Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2015

Science and Mathematics Education

Purdue University

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Education

Effect Of An Engineering Camp On Students’ Perceptions Of Engineering And Technology, Rebekah Hammack, Toni A. Ivey, Juliana Utley, Karen A. High Nov 2015

Effect Of An Engineering Camp On Students’ Perceptions Of Engineering And Technology, Rebekah Hammack, Toni A. Ivey, Juliana Utley, Karen A. High

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Students’ knowledge about a profession influences their future decisions about careers. Research indicates that students tend to hold stereotypical views of engineers, which would hinder engineering as a career choice. The purpose of this study was to measure how participating in a week long engineering summer camp affected middle school students’ (N519) attitudes towards engineering and their conceptions of engineering and technology. Results indicate that participation in the programs had a positive impact on the students’ understandings of what technology is and the work engineers do. Although the results indicate a positive impact on participants, it is not clear which …

Go to article

Transforming Institutions: Undergraduate Stem Education For The 21st Century, Gabriela C. Weaver, Wilella D. Burgess, Amy L. Childress, Linda Slakey Oct 2015

Transforming Institutions: Undergraduate Stem Education For The 21st Century, Gabriela C. Weaver, Wilella D. Burgess, Amy L. Childress, Linda Slakey

Purdue University Press Books

Higher education is coming under increasing scrutiny, both publically and within academia, with respect to its ability to appropriately prepare students for the careers that will make them competitive in the 21st-century workplace. At the same time, there is a growing awareness that many global issues will require creative and critical thinking deeply rooted in the technical STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. However, the existing and ingrained structures of higher education, particularly in the STEM fields, are not set up to provide students with extensive skill development in communication, teamwork, and divergent thinking, which is needed …

Go to article

Model Of The Use Of Evolutionary Trees (Muet), Yi Kong, Trevor Anderson, Nancy Pelaez Aug 2015

Model Of The Use Of Evolutionary Trees (Muet), Yi Kong, Trevor Anderson, Nancy Pelaez

PIBERG Instructional Innovation Materials

This Glossary is intended for both teachers and their students who are learning about evolutionary trees. To improve K-14 teachers’ and students’ as well as non-biology major undergraduate students’ understanding of trees, the Model of the Use of Evolutionary Trees (MUET) was developed based on professional biologists’ use of evolutionary trees in their scientific publications in 2012-2013. Definitions of terminology in this Glossary are referenced to published literature listed at the end of this Glossary. In addition to the Glossary and the MUET in html format, below as an additional link to a file giving you the Glossary in MSWord …

Go to article

A Model Of How Different Biology Experts Explain Molecular And Cellular Mechanisms, Caleb M. Trujillo, Trevor R. Anderson, Nancy J. Pelaez Jun 2015

A Model Of How Different Biology Experts Explain Molecular And Cellular Mechanisms, Caleb M. Trujillo, Trevor R. Anderson, Nancy J. Pelaez

PIBERG Publications

Constructing explanations is an essential skill for all science learners. The goal of this project was to model the key components of expert explanation of molecular and cellular mechanisms. As such, we asked: What is an appropriate model of the components of explanation used by biology experts to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms? Do explanations made by experts from different biology subdisciplines at a university support the validity of this model? Guided by the modeling framework of R. S. Justi and J. K. Gilbert, the validity of an initial model was tested by asking seven biologists to explain a molecular …

Go to article

Assessing Impact Of Exposure To Cyberphysical Systems On Student Interest In Information Technology Careers, Mayari I. Serrano Anazco May 2015

Assessing Impact Of Exposure To Cyberphysical Systems On Student Interest In Information Technology Careers, Mayari I. Serrano Anazco

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The main purpose of this project is to determine if the use of Information Technology (IT) tools, specifically cyberphysical devices, in outreach sessions will promote interest of young individuals in pursuing IT careers. The Diversity office of Purdue’s College of Technology offers a number of outreach sessions to a variety of target populations throughout the year. Each department in the college has an opportunity to present a session related to a field of study offered by the department. The research was carried out thru the Spring 2015 semester during the DOiT and Vision outreach programs offered through the college’s Diversity …

Go to article

Math, Science, And Engineering Integration In A High School Engineering Course: A Qualitative Study, Clara G. Valtorta, Leema K. Berland Apr 2015

Math, Science, And Engineering Integration In A High School Engineering Course: A Qualitative Study, Clara G. Valtorta, Leema K. Berland

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Engineering in K-12 classrooms has been receiving expanding emphasis in the United States. The integration of science, mathematics, and engineering is a benefit and goal of K-12 engineering; however, current empirical research on the efficacy of K-12 science, mathematics, and engineering integration is limited. This study adds to this growing field, using discourse analysis techniques to examine whether and why students integrate math and science concepts into their engineering design work. The study focuses on student work during a unit from a high school engineering course. Video data were collected during the unit and were used to identify episodes of …

Go to article

The Role Of Entomology In Environmental And Science Education: Comparing Outreach Methods For Their Impact On Student And Teacher Content Knowledge And Motivation, Faith J. Weeks Apr 2015

The Role Of Entomology In Environmental And Science Education: Comparing Outreach Methods For Their Impact On Student And Teacher Content Knowledge And Motivation, Faith J. Weeks

Open Access Dissertations

Outreach programming can be an important way for local students and teachers to be exposed to new fields while enhancing classroom learning. University-based outreach programs are offered throughout the country, including most entomology departments as few individuals learn about insects in school and these programs can be excellent sources of entomological education, as well as models to teach environmental and science education. Each department utilizes different instructional delivery methods for teaching about insects, which may impact the way in which students and teachers understand the insect concepts presented. To determine the impact of using entomology to enhance science and environmental …

Go to article

Public Understanding Of Chemistry Research In Print News, Michael D. Hands Apr 2015

Public Understanding Of Chemistry Research In Print News, Michael D. Hands

Open Access Dissertations

Despite numerous calls for improving scientific literacy, many American adults show a lack of understanding of experiments, scientific study, and scientific inquiry. News media is one important avenue for science learning, but previous research investigating health and/or environmental science news has shown that it is inconsistent in the presentation of scientific research limitations, potentially impacting reader understanding. In the first phase of this dissertation, seventeen news articles reporting on a single chemistry research article, along with associated press releases and research articles, were analyzed using move analysis to determine the structure of each type of text. It was found that …

Go to article

Undergraduate Engineering Students' Experiences Of Interdisciplinary Learning: A Phenomenographic Perspective, Ming-Chien Hsu Apr 2015

Undergraduate Engineering Students' Experiences Of Interdisciplinary Learning: A Phenomenographic Perspective, Ming-Chien Hsu

Open Access Dissertations

Engineers are expected to work with people with different disciplinary knowledge to solve real-world problems that are inherently complex, which is one of the reasons that interdisciplinary learning has become a common pedagogical practice in engineering education. However, empirical evidence on the impact of interdisciplinary learning on undergraduates is lacking. Regardless of the differences in the scope of methods used to assess interdisciplinary learning, frameworks of interdisciplinary learning are imperative for developing attainable outcomes as well as interpreting assessment data. Existing models of interdisciplinary learning have been either conceptual or based on research faculty members' experiences rather than empirical data. …

Go to article

Teaching Introductory Game Development With Unreal Engine: Challenges, Strategies, And Experiences, Nicholas A. Head Apr 2015

Teaching Introductory Game Development With Unreal Engine: Challenges, Strategies, And Experiences, Nicholas A. Head

Open Access Theses

From the days of Pong to 100 million dollar projects such as the Grand Theft Auto franchise, video games have evolved significantly over the years. This evolution has also changed the way game development is viewed as a career. Today, video games are one of the most profitable forms of entertainment, and game development courses are appearing at universities around the world. Even with this growth, a degree from a university has yet to be an important factor in finding a job in game development (Owen, 2013). This thesis examines a method of creating and implementing an introductory gaming course …

Go to article

Mach: A Model For Explaining Molecular And Cellular Mechanisms, Caleb M. Trujillo Jan 2015

Mach: A Model For Explaining Molecular And Cellular Mechanisms, Caleb M. Trujillo

Open Access Dissertations

Biologists use mechanistic explanations to understand behaviors of the immense complexity of molecular and cellular systems. In undergraduate biology courses, students are expected to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms, but teaching this skill presents many challenges due to the highly abstract, intangible nature of the cellular world, the influence of everyday language, and the tendency of students to overestimate how much they can explain. Therefore, across three studies this dissertation addresses these obstacles to teach undergraduate biology students to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms. ^ The first step was to model how biology experts explain molecular and cellular mechanisms, and …

Go to article