Education Commons^™

Family-Centered Theory Of Change: A Conceptual Framework For Improving Teaching And Learning In Undergraduate Stem Courses, Juan Salinas, Parwinder Grewal, Jose J. Gutierrez, Nicolas A. Pereyra, Dagoberto Ramirez, Elizabeth Salinas, Griselda Salinas, Virginia Santanas, Can Saygin

School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are often characterized as Hispanic enrolling (rather than serving) that practice deficit-based systems that continue to marginalize Latinx and other underrepresented students, especially in STEM fields. Extant research on HSIs stresses the importance of investigating the value of grassroots advocacy groups as external influencers of institutional servingness through deeper engagement with the Latinx community. Using a novel family-centered theory of change that addresses diversity, equity, and inclusion, we integrated intersectionality and servingness into a family-integrated education serving and transforming academic framework. We investigated the potential transformational impact of this framework on students, families, faculty, and administrators at …

Stem, Istem, And Steam: What Is Next?, Atiya Razi, George Zhou

Education Publications

The historical and political emergence of STEM has changed the educational paradigm. Researchers, educators, and frontline professionals consider STEM as their savior. However, the ambiguity surrounding STEM and its successors, Integrated STEM education, and STEAM has created confusion for educators and frontline workers about which framework and concept they have to adapt to support their nation in the global financial crisis. Unfortunately, limited research offers insight into the historical, political, and educational development of STEM, iSTEM, and STEAM. This literature review fills this gap by addressing the historical, political, and educational development and uncertainty surrounding STEM, iSTEM, and STEAM. Also, …

Pedagogies That Foster A Growth Mindset Towards Mathematics, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Research demonstrates that a student’s mindset plays an important role in achievement and that mindsets are domain specific. Carol Dweck claimed that mathematics needs a mindset makeover and has shown that teachers can foster a growth mindset through their pedagogical choices. This paper shares how one university trains preservice teachers in mathematics pedagogies that are key to fostering a growth mindset. These practices include educating students on brain function, equitable access, metacognition strategies, feedback practices, the importance of productive struggle, and learning from mistakes.

Designing A Week-Long Biomedical Engineering Summer Camp To Increase Young Students’ Interest And Self-Efficacy In Stem, Kayla Ney

Honors Theses

In order to combat the negative feelings many young students have towards STEM, I designed a week-long summer camp that teaches students about biomedical engineering as well as collaboration, communication, and confidence with STEM subjects. This work includes a literature review outlining what STEM is and current issues in STEM education, including disinterest in STEM and attrition in STEM degree programs. The literature review outlines current methods and ideas being utilized to combat these issues, namely, inclusive pedagogical strategies, and how some of these concepts can be applied to the summer camp. The curriculum document included outlines each activity, its …

Updated Guidelines, Updated Curriculum: The Gaise College Report And Introductory Statistics For The Modern Student, Beverly Wood, Megan Mocko, Michelle Everson, Nicholas J. Horton, Paul Velleman

Publications

Since the 2005 American Statistical Association's (ASA) endorsement of the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) College Report, changes in the statistics field and statistics education have had a major impact on the teaching and learning of statistics. We now live in a world where "Statistics - the science of learning from data - is the fastest-growing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) undergraduate degree in the United States," according to the ASA, and where many jobs demand an understanding of how to explore and make sense of data. In light of these new reports and other …

Experiential Learning Opportunity (Elo) And Utilization Of Field-And-Data- Based Information Obtained Through The Infusion Of Technology: Highlights On Nasa Stem And Earth Science Curricula, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Matthew Khargie, Shuayb Siddiqu, Sol De Leon, Katina Singh, Newrence Wills, Krishna Mahibar

Publications and Research

There is a greater emphasis on hands-on involvement and critical thinking skills in the geosciences and other STEM fields to inspire and engage K- 16 students to value scientific content and enable them to discover the well-documented nature of the fundamental scientific principles needed to explain various earth science and other STEM-related core phenomena. NASA MAA curricula are ideal for engaging K1-16 students in this context, since grade-specific lesson plans open-up a plethora of pedagogically sound and relevant earth science activities. These include earth’s materials and properties, meteorites, robotics, hot air balloon, flight simulation, star gazing, material science, crystal growth, …

Epistemology Shock: English Professors Confront Science, Ian Barnard, Jan Osborn

English Faculty Articles and Research

This article raises questions and concerns regarding students from the sciences working with faculty in the humanities in interdisciplinary settings. It explores the experience of two English professors facing the privileging of "facts" and a science-based understanding of the world in their own classrooms. It poses both questions and pedagogical possibilities for addressing conflicts around epistemologies, scholarship, and teaching and learning.

‘When I Am Being Rushed It Slows Down My Brain’: Constructing Self-Understandings As A Mathematics Learner, Rachel Lambert

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding learning disabilities (LDs) as constructed through multiple cultural practices including discourse, this paper focuses on a Latino middle school student with a LD named Elijah. This study documents both the discourses and practices used to position Elijah as a mathematics learner, as well as his use of similar discourses as he constructs a complex set of self-understandings as a mathematics learner. Elijah is positioned by discourses that prioritise speed as an indicator of mathematical ability, as well as discourses that construct students with LD as having both intelligence and differences such as processing speed. An analysis of interview and …

Differences In Math Achievement: Utilizing Supplemental Computer-Based Instruction And Traditional Instruction, Todd Clark

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Mathematics achievement has become vitally important in public education, obligating students to meet and exceed higher standards in spite of ability and knowledge level. This causal-comparative study sought to establish the achievement of the Classworks® supplemental math program with seventh grade students from two public schools in Georgia. The national Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores in math were used to compare 129 seventh grade students (control group) who used traditional instruction and 129 students (experimental group) who used traditional instruction along with the supplemental Classworks® software program. In addition, the study analyzed the relationships between gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. …

Traditional Elders In Post-Secondary Stem Education, Maria Pontes Ferreira, Betty Mckenna, Fidji Gendron

Nutrition and Food Science Faculty Research Publications

Native/Aboriginal students are underrepresented in Western science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), due in part to perceived cultural irrelevance. Yet many Native people continue to engage in Indigenous science, such as through traditional medicine and food systems. Recently it was shown that Aboriginal university students are significant users of natural health products (NHP) and learn about NHP from Elders. Thus, in post-secondary educational settings, the presence of Elders may positively impact Native students' interest in science-related topics. At the First Nations University of Canada, partnering of STEM-trained faculty with Elders occurs in community-based research and education endeavours. This paper highlights …

An African-Centered Approach To Land Education, Salvotore Engel-Dimauro, Karanja Keita Carroll

Publications and Research

Approaches to environmental education which are engaging with place and critical pedagogy have not yet broadly engaged with the African world and insights from Africana Studies and Geography. An African-centered approach facilitates people's reconnection to places and ecosystems in ways that do not reduce places to objects of conquest and things to be exploited for profitability and individual gain. Such an approach offers effective critiques of settler coloniser perspectives on the environment and deeper understandings of the relationship between worldview and ecologically sensitised education. Through examples from Africana Studies and Geography, this article provides an introduction to how an African-centered …

Gaise In Discipline-Specific Courses, Beverly Wood

Publications

While acknowledging the diverse setting, audience, and purpose of introductory courses, existing research assumes that courses offered by different disciplines share the same goals and teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the objectives for student outcomes and pedagogical delivery of introductory statistics courses designed for students in a specific major, providing explicit evidence for this assumption.

The American Statistical Association’s Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) are meant to apply to all introductory courses. The College Report’s Goals for Students and Recommendations for Teaching are used as a framework for a qualitative study …

Mathematics In The Age Of Technology: There Is A Place For Technology In The Mathematics Classroom, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

In today’s world of ubiquitous computing there are a number of technologies available to K-12 educators for teaching and learning mathematics. However, Koehler and Mishra (2008) have described how teaching and learning with such technologies presents a “wicked problem,” as it can involve a number of variables, independent of each other and contextually bound, that need to be brought together. This article highlights the advantages technology offers for mathematics education and looks at some of the reasons behind the poor uptake, such as teacher beliefs and lack of training. A number of solutions are offered to address these issues, including …

Developing Mathematical Content Knowledge For Teaching Elementary School Mathematics, Eva Thanheiser, Christine A. Browning, Meg Moss, Tad Watanabe, Gina Garza-Kling

Faculty and Research Publications

In this paper the authors present three design principles they use to develop preservice teachers' mathematical content knowledge for teaching in their mathematics content and/or methods courses: (1) building on currently held conceptions, (2) modeling teaching for understanding, (3) focusing on connections between content knowledge and other types of knowledge. The authors share results of individual research projects and teaching approaches focusing on helping preservice elementary teachers develop such knowledge. Specific examples from different content areas (whole number, fractions, angle, and area) are discussed.

An Integration Of Chemistry, Biology, And Physics: The Interdisciplinary Laboratory, Gerald R. Van Hecke, Kerry K. Karukstis, Richard C. Haskell, Catherine S. Mcfadden, F Sheldon Wettack

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

As a new venture to integrate research and education, a pilot section of a first-year laboratory sequence known as the Interdisciplinary Laboratory (ID Lab) was introduced on the Harvey Mudd campus during the 1999–2000 academic year and continues to be offered. The ID Lab attempts to bridge laboratory experiences from biology, chemistry, and physics for the first-year student. Taught by a team of faculty from these disciplines, the course seeks both to illustrate commonality of investigative methods and laboratory techniques in these sciences and to introduce discipline-specific principles. Experiments with a chemistry component include the Molecular Weight of Macromolecules, the …

The Nature Of Science: A Perspective From The Philosophy Of Science, Juli T. Eflin, Stuart Glennan, George Reisch

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

In a recent article in this journal, Brian Alters (1997) argued that, given the many ways in which the nature of science (NOS) is described and poor student responses to NOS instruments such as Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale (NSKS), Nature of Science Scale (NOSS), Test on Understanding Science (TOUS), and others, it is time for science educators to reconsider the standard lists of tenets for the NOS. Alters suggested that philosophers of science are authorities on the NOS and that consequently, it would be wise to investigate their views of current NOS tenets. To that end, he conducted a …

Reverence For Life: An Ethic For High School Biology Curricula, George K. Russell

Education Collection

Ethical and pedagogical arguments are presented against the use of animals by high school students in experiments causing pain/suffering/death of the animal. No justification is seen for such experimentation when perfectly valid alternatives, using noninvasive techniques, exist or could be developed. An important concern is the emotional and psychological growth of young people. An overall objective of high school biology curricula must be to assist students in making viable connections with living biological processes and the natural world.