Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

The Factors That Affect Usm Student Experience In The General Chemistry Classroom, Emma Dickerson

Honors Theses

Chemistry has a reputation for being a challenging discipline for many students. Enrollment in chemistry courses is much lower than that of other disciplines due to “chemophobia”, which can be caused by many aspects of chemistry.^1-2To increase enrollment in chemistry, it is important to understand how to improve the student experience in the classroom. To determine the factors that affect a student’s experience in their current chemistry class, the Chemistry Attitudes and Experiences Questionnaire (CAEQ) was adapted and given to students in General Chemistry I and II classes at The University of Southern Mississippi. Descriptive statistics, an Analysis …

High Ability, Hidden Gaps: Building Quantitative Reasoning Amongst Singapore’S Mathematically Literate, Rebecca M. Nichols

Numeracy

In Singapore, where primary and secondary students routinely top standardized worldwide mathematics examinations, a paradox emerges: when reaching university, many struggle to apply their skills critically in real-world contexts. This commentary examines the challenges and strategies involved in teaching quantitative reasoning (QR) to mathematically literate students in a top-ranking Singaporean university. While these students arrive well-trained in computation and procedural problem-solving, they often lack confidence and flexibility in ambiguous, data-driven decision-making. This article argues that fostering QR education is crucial not only for Singapore but for education globally, as QR skills underpin evidence-based reasoning within and across disciplines. Such an …

Quantifying The Decline In Avian Biodiversity: A Global Crisis And Its Implications For Environmental Education, Canaline Osaka

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

People care about what they love—and it’s easy to love--and fall in love, with birds. The

opportunities to promote bird diversity are legion, and applicable throughout K-12 education. For example, the Eastern Bluebird needs to nest in the cavities of dead trees, a habitat drastically denuded by large scale farming—or in specialized nesting boxes. A nationwide effort to build and install these boxes has brought the population back to healthy numbers since its 1970 low point. (Once one knows what they look like, one cannot miss these roadside homes—Western Bluebirds also benefit.) Students can also engineer bird houses and deters, …

Social Construction Of Technology In Vr Adoption For Science Education, Adipurwa Muslich

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

VR has emerged as a promising tool for revolutionizing science education, offering immersive and interactive experiences that can enhance student understanding. It holds significant potential as a communication medium for explaining the complexities of science in classroom settings. Despite its potential, VR’s penetration in science education remains limited. This research explored the facets influencing VR adoption in education, focusing on science teachers' perspectives in Jakarta. Using a qualitative approach, the study investigates how the SCOT concept, grounded in communication theory, affects the adoption of VR in the educational sector. Key themes identified included the role of networking, school culture, socioeconomic …

Shaping Mathematics Identity: An Exploratory Study On Specifications Grading In Calculus I At A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Luis M. Fernandez, Kaitlyn Stephens Serbin, Cristina Villalobos, Shaghayegh Azadi Setayesh, Guillermo Garza

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Calculus I courses play a pivotal role in shaping students' STEM pathways, making it essential to adopt pedagogies that foster both achievement and mathematics identity development, particularly among underserved groups such as Hispanic students. This study explores the impact of Specifications Grading, an alternative assessment method where students meet specific course learning objectives through multiple attempts, on students’ mathematics identity development. Through a comparative case study of two Calculus I students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, one enrolled in a specification graded course and the other in a traditionally-graded course, we examine shifts in their self-perceptions of competence, interest, recognition in …

Reinventing Mathematics Learning: An Exploration Of Undergraduate Mathematics Learning Post-Pandemic, Morgan R. Balesano

Honors Scholar Theses

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020 nearly all secondary and undergraduate mathematics students were forced to adapt to new methods of learning and testing. As a result, the current experience for these mathematics students has changed vastly, as have the opinions and preferences of these students in terms of their learning. This study aims to identify instruction and testing resources and methods that students prefer and those that students find less beneficial in their current, post-pandemic educational experience. The past few years have seen a focus on the direct impacts of online learning during the pandemic, …

Imsaloquium 2025 Event Booklet, Student Inquiry And Research (Sir)

IMSAloquium Event Booklets

Cover designed by Aimanohi Imoukhuede, IMSA student,

Welcome to IMSAloquium, our annual, school-wide celebration of learning! This booklet contains abstracts for over 225 outstanding projects conducted by IMSA students in the 2024-25 academic year. The topics range from biomedical research to artificial intelligence, from history to the social sciences, and from business to entrepreneurship

Algebraic Topics For Future Middle School Teachers, Leonard Van Wyk

Department of Mathematics and Statistics - Faculty Scholarship

This text contains algebraic concepts relevant to the middle school mathematics curriculum. Topics include the basics of number theory, functions, linear systems, matrices, and polynomials.

Stem Stories, April 2020, #2, Brooke Wiese

STEM Stories

Faculty Profile - Dr. Brittany Flokstra

Tiny Creatures, Big Lessons: Using Music Education And Ecoliteracy To Impact Young Learners' Perspectives On Bugs And Nature, Paige Burgess '25

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis aims to demonstrate that relationships between students and nature can be improved through teaching young learners about music and bugs together, potentially leading to a greater overall love for and willingness to protect nature. The thesis features original teacher action research conducted over multiple weeks in a first grade classroom, with observations and data to support the efficacy of the methods discussed. This thesis analyzes literature that supports how increasing empathy toward bugs at a young age can have tangible benefits for the environment, how ecoliteracy as a framework is an effective means of teaching about nature, and …

Number Talks To Promote Discourse In The Algebra 1 Classroom: A Number Talk Curriculum Development For A Unit On Quadratic Expressions, Lindsay C. Borger

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

This project sought to develop a curriculum of Number Talks for use at the secondary level, specifically in an Algebra 1 class as a supplement to a unit on quadratic expressions. The project begins with a look at existing research on constructivism and social constructionism as well as the reforms in mathematics education informed by those learning theories. It then looks at calls for more discourse in the mathematics classroom as a part of these reform efforts, and the part Number Talks play in fostering discourse and mathematical thinking for students. The Number Talk curriculum includes a guide for implementing …

Science Education In The Modern World: A Comparison Of The Classical Christian And Stem Models Of Education, Diane R. Gray

Master of Arts in Classical Studies

Abstract

SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE MODERN WORLD: A COMPARISON OF THE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN AND STEM MODELS OF EDUCATION

Diane R. Gray

Southeastern University

As a classical Christian educator and leader and a former professional scientist, this author has fielded questions and concerns from parents who have wondered if classical Christian education (CCE) will provide strong instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Because parents have expressed concerns about science and math education, and with the growing renewal of classical Christian education, the question addressed in this expository research project is ‘How do the CCE and STEM models of education …

Motivation Generation: An Ai's Strength And Student Engagement In The Alternative-Setting Science Classroom, Matthew Scotkovsky

Graduate Research - College of Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that continues to become increasingly more prevalent, for better or worse, in the classroom. One such way that it has seen use in the classroom is in the generation of lesson plans by teachers who use AI-driven large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. To see if these LLMs are, or could be, a reliable way to craft lessons as the technology continues to improve, the purpose of this study is to determine if a correlation exists between the strength of these different LLMs (measured in “parameters”) and the levels …

Together We Can! High School Algebra Plc Members’ Experiences On Implementing New Curriculum And Its Impact On Their Self-Efficacy, Chasity L. Hughes

Dissertations

When state or federal legislation adopts new standards, the workload falls on the teachers. Unfortunately, research has shown a decline in teachers’ preparedness due to the many changes in the standards for mathematics in Georgia in the last twenty years. Studies show that teachers have felt overwhelmed and stressed when implementing previous curriculum changes which have decreased the teachers’ self-efficacy levels. This calls for professional learning communities (PLCs) to provide improvement and sustainment in teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing the new curriculum. Little research has been done to describe the teachers’ experience with the recent change in Georgia's mathematics curriculum. There …

A School-University Research Practice Partnership: Why, How And What's Next, Stephanie Knight, Larry Featherstone

Presentations

This symposium will utilize three unique examples of collaborative research projects taking place under CERI to richly describe features of the partnership. Through the three papers, a summary presentation of features of the overall consortium, discussant comments, and brief Q&A with the presenters, we aim to highlight how CERI is encountering and addressing challenges common to RPPs as well as addressing some emergent and regional issues in innovative ways.

As an RPP, CERI is guided by three broad principles. (1) Mutuality - CERI was developed to benefit both the university and the large local urban school district. Problems of practice …

Uni Science Education Update Conference, Save The Date Flier, Spring 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Science Education Program.

Science Education Update Conference Documents

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Matriculation And Resource Utilization Of African American Students With Hidden Disabilities In The Health Sciences, Kimberly Houston

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. Learning disabilities result from genetic and neurobiological factors that alter brain function, such that cognitive processes related to learning are affected. Hidden disabilities can be defined as a non-apparent chronic condition that interferes with a person’s activities of daily living. While learning disabilities may be hidden, there are non-learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, autism, depression, fibromyalgia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. While all races/ethnic groups have persons within their population who are disabled, African Americans are at a double disadvantage due to race and disability status. Therefore, the intersectionality of race and disability status among African American students in …

Intersectional Predictors Of Early Mathematics Identity Among Underrepresented Engineering-Interested Students, Douglas D. Havard, Adriana Quirós-Arauz

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines the intersectional factors influencing early mathematics identity development among underrepresented secondary students (grades 9-10) with aspirations in engineering. Mathematics identity is a well-established predictor of long-term persistence in engineering, making its early formation critical to understanding student retention in the engineering pipeline. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner's bioecological framework, this study situates learning within nested layers of influence. Using data form the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), which includes over 23,000 9th-graders, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted. The analysis examined intersections of race and gender identity across 16 variables spanning individual, micro-, meso-, …

The Ebony Edge: A Qualitative Exploration Of Math Success Among Black College Women, April Ruiz

Dissertations

Historically, women have been underrepresented as leaders in STEM. However, according to the National Science Foundation (2022), women accounted for a little more than half of the college-educated workforce and underrepresented minority women increased in broad science and engineering occupational categories. This promising upturn underscores the importance—if progress is to continue—of better understanding why some African American women succeed in and persist with their study of college mathematics.

This study aimed to explore the experiences of Black college women attending a predominantly White institution in the Midwest, to better understand what reasons Black college women ascribe to their success in …

Identifying Contributing Factors Of Black American Females’ Long-Term Persistence In Stem Education: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study, Chandra T. Oaks-Garcia

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain insights into contributing factors that have shaped the experiences of eight Black American females who pursued STEM education as they persisted from the secondary education setting to their collegiate setting in a STEM major. This qualitative phenomenological study collected data through in-depth semi-structured interviews with Black American female juniors and seniors studying at four different four-year institutions, all pursuing degrees in STEM-related fields. Demographic surveys and memo writing were incorporated to enhance the data analysis. To explore the lived experiences of Black American females in STEM education and identify factors that contributed …