Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Preservice Teachers As Learners, Designers And Implementers Of Computational Thinking (Ldi-Ct), Line Saint-Hilaire, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

Computational thinking (CT) has gained significant recognition in education in recent years. When considering young children learning CT concepts, it's essential to also assess teachers’ understanding of computational thinking. Therefore, educators in teacher preparation programs must equip candidates with these skills to meet the growing demand for developing students’ digital literacy. This project aimed to understand how to strategically incorporate CT instruction into a teacher education program in the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Department. It focuses on assessing preservice teachers' (PSTs) understanding of computational thinking and their ability to design CT-integrated science lesson plans based on their experiences with …

Exploring The Perpetuation And Disruption Of Gendered, Racial, And Working Style Stereotypes In U.S. Life Science Textbooks, Austin R. Jenkins, Gina Zaccagnini, Breanya Hogue

Department of Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications

Textbooks convey powerful messages to students about who can legitimately participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Using culturally relevant pedagogy as the guiding theoretical framework, this study sought to explore the extent to which secondary life science textbooks are culturally relevant in their depiction of gender, race, working style, and range of ability. Critical multicultural content analysis guided this research to explore the ways in these textbooks uphold or disrupt stereotypical notions of STEM professionals. Analysis indicated more images of females compared to males, but perpetuated notions of White, able-bodied scientists working alone. Given these findings, gendered power …

Exploring Variations In Stem Instructors’ Approaches To Office Hours, Desiree Forsythe, Rebecca M. Green, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Office hours are an integral component of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses at nearly all colleges and universities. Despite their ubiquity as a support mechanism, there has only been limited work examining how instructors approach office hours and what shapes these approaches. Here, we conduct a phenomenographic study to investigate how instructors of STEM courses experience office hours and how these experiences may impact their approaches to promoting and managing office hours. We identified variations in how instructors promoted office hours, the modality of office hours (i.e., when and where office hours were held), and how instructors facilitated …

Exploring Teacher Perspectives Of Stem Outreach Sessions, Jennifer M. Jakobi, Rebecca Mccullough, Sabre Cherkowski, Haizley Trevor-Smith

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Teachers have a responsibility to create and foster engaging learning environments which encourage underrepresented persons in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Outreach programs have been shown to increase STEM engagement of students. We use a positive psychology lens to investigate STEM outreach and teacher wellbeing. This exploratory study uses a survey and focus group to assess how a STEM outreach program can create teacher feelings of support, confidence, and enjoyment. Results demonstrate that most teachers felt more confident in teaching STEM following the STEM-mentor facilitated outreach sessions. The positive benefits to teacher wellbeing from outreach program mentorship, is discussed.

Unh Ocean Discovery Lego Model Instructions - C2402 R/V Gulf Surveyor - Unh Ccom/Jhc, William F. Fessenden, Colleen Mitchell

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Commissioned in 2016, R/V Gulf Surveyor, or “RVGS" for short, is 48-foot research vessel operated by the UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping / NOAA-UNH Joint Hydrographic Center (CCOM/JHC). A vital tool for the Center’s research and academic programs, her twin screw propulsion and catamaran-style hull, combined with a state-of-the-art hull design, provide for excellent maneuverability and stability, and is an optimal launch for nearshore ocean mapping. In addition to its multibeam sonar mapping systems, the RVGS can also be equipped with sidescan sonar, seismic systems, and thanks to its A-frame and portside crane, is an effective platform for …

Exploring Preservice Elementary Teachers' Reflections Following Facilitation Of Mathematics Discussions In Mixed-Reality Simulations, Liza Bondurant

CoE Publications

This article investigates preservice elementary teachers' (PSTs') reflections after facilitating mathematics discussions within a mixed-reality simulation (MRS) environment. The study aims to explore the immediate and delayed reflections of PSTs. The findings provide insights into the affordances and constraints of MRSs. PSTs' immediate reflections focused on the themes of preparation, questioning skills, and understanding the content, with delayed reflections indicating positive experiences, including improved content knowledge, and discussion facilitation skills. Findings suggest that with enhanced preparation and additional practice opportunities, integrating MRSs into teacher preparation programs has the potential to improve the mathematical discussion facilitation skills of PSTs.

Field-Based Courses Still Matter, But Not Like They Used To, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

Increasingly, field-based courses are providing the first real opportunities for students to experience nature in meaningful ways. As a baseline, even before the content delivery and the graded assessments, this is already enough to change the way a person feels in the world and to spark an appreciation for the life around them.

(Part of a special feature on education in which recent winners of the Botanical Society of America's Charles E. Bessey Award share teaching philosophies and strategies.)

Ua64/2 The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 57 Fall 2024), Elizabeth Joyce Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

Magazine created by and about the WKU Center for Gifted Studies.

Reimagining Science As A Natural Tool For Connection: A Restorative Approach, Zachary C. Schafer, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper explores a restorative-type intervention with a high school student who is suspended from school for repeated threats to other students. Throughout the paper, we explore the use of restorative practices in the context of science teaching. Science in process and content is used in tandem with various restorative practices to provide the student a lens through which to better understand what led to her suspension, learn science content, and find perspective change in the process as it pertains to her developing sense of self. The methods and tools are then transformed into practical use through a modified version …

Using Genai To Teach Information Literacy In Engineering Technical Writing, Lauren Todd, Eliot Boden, Sam Lindgren

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students will use GenAI to generate keywords to research their possible final project topics. Then students will use the library's quicksearch to find possible books, articles. Students will reflect on their research process throughout the class.

Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions Of How Developmental Mathematics Courses Prepare Students For Degree-Required Mathematics Courses, Felicia N. Brooks

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Students at most open-enrollment colleges must take a placement exam to determine what courses they will need to enroll in as their first math course. Students who score below a certain threshold are placed in a developmental math course. Students must complete the developmental math sequence before enrolling in degree-required math courses. Students’ perceptions of being enrolled in developmental math courses were investigated for this study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to highlight students’ perspectives on being required to take developmental math and whether such courses adequately prepared them for the mathematics class required for the students’ majors. …

Engaging Students With The Fold-And-Cut Theorem, Amélie Schinck-Mikel, Elsa Medina

Colorado Mathematics Teacher

When students make geometric constructions through paper folding, it allows them to make geometric concepts come to life in their hands. In this article, we discuss a hands-on geometry activity based on the Fold-and-Cut Theorem that can help teachers enhance students’ engagement with geometry and deepen students’ geometric reasoning by paper folding.

Human Capital At Home: Evidence From A Randomized Evaluation In The Philippines, Noam Angrist, Sarah Kabay, Dean S. Karlan, Lincoln Lau, Kevin M. Wong

Education Division Scholarship

Children spend most of their time at home in their early years, yet efforts to promote human capital at home in many low- and middle-income settings remain limited. We conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate an intervention which encourages parents and caregivers to foster human capital accumulation among their children between ages 3 and 5, with a focus on math and phonics skills. Children gain 0.52 and 0.51 standard deviations relative to the control group on math and phonics tests, respectively (p<0.001). A year later effects persist, but math gains dissipate to 0.15 (p=0.06) and phonics to 0.13 (p=0.12). Effects appear to be mediated largely through instructional support by parents and not other parent investment mechanisms, such as more positive parent-child interactions or additional time spent on education at home beyond the intervention. Our results show that parents can be effective conduits of educational instruction even in low-resource settings.

Editorial: Centering Humanism In Stem Education, Desirée Forsythe, Sheila S. Jaswal, Bryan Dewsbury, Susannah Mcgowan

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"To understand why this Research Topic exists, it is important to recall the original goal from our call for proposals: to reorient STEM researchers and practitioners to reconsider the actual purpose of the practice of teaching and learning. Bryan Dewsbury often invokes us in his writing and talks to understand our why. As educators, we wish to provide insights, practices, and proposed theories to reflect on our WHY in STEM education—from one instructor’s empathetic approach to understanding the undergraduate student experience in gateway courses to the cultural initiation ceremonies at the disciplinary level. These components of humanism and the lens …

The Equity Committee Book Club: Deepening Comprehension And Elevating Conversations About Equity, Barbara King, Natasha Ramsay-Jordan, Justin Burris, Shelia Orr, Siddhi Desai, Liza Bondurant

CoE Publications

No abstract provided.

Sorting Out Equity: The Q-Sort Method In Mathematics Education Research, Liza Bondurant, Jamaal Rashad Young

CoE Publications

In this research commentary, we review the current utilization of the Q-Sort methodology (QM) in mathematics education and provide an example of how Q-Sort can support a more accurate assessment of PSTs' equity beliefs.

Asphalt-Binder Mixtures Evaluated By T1 Nmr Relaxometry, Rebecca M. Herndon, Jay Balasubramanian, Magdy Abdelrahman, Klaus Woelk

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Asphalt pavements make up a majority of the essential transportation systems in the US. Asphalt mixtures age and degrade over time, reducing the pavement performance. Pavement performance critically depends on the aging of asphalt binder. the aging of asphalt binder during construction is traditionally modeled by rolling thin film oven (RTFO) testing, while aging during service life is modeled by pressure aging vessel (PAV) testing. Comparing these models to the aging of binders in actual pavements is limited because, to be used for current testing, binders must be separated from the pavement's aggregate by solvent extraction. Solvent extraction will, at …

Value Creation In A Pedagogically-Focused Faculty Online Learning Community, Fred Goldberg, Edward Price, Mo Basir, Lawrence Escalada, Steve Maier, Steven Sahyun, Tamara D. Snyder, Liang Zeng

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Faculty online learning communities (FOLCs) can help faculty effectively adopt and persist in using research-based curricula. This paper documents faculty perspectives on the value they gained from participating in a multi-year FOLC designed to help them implement an inquiry-based physical science curriculum. Personal value narratives were collected from 11 volunteer FOLC participants. In the narratives, participants responded to prompts regarding their initial reasons for participation, activities they engaged in, and values they gained, as well as how participation impacted their profession, social connections, professional practice, and ability to influence their world as teachers. Qualitative analysis shows that the values faculty …

Learners’ Mathematics Identity And Achievement: Where Does The Teacher Come In?, Luis M. Fernandez, Ursula Nguyen, Rebecca Callahan

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In response to recent interest in K-12th students’ mathematics identity formation and its implications for achievement, the present study examines the relationship between learners’ mathematics identity and student achievement while simultaneously accounting for teacher-enacted instructional practices in mathematics. Drawing from HSLS:2009, a nationally representative dataset of 9th–12th students within the United States, we use multiple linear regression analyses to examine how teachers’ mathematical pedagogies and 9th grade students’ perceptions of teacher equity are associated, first, with students’ mathematics identity, and, subsequently, math achievement after accounting for students’ mathematics identity. Ultimately, results from our models reveal a statistically significant relationship between …

Is Science For All An Elusive Goal? Disparities In U.S. Science Education, David Devraj Kumar, John L. Pecore

The Journal of the Research Association of Minority Professors

An examination of published reports on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) regarding Per Pupil Spending, Technology Resources, Science Course Offerings, and Race and Ethnicity Distribution in FRPL Groups shows that science for all remains an elusive goal in the United States. Science for all requires long-term solutions, including adequate fiscal resources for high FRPL quartile schools and effective policies to ensure quality science learning experiences for low-income students. Teachers in high FRPL schools need access to high-quality instructional resources, technology tools, and effective strategies to engage students in science learning. Schools should invest in technology tools like virtual reality and …