Education Commons^™

Women In Space Explorations Digital Choice Board, Robert W. Maloy, Torrey Trust

Digital Choice Boards and Interactive Learning Materials for Teachers and Students

This digital choice board invites students and teachers to:

• Design pages for a picture book or young adult book about Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space.
• Write movie or TV show scripts about space explorations where women solve problems and demonstrate courage and commitment to justice and freedom.
• Have AI draft a science fiction story about women in space and then revise that story into a graphic novel.
• And many more ways to learn about herstories of women in space exploration.

Conceptualizing Social Mathematical Empowerment: What Is The Curricular Connection?, Alicia C. Gonzales

Doctoral Dissertations

As a result of everchanging goals and visions for mathematics education in the United States, this study builds on an initial theoretical framework of empowerment and further conceptualizes one domain, namely Social Mathematical Empowerment [SME]. I used concept analysis to define processes and outcomes more precisely and identified SME as a multi-layered, dialectic construct. This approach results in two components of action and awareness with various instructional and theoretical approaches. I then applied that conceptualization and created an analytical tool to examine mathematics teaching materials to engage learners in SME. This study adds to the existing knowledge base by providing …

Usable Math: Open Online Tutor For Elementary Math Learners, Teachers And Families, Sharon Edwards, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Faculty Presentations Series

Introducing Usable Math

• Free & Accessible: An OER platform tailored for elementary kids, educators, caregivers and families.
• Interactive Problem Solving: Engages students in grades 3-6 in math problem solving and design thinking.
• Four Virtual Coaches: Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to-Hound & Visual Vicuna offer diverse problem-solving strategies through words, images, animations, and more.
• Encouragement & Motivation: After every problem a feedback slide builds children’s learning and confidence while fostering curiosity about maths.
• Multiple Modes of Learning: 17 modules explore essential math concepts and 3 new modules integrate storytelling, history, and science learning.

Math Tutoring Choice Board (Version 2), Sharon A. Edwards, Robert W. Maloy, Torrey Trust, Madeline Hill, Sara Shea

Digital Choice Boards and Interactive Learning Materials for Teachers and Students

This choice board invites students and teachers to

• Draw math comics about mathematical concepts.
• Create a 3D monument to honor women mathematicians.
• Make a math story using stop motion animation.
• Write a poem using the Fibonacci sequence in nature.
• And many more ways to explore and learn math.

Elementary Students Designing Math Learning Slideshows With Nocode Nocost Programming Tools, Sharon Edwards, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Faculty Presentations Series

Introducing Usable Math

• Free & Accessible: An OER platform tailored for elementary kids, educators, caregivers and families.
• Interactive Problem Solving: Engages students in grades 3-6 in math problem solving and design thinking.
• Four Virtual Coaches: Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to-Hound & Visual Vicuna offer diverse problem-solving strategies through words, images, animations, and more.
• Encouragement & Motivation: After every problem a feedback slide builds children’s learning and confidence while fostering curiosity about maths.
• Multiple Modes of Learning: 17 modules explore essential math concepts and 3 new modules integrate storytelling, history, and science learning.

A Tai-The-Math Historian Ai-Enhanced Time Travel Adventure!, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli, Sharon Edwards

Digital Choice Boards and Interactive Learning Materials for Teachers and Students

Also available online at https://usablemath.org/

Online Version

Comparing Teacher-Written And Ai-Generated Math Problem Solving Strategies For Elementary School Students: Implications For Classroom Learning, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Teachers and teacher educators are actively exploring the ways to use Generative AI tools like ChatGPT-4 in elementary math education. In this paper, we compare teacher-written and AI-generated hints and strategies for solving fourth grade math word problems as part of an open online math tutor called Usable Math. When given the perspectives of a 10-year math teacher and four virtual coaches (Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to Hound, and Visual Vicuna), ChatGPT-4 provides text-heavy, largely procedural problem solving strategies. Teacher-written hints offer more ways to differentiate learning for students through the use of shorter, more child-accessible language; visual and …

Prompt Literacy: A Pivotal Educational Skill In The Age Of Ai, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon A. Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Prompt literacy signifies a major leap in education, offering a potent tool to interact with generative AI systems. As an emerging necessity in the 21st century and beyond, it encompasses the formulation, interpretation, and analysis of AI prompts. Poised to be foundational for all future generations, this discourse brings to light its emergence in parallel with generative AI and its transformative role in pedagogical contexts for the coming decades and beyond.

Developing Usable Math Online Tutor For Elementary Math Learners With Nocode Tools, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli, Sharon A. Edwards

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Usable Math, an online OER math tutor, leverages the functions of NoCode tools including Google Slides and Carrd to provide interactive math word problem solving for teachers and students in grades 3-6. The goal is to support elementary learners in developing mathematical reasoning and computation skills through engaging math problem practice, hints and motivational cues. By developing Usable Math and making it available and accessible, we demonstrate to teachers practical ways they can use NoCode tools to support elementary students in acquiring knowledge and skills as math problem solvers.

The Creative Thinking & Learning Studio: A Catalyst For Steam-Based Adult Learning, Sai Gattupalli, Peggy Martalock

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

This experience report examines the transformative impact of the Creative Thinking & Learning Studio at the Greenfield Community College, a vibrant hub fostering STEAM education and the Reggio Emilia philosophy of learning and teaching. This case study illustrates how interdisciplinary collaboration and practical engagement in a hands-on environment revolutionize traditional educational practices, shaping innovative, critical thinkers.

Theories And Practices Of Emotion, Movement, And Embodiment In Mathematical Learning, Will Lee, Sai Gattupalli

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

• Physical movements, emotion, and embodiment are fundamental to mathematical learning.
• Problem: Lack of study in collaborative embodiment.
• Identified applications of embodiment using virtual reality. An exploratory analysis of a set of videos for an embodied mathematical game was conducted.

Prompt Literacy For Stem Educators. Enhance Your Teaching And Learning With Generative Ai, Sai Gattupalli, Robert W. Maloy, Sharon Edwards, Alexandra Gearty

College of Education Working Papers and Reports Series

Understanding Prompt Literacy and Its Role in STEM Education

● Workshop focuses on prompt literacy, a pivotal skill for educators in the digital age.

● Discuss fundamentals of prompt crafting, interpret and critique AI prompts

● Hands-on activities for prompt crafting, using CAST model

● Workshop participant backgrounds include:

• Edtech, speech-language, GenEd, Special Ed, Inclusion, AP Language, English, Business, World Languages, STEM Education, and more, across various grade levels

Design Artifacts As Externalized Mental Models Of Children’S Science Concept Development, Christine Mcgrail

Doctoral Dissertations

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) calls for the integration of the practices of science and engineering across all science disciplines beginning in the early elementary grades. Science and engineering education research has determined that engineering design is a productive means for promoting understanding of science concepts. However, design artifacts created during engineering design problem-solving have not received sufficient attention for their potential to embody children’s science understanding. The aim of this study was to examine how conceptual development of the concepts of force and motion was instantiated in design artifacts by early elementary age children engaged in engineering design. …

Examining Small-Group Discourse Through The Lens Of Students’ Beliefs About Mathematics And The Instructional Triangle, Jennifer Ericson

Doctoral Dissertations

Standards-based mathematics instruction [SBMI], with opportunities to engage in high-quality mathematical discourse about meaningful tasks, leads to increased student achievement. However, not all students participate in mathematical discourse with high-quality. Esmonde & Langer-Osuna (2013) found that students participate in discourse with various degrees of engagement based upon individual beliefs. Boaler (2006b) found that SBMI in a detracked setting improves students’ beliefs about mathematics. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to illustrate the phenomenon of incongruent written curricula commitments across grade bands in a school district by examining small-group discourse and students’ mathematical related beliefs. This study compared students’ …

Plants, Pipettes And Pcr, Elizabeth Vierling

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Plants are amazing organisms that provide us with food, building materials, the pleasure of gardens, as well as providing the foundation of critical world ecosystems. Although they may look like they are just stuck in one place and doing not more than growing, they have many, many complex ways in which they respond to the environment. The goal of this STEM Ed session will be to discuss ways that plants can respond to the environment with hands on exercises and exploration of possible classroom activities. Participants will engage in state-of-the art methods of testing plant DNA composition using the polymerase …

Materials For Clean Energy, Ashwin Ramasubramaniam, Omar A. Abdelrahman

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

The need to transition to new and cleaner forms of energy has never been more imperative in the face of climate change. At the same time, the twin pressures from increasing global demand for energy and the scarcity of critical materials needed for new energy technologies impose additional challenges in making the transition to clean energy sources. In this workshop, we will explore how theory, modeling, and experiment are rising to the challenge of designing inexpensive, earth-abundant materials to enable the next generation of clean energy technologies. The goals of this workshop are: 1) to integrate concepts from chemistry, physics …

From Lcd To Living Liquid Crystals, Shuang Zhou

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Liquid crystals are a family of materials that can flow like a liquid, while having orientation order, like a crystal. Traditional liquid crystals are formed by small rod- or disk-shaped organic molecules that spontaneously align with each other. The orientation direction of the liquid crystals molecules, or the director, is sensitive to external fields. For example, a few volt of electric field can cause the director rotate 90 degrees and completely change the optical property of the sample. The susceptibility to external fields made liquid crystals an ideal material for optical switching applications, the best example of which is the …

Spring 2022 Superhydrophobic Materials, T. Leo Liu

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Many natural surfaces, such as lotus leaves and a water strider’s leg, have shown striking water repellency so that they remain clean and dry even in “dirty” habitats. Such water repellency is called superhydrophobicity, which has stimulated lots of science and engineering imagination for self-cleaning windows, never dirty clothes, drag-reduction swimming suits, etc. In this workshop, we will use superhydrophobicity as a model to guide an integrative teaching and learning experience through hands-on experiments, critical thinking, basic science, as well as a lecture on state-of-the-art research discoveries. The objectives of this workshop are to (1) stimulate student curiosity and imagination …

Spring 2022 Saturday Seminars Agenda, Shubha Tewari

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

No abstract provided.

Birds In An Ecological Web, Jeff Podos

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

One great way to learn about nature and biology is to study birds. There are many species of birds, both resident and migratory, and they all have their own habits, colors, songs, and ways of life. The popularity of birdwatching has skyrocketed in the US, especially during the pandemic. This seminar will describe one way to look at birds, and to learn about their ecology, evolution, and diversity. We start by focusing on birds’ feeding habits and food preferences. Many birds have to eat and forage constantly, in order to stay alive and to feed their offspring. From this starting …

Development Of A Certification Exam To Assess Undergraduate Students' Proficiency In Biochemistry And Molecular Biology Core Concepts, Quira Zeidan, Jennifer Loertscher, Adele J. Wolfson, John T. Tansey, Erika G. Offerdahl, Peter J. Kennelly, Daniel R. Dries, Victoria Del Gaizo Moore, Diane M. Dean, Ludmila Tyler

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

With support from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), a community of biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB) scientist-educators has developed and administered an assessment instrument designed to evaluate student competence across four core concept and skill areas fundamental to BMB. The four areas encompass energy and metabolism; information storage and transfer; macromolecular structure, function, and assembly; and skills including analytical and quantitative reasoning. First offered in 2014, the exam has now been administered to nearly 4000 students in ASBMB-accredited programs at more than 70 colleges and universities. Here, we describe the development and continued maturation of the …

Increasing Senior High School Students' Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills Through Improving Their Spatial Visualization Skills By Learning And Practicing Three-Dimensional Dynamic Geometry With Cabri 3d, Nurul Yaqin

Doctoral Dissertations

Problem-solving is one of the standards of mathematics processes developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Many research studies indicated that there was a relationship between mathematics achievement and spatial visualization skills. But the research results still didn’t indicate whether or not there was a causal mediation relationship between the achievement of learning-and-practicing three-dimensional geometry and mathematical problem-solving skills mediated by spatial visualization skills. Therefore, it’s still necessary for us to specifically investigate whether or not spatial visualization skills can be a medial factor between the increase of mathematical problem-solving skills and the effects of learning and practicing …

Building Capacity For Academically Productive Talk: The Development Of Teacher Leaders In Science Professional Development, Renee Affolter

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite decades of research on the type of classroom dialogue that supports collaborative student sensemaking and professional development efforts to support such dialogue, opportunities for students to incrementally deepen their understanding of science ideas through engagement in science practices and to engage in complex reasoning and argumentation through classroom talk is limited in most K-12 science classrooms (Driver, Newton, & Osborne, 2000; Lemke, 1990; Michaels, Shouse, & Schweingruber, 2008; Mortimer & Scott, 2003; C. O’Connor, Michaels, & Chapin, 2015; Reinsvold & Cochran, 2011; Scott, Mortimer, & Aguiar, 2006; Weiss, Pasley, Smith., Banilower, and Heck, 2003; Wilson, Schweingruber, & Nielsen, 2015). …

From Soap Bubbles To Cell Membranes, Peter Beltramo

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Have you ever blown a soap bubble and wondered - what causes the bubble to be so stable and produces those colorful reflections of light? The answer lies in a class of molecules known as surfactants, and they have remarkable similarities with the molecules that comprise the cell membrane of all living organisms. In this workshop, we will use the analogy of a soap bubble to describe cellular membrane properties such as chemistry, structure, membrane transport, and ion channel formation. The goals of this workshop are to 1) link initially intractable concepts in biology like intracellular transport to the intuitive …

Agenda, Shubha Tewari

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Abstracts for six Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars.

Bubble Lab Exercise, Peter Beltramo

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

The cell membrane is a ubiquitous component in mammalian cells which control many vital biological functions. It consists of a phospholipid bilayer with embedded protein molecules which serve to transport molecules between the interior and exterior of the cell. Understanding what makes cell membranes so important and how they function requires concepts from physics, chemistry, and of course biology, but it is difficult to learn and conceptualize the structure and function of membranes due to their nanoscopic size and dynamic nature which can’t be properly appreciated in a static textbook. This activity draws analogies between the chemistry and structure of …

Arduino Microcontrollers In The Classroom: Teaching How To Phrase Effective Science Questions And How To Answer Them With Original Data, Tony Dinsmore

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Arduino microcontrollers in the classroom: teaching how to phrase effective science questions and how to answer them with original data. Prof. Tony Dinsmore, UMass Physics This workshop will develop course modules that address a challenge in the science curriculum: how do we teach basic problem-solving and curiosity-based research skills in a classroom setting? The standard science curriculum teaches concepts and theory quite well but leaves rather little opportunity for students to take the lead in designing and implementing their own investigations. The workshop will use the Arduino, an inexpensive microcontroller that is simple to set up. A huge range of …

Agenda, Revised, Shubha Tewari

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Materials from the seminars. The agenda was revised to include online sessions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Modeling Epidemics, An Introduction, Shubha Tewari

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

• Group discussion of videos watched – Mainly focus on 3Blue1Brown videos

• Discussion of known facts about Covid-19/SARS-CoV-2

• Joint look at news articles and websites – Discussion of exponential growth

• Introduction to SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) model

• Excel demonstration of SIR model

• Other models: SEIR, others

• Modeling using python (time-permitting)

Step Up Workshop, Michael J. Wadness, Savvy Lodge-Scharff

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Did you know that teachers are the reason that most undergraduate women in physics chose that degree? That's right. You are key to encouraging women to pursue prosperous careers in physics! The STEP UP project provides access to downloadable research-based lessons about physics and a nationwide community of teachers engaged in changing the future of physics. This insightful and interactive workshop invites participants to join a national movement designed to empower teachers with resources specifically focused on leveraging high school physics teachers' pivotal role in influencing the career choices of women and contributing to the culture change needed to inspire …