Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

An Exploration Of Middle School Science Teachers' Understandings And Teaching Practice Of Science As Inquiry, Margaret Ann Castle

Wayne State University Dissertations

A number of reports have raised a concern that the U.S. is not meeting the demands of 21st century skill preparation of students, teachers, and practitioners in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In 2005 and 2006 five reports were released indicating a need for improvement in science and mathematics education in the U.S. The reports were: Keeping America Competitive: Five Strategies To Improve Mathematics and Science Education (Coble & Allen, 2005); National Defense Education and Innovation Initiative: Meeting America's Economic and Security Challenges in the 21st Century (The Association of American Universities, 2006); Rising Above the …

Uncovering Conceptual Models Of Integers, Nicole Wessmann-Enzinger

Faculty Publications - College of Education

No abstract provided.

Fractions Fall From The Sky, Nicole Wessman-Enzinger, Rachel Sipes

Faculty Publications - College of Education

No abstract provided.

Bridging Physics And Biology Teaching Through Modeling, Anne-Marie Hoskinson, Brian A. Couch, Benjamin M. Zwickl, Kathleen A. Hinko, Marcos D. Caballero

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

As the frontiers of biology become increasingly interdisciplinary, the physics education community has engaged in ongoing efforts to make physics classes more relevant to life science majors. These efforts are complicated by the many apparent differences between these fields, including the types of systems that each studies, the behavior of those systems, the kinds of measurements that each makes, and the role of mathematics in each field. Nonetheless, physics and biology are both sciences that rely on observations and measurements to construct models of the natural world. In this article, we propose that efforts to bridge the teaching of these …

Gene Expression Of Components Of The Insulin/Insulin-Like Signaling Pathway In Response To Heat Stress In The Garter Snake, Thamnophis Elegans, Tonia S. Schwartz, Anne M. Bronikowski

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The insulin/insulin-like signaling (IIS) pathway is an evolutionary conserved molecular signaling pathway that regulates growth, reproduction, stress resistance, and longevity in response to nutrition and external stress. While the constituents of this pathway and their functions are relatively well understood in laboratory model animals, they have not been explored in many other organisms, with notable exceptions in the fisheries literature. We tested for the gene expression of four key components of this pathway in the garter snake (Thamnophis elegans) liver, and determine how the transcription of these components responds to heat stress. We found that the two insulin-like …

Synchronous Rotation In The Eclipsing Binary 68 Herculis Inferred From Doppler Shifts In Its Spectrum And Light Curve Modeling, Kenneth W. Mclaughlin, Janak Panthi

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Our differential photometry of the eclipsing binary 68 Herculis through V- and R-filters shows periodic minima consistent with a previously established period. As a function of its orbital motion, we report spectra over a limited wavelength range encompassing H-alpha 656.3 nm and helium 667.8 nm lines. Doppler shifts of both stars were resolved in H-alpha, while only the more massive star rendered the helium line with Doppler shifts that agree with the radial velocity we derive for it from the H-alpha profile. Sinusoidal curve-fits to the orbital dependence of the radial velocities imply circular orbits for both components, with amplitudes …

Improved Functional Prediction Of Hypothetical Proteins From Listeria Monocytogenes 08-5578, Michael J. Lagier, Brittany Bowman, Kelsey Brend, Katherine Hobbs, Michael Foggia, Mark Mcdaniel

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne human pathogen responsible for listerosis. The genomes of several L. monocytogenes strains have been recently sequenced. The genome of L. monocytogenes 08-5578, which was in part responsible for a significant listerosis outbreak in 2008, contains an unexpectedly high percentage of protein-encoding genes (1,927 out of 3,161; 60.96%) autonomously annotated as hypothetical proteins. The aim of this study was to test whether a manual annotation strategy could be used to assign more meaningful functional names to the hypothetical proteins of 08-5578. A holistic, manual gene annotation strategy that utilized sequence homology, cellular localization predictions, structure-based evidence, …

The Role Of An Urban Tallgrass Prairie Remnant In Conservation: A Case Study In Central Iowa (Usa), Jimmie D. Thompson, Deborah Q. Lewis, William R. Norris

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Although more than 85% of Iowa (USA) was covered by tallgrass prairie at the time of settlement by Europeans in the early 19th century, less than 0.1% remains. The Richard W. Pohl State Preserve at Ames (IA) High School, surrounded on three sides by structures, roads, and other development, protects 4 ha of tallgrass prairie. The preserve, commonly referred to as Ames High Prairie (AHP), was grazed but never plowed under private ownership until its acquisition by the Ames School District in 1959.

Although considered for development as a parking lot or football field in the 1960s, the residents of …

Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Case Study: Sick On A South American Sugarcane Plantation, Kevin M. Bonney

Publications and Research

A case study is presented that was designed to be used in high school and college level courses to familiarize students with chagas disease, its transmission, and effects in Central and South America. Noted objectives of the lesson include evaluating disease symptoms, examining socioeconomic factors related to the epidemiology, and creating visual aids with public health information. Questions are provided for discussing the a case of chagas disease at a Brazilian sugarcane plantation.

Bipolar Disorder: A Pharmacotherapy Management Overview, Huong Le, Tina Pham, Laura Tsu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

This home-study CPE activity has been developed to educate pharmacists on bipolar disorder and its management using non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies.

Assessing U.S. High School Mathematics Students' Dependency On Calculators For Basic Arithmetic Operations Involving Integers From Single-Digit Fact Families, John Jeremy Sneed

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which high school students use calculators to perform basic operations, and how well they actually perform those same operations without using calculators. The investigation involved the testing of math classes of students--male and female, mixed ethnicities--in grades nine through twelve. Students were asked to perform all four basic math operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) involving integers based on single-digit addition and multiplication fact families with and without calculators. The testing was in two environments--timed and untimed, with students recording their completion times--in order to investigate discrepancies in students' calculator use in …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Use Of Visualizations In The Science Classroom: A Case Study, Brooke A. Whitworth, Jennifer L. Chiu

Publications

Scientific visualizations of phenomena can enhance the way learners understand scientific concepts (Honey & Hilton, 2011). Scientific concepts can be abstract and difficult for students to understand and visualizations can help make these abstract concepts more concrete for students. For example, chemistry students often struggle with understanding how atoms bond since they cannot directly see atoms. Using a visualization to show students how the electrons are shared or transferred can help students understand these abstract concepts. In addition, many visualizations are freely available online and can be a key element to maintain quality science instruction with limited resources.

Teaching For Students' Confident Transition From Number To Algebra, Christina Lang Lee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The adoption by all states and territories of the national curriculum by 2013 saw students in schools across the country taught introductory algebraic concepts from Year Five. In the twenty first century the need to be algebraically competent has become a necessity much as computation was in the previous centuries.

The Researcher has found from experience that students who have struggled with number and number operations will then most probably make poor progress in their study of algebra. The transition from number to algebra requires a robust understanding of number and number operations

This study investigated the balance of instructional …

Thinking Like A Scientist: A Thematic Analysis Of Students' Experiences At The Sacnas Research Conference, Rosa Perez, Rachael D. Robnett

McNair Poster Presentations

The underrepresentation of minority students in STEM fields is a concern in today’s society. Research suggests that identity plays a major role in students’ ultimate success within these fields. Using identity theory as a theoretical framework, this study explores the ways in which identity affects the academic careers of underrepresented students in STEM. The participants of this study consisted of undergraduates from various colleges and universities around the United States that attended the SACNAS 2010 research conference. Thematic analysis was used to identify four overarching themes from a set of narrative responses collected after the event. The identified themes include …

Students’ Attitude Towards Science In Lower Secondary Classes : Comparison Across Regions, Nahid Parween Anwar, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Science education is an area of interest for long and has gained a lot of attention from science educators. Keeping this in view, the current study explored the attitude of grade VI-VIII students towards science in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. This research study was conducted as part of a 5-year project titled ‘USAID-LINKS to learning: Education Support to Pakistan’ (USAID-EDLINKS). A 5-point rating scale, Science Attitude Scale (SAS) was adapted from previous research. SAS has 32 items arranged under five constructs: learning science in school, self-concept in science, science outside of school, future participation in science and importance …

Journal Of Mathematics And Science: Collaborative Explorations

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two First-Year Mathematics Specialists, D. Floyd, M. Perez, J. Lovin, J. Cavanaugh

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

No abstract provided.

A Collaborative Approach: Two Perspectives, B. Chong, M. Farrelly

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This article is a story of collaboration between a principal, Baek Chong, and the mathematics coach, Megan Farrelly. This article shows both perspectives: Baek's thoughts are written in regular typeface, whereas Megan's perspective is italicized. Both educators work at Mark Twain Middle School in Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia which has nearly 900 seventh- and eighth-grade students. Twain Middle School serves a diverse population, of which about 35% of the students arc on free or reduced lunch, 15% receive special education services, 14% receive English language services, and 40% of the students are in the advanced academics program.

The Collaboration Of A Principal And A Mathematics Specialist, S. Garthwaite, P. Granada

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This article describes the importance of the collaboration between the principal, Patty Granada, and the Mathematics Specialist, Susan Garthwaite, in fostering a highly functioning mathematics program. While many aspects of the collaboration as facilitators for a mathematics program are logical, the "messy" aspects provide greater challenges. Through continued collaboration, they have come to embrace the "messiness" which has contributed to an awareness of similar belief systems in their roles. These beliefs include openness to learning and a sincere commitment to bringing out the best in students and teachers. The principal and the Mathematics Specialist share their continued journey in this …