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Curriculum Evaluation Of The Academy Of Global Logistics Program: Connections To Stem Education, Ann Y. Kim, Tyler Reeb, Jaylee Jordan, Youngjin Song Jun 2023

Curriculum Evaluation Of The Academy Of Global Logistics Program: Connections To Stem Education, Ann Y. Kim, Tyler Reeb, Jaylee Jordan, Youngjin Song

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

The Academy of Global Logistics (AGL) is a career technical education program developed in collaboration with the Port of Long Beach and the Long Beach Unified School District and with support from the Center for International Trade and Transportation. Students enrolled in the program, implemented at a high school in Long Beach, CA, learn global logistics and supply chain management over the course of their high school career. The program culminates in a capstone project that is evaluated by industry leaders. This research project applies qualitative coding methods to find connections between the AGL curriculum and CA mathematics and science …


Fostering Reflective Teaching: Using The Student Participation Observation Tool (Spot) To Promote Active Instructional Approaches In Stem, Cara H. Theisen, Cassandra A. Paul, Katrina Roseler Apr 2022

Fostering Reflective Teaching: Using The Student Participation Observation Tool (Spot) To Promote Active Instructional Approaches In Stem, Cara H. Theisen, Cassandra A. Paul, Katrina Roseler

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The Student Participation Observation Tool (SPOT) is a web-based classroom observation protocol developed for higher education STEM courses and based on research on evidence-based practices. The low-inference and objective nature of the SPOT and visual outputs make it an optimal tool for teaching professional development. The SPOT allows novice users to use data from their own classes to reflect on, and make data-driven changes to, their teaching practices. In particular, the SPOT was designed to present faculty with objective data related to their use of active instructional approaches, be easy for practitioners to use, and provide data outputs that are …


Mapping E-Commerce Locally And Beyond: Citt K12 Special Investigation Project, Thomas O’Brien, Deanna Matsumoto Nov 2021

Mapping E-Commerce Locally And Beyond: Citt K12 Special Investigation Project, Thomas O’Brien, Deanna Matsumoto

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

As all aspects of the American workplace become automated or digitally enhanced to some degree, K12 educators have an increasing responsibility to help their students acquire the technical skills necessary to organize and interpret information. Increasingly, this is done through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), especially in careers related to transportation and logistics. The Center for International Trade & Transportation (CITT) at CSU Long Beach has developed this K12 Special Investigation Project to introduce ArcGIS StoryMaps, an engaging, accessible and sophisticated web-based GIS application. The lessons center on e-commerce and its accompanying environmental and economic impact. Still, the activities can be …


Peer Motivation: Getting Through Math Together, Jessica Mean, Wes Maciejewski Jan 2021

Peer Motivation: Getting Through Math Together, Jessica Mean, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Students have a complex relationship with mathematics. Some love it, but more often than not, the feelings are less favorable. These feelings can lead to decreased motivation which makes it difficult for students to engage with the subject as the semester progresses. Instructors also have difficulty addressing this waning motivation. In this paper, we claim peers are better able to connect with the students and this can be leveraged to better motivate students. We present an approach to having peers motivate their students. These peer interactions integrated with a mandatory mathematics course might improve students’ motivation.


Relative Impacts Of Different Grade Scales On Student Success In Introductory Physics, David J. Webb, Cassandra A. Paul, Mary A. Chessey Aug 2020

Relative Impacts Of Different Grade Scales On Student Success In Introductory Physics, David J. Webb, Cassandra A. Paul, Mary A. Chessey

Faculty Publications

In deciding on a student’s grade in a class, an instructor generally needs to combine many individual grading judgments into one overall judgment. Two relatively common numerical scales used to specify individual grades are the 4-point scale (where each whole number 0–4 corresponds to a letter grade) and the percent scale (where letter grades A through D are uniformly distributed in the top 40% of the scale). This paper uses grading data from a single series of courses offered over a period of 10 years to show that the grade distributions emerging from these two grade scales differed in many …


Size Vs. Number: Assigning Number Words To Discrete And Continuous Quantities, Emily Slusser, Patrick Cravalho Aug 2020

Size Vs. Number: Assigning Number Words To Discrete And Continuous Quantities, Emily Slusser, Patrick Cravalho

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Affordances And Constraints: Pre-Service Science Educators Co-Teaching In Support Of Ells, Steven Drouin, Katya Aguilar, Virginia Lehmkuhl-Dakhwe Jan 2020

Affordances And Constraints: Pre-Service Science Educators Co-Teaching In Support Of Ells, Steven Drouin, Katya Aguilar, Virginia Lehmkuhl-Dakhwe

Faculty Publications

Co-teaching has increasingly been utilized as an alternative model for the student teaching experience in pre-service education. Recent literature highlights potential for co-teachers to develop by engaging in cycles of inquiry in learning communities. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of a science student teacher who engaged in cycles of inquiry around supporting English language learners (ELLs) in a co-teaching student teaching placement. This qualitative case study involved a science mentor teacher and a science student teacher engaged in a yearlong co-teaching placement. Data sources included surveys, interviews, and written and oral lesson plans and reflections. …


Counting And Basic Numerical Skills, Emily Slusser Jan 2019

Counting And Basic Numerical Skills, Emily Slusser

Faculty Publications

The following chapter outlines a typical developmental trajectory of children’s early number knowledge and counting skills. Using a series of anecdotal demonstrations of a young child’s emergent knowledge as a guide, the chapter first outlines the conceptual and procedural building blocks for counting and basic numerical skills (Section 4.1 and 4.2), proceeds to an extended discussion of major conceptual achievements in counting (Section 4.3), and concludes with a review of our emerging understanding on how to best support and facilitate the development of these skills (Section 4.4). Throughout each of these sections, seminal studies are discussed to more clearly demonstrate …


Observing Change In Students’ Attitudes Towards Mathematics: Contrasting Quantitative And Qualitative Approaches, Wes Maciejewski Nov 2018

Observing Change In Students’ Attitudes Towards Mathematics: Contrasting Quantitative And Qualitative Approaches, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A student’s attitude towards mathematics affects how they learn and perform in mathematics. What exactly is meant by attitude and how this interacts with mathematics education is a current debate in the mathematics education research community. Regardless, practitioners often acknowledge a consideration of improving students’ attitudes towards mathematics in their course design. This creates an impetus to study attitudes towards mathematics in a way that lends itself to observing changes over a course in mathematics. The current study draws on two approaches to observing and measuring attitudes towards mathematics in an effort to contrast disparate approaches and deepen an investigation …


Departmental Action Teams: A Five-Year Update On A Model For Sustainable Change, Daniel Reinholz, Mary Pilgrim, Karen Falkenberg, Courtney Ngai, Gina Quan, Sarah Wise, Chris Geanious, Joel Corbo, Noah Finkelstein Nov 2018

Departmental Action Teams: A Five-Year Update On A Model For Sustainable Change, Daniel Reinholz, Mary Pilgrim, Karen Falkenberg, Courtney Ngai, Gina Quan, Sarah Wise, Chris Geanious, Joel Corbo, Noah Finkelstein

Faculty Publications

Fostering sustainable improvements in undergraduate education remains a formidable challenge. To address this challenge, our team has developed the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model. DATs are small working groups of faculty, students, and staff, that work collaboratively to envision, plan, develop, and build sustainable structures in their department. To support the uptake of such structures, DATs collect and analyze data to reflect on the root causes of an issue, which they use to shift beliefs, values, and practices within their context. This paper provides a five-year status report on the DAT project. We describe the history of the model, its …


Changes In Attitudes Revealed Through Students’ Writing About Mathematics, Wes Maciejewski Jul 2018

Changes In Attitudes Revealed Through Students’ Writing About Mathematics, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The ways in which a student relates to mathematics is known to affect how they learn and perform in mathematics: anxiety may be compensated with avoidance; enjoyment with engagement. Therefore, there is a need to understand students’ relationships with mathematics and to see how these are affected by mathematics education. This paper presents results from the early stages of a mixed-methods study aimed at assessing changes in students’ attitudes towards mathematics as revealed in their writings about mathematics. In contrast to existing survey instruments on attitudes towards mathematics, the methods and discussion presented here have the potential to inform the …


Unpacking Teacher Practice Through A Moves-Based Formative Assessment Framework Using Video-Based Cycles Of Inquiry, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg Apr 2018

Unpacking Teacher Practice Through A Moves-Based Formative Assessment Framework Using Video-Based Cycles Of Inquiry, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg

Faculty Publications

Research has shown for over a decade that teachers who engage in formative assessment (FA) practices may have the most powerful impact on student learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Hattie, 2012). Yet less is known about the development of teachers’ knowledge and use of formative assessment as they plan, enact, and reflect on their questioning practices. Our qualitative case study focuses on how in-service middle school math teachers take up three specific moves (Author A, 2014) associated with formative assessment practice as as part of a video-based cycle of inquiry project. The study found focusing participants’ planning and reflection through …


Using The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool (Riot) For Reflection On Teaching Practice, Cassandra Paul, Emily West Feb 2018

Using The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool (Riot) For Reflection On Teaching Practice, Cassandra Paul, Emily West

Faculty Publications

As physics educators, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our practice. There are many different kinds of professional development opportunities that have been shown to help us with this endeavor. We can seek assistance from professionals, like mentor teachers or centers for faculty development, we can attend workshops to learn new curricula or pedagogical skills, and we can engage in learning communities to develop shared visions and become more reflective educators.1However, when these activities end, what can we do on our own to continue to improve? How can we track our improvement? And perhaps even most …


Teens-As-Teachers Nutrition Program Increases Interest In Science Among Schoolchildren And Fosters Self-Efficacy In Teens, Virginia Bolshakova, John Gieng, C. Sheena Sidhu Jan 2018

Teens-As-Teachers Nutrition Program Increases Interest In Science Among Schoolchildren And Fosters Self-Efficacy In Teens, Virginia Bolshakova, John Gieng, C. Sheena Sidhu

Faculty Publications

The Healthy Living Ambassador Program brings health, teen leadership, and teamwork to California's elementary school gardens through interdisciplinary UC Cooperative Extension collaboration, community-based partnerships and teen teaching. During spring 2015, teen ambassadors trained by Extension educators and volunteers at UC Elkus Ranch in San Mateo County taught nutrition science, food cultivation and healthy living skills in an 8-week, garden-based, after-school nutrition and physical education program for elementary school children in an urban setting. We conducted a pilot study using a mixed-methods approach to measure and explore the program's impact on children's vegetable selection and consumption preferences, as well as perceived …


Incorporating Wikipedia In The Classroom To Improve Science Learning And Communication, Becky J. Carmichael, Metha M. Klock Sep 2017

Incorporating Wikipedia In The Classroom To Improve Science Learning And Communication, Becky J. Carmichael, Metha M. Klock

Faculty Publications, Environmental Studies

Wikipedia, the digital encyclopedia, has approximately 15 billion page views a month and is a platform where editors worldwide collaborate to improve content on topics, including the questions above. Wikipedia supports science communication in several ways. It helps readers comprehend information and contributors clarify the meaning and implications of scientific knowledge. The anatomy of Wikipedia is symmetric, allowing for ease in contribution and discussion. Wikipedia-based assignments range from making small edits, such as copyediting a series of science-related topics, adding citations, or inserting internal links to existing Wikipedia pages, to more substantial contributions. Challenges faced by students necessitate 'just-in-time" instruction …


Mathematical Knowledge As Memories Of Mathematics, Wes Maciejewski Jul 2017

Mathematical Knowledge As Memories Of Mathematics, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

I propose that an understanding of a mathematical concept is comprised of both a conceptual understanding of, and recollections of working with that concept. That is, a mathematical concept may not be immediately distilled in its abstract form from lived experience, didactical or otherwise, and this milleu is brought along in subsequent recollections of the concept. In an effort to balance pedagogical recommendations for increased conceptual teaching/understanding, I propose that memories of encountering a mathematical concept improve its utility in novel problem situations. I support this claim by drawing on the literature on episodic future thinking and on our developing …


Equity Of Success In Clasp Courses At Uc Davis, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Mary Chessey, Wendell Potter Jul 2017

Equity Of Success In Clasp Courses At Uc Davis, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Mary Chessey, Wendell Potter

Faculty Publications

We have recently described the reformed introductory physics course, Collaborative Learning through Active Sense-Making in Physics (CLASP), for bioscience students at UC Davis and argued that the course was more successful than its predecessor (Physics 5) by several measures. Now we examine the effects of these courses for different student ethnic groups. We find that, compared to Physics 5, students of most ethnic backgrounds were more successful in CLASP. We also find that students from ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM who took the CLASP course were more likely to graduate as STEM majors. We discuss possible features of CLASP that …


Flipping Stem Classrooms Collaboratively Across Campuses In California, Laura Sullivan-Green, Ravisha Mathur, Andrew Feinstein Jun 2017

Flipping Stem Classrooms Collaboratively Across Campuses In California, Laura Sullivan-Green, Ravisha Mathur, Andrew Feinstein

Office of the Provost Scholarship

San José State University, in partnership with California State University-Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona, was awarded a prestigious 2015 First in the World grant, sponsored by the Department of Education. The multi-campus effort is focused on bringing the flipped classroom model to seven STEM gateway courses over three years that have high failure rates through collaborative efforts from faculty on the three partner campuses. SJSU, CSULA, and CPP are all designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Minority-Serving Institutions, though their demographics are very different. High impact practices like the flipped classroom approach have been shown to increase URM student success and …


Why Teach Science? Helping Teacher Candidates Frame Instructional Decision Making From Moral And Ethical Perspectives, Grinell Smith, Colette Rabin Apr 2017

Why Teach Science? Helping Teacher Candidates Frame Instructional Decision Making From Moral And Ethical Perspectives, Grinell Smith, Colette Rabin

Faculty Publications

This qualitative research project’s overarching goal was to explore ways to help primary grade teacher candidates (re)kindle a conception of teaching as a moral enterprise involving ethical choices and enactment of one’s values. In the context of a science methods course, we explored the research question: What happens to the commitments toward science instruction of pre-service elementary teachers when we help them view science instruction as an act of caring? Our findings suggest that for many, this approach helped students take a moral stance, articulate an ethical position regarding educational issues, and use these perspectives to inform decision-making at the …


Episodic Future Thinking In Mathematical Situations, Wes Maciejewski, Reece Roberts, Donna Rose Addis Aug 2016

Episodic Future Thinking In Mathematical Situations, Wes Maciejewski, Reece Roberts, Donna Rose Addis

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Episodic future thinking is a process of mentally projecting one's self into a future event, allowing the event to be experienced before it actually occurs (Atance & O'Neill, 2001). The current study explores the possibility that students engage in episodic future thinking while solving mathematical tasks. Participating students were given mathematical situations and verbalized thoughts that emerged as they planned resolutions to the situations. All participants exhibited episodic future thinking and we present a categorization of these thoughts. Given extant results on the positive influence episodic future thinking has on general problem-solving ability, we propose that a similar influence might …


Research Mathematicians & Mathematics Educators: Collaborations For Change, Greg Oates, Wes Maciejewski Aug 2016

Research Mathematicians & Mathematics Educators: Collaborations For Change, Greg Oates, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.


Binning For Equity And Access: Formative Assessment–Focused Teacher Professional Development For Middle School Mathematics Classrooms, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg, Joanne Becker Apr 2016

Binning For Equity And Access: Formative Assessment–Focused Teacher Professional Development For Middle School Mathematics Classrooms, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg, Joanne Becker

Faculty Publications

While research has shown for over a decade that teachers who engage in formative assessment (FA) practices may have the most powerful impact on student learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Hattie, 2012) less is known about the development of teachers’ knowledge and use of formative assessment as they plan, enact, and reflect on their practice. Our qualitative case study focuses on how in-service middle school math teachers take up the specific moves (Author, 2014a) associated with formative assessment practice as they plan, enact, and reflect on their practices as part of a FA-focused professional development cycle of inquiry. The study …


The Promise Of An Energy Tracker Curriculum For Promoting Home-School Connections And Youth Agency In Climate Action, Elizabeth M. Walsh, Derek Jenkins, Eugene Cordero Apr 2016

The Promise Of An Energy Tracker Curriculum For Promoting Home-School Connections And Youth Agency In Climate Action, Elizabeth M. Walsh, Derek Jenkins, Eugene Cordero

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Formal classroom learning experiences that support sustainable behaviors outside the classroom necessarily must bridge students’ home and school lives, as knowledge and practice learned in the classroom is implemented outside of school. To this end, we study the impact of the Green Ninja Energy Tracker curriculum, which uses students’ home energy data in the classroom to promote engagement in climate change and conservation behaviors. Data is drawn from class observations, a focus group, and pre- and post- surveys of a pilot implementation of this curriculum in a diverse 12th-grade Earth Science classroom at an alternative school. We investigate what factors …


Linguistic Cohesion In Middle-School Texts: A Comparison Of Logical Connectives Usage In Science And Social Studies Textbooks, Diego Román, Allison Briceño, Hannah Rhode, Stephanie Hironka Jan 2016

Linguistic Cohesion In Middle-School Texts: A Comparison Of Logical Connectives Usage In Science And Social Studies Textbooks, Diego Román, Allison Briceño, Hannah Rhode, Stephanie Hironka

Faculty Publications

Learning from textbooks is challenging because students must understand novel concepts while also comprehending the language used to convey those concepts. In the domain of science, one posited reason for the perceived difficulty in the reading comprehension of science texts is the low frequency of logical connectives (words that signal relationships between sentences and ideas). To test this claim and discuss its potential effects on the reading comprehension of texts used at the middle school level, this study measured whether the usage of logical connectives (e.g., therefore, so) differed between science and social studies textbooks. Our findings from a large …


Energy Tracking Diagrams, Rachel Scherr, Benedikt Harrer, Hunter Close, Abigail Daane, Lezlie Dewater, Amy Robertson, Lane Seeley, Stamatis Vokos Jan 2016

Energy Tracking Diagrams, Rachel Scherr, Benedikt Harrer, Hunter Close, Abigail Daane, Lezlie Dewater, Amy Robertson, Lane Seeley, Stamatis Vokos

Faculty Publications

Energy is a crosscutting concept in science and features prominently in national science education documents. In the Next Generation Science Standards, the primary conceptual learning goal is for learners to conserve energy as they track the transfers and transformations of energy within, into, or out of the system of interest in complex physical processes. As part of tracking energy transfers among objects, learners should (i) distinguish energy from matter, including recognizing that energy flow does not uniformly align with the movement of matter, and should (ii) identify specific mechanisms by which energy is transferred among objects, such as mechanical work …


Instructors' Perceptions Of Their Students' Conceptions: The Case In Undergraduate Mathematics, Wes Maciejewski Jan 2016

Instructors' Perceptions Of Their Students' Conceptions: The Case In Undergraduate Mathematics, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

How a student conceives the nature of a subject they study affects the approach they take to that study and ultimately their learning outcome. This conception is shaped by prior experience with the subject and has a lasting impact on the student's learning. For subsequent education to be effective, an instructor must link the current topic to the student's prior knowledge. Short of assessing their students, an instructor relies on their subjective experience, intuitions, and perceptions about this prior knowledge. These perceptions shape the educational experience. The current study explores, in the context of undergraduate mathematics, the alignment of instructors' …


The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool For Future Teachers, Cassandra Paul May 2014

The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool For Future Teachers, Cassandra Paul

Faculty Publications

Current educational research shows that students achieve higher learning gains in science classrooms when interactive techniques are used. As a result, we are seeing more high schools and institutions of higher education adopt interactive courses. Unfortunately, it's difficult for future teachers to envision interactive science courses because their experience as students has been dominated by traditional lecture. New educators need to know what interactive science classrooms look like, so that they can model this experience in their own classrooms. The Real-time Instructor Observing Tool (RIOT), a computer application that allows an observer to quickly categorize classroom interactions, can help with …


Grading By Response Category: A Simple Method For Providing Students With Meaningful Feedback On Exams In Large Courses, Cassandra Paul, Wendell Potter, Brenda Weiss Jan 2014

Grading By Response Category: A Simple Method For Providing Students With Meaningful Feedback On Exams In Large Courses, Cassandra Paul, Wendell Potter, Brenda Weiss

Faculty Publications

As instructors, we want our students to develop a deep understanding of course material, and feedback is essential in their sense-making process. Providing effective individualized feedback to students in large courses is especially difficult. While researcherssuggest,1 and many instructors of large courses are,2,3incorporating interactive techniques that allow peer feedback, studies have shown that it's important for students to also have direct feedback from the instructor.4 Since the requirement for individualized feedback is difficult to meet during class time in large courses, providing effective feedback on exams and quizzes takes on added importance. Some instructors choose to …


The Transformative Potential Of Boundary Spanners: A Narrative Inquiry Into Preservice Teacher Education And Professional Development In An Nclb-Impacted Context, David Whitenack, Patricia Swanson Jul 2013

The Transformative Potential Of Boundary Spanners: A Narrative Inquiry Into Preservice Teacher Education And Professional Development In An Nclb-Impacted Context, David Whitenack, Patricia Swanson

Faculty Publications

This narrative inquiry uses pedagogic discourse theory and organization theory to frame pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development initiatives in a school district facing tensions related to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Implications for similar future initiatives are considered.


Variation Of Instructor-Student Interactions In An Introductory Interactive Physics Course, Emily West, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Wendell Potter Mar 2013

Variation Of Instructor-Student Interactions In An Introductory Interactive Physics Course, Emily West, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Wendell Potter

Faculty Publications

The physics instruction at UC Davis for life science majors takes place in a long-standing reformed large-enrollment physics course in which the discussion or laboratory instructors (primarily graduate student teaching assistants) implement the interactive-engagement (IE) elements of the course. Because so many different instructors participate in disseminating the IE course elements, we find it essential to the instructors’ professional development to observe and document the student-instructor interactions within the classroom. Out of this effort, we have developed a computerized real-time instructor observation tool (RIOT) to take data of student-instructor interactions. We use the RIOT to observe 29 different instructors for …