Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

The Joy Of Quantitative Reasoning, Caren Diefenderfer

Numeracy

One of the advantages of focusing on quantitative reasoning is that it spans a wide variety of topics. As incoming president of the National Numeracy Network, I would like to take the opportunity of this editorial to tell my story of intellectual reward from finding common purpose in quantitative reasoning with colleagues from disciplines outside of mathematics. The story starts with an NSF-funded faculty development project (DUE-9952807) to further a QR across-the-curriculum program and the finding from that program that merging authentic context with mathematics brings interaction and collaboration. That joy in learning from and working with colleagues in other …

Elements Of Proximal Formative Assessment In Learners’ Discourse About Energy, Benedikt W. Harrer, Rachel E. Scherr, Michael C. Wittmann, Hunter G. Close, Brian W. Frank

Faculty Publications

Proximal formative assessment, the just-in-time elicitation of students' ideas that informs ongoing instruction, is usually associated with the instructor in a formal classroom setting. However, the elicitation, assessment, and subsequent instruction that characterize proximal formative assessment are also seen in discourse among peers. We present a case in which secondary teachers in a professional development course at SPU are discussing energy flow in refrigerators. In this episode, a peer is invited to share her thinking (elicitation). Her idea that refrigerators move heat from a relatively cold compartment to a hotter environment is inappropriately judged as incorrect (assessment). The "instruction" (peer …

Evaluation Of The Relationship Of Learner-Centered Beliefs Of Seventh Grade Mathematics Teachers And Student Achievement On The Mathematics Section Of The North Carolina End-Of-Grade Assessment, Mary A. Steltz

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the personal domain in systemic reform. In an effort to improve student achievement, this study focused on accountability reform. The learner-centered model was based on what teachers believe about teaching and learning and how student motivation and achievement was influenced by those beliefs. Teacher practices, beliefs and behaviors had the greatest impact on student learning; therefore this study sought to establish identification of learner-centered teachers and their effectiveness on student achievement on the seventh grade mathematics section of the North Carolina End-of-Grade Assessment.

To that end, a non-experimental quantitative study design was used to …

The Relationship Of Learner-Centered Beliefs Of Eighth-Grade Math Teachers And Student Achievement On The North Carolina End-Of-Grade Mathematics Test, Takeda Lasha Legrand

Education Dissertations and Projects

Educators are charged with reform efforts to improve student achievement. Most efforts focus on accountability reform. The learner-centered model for school reform is organized around the personal domain for systemic reform. How teachers work with students is greatly influenced by policy and what they believe about student learning and behavior. Subsequently, teacher behaviors, beliefs, and practices impact learning. This dissertation attempted to establish teacher beliefs and their effectiveness on student achievement on the eighth-grade End-of-Grade Mathematics Test in the State of North Carolina.

This study was conducted within the Sandhills Regional Education Consortium located in the central part of North …

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Iowa Science Teachers Journal

No abstract provided.

What Should We Flip?, Jerrid Kruse

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Educational fads are nothing new. Renaming or repackaging of old ideas are also not new. Indeed, anyone who has been in education for more than a few years will recognize how the pendulum of educational reform swings back and forth. Unfortunately, although things “change,” the change is not typically accompanied by “improvement” on a grand scale. One current trend is the notion of “flipping” or the “flipped classroom”.

Thinking Outside The Box: Using A Black Box Activity To Kick Off The School Year, Amanda Weeks, Stephanie Schemmel

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

This article discusses our approach to the first days of school. Students' first experiences in our classroom set the tone for the rest of the year. We start out the year with a black-box activity to engage students and begin helping our students understand the nature of science. This activity promotes National Science Education Standards G and Iowa Teaching Standards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8.

Searching The Web: Observing Spiders To Learn How Different Structures Serve Different Functions, Courtney King

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Through exploration and small group discussion, first grade students made connections between physical structures of organisms and their function. Additionally, students explored various spider “homes”. This activity promotes National Science Education Content Standard C.

Does Participation In The Smith Summer Research Fellows (Surf) Program Increase Your Odds Of Attaining An Advanced Degree?, Tanya Hakim, Nicholas J. Horton, Cate Rowen, Minh Ly

The Office of Institutional Research

No abstract provided.

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Teacher Immediacy Behaviors And The Influence Of Teacher Immediacy Behaviors On Student Motivation To Learn Science, Vania Littlejohn

Education Dissertations and Projects

The National Assessment on Educational Progress signals that American students are not being adequately prepared to compete globally in an ever changing scientific society. As a result, legislation mandated that all students be assessed and show proficiency in scientific literacy beginning in Grade 4 with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2002 also known as No Child Left Behind. Research indicates a disturbing decline in the number of U.S. students pursuing more rigorous science courses in high school, majoring in scientific areas in college, and choosing future careers in science. With a need to improve science …

The Invisible Tool Kit : On-The-Go Techniques For Child Life Specialists, Vanessa Galan

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This Integrative Master's Project, On-the-Go Techniques for Child Life Specialists by Vanessa Galan, reviews literature that explains the stressors patients and their families face during hospitalization. It provides supporting information outlining tools that a child life specialist has available to them at all times. These tools offer support, distraction, and coping strategies when time or resources do not allow for alternate diversions. These tools include complementary techniques such as deep breathing, empathic responses, guided imagery, humor/laughter, I spy, magic glove, one voice, songs, positions of comfort, and Reiki. It reviews how these tools provide support for many hospitalized children, and …

What Does It Take To Teach Nonmajors Effectively?, Feryal Alayont, Gizem Karaali, Lerna Pehlivan

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Most MAA members teach mathematics at the college level, and many often teach courses intended for nonmajors. Indeed this is one of the main responsibilities of a mathematics department: offering service courses for client departments and general education courses for nonmajors. The three of us have been thinking about the question of how to teach nonmajors successfully for a while now. Finally we decided on a time-tested method of figuring things out: if you don't know what to do, ask the experts. We organized a panel titled "Effective Strategies for Teaching Classes for Nonmajors" for MAA MathFest 2012 and invited …

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Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Roots Of Farm And Family, Carol Gjenvick

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The current food industry is a vast and confusing system that often generates contradicting information, new jargon and trends on how and what to eat. Most families in urban and suburban regions shop at local grocery stores, supermarkets or chains and are far removed from the origins of their food supply. Even with the growing support of farmers markets and local farmers, the average person no longer has access to an actual farm. Children in particular, are less likely to understand how a farm operates, the essential role of the farmer, the impact of seasonal changes on food supplies and …

Learning Interdisciplinary Pedagogies, Alison J. Friedow, Erin E. Blankenship, Jennifer L. Green, Walter Stroup

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Advocates of interdisciplinary teaching and learning in higher education suggest that interdisciplinary courses “promise a wide range of desirable educational outcomes for students” (Newell 1994: 35). These outcomes include enhanced affective and cognitive abilities, increased understanding of multiple perspectives, greater appreciation for ambiguity, and superior capacities for creative thinking, among others (35). Despite claims about the possibilities interdisciplinary learning offers, we have few examples of how faculty from different disciplines work together to create interdisciplinary classroom environments where such outcomes can occur. In short, more examples of how faculty from different disciplines actually develop, engage, and revise interdisciplinary pedagogies with …

Nebraska Summary: S861 New Holland T6 175, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

A Learning Progression For Identifying And Placing Fractions On A Number Line, Corinne Dorothy Marshall

Theses Digitization Project

This project provides a learning progression for identifying and placing fractions on a number line that teachers can consider when introducing fractions on number lines. The number line is one of the most useful ways to represent all real numbers in relation to each other. It allows students to experience the density of the number system since all real numbers, natural numbers, whole numbers, integers, rational numbers and irrational numbers have an exact and unique location on the number line.

Teaching Mathematics In The Classroom With Powerpoint Software, Robert Ward Kopp

Theses Digitization Project

This study will look at at how to better student achievement in an Algebra II course. Specifically this study examines two different modifications made during the second semester of an Algebra II course taught at a high school in Riverside County. The modifications that were made were based on a detailed literature review that suggested looking at how students learn while using PowerPoint software as an instructional tool and at the same time investigate the consequence of rearranging a fairly common and predetermined curriculum pattern.

One Christian's Perspective On Creation And Evolution, William W. Cobern

Scientific Literacy and Cultural Studies Project

As a graduate student I took a course on FORTRAN, a widely used computer programming language. The author, with an obvious sense for the humorous, began his text with this epigram: “On no! Just what the world needs, another book on FORTRAN.” I begin my essay with a similar bemused foreboding, posing the question: “Do we really need yet one more essay on the evolution/creation controversy?” Who knows? But I do think that my own students and perhaps others will benefit from a discussion focused directly on the most difficult Biblical issues and that comes from a person within the …

Teaching For Students’ Transition From Number To Algebra, Christina Lee

Research Journeys in Education

No abstract provided.