Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Linking Differential Equations To Social Justice And Environmental Concerns

CODEE Journal

Special issue of the CODEE Journal in honor of its founder, Professor Robert Borrelli.

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. …

Metrics And Methods Used To Compare Student Performance Data In Chemistry Education Research Articles, Michael R. Mack, Cory Hensen, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quasi-experiments are common in studies that estimate the effect of instructional interventions on student performance outcomes. In this type of research, the nature of the experimental design, the choice in assessment, the selection of comparison groups, and the statistical methods used to analyze the comparison data dictate the validity of causal inferences. Therefore, gathering and reporting validity evidence in causal studies is of utmost importance, especially when conclusions have real policy implications for students and faculty, among other stakeholders. This review examines 24 articles that reported quantitative investigations of the effect of instructional interventions on performance-based outcomes conducted within undergraduate …

Stem Stories, February 2019, #2, Brooke Wiese

STEM Stories

Featured Event - UNIGO Video Competition

Active Learning And Transparency In Teaching Gateway Mathematics Courses, Viktoria Savatorova

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

The need: we concentrate our attention on the gateway courses (for example, PreCalculus ) which have had traditionally low passing scores and retention. Objectives: in our teaching practice we aim to be consistent assuring: Active participation in the class work based on understanding the concepts and ability to implement them; Clear understanding of the requirements and the grading system (what should be done, when it needs to be done, and how to do that?)

Dynamic Lightboard Videos, Kristina Schmid, Peter Mccandless, Eddie Gomez

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

STEM content in online courses can be difficult to convey. Instructional videos are often limited to voiced-over, handwritten examples which can limit the quality of dynamic presentation. The need is for a technological medium that facilitates a personal connection. The Office of Online Education’s new lightboard technology enhances video presentation. This solution supports online learning and student engagement to promote student success.

Pre-Tests Improve Students’ Critical Thinking, Alison Sloat

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

First-year students’ critical thinking and analysis in science is rudimentary in SCI 101, the College of Sciences First Year Seminar. I tested whether the use of Pretests (Figures 1 and 2) can improve students’ inquiry, critical thinking, and analysis skills.

Fostering Student Engagement: Four Strategies, Erica Marti, Ryan Sherman, Haroon Stephen

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

In response to studies demonstrating that poor teaching was the cause of many students leaving math, science, and engineering programs, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) developed the ExCEEd(Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) Teaching Workshop. Several faculty from the UNLV Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Construction have attended the highly intensive five-day workshop. To evaluate the impact on student engagement, four basic instructional strategies from the ExCEEdworkshop, applicable to all fields, were tested and assessed during the Fall 2018 semester: Questioning techniques, physical models, instructor involvement, and group work.

A Strategy To Increase Formative Assessment And Student Engagement During Labs, Jennifer C. Utz, Angela Hammond

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

In a 200-level biology laboratory course, we developed learning objectives (LO) for each lab. We also developed practice activities that directly corresponded to each LO. Students earned participation credit through completing the practice activities. As students progressed through their lab work and felt ready, they would request that the lab instructor come check their progress towards mastering a particular LO. If students were successful with the practice, the instructor would mark completion for that LO on the students’ lab handout. If students were not successful, the instructor would provide feedback and recommend additional learning approaches. Since the purpose of the …

The Social Construction Of Life: Critical Thinking About Biology In Society, Peter J. Taylor

Working Papers on Science in a Changing World

This book aims to expand the boundaries of the influences that readers consider when interpreting the practices and products of the life sciences ("biology") and their impact on society. The chapter topics include: Interpreting Ideas of Nature; The structure of origin stories; Multiple layers in influencing an audience: The case of Darwin's On the Origin of Species; Metaphors of coordination and development; What causes a disease?—the consequences of hereditarianism in the case of pellagra; How changeable are IQ test scores?; Social negotiations around genetic screening; Intersecting processes involving genes and environment.

Each chapter consists of 5 parts:

1. Introduce simple …

Stem Stories, February 2019, #1, Brooke Wiese

STEM Stories

Student Profile - Allison Williams

(Mis)Alignments In Mentorship: Exploring Challenges To Preservice Science Teacher Preparation, Mandy Biggers, Alison Riley Miller, Laura Zangori, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

The mentoring relationships between preservice teachers and their cooperating teachers have been established as critical to the retention or attrition of novice teachers (Clarke, Triggs, & Nielsen, 2014), yet little research has been conducted to examine what factors around mentor teacher selection and support are most salient to creating strong mentoring structures. In this study, we investigated how four U.S. states (one in the Southwest, one in the Northeast, one in the Midwest, and one in the South) recruit mentor teachers for secondary science preservice teachers, what requirements the mentor teachers must possess, how mentor teachers are incentivized to serve …

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 31, No. 1, February 2019

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Welcome -- Congratulations -- Note from John Ruberson -- Grants -- Faculty News -- Student News -- Publications -- Blast from the Past -- Brewer Appreciation Reception -- Intro Beekeeping Class-Year 1 -- Condolences -- Retirement Reception for Kalisch and Roselle

Fostering Computational Thinking In Technology And Engineering Education: An Unplugged Hands-On Engineering Design Approach, Euisuk Sung

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Academia Will Not Save You: Stories Of Being Continually “Underrepresented”, Lynette Deaun Guzmán

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

My entire life I have had to navigate educational structures labeled (by other people) as “underrepresented” in my fields—mathematics and mathematics education. As many people who are similarly labeled in this way know, this meant I had to navigate oppressive structures that positioned me as lesser (e.g., white supremacy, patriarchy). Making sense of these repeated interactions, I wrote my dissertation as a series of three articles, each prefaced with an essay that situated a broader social, cultural, and political context and also connected to my lived experiences navigating academia. These essays were some of my most personal academic writing, and …

Symmetry And Measuring: Ways To Teach The Foundations Of Mathematics Inspired By Yupiaq Elders, Jerry Lipka, Barbara Adams, Monica Wong, David Koester, Karen Francois

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Evident in human prehistory and across immense cultural variation in human activities, symmetry has been perceived and utilized as an integrative and guiding principle. In our long-term collaborative work with Indigenous Knowledge holders, particularly Yupiaq Eskimos of Alaska and Carolinian Islanders in Micronesia, we were struck by the centrality of symmetry and measuring as a comparison-of-quantities, and the practical and conceptual role of qukaq [center] and ayagneq [a place to begin]. They applied fundamental mathematical principles associated with symmetry and measuring in their everyday activities and in making artifacts. Inspired by their example, this paper explores the question: Could symmetry …

The Mathematics Orientation Seminar: A Tool For Diversity And Retention In The First Year Of College, Salvatore J. Petrilli

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this article I describe Adelphi University's Mathematics Orientation Seminar, a new course that was introduced into the mathematics major to help students find their passion in mathematics and to strengthen the educational community within our department. I discuss quantitative and qualitative results of surveys among students in the Mathematics Orientation Seminar in Fall 2016 and Fall 2017, which suggest that this might be a useful course for other institutions to utilize within any major. Finally, I explore faculty perspectives and describe what I believe to be the final version of this course.

Counting And Basic Numerical Skills, Emily Slusser

Faculty Publications

The following chapter outlines a typical developmental trajectory of children’s early number knowledge and counting skills. Using a series of anecdotal demonstrations of a young child’s emergent knowledge as a guide, the chapter first outlines the conceptual and procedural building blocks for counting and basic numerical skills (Section 4.1 and 4.2), proceeds to an extended discussion of major conceptual achievements in counting (Section 4.3), and concludes with a review of our emerging understanding on how to best support and facilitate the development of these skills (Section 4.4). Throughout each of these sections, seminal studies are discussed to more clearly demonstrate …

Astronomy For Educators, Daniel E. Barth

Open Educational Resources

Astronomy for Educators provides new and accomplished K-12 instructors with concepts and projects for low-cost, high-impact STEM classroom instruction that is built around the National Academies National Research Council's K-12 Framework for Science Education.