Education Commons^™

A Lesson In Geospatial Inquiry, Eric Nolan, Brooke A. Whitworth, Lori Rubino-Hare

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Science Project Portfolio, Joan Hedman, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

The phrase science fair project likely conjures up images of students working independently on smoldering model volcanoes, catapults, and Rube Goldberg contraptions. To create their projects, students and teachers blindly follow a set of seemingly incomprehensible steps, assembling various pieces. This process continues until the due date arrives, when all the pieces are packaged up for the science fair. Teachers are then expected to assess all the projects in a timely manner while somehow continuing to deliver their curriculum. Eventually, the student receives feedback and, often, a semester-making grade. By that time, everyone is exhausted and relieved it’s over.

Fraught With Friction, Brittany Westman, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

In this activity, a question is posed to second-grade students and they are asked to make predictions to answer it: “How will different surfaces affect the distance a toy vehicle travels?” Students observe how different surfaces affect the distance traveled by a toy car and are able to amend their predictions. They are then asked to think of reasons why the vehicle was affected the way it was. During this stage of the lesson, students are led to contemplate their understandings of science concepts, and teachers are able to assess changes in student understanding as a result of discussions and …

(Mis)Alignments In Mentorship: Exploring Challenges To Preservice Science Teacher Preparation, Mandy Biggers, Alison Riley Miller, Laura Zangori, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

The mentoring relationships between preservice teachers and their cooperating teachers have been established as critical to the retention or attrition of novice teachers (Clarke, Triggs, & Nielsen, 2014), yet little research has been conducted to examine what factors around mentor teacher selection and support are most salient to creating strong mentoring structures. In this study, we investigated how four U.S. states (one in the Southwest, one in the Northeast, one in the Midwest, and one in the South) recruit mentor teachers for secondary science preservice teachers, what requirements the mentor teachers must possess, how mentor teachers are incentivized to serve …

Modeling And Measuring Students' Computational Thinking Practices In Science, Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens, Sugat Dabolkar, Connor Bain, Philip Woods, Kevin Hall, Hillary Swanson, Michael Horn, Uri Wilensky

Publications

In recent decades, computational tools and methods have become pervasive in mathematical and scientific fields (National Research Council, 2010a). Tools such as mathematical and statistical models have expanded the range of phenomena that are explored and have become necessary for analyzing increasingly large data sets across disciplines (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007). With these advances, entirely new fields such as computational statistics, neuroinformatics, and chemometrics have emerged. The varied applied uses of computational tools across these fields have shown that future scientists will not only need to know how to program, but …

Reaching For The Future - Building A Professional Trajectory, Julie A. Luft, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

Science teachers need to consider how they want to grow professionally. Thinking about one’s future involves identifying the knowledge, practices, and attributes needed in a new role. By using a framework such as the science education trajectory (SET), teachers can more easily consider their professional options and work strategically toward them.

The report on science teacher learning (NASEM 2015) emphasizes that teachers need strategic and coherent learning opportunities. Until there are defined pathways toward different positions, science teachers will need to organize their learning opportunities in such a way that they can learn intentionally and progressively. This is important to …

Modeling For Ecological Engineering, Lauren Simpson, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

In this classroom, high-school biology students learned how pine beetle outbreaks in North America have become some of the worst in a decade. To make sense of this phenomenon, students created iterative models with in-depth explanations over the course of the unit. These models were formative in developing students’ conceptual understanding of ecology and applying their knowledge to a real-world context. The models showed students the detrimental effects of the outbreaks and helped them wonder about efforts to manage them and preserve the forests. This allowed the teacher to connect their learning to an ecological engineering task. This task pushed …