Digital Commons Network^™

Citizen Scientists And Artists: Integrating Arts And Technology To Teach The Effects Of Climate Change On Bird Migration, Laura Fattal Dr., Heejung An Dr.

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Ways to incorporate climate change into K-12 curricula are of growing interest to many science educators. The International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (ICARUS) examines animal and bird migrations as a lens to understand climate change aiding educators with its emphasis on technological imagining in science and visual arts teaching and learning. This article presents an interdisciplinary unit pertaining to bird migration and climate change that integrates the arts and technology by placing upper-elementary students in the position of being citizen scientists and artists, leading to a culminating art installation project. The unit shows how a variety of digital …

Students Arts Participation Increases Stem Motivation Via Self-Efficacy, Stephen M. Dahlem

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This work found that there exists a correlation between student motivation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and student participation in the arts during high school with self-efficacy being a mediator. STEM is an important component of student success from a broad, national, perspective, as well as from a domain-specific point of view. The results of this work may provide aid to teachers, parents, administrators, and even students seeking to find ways to increase student motivation and performance in the STEM subjects. Additionally, this work may be of interest to advocates of the arts. This quantitative correlational study was …

Challenge-Based Learning & Steam Curriculum, Diana Lockwood

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

STEAM education is being integrated into elementary schools as a way to engage more students in creativity, hands-on learning, and problem-based learning also referred to as Challenge-Based-Learning (CBL). This article focuses on elementary educators’ curriculum design for STEAM and presenting students with open-ended questions phrased as a challenge as a way to raise student interest and achievement (DeJarnette, 2018; Hunter-Doniger, 2018). When students received challenges to solve, they felt more open to sharing their ideas since there was more than one potential right answer (DeJarnette, 2018; Drake, 2012). When implementing CBL, teachers act as facilitators using a constructivist approach as …

Creative Learning With Music And Mathematics: Reflections On Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Graham Johnson, Alesia M. Moldavan

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

Culturally responsive content, accessible and inclusive tools, and meaningful interdisciplinary tasks can aid in developing equitable and creative learning environments. Music and mathematics are ideal disciplines for interdisciplinary creative learning. In this article, we reflect on our experiences engaging in interdisciplinary music and mathematics tasks with preservice teachers. In particular, we highlight specific efforts taken to design and implement a creative music and mathematics workshop for use in a mathematics methods course. Guided by these experiences, we offer examples of tools and practices that have helped preservice teachers collaborate, engage in inquiry, improvise, develop empathy, and take intellectual and social …

Teachers’ Contexts, Their Instruction And Math Achievement: Evidence From The 2018 Talis-Pisa Link Data, Meredith L. Wronowski, Xiaoyuan Chen

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

This study uses secondary data analysis of the 2018 TALIS-PISA link data combined with content analysis of policy and media artifacts to describe the relationship between teacher professionalization and working climate, self-efficacy, instruction, and mathematics achievement. In preliminary SEM models we identify three types of classroom instruction, Instruction Focused, Management Focused, and Comprehensive, based on a latent profile analysis of frequency of teacher behaviors. We also find that professionalization and working climate significantly predict teacher self-efficacy and instruction, but that instruction does not predict achievement when including school covariates. We also describe key differences in professionalization, climate, and math achievement …

Orbital Decay In The Classroom, Miguel C. N. Fiolhais, Luis Gonzalez-Urbina, Tomasz Milewski, Carlos Chaparro, Andrea Ferroglia

Publications and Research

The objective of this paper is to provide a pedagogical framework for the phenomenon of orbital decay of satellites in low Earth orbit. The dynamics of orbital decay are derived considering atmospheric drag as the only dissipative mechanism and using an educational approach suitable for undergraduate calculus-based physics and engineering courses. The resulting nonlinear first-order differential equation for the altitude as a function of time is solved numerically for the isothermal-barotropic atmospheric model with a fixed scale height. The model is validated using the uncontrolled reentry data of the Chinese space station Tiangong-1.

How Administration Stakes And Settings Affect Student Behavior And Performance On A Biology Concept Assessment, Crystal Uminski, Joanna K. Hubbard, Brian A. Couch

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Biology instructors use concept assessments in their courses to gauge student understanding of important disciplinary ideas. Instructors can choose to administer concept assessments based on participation (i.e., lower stakes) or the correctness of responses (i.e., higher stakes), and students can complete the assessment in an in-class or out-of-class setting. Different administration conditions may affect how students engage with and perform on concept assessments, thus influencing how instructors should interpret the resulting scores. Building on a validity framework, we collected data from 1578 undergraduate students over 5 years under five different administration conditions. We did not find significant differences in scores …

Comparing Boys’ And Girls’ Attitudes Toward Computer Science, Danielle Scott, Amiee Zou, Sharin Rawhiya Jacob, Debra Richardson, Mark Warschauer

Journal of Computer Science Integration

Women are severely underrepresented in computer science (CS) degrees and careers. While student interest is a key predictor of success, little is known about how elementary students from underserved groups, such as girls, develop their interest in CS. To address this issue, we examined the differences in attitudes between upper elementary girls and boys towards CS after participating in a yearlong, inquiry-based CS curriculum designed for diverse learners. Pre-and-post surveys on students’ attitudes towards CS (n = 108) were delivered before and after student participation in the curriculum. Results from the survey showed only two demonstrated significant differences between boys …

Impacting African American Student Achievement In The Middle School Stem Classroom By Teaching Mathematics Through Arts Integration And Design Thinking, Robert Lippert, Tjuannia R. Seals

Dissertations

Middle school is a transitional period in which many students experience content-specific teachers, travel between classrooms, and explore extracurricular activity options for the first time. Historically, African American middle school students have not fared well in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) on standardized assessments, performing significantly below their Caucasian counterparts in mathematics and science. From the beginning of their academic careers, a lack of access to quality teachers, excessive use of direct instruction strategies, and a lack of resources in their school communities, contribute to their overall apathy towards the subject matter and factor into their underperformance. As a …

Introduction To A Universal Performance Improvement Method (Chigen-Iku), Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

This brief article introduces a universal performance improvement method called Chigen-iku, which has been developed carefully and extensively over more than 25 years through more than 100 individual and group projects based on the principles that were selected through my doctorial study in the field of Instructional Psychology and Technology.

A Collection Of Calculus Lesson Plans: Deriving The 'Why' Behind Derivatives, Kasey Brabec

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The traditional mathematics classroom is led with a focus on procedural understanding, with deep conceptual understanding considered to be unimportant or too difficult to teach within the allotted time. Both levels of understanding are important mathematical competencies, as it is rare for either of them to function well without accessibility to the other. The disparity between conceptual understanding and procedural understanding in the mathematics classroom is no larger than in courses like Calculus. This project is a collection of fifteen lesson plans constructed with an emphasis on conceptual understanding and the connectivity of Calculus. Each lesson plan’s overview contains the …

The Impact Of Using Relevant Context On Student Comprehension And Attitude In A Collegiate Introductory Statistics Unit On Probability, Ryan F. Rzeszutko, Jennifer L. Petrie, Dwayne T. James

Dissertations

The typical collegiate introductory statistics course poses significant challenges for students. Many do not fully comprehend key course skills, and it is common for students to exit the class with a neutral or negative attitude toward statistics. To measure the impact of using relevant contextual examples as an instructional strategy during a probability unit, in-class activities were designed to align with areas of interest for participants as identified by a student interest inventory. It was hypothesized that the use of relevant context would create a significant difference in the comprehension or attitude of students enrolled in an introductory statistics course …

Peer-Led Team Learning Strategies In Engineering Pathways, Kimberly Luthi, Monica Surrency, John Keith Wilson, David Harvie

Publications

Train Peer-Leaders on difference between mentor/tutor and Peer Leader. Focuses on leadership skills. Provides technology resources tutorial. Provided suggested teaching and learning strategies for PLTL activities.

Integrating Virtual Reality Into The Asynchronous Learning Environment, Cheri Marcham, Dave D.C. Delcastillo, David Thirtyacre, Brian Sanders

Publications

• 4 presentations
• Covers a spectrum of subject matter
• Real to virtual and virtual to real
• Want to highlight
• What the goal was
• How it was integrated into effective learning experiences

Utilization Of Simulation Software To Enhance The Learning Experience For Students At The Worldwide Campus, Kimberly Luthi, Christian Janke, Yuetong Lin

Publications

The purpose of this presentation is to introduce benefits, best practices and examples of simulation software in online course environments. The research team does not have any affiliation with the introduced software platforms.

Online Test Administration Results In Students Selecting More Responses To Multiple-Choice-Multiple-Response Items, Alexis Olsho, Trevor Smith, Philip Eaton, Charlotte Zimmerman, Andrew Boudreaux, Suzanne White

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

We developed the Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL) to assess students' quantitative reasoning in introductory physics contexts. The PIQL includes several "multiple-choice-multiple-response"(MCMR) items (i.e., multiple-choice questions for which more than one response may be selected) as well as traditional single-response multiple-choice items. In this paper, we discuss differences in performance on MCMR items that seems to result from differences in administration method (paper versus online). In particular, we find a tendency for "clickiness"in online administration: students choose more responses to MCMR items when taking the electronic version of the assessment. Student performance on single-response multiple-choice items was not affected …

Lessons From Human Experience: Teaching A Humanities Course Made Me A Better Math Teacher, Erin Griesenauer

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

As a professor at a Liberal Arts college, I recently taught a General Education course called Human Experience. Far from my normal experiences in the mathematics classroom, in Human Experience I was tasked with teaching topics from the humanities, including art, philosophy, history, and political science. Teaching this course was challenging, but it was also transformative. Teaching a course so far from my background gave me the opportunity to experiment with different pedagogical techniques and to reflect on how I set up my math classes. I learned many lessons that I have brought back to my math classes—lessons that have …

Human-Machine Collaboration In The Teaching Of Proof, Gila Hanna, Brendan P. Larvor, Xiaoheng (Kitty) Yan

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This paper argues that interactive theorem provers (ITPs) could play an important role in fostering students’ appreciation and understanding of proof and of mathematics in general. It shows that the ITP Lean has three features that mitigate existing difficulties in teaching and learning mathematical proof. One is that it requires students to identify a proof strategy at the start. The second is that it gives students instant feedback while allowing them to explore with maximum autonomy. The third is that elementary formal logic finds a natural place in the activity of creating proofs. The challenge in using Lean is that …

Collapsing Spaces, Colliding Places: Leveraging Constructs From Humanistic Geography To Explore Mathematics Classes, Valentin A. B. Küchle, Shiv S. Karunakaran, Mariana Levin, John P. Smith Iii, Sarah Castle, Jihye Hwang, Yaomingxin Lu, Robert A. Elmore

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Humanistic geographers distinguish between space and place: “What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value” (Tuan, 1977, page 6). In this essay, we seek to demonstrate how mathematics education researchers and mathematics instructors may find space and place illuminating for understanding important aspects of students’ learning experiences during the coronavirus pandemic—and possibly beyond. Specifically, after introducing the terms and relating them to the context of a university mathematics class, we exemplify how home and class places collided for three undergraduate mathematics students forced to deal with the abrupt …

The Roles Of Mathematical Metaphors And Gestures In The Understanding Of Abstract Mathematical Concepts, Omid Khatin-Zadeh, Zahra Eskandari, Danyal Farsani

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

When a new mathematical idea is presented to students in terms of abstract mathematical symbols, they may have difficulty to grasp it. This difficulty arises because abstract mathematical symbols do not directly refer to concretely perceivable objects. But, when the same content is presented in the form of a graph or a gesture that depicts that graph, it is often much easier to grasp. The process of solving a complex mathematical problem can also be facilitated with the use of a graphical representation. Transforming a mathematical problem or concept into a graphical representation is a common problem solving strategy, and …

Coloniality, Western Science, And Critical Ethnic Studies In Stem Education, Latoya M. Strong

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I use a critical transdisciplinary approach to examine how the coloniality of Western Science impacts science education teaching, learning, and research. Weaving together Black geographies, settler colonialism, and decolonial theory, I illustrate how the historical, symbiotic relationship between colonization and Western Science created a culture that continues to shape modern science practices and science education. The coloniality of Western Science was codified into science education, resulting in three approaches to teaching, learning and research—the assimilationist model, the capitalist model, and the imperialist model. Moving from theory to research, I collaborated with STEM educators over six weeks to …

Addressing The Poor Science Performance Of Filipino Learners: Beyond Curricular And Instructional Interventions, Marissa O. Calleja, Macario O. Cordell Ii, Jude Michael Teves, Sashimir A. Yap, Unisse Chua Ms., Allan Bernardo

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

The Philippines performed abysmally in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 science literacy assessment: only 22% of the 7,233 15-year-old Filipino students who participated in PISA achieved the minimum level of competency (Level 2) in science literacy (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2019). This performance in the science assessment places the Philippines near the bottom of the 79 countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018. In a study that used a machine learning approach, we identified 15 variables that identified the poor-performing students in science literacy. These variables can be grouped into four clusters, namely, metacognitive …

Mental Health And Coping Habits Of Young Black Men In Stem At An Hbcu, Chamberlain Newman

XULAneXUS

This study examines the mental health and coping habits of young Black men pursuing STEM degrees at a historically Black college and university (HBCU) in New Orleans. Drawing on survey data from 43 Black male STEM students ages 18 to 22, the study addresses four research questions concerning factors affecting mental well-being, the role of the HBCU environment, stress coping strategies, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings indicate that peer camaraderie, faculty engagement, and access to supportive social networks are central to students' mental wellness and academic persistence. Positive coping mechanisms identified by participants included listening to music, …

Former Students’ Perceptions Toward Rsbi Program: A Reflection Of Indonesia’S Abolished Bilingual Program, Putu Yoga Sathya Pratama, Luh Putu Artini, Ni Putu Era Marsakawati

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This article is an attempt to describe RSBI program’s reflection from the former students’ perceptions. The article employed case study research design to explore students’ perceptions with particular emphasis on the use of bilingualism in the classroom. The data were gathered from interview toward 17 former students of RSBI program. The obtained data were analyzed qualitatively and inductively. Results presented RSBI program were perceived diversely from the reason, experience, and expectation viewpoints. Implications portrayed evaluation material in planning future programs that intensify the implementation of international-standards in general, or the use of two languages in the classroom in particular.

Concept And Implementation Merdeka Belajar Curriculum In Higher Education, Muhammad Ade Kurnia Harahap, Bambang Ismaya, Abdul Wahab, Susatyo Adhi Pramono, Ichsan Ichsan

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

The government has implemented numerous policies to improve educational quality, such as the independent learning policy. Educational institutions are no less lagging behind in terms of improving educational quality. The descriptive qualitative method was used in this research. The sources used are from scientific books, academic article, journal that has been published in line with the main issue. The results of this study show that the implementation and the concept of the independent learning policy in higher educational level aims to improve the quality of education through the learning process, commitment from teachers, as well as creativity and support from …

Code Mixing In Parent’S Bilingualism For Developing English Children Literacy, Testiana Deni Wijayatiningsih, Riana Eka Budiastuti, Mustasyfa Thabib Kariadi, M. Riyanton, Dini Anggraheni

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This case study aims at analyzing the bilingualism Indonesian-English code mixing in parents’ day-to-day talk toward children’s literacy development in learning English. The areas of analysis in this bilingualism study include code-mixing categories: intra-sentential, intra-lexical, and changing dictions. Further, those areas give impacts to the children’s literacy development. The findings indicate that the parent is a bilingual who used Indonesian and English equally well. She is accustomed to do conversation by mixing two different languages to her children. In the conversation, the children are able to imitate and remember the words and phrases produced by parent. Further, this study also …

Development Of Android-Based Mobile Learning On Ecosystem Materials To Increase The Interest In Learning Elementary School Students, Linda Setiawati, Asep Sunandar, Muhammad Zidni Ilman Nafi’A, Ediyanto Ediyanto, Melor Md Yunus

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

The development of mobile learning ecosystem materials for elementary school students aims to produce a learning media that aims to support teachers in delivering learning materials in class while increasing interest in learning. Research and Development (R&D) is the research method used, and the Lee and Owens model is the development model used in this development. The results of this mobile learning development were validated by the validator with an average percentage of 94.5%. The results of this validation indicate that the resulting mobile learning is valid or feasible to use in the learning process in order to increase student …

Voices Of Language Lecturers On The Implementation Of Case Method And Project Based Learning, Reli Handayani, Mukhlas Abrar, Friscilla Wulan Tersta, Muhammad Fauzan, Muhammad Sobri

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Innovative learning can be interpreted as an innovation from conventional learning in terms of facilities, media, and methods. Using a student-oriented approach to innovative learning bas ed on the constructivism paradigm which sees that knowledge is built independently by students through the process of investigation and use of technology. Innovative learning can be realized through several methods such as problem solving (problem-based learning), investigation (discovery learning), research (inquiry learning), and group discussion (project-based learning). Responding to this, the Department of Language and Literature Education (PBS) under the auspices of the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Jambi University is trying …

Scenario Problem Based Learning On The Critical Thinking Ability Of Vocational High School Students Using The Piagetian Approach, Chendi Pirwanto Putra, Rahmania Sri Untari, Fitria Nur Hasanah, Elma Yunita

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Students' low critical thinking skills in the learning process can affect the quality and results of student learning. This study aims to determine the influence of students' critical thinking skills by applying problem-based learning scenarios in primary computer and network subjects. This study used the Pre ExperimentalDesign research with the One Group Pretest-Posttest Design. The subjects of this study were students of class X TKJ as the experimental group. The data collection technique used in this research is a critical thinking instrument. The data analysis used isa descriptive quantitative analysis using the Paired-Samples T-Test. The results showed that the problem-based …

Scrutinizing Indonesian Students’ Understanding And Perceptions Toward Plagiarism, Lisa Ramadhani Harianti, Ilham Mulya Putra Pradana, Betty Masruroh, Laksono Budiarto, Ravinesh Rohit Prasad

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study aims at investigating Indonesian students’ understanding of plagiarism practice during their final writing project (thesis and dissertation). Further, it also seeks to know the connection between their understanding and their responses to some situations that required them to discriminate against cases of plagiarism. We used a questionnaire provided by Turnitin. It was distributed to 131 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from various universities in Malang, Indonesia. The questionnaire was disseminated through Google Forms in the first week of April 2021. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Our data analysis results showed that many of our participants …