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Full-Text Articles in Education

Does Removing Quizzes Impact Student Performance In An Online Course?, John Griffith Oct 2023

Does Removing Quizzes Impact Student Performance In An Online Course?, John Griffith

Publications

Data for 295 college online introductory statistics students were examined to determine if removing four module (weekly) quizzes impacted student performance on a cumulative exam. In this research, student performance was not significantly impacted by the removal of the quizzes. The difference in the exam mean score earned by the group of students who did not take quizzes was less than 0.8 of a point lower than the exam average for students who took the quizzes prior to the exam. Withdraw rates significantly declined from 5 percent to 1 percent. Results of this study support the idea that course designers …


Systems Thinking Applied To Higher Education Curricula Development, Reza Rahdar, Mark London, Yuetong Lin, Hong Jiang Sep 2023

Systems Thinking Applied To Higher Education Curricula Development, Reza Rahdar, Mark London, Yuetong Lin, Hong Jiang

Publications

Systems Thinking (ST) is a general and yet nebulous term that describes an approach to understanding and working with complexity in the real world. ST seeks to evaluate different behaviors of individual system elements when they operate in isolation as opposed to when they are integrated as part of a larger system and placed within a particular operating environment. The education environment consists of multiple systems with different digital content, learning goals/outcomes that serve different stakeholders including teachers, learners, and administrators. The inherent complexity and interaction among these various educational system elements and functions make this environment a worthy candidate …


Rethinking Integrated Computer Science Instruction: A Cross-Context And Expansive Approach In Elementary Classrooms, Umar Shehzad, Jody E. Clarke-Midura, Kimberly Beck, Jessica F. Shumway, Mimi M. Recker Apr 2023

Rethinking Integrated Computer Science Instruction: A Cross-Context And Expansive Approach In Elementary Classrooms, Umar Shehzad, Jody E. Clarke-Midura, Kimberly Beck, Jessica F. Shumway, Mimi M. Recker

Publications

This study examines how a rural-serving school district aimed to provide elementary level computer science (CS) by offering instruction during students’ computer lab, a class taught by paraprofessional educators with limited background in computing. As part of a research practice partnership, cross-context mathematics and CS lessons were co-designed to expansively frame and highlight connections across – as opposed to integration within – the two subjects. Findings indicate that the paraprofessionals teaching the lessons generally reported positive experiences and understanding of content; however, those less comfortable with the content reported lower student interest. Further, most students who engaged with the lessons …


Geometry And Coding: Introducing An Interactive And Integrated Mathematics-Computer Science Unit, Kimberly Beck, Jessica F. Shumway Apr 2023

Geometry And Coding: Introducing An Interactive And Integrated Mathematics-Computer Science Unit, Kimberly Beck, Jessica F. Shumway

Publications

As part of a collaborative project between Utah State University, the Cache County School District, and Stanford, instructional units were designed for fifth-grade students. These units integrated math concepts of geometrical shapes and computer science concepts of sequences, conditionals, and loops. One component of the unit was implemented in math classrooms by math teachers, and the other component was implemented in computer labs. This presentation will focus on the math unit as presented at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM-V).


Community In The Online Science Classroom, Emily Faulconer Mar 2023

Community In The Online Science Classroom, Emily Faulconer

Publications

As online course offerings rise, it is important to design and facilitate courses to promote community so students feel connected to each other and the instructor and feel a sense of belonging as a scientist. Online discussions are a common feature for building and nurturing community and combating isolation. Discussions stimulate active learning, a strategy to promote participation in knowledge construction. This sense of community and science identity is important for both persistence and performance. I will share efforts to promote community while reducing extraneous cognitive load through discussion design and targeted instructor professional development. I will share data on …


Co-Designing Elementary-Level Computer Science And Mathematics Lessons: An Expansive Framing Approach, Umar Shehzad, Jody Clarke-Midura, Kimberly Beck, Jessica Shumway, Mimi Recker Jan 2023

Co-Designing Elementary-Level Computer Science And Mathematics Lessons: An Expansive Framing Approach, Umar Shehzad, Jody Clarke-Midura, Kimberly Beck, Jessica Shumway, Mimi Recker

Publications

This study examines how a rural-serving school district aimed to provide elementary-level computer science (CS) by offering instruction during students’ computer lab time. As part of a research-practice partnership, cross-context mathematics and CS lessons were co-designed to expansively frame and highlight connections across – as opposed to integration within – the two subjects. Findings indicated that most students who engaged with the lessons across the lab and classroom contexts reported finding the lessons interesting, seeing connections to their mathematics classes, and understanding the programming. In contrast, a three-level logistic regression model showed that students who only learned about mathematics connections …