Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

The Effect Of Teacher Pedagogical Content Knowledge And The Instruction Of Middle School Geometry, Sara Talley Lenhart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the relationship between middle school math teacher pedagogical content knowledge as gathered from a teacher assessment and student Standards of Learning scores. Nine middle-school math teachers at two rural schools were assessed for their pedagogical content knowledge in geometry and measurement in the specific area of decomposing and recomposing one-dimensional and two-dimensional figures. A Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient statistical test was used to compare teacher assessment scores of each pedagogical content knowledge level with student Standard of Learning math scores. The results showed that there is a relationship between teacher pedagogical content knowledge and student Standards of …

Guided Notes In The Pre-Algebra Mathematics Classroom, Lynn C. Morris

Theses and Graduate Projects

Students who attend an 8^th grade mathematics class in the middle school at my district and who are not placed in an accelerated class, are placed in Book 3 of MathThematics (Billstein & Williamson, 2002, p. 393-466). I have introduced guided notes for the pre-algebra classroom in an effort to increase 8^th graders' classroom participation and engagement and to improve content mastery of Pre-Algebra. This study was an effort to understand if the guided notes increase student's level of Pre-Algebra mastery in my classroom. I wanted to find out if guided notes increased participation and engagement compared to …

Laboratory Earth: A Model Of Online K-12 Teacher Coursework, David Gosselin, Julie Thomas, Adrienne Redmond, Cindy S. Larson-Miller, Sara Yendra, Ronald J. Bonnstetter, Timothy F. Slater

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Laboratory Earth, a series of three NASA-Sponsored, on-line graduate courses for K-8 teachers, was designed to meet a variety of learning styles and appeal to teachers‟ motivation to learn the content and improve their teaching. This is especially important to teachers as they seek to demonstrate “highly qualified” status to meet No Child Left Behind standards. These graduate-level courses consist of four modules of two to four lessons each. Pre- and post-course surveys indicated significant increases in teachers‟ (n=51) content knowledge, science teaching efficacy beliefs (STEBI-A), sense of community within the course (LEO) and science teaching enjoyment (STES). Qualitative data …

Ists, September 2010, Iowa Academy Of Science

ISTS Newsletter

In this issue:

--Notes and News

--Opportunities

Earth Systems Lesson Plan: Size And Forces Of The Solar System, Getaway Special Team 2010

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Physics Lesson Plan: How Far And Fast Does It Travel?, Getaway Special Team 2010

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Elementary And Middle School Science Lesson Plan: Solid, Liquid, Gas, What Is It?, Getaway Special Team 2010

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Using Insects To Promote Science Inquiry In Elementary Classrooms, Douglas A. Golick, Tiffany M. Heng-Moss, Marion D. Ellis

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska public schools created Bugs in the Classroom, a professional development initiative with the goal of empowering teachers to use insects in science inquiry instruction in elementary classrooms. The initiative included workshops for elementary educators on science inquiry and teaching with insects. This paper includes a description of the workshop as well as an evaluation of the impact of the workshop on participating teachers' knowledge of scientific inquiry, entomology knowledge, and inquiry practice. Also included are recommendations for similar professional development activities.

Laboratory Earth: A Model Of Online K-12 Teacher Coursework, David C. Gosselin, Julie Thomas, Adrienne Redmond, Cindy Larson-Miller, Sara Yendra, Ronald J. Bonnstetter, Timothy F. Slater

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

Laboratory Earth, a series of three NASA-sponsored, online graduate courses for K–8 teachers, was designed to meet a variety of learning styles and appeal to teachers “motivation to learn the content and improve their teaching.” This is especially important to teachers as they seek to demonstrate “highly qualified” status to meet No Child Left Behind standards. These graduate-level courses consist of four modules of two to four lessons each. Pre- and post-course surveys indicated significant increases in teachers “(n = 51) content knowledge, science teaching efficacy beliefs (STEBI-A), sense of community within the course (LEO), and science teaching …

Creative Exercises In General Chemistry: A Student-Centered Assessment, Scott E. Lewis, Janet L. Shaw, Kathryn A. Freeman

Faculty Articles

Creative exercises (CEs) are a form of assessment in which students are given a prompt and asked to write down as many distinct, correct, and relevant facts about the prompt as they can. Students receive credit for each fact that they include that is related to the prompt and distinct from the other facts they list. With CEs, students have an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and the opportunity to select the information that they believe is related to the prompt. In addition, CEs encourage students to connect concepts because any relevant information presented can assist them in completing the …

Education In The Environment: A Strategy For Continued Interagency Outdoor Education Programming Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending August 31, 2010, Margaret N. Rees

Reports (PLI Education)

Highlights of the university’s focused efforts during the past three months include the following:

• One Families in Nature event was held, benefiting approximately 40 people.
• A media campaign has been developed for the Nevada Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights.
• A total of 18 people are participating in the fourth cohort of the Nevada State Certification in Environmental Education and Interpretation.
• An RV has been purchased for the SNAP Mobile Exhibit and is in process of being retrofitted.
• Forever Earth was scheduled for 16 days and benefited 425 individuals.
• The National Park Service used Forever Earth as a mobile visitor center …

Is Competition Making A Comeback? Discovering Methods To Keep Female Adolescents Engaged In Stem: A Phenomenological Approach, Kathryn B. Notter

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The decreasing number of women who are graduating in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields continues to be a major concern. Despite national support in the form of grants provided by National Science Foundation, National Center for Information and Technology and legislation passed such as the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that encourages women to enter the STEM fields, the number of women actually graduating in these fields is surprisingly low. This research study focuses on a robotics competition and its ability to engage female adolescents in STEM curricula. Data have been collected to help explain why young …

Development Of A Teacher Identification Form Of Student Interest In Mathematics, Sarah E. Thompson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Comparing the mathematics performance of American students to their counterparts in other countries has been a common theme in recent literature, with conclusions generally finding that American students are falling far behind. One response to this problem may involve research which has shown a modest positive correlation between student interest and achievement in math (Koller, Baumert, & Schnabel, 2001; Schiefele, Krapp, & Winteler, 1992). Being able to identify students with high levels of interest in math may allow educators to provide advanced instruction to such students.

Current measures of student interest in mathematics are lacking in that they often are …

Toward Using Games To Teach Fundamental Computer Science Concepts, Jeffrey Michael Edgington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Video and computer games have become an important area of study in the field of education. Games have been designed to teach mathematics, physics, raise social awareness, teach history and geography, and train soldiers in the military. Recent work has created computer games for teaching computer programming and understanding basic algorithms.

We present an investigation where computer games are used to teach two fundamental computer science concepts: boolean expressions and recursion. The games are intended to teach the concepts and not how to implement them in a programming language.

For this investigation, two computer games were created. One is designed …

Anxiety In The Math Classroom, Jean Benner

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Math anxiety is a learned response that inhibits cognitive performance in the math classroom. It is widespread among students from elementary age through college. Students suffering from math anxiety have difficulty performing calculations and maintaining a positive outlook on mathematics. Math anxiety is the result of a cycle of math avoidance that begins with negative experiences regarding mathematics. Facts pertaining to math anxiety are discussed and strategies are suggested to assist teachers in helping students to overcome math anxiety or avoid the phenomenon altogether.

Manipulatives In The Secondary Mathematics Classroom Using A Traditional Algebra Text, Christina Mutnansky

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is a review of the research available on manipulative use in the mathematics classroom. Mathematical manipulatives, objects that are used to aid a student in learning a mathematical concept, provide a way for students to learn abstract mathematical concepts in a non lecture situation through hands-on learning and discovery. It specifically focuses on the use of manipulatives in the secondary Algebra classroom and how they can be integrated into a traditional curriculum. It discusses the different types of manipulatives that are available as well as reasons why instructors do not use manipulatives. Guidelines are given for their proper …

Applications Of Linear Programming To Coding Theory, Nathan Axvig

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Maximum-likelihood decoding is often the optimal decoding rule one can use, but it is very costly to implement in a general setting. Much effort has therefore been dedicated to find efficient decoding algorithms that either achieve or approximate the error-correcting performance of the maximum-likelihood decoder. This dissertation examines two approaches to this problem.

In 2003 Feldman and his collaborators defined the linear programming decoder, which operates by solving a linear programming relaxation of the maximum-likelihood decoding problem. As with many modern decoding algorithms, is possible for the linear programming decoder to output vectors that do not correspond to codewords; such …

Stereotype Threat’S Effect On Women’S Achievement In Chemistry: The Interaction Of Achievement Goal Orientation For Women In Science Majors, Janice M. Conway-Klaassen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

"Stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming, as a self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group" (C. M. Steele & Aronson, 1995, p. 797). A stereotype threat effect then is described as the detrimental impact on a person's performance or achievement measurements when they are placed in a stereotype threat environment.

For women, the negative stereotype that exists in our culture states that women are typically not as capable as men in mathematics or science subjects. This study specifically explored the potential impact of stereotype threat on women who have chosen a science-based college major. They were tested in …

Thinking On The Brink: Facilitating Student Teachers' Learning Through In-The-Moment Interjections, Travis L. Lemon

Theses and Dissertations

In order to investigate ways pre-service student teachers (PSTs) might learn to teach with high-level tasks and effectively incorporate student thinking into their lessons a teaching experiment was designed and carried out by the cooperating teacher/researcher (CT). The intervention was for the CT to interject into the lessons of the PSTs during moments of opportunity. By interjecting a small question or comment during the lesson the CT hoped to support the learning of both the students of mathematics in the class and the PSTs. This in-the-moment interjecting was meant to enhance and underscore the situated learning of the PSTs within …

Vanishing Of Ext And Tor Over Complete Intersections, Olgur Celikbas

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Let (R,m) be a local complete intersection, that is, a local ring whose m-adic completion is the quotient of a complete regular local ring by a regular sequence. Let M and N be finitely generated R-modules. This dissertation concerns the vanishing of Tor(M, N) and Ext(M, N). In this context, M satisfies Serre's condition (S_{n}) if and only if M is an nth syzygy. The complexity of M is the least nonnegative integer r such that the nth Betti number of M is bounded by a polynomial of degree r-1 for all sufficiently large n. We use this notion of …