainstream party platforms. Our interest lies in studying how recruitment from one party into another impacts an election. In particular, there was a growing third party presence in the 2000 and 2016 elections. Motivated by previous work, an epidemiological approach is taken to treat the spread of ideologies …

Law School News: Roger Williams University Announces 11th President 02-13-2019, Ed Fitzpatrick

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Preservice Teachers Making Sense Of Fraction Concepts And Operations In A Mathematics Education Content Course, Deksiyos Demissie Desta

Theses and Dissertations

Twenty-five first-year preservice teachers attending a university in the Midwest of the United States of America participated in a whole-class-setting study aimed at investigating their knowledge of how they made sense of fraction concepts and operations, and how the development of this knowledge was facilitated during a mathematics education content course. Classroom mathematical practices of the content course that became “taken-as-shared” overtime were documented using the three-phase data analysis framework of Stephan and Rasmussen (2002, 2008). In the first phase of the analysis, whole-class discussion of fraction concepts and operations were transcribed and noted each time preservice teachers drew conclusions. …

Consensus Building By Committed Agents, William W. Hackborn, Tetiana Reznychenko, Yihang Zhang

CODEE Journal

One of the most striking features of our time is the polarization, nationally and globally, in politics and religion. How can a society achieve anything, let alone justice, when there are fundamental disagreements about what problems a society needs to address, about priorities among those problems, and no consensus on what constitutes justice itself? This paper explores a model for building social consensus in an ideologically divided community. Our model has three states: two of these represent ideological extremes while the third state designates a moderate position that blends aspects of the two extremes. Each individual in the community is …

The Ocean And Climate Change: Stommel's Conceptual Model, James Walsh

CODEE Journal

The ocean plays a major role in our climate system and in climate change. In this article we present a conceptual model of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), an important component of the ocean's global energy transport circulation that has, in recent times, been weakening anomalously. Introduced by Henry Stommel, the model results in a two-dimensional system of first order ODEs, which we explore via Mathematica. The model exhibits two stable regimes, one having an orientation aligned with today's AMOC, and the other corresponding to a reversal of the AMOC. This material is appropriate for a junior-level mathematical …

Modeling The Spread And Prevention Of Malaria In Central America, Michael Huber

CODEE Journal

In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that there were 216 million cases of Malaria reported in 91 countries around the world. The Central American country of Honduras has a high risk of malaria exposure, especially to United States soldiers deployed in the region. This article will discuss various aspects of the disease, its spread and its treatment and the development of models of some of these aspects with differential equations. Exercises are developed which involve, respectively, exponential growth, logistics growth, systems of first-order equations and Laplace transforms. Notes for instructors are included.

A Model Of The Transmission Of Cholera In A Population With Contaminated Water, Therese Shelton, Emma Kathryn Groves, Sherry Adrian

CODEE Journal

Cholera is an infectious disease that is a major concern in countries with inadequate access to clean water and proper sanitation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "cholera is a disease of inequity--an ancient illness that today sickens and kills only the poorest and most vulnerable people\dots The map of cholera is essentially the same as a map of poverty." We implement a published model (Fung, "Cholera Transmission Dynamic Models for Public Health Practitioners," Emerging Themes in Epidemiology, 2014) of a SIR model that includes a bacterial reservoir. Bacterial concentration in the water is modeled by the Monod …