Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Indicators Of Future Mathematics Proficiency: Literature Review & Synthesis, Claudia Preciado

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The beauty of mathematics can arguably be found in the way in which all concepts are interrelated and interwoven to create a massive web of knowledge and in the ways this can be applied to all aspects of life and technology. Given this inextricable interrelationship amongst several mathematical topics, many students encounter issues in learning mathematics due to gaps in their understanding of previously taught material. As a result, mathematics education in the K-12 setting has emphasized the need for interventions in order to help students grasp the progressively complex concepts that are required by our current society and education …

Peer Tutoring Of Junior Nursing Students: Student Experiences And Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy And Benefit, Mary Clarke

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the experiences of peer tutoring in junior-level nursing students, as well as the perceptions of increased self-efficacy and overall benefit to student learning. The proposed study included 10 nursing students enrolled in the residential Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at a large private university in the Southeast United States. The theoretical framework guiding this study included both developmental constructivism (Piaget, 1953) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1994), as they work in a reciprocal relationship within a conceptual framework. Knowledge is constructed, and as students learn concepts from experiences, they …

Effectiveness Of 1:1 Technology In The Science Classroom, Courtney Tara Weiss

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were: (a) to determine if using e-text technology in a middle school resource science classroom increases student academic performance, (b) to determine if using e-text technology in a middle school science resource classroom increases student engagement/on-task behavior, and (c) to evaluate student comfort and satisfaction in using an electronic textbook or print textbook in a middle school resource science classroom. Ten middle school students, four in grade 7 and six in grade 8 participated in the study using the Discovery Education Science Techbook and the AGS General Science series. A single subject design with ABABA …

Freedom Through Inquiry, Francis Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

I delivered this speech at the Inquiry‐Based Learning Forum & 19th Annual Legacy of R.L. Moore Conference on August 4, 2016. It is partly an homage to an influential teacher, partly an excuse to articulate what makes some styles of teaching so effective, and partly an excuse to talk about difficult issues facing our nation and our classrooms today.

Addressing The Stem Challenge Through Targeted Teaching : What’S The Evidence?, Dianne Siemon

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Numerous public reports are pointing to the critical importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to Australia’s future, but the number of students studying STEM subjects in senior years is declining, and many students in the primary and middle years of schooling do not have access to the ways of thinking and learning needed to succeed in school mathematics. Research over the past 10 years has established the critical role of multiplicative thinking in building student knowledge and confidence at this level of schooling, but there is a need for an expanded, evidence-based learning and teaching framework to support …

Coding In The Curriculum : Fad Or Foundational?, Leon Sterling

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

There has been an unprecedented push to revitalise interest in STEM education. Much of the discussion of the ’T’ in STEM education has been whether coding should be a central element of school education. This talk investigates the arguments for and against ‘coding in the curriculum.’ No sensible person thinks that teaching coding in the classroom will produce master programmers’, any more than teaching music in the school curriculum will produce master musicians. However the teaching of music can encourage some students to become musicians and the same would be true for coding. The issue is more what concepts are …

Activating Teachers’ Creativity And Moral Purpose In Science Education, Martin Westwell, Sonia Cooke

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Over the last three years, the Scientist in Residence program (a collaboration between the Department of Education and Child Development, and Flinders University) investigated a model of professional learning in science education that capitalised upon teachers’ moral purpose and drove their creativity. Insight into how teachers transformed their science classrooms is provided through examples of activities, work samples and clips of teachers describing how they changed their practice and how that, in turn, changed the engagement and achievement of the children. These resources will serve to illustrate some of the principles of practice that the teachers drew upon. In particular, …

Why Is A Steam Curriculum Perspective Crucial To The 21st Century?, Peter Charles Taylor

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Well-recognised as a powerful driver of national economic growth, STEM lies at the heart of calls worldwide for educational reform. In Australia, Chief Scientists are calling for STEM education to better engage students on STEM-related career pathways. In the USA, STEM educators are being urged to produce graduates with creative and innovative abilities required of an increasingly high-tech workforce. However, an equally important challenge for STEM education is to prepare young people with general capabilities for active participation in community and professional forums for addressing ethical issues associated with the global impact of science and technology. Education for sustainable development …

Infographic: Stem And Gender, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

A recent report from the Australian Council for Educational Research explored gender differences in relation to STEM participation, achievement and engagement. Here are some of the results.

Stem And Indigenous Learners, Elizabeth Mckinley

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Achievement disparities between Indigenous students and their non-Indigenous peers in education continue to be documented across the globe. Over the past three decades, there has been a significant amount of writing on Indigenous methodologies, epistemology and, to a lesser extent, pedagogies. All are crucial in the lifelong process of teaching and learning – the nature of knowledge, how it is gained, and the transmission of it. However, much of this work is contested or seen as inappropriate or irrelevant in STEM education. Indigenous students do not perceive STEM subjects as being welcoming. As STEM educators, we need to take a …

Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Aspirations And Mathematical Literacy As The Foundation For Improving Stem Learning, Merrilyn Goos

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Mathematics is the foundational enabling discipline that underpins STEM and its other constituent disciplines of science, technology and engineering. Central to Australia’s mathematical vitality is universal access to high-quality mathematics education. Without this, young people are at risk of early school leaving, low participation in post-school education and training, poor employment outcomes, and social isolation (COAG, 2008; Parsons & Bynner, 2005). But Australia faces significant problems in ensuring that all young people are successfully engaged in learning mathematics at school, and in providing them with teachers who can inspire their learning. This paper explores approaches to addressing two problems that …

Are Australian Mathematical Foundations Solid Enough For The 21st Century?, Ross Turner, Dave Tout

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

This presentation will look at some key messages from the Australian results of both the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). PISA assesses the mathematical literacy of 15-year-old students around Australia, whilst PIAAC assesses the numeracy proficiency of adults aged 15–74. What do the two surveys assess and are they telling a similar story? How solid are Australia’s mathematical foundations and what do they say about teaching and learning? How do Australia’s results compare internationally with those leading the field? What are some of the research outcomes and implications …

High-Altitude Ballooning In 3rd Grade, Emily L. Mathews, Brianna Marszalek, Bernhard Beck-Winchatz

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

In this poster presentation we report on a high altitude balloon project conducted with third-graders from Gower West Elementary School in Willowbrook, IL in spring 2016. In the weeks before the launch students used a vacuum jar to investigate the effects of pressure changes on different objects, substances and sounds in the classroom and conducted pressure, temperature and wind measurements inside and outside of their school using Vernier probeware. To learn how to use the balloon tracking equipment and how to fill a balloon and prepare it for launch, students simulated a flight with a tethered balloon outside of their …

The Stem Teacher Enrichment Academy : Evaluating Teachers’ Approaches To Implementing Stem Education In Secondary School Contexts, Judy Anderson

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Amidst calls for a greater focus on STEM education in schools, attention is inevitably drawn to the quality of teaching and to appropriate means of supporting the teaching workforce so that more young people are engaged and interested in STEM subjects. This presentation describes the development and implementation of a STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy at the University of Sydney, and presents some of the outcomes from teachers’ efforts to implement STEM education across a variety of school systems. The findings draw on survey and interview data from two cohorts of participant teachers and their STEM mentors as they progressed through …

Drawing To Learn In Stem, Russell Tytler

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Scientists, mathematicians and engineers draw and model to create knowledge. This presentation will describe a guided inquiry approach to teaching and learning science that involves students actively creating visual and other representations to reason and explain as they explore the material world. The approach has been successfully used in a number of major professional learning initiatives in Victoria and NSW. Evidence will be presented of increased student engagement and quality learning flowing from the approach, which aligns classroom processes more authentically with processes of imaginative scientific discovery. Examples of activities and student drawings and model construction will be used to …

Lifting Australian Performance In Mathematics, Sue Thomson

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

One in five Australian 15-year-old students was found to be failing to achieve what the OECD describes as a basic level of mathematical literacy to enable students to actively participate in 21st century life. In many cases, these students are also unmotivated and disengaged with schooling, perceive their school experience in a negative light, and have low aspirations for the future. In a disproportionate number of cases, low-achieving students come from low socio-economic backgrounds, have an Indigenous background, and live in rural areas. This paper investigates the relationship of these and other demographic and educational background variables with being a …

Must Try Harder : An Evaluation Of The Uk Government’S Policy Directions In Stem Education, Pauline Hoyle

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

There is a common issue across Europe and the UK that vexes governments, employers and educationalists: the need for more young people to choose to study STEM subjects, become graduates in STEM subjects and then take up STEM careers. In addition, there is an urgent need for more STEM skills in the total workforce. For decades, the UK government has been committed to addressing this issue with a range of activities and strategies. Since the influential UK Government report conducted by Sir Gareth Roberts (2002), there have been policy and funding commitments by the various UK governments to improve outcomes …

Abstracts From The 2016 Ahac Conference, Erick Agrimson

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

This is a listing of Abstracts from AHAC 2016

Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2016), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

The focus of ACER’s Research Conference 2016 will be on what we are learning from research about ways of improving levels of STEM learning. Australia faces significant challenges in promoting improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in our schools. Research Conference 2016 will showcase research into what it will take to address these challenges, which include: the decline in Australian students’ mathematical and scientific ‘literacy’; the decline in STEM study in senior school; a shortage of highly qualified STEM subject teachers, and curriculum challenges. You will hear from researchers who work with teachers to engage students in studying …

Creating Art Patterns With Math And Code, Boyan Kostadinov

Publications and Research

The goal of this talk is to showcase some visualization projects that we developed for a 3-day Code in R summer program, designed to inspire the creative side of our STEM students by engaging them with computational projects that we developed with the purpose of mixing calculus level math and code to create complex geometric patterns. One of the goals of this program was to attract more minority and female students into applied math and computer science majors.

The projects are designed to be implemented using the high-level, open-source and free computational environment R, a popular software in industry for …