Education Commons^™

Mystery Mutt: Dna Analysis With A Dog Named Charlie, Kelly M. Jones

Inclusive Strategies for Teaching Secondary Mathematics and Science

This article provides an in-depth exploration of the design, execution, and outcomes of the "Mystery Mutt: DNA analysis with a dog named Charlie" lesson. Designed for seventh-grade life science students, the lesson focuses on unraveling the correlation between genotype and phenotype using authentic pet DNA test results. Grounded in real-life experiences and employing a multi-dimensional approach, the lesson successfully bridges the gap between theoretical genetic concepts and practical applications. The article discusses the lesson's alignment with academic standards, consideration of materials and safety, its unique classroom context, and the engaging phases of exploration, explanation, elaboration, evaluation, and closure. The emphasis …

Why Do Students Attend Stem Clubs, What Do They Get Out Of It, And Where Are They Heading?, Margaret R. Blanchard, Kristie S. Gutierrez, Kylie J. Swanson, Karen M. Collier

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This research investigated what motivated and sustained the involvement of 376 students in culturally relevant, afterschool STEM clubs at four rural, under-resourced schools. A longitudinal, convergent parallel mixed methods research design was used to investigate participants’ participation in and perceptions of the clubs, their motivations to attend, and their future goals, over three years. Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) served as a guiding theoretical and analytical framework. Overall, students who attended the clubs were African American (55%), female (56%), and 6th graders (42%), attended approximately half of the clubs (43%), and agreed with quality measures on the STEM Club Survey (M …

Investigating Students’ Conceptualization Of Linear Programming In Mathematics, A Case Of A Secondary School In Rachuonyo East Sub-County, Kenya, Opiyo Collince Oyaya

Theses & Dissertations

Mathematics is a compulsory subject in the Kenyan education system from pre-primary to secondary education. The ministry of education through the introduction of the 8-4-4 system of education in 1985 made Mathematics compulsory owing to its vast application in a wide range of spheres and professions. It is argued that proficiency in mathematics propels both economic and technological advancements. To further enhance delivery in this subject area, the ministry of education initiated SMASSE for science and mathematics teachers to help in simplifying the ‘high order’ concepts such as calculus, loci, and linear programming among others. Linear programming is applicable in …

Improving Mathematical Critical Thinking Ability Through Realistic Mathematics Learning In Jhs Students, Sri Sutarni, Rustiwi Gatiniggsih

Jurnal Riset Pendidikan Matematika

Critical thinking is a structured way of thinking in making decisions and solving problems. Because the critical thinking ability in junior high school students is low, realistic mathematics learning is considered to be able to improve students' critical thinking ability. The purpose of the research in this article is to describe the improvement of mathematical critical thinking ability through realistic mathematics learning reviewed from indicators and the averages increase each cycle. This type of research is Class Action Research that is carried out in 2 cycle. The research subjects consisted of mathematics teachers and 16 students of class VIII Muhammadiyah …

Steam Explores Project Based Assessments, Erica Luvone, Loretta Radulic, Joe Mondanaro, Nicole Acevedo, Erika Dent, Ann Rhodes

STEM Month

This year, our approach to STEAM explores project based assessments in the disciplines of science and social studies. Students work in groups to produce projects that showcase work and proficiency. These projects are presented, displayed, discussed, and revisited or revised at student discretion.

Students Interest And Thoughts On Stem, Chrisitine Girtain

STEM Month

I am Juan Sebastian Bohorquez Mora, I am a sophomore student at Toms River High School North. I am interested in biofuels because I believe they are a good option to replace fossil fuels. I am also interested in duckweed because biofuels are made out of crops, and people need to eat those crops. That’s when duckweed comes in and it can be used as a feedstock for ethanol production which is a biofuel. Bioethanol is a type of biofuel and it is derived from the corn’s starch. Instead of making ethanol from the corn’s starch, we can use duckweed …

Science Methods For Elementary Teachers, Ron Browne, David Kimori

MSU Authors Collection

Complete Digitized Text of Science Methods for Elementary Teachers by Ron Browne and David Kimori, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2022.

Science Methods For Elementary Teachers, Ron Browne, David Kimori

Science Methods for Elementary Teachers

Complete Digitized Text of Science Methods for Elementary Teachers by Ron Browne and David Kimori, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2022.

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.

Developing An Inquiry-Based Laboratory Project For Chem 142l Course At Bsu, Manuel Pina

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In addition to content knowledge, critical and independent thinking, scientific reasoning, and problem-solving skills are essential in preparing next generation of successful workforce. Since one of the biggest advantages of STEM disciplines is a “must-have” hands-on laboratory experience, it is intuitive to exploit this learning space to reinforce afore-mentioned skills. In this context, project-based (PBL) or inquiry-based (IBL) laboratory experiences are rapidly becoming mainstream pedagogical choice for many STEM instructors across United States.^[1-4] PBL, and IBL are learning experiences that offer students an opportunity to experience realistic scientific process of discovery through carefully designed inquiry-driven and/or open-ended investigative laboratory …

An Exploration Of Manipulatives In Math Education, Jade Monte

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Pre-existing literature has shown that the education system needs to re-evaluate mathematical teaching practices in a manner that can boost students’ confidence in mathematics. Thus, the research is to investigate the use of manipulatives in reducing students’ anxiety by increasing their learning experience and engagement in mathematics. Furthermore, the purpose of this thesis is to explain the interconnectedness of math manipulatives, student engagement, and problem-solving. An in-depth literature review is conducted, which contains definitions, important benefits and methodologies of manipulatives, as well as the teacher’s role regarding these three terms. When manipulatives, student engagement, and problem-solving are in harmony, students …

Mathematics Anxiety: Supplementary Materials, Sarah Buckley

Student learning processes

This publication contains two professional development activities for teachers which focus on mathematics anxiety. One is a team-based activity and the other is an activity for individuals. The activities encourage both mathematics teachers and non-mathematics teachers to reflect on their current practice, their attitudes towards mathematics, their ideas about teaching mathematics and the mathematical beliefs of students.

Mathematics Anxiety, Sarah Buckley

Student learning processes

This Mathematics Monograph is focussed on helping teachers and school leaders gain a better understanding of: How mathematics anxiety negatively impacts learning and teaching; the symptoms, causes and companions of mathematics anxiety; the difference between reducing mathematics anxiety directly and indirectly; and strategies that can identify and address mathematics anxiety in students and teachers. The Monograph is intended to present information for reflecting and planning how mathematics anxiety can be reduced and regulated in classrooms and in the school community.

Secondary Mathematics Teachers' And Students' Approaches To Engagement And Motivation For Mathematics Learning In The Classroom, Leenah Bouzid

Honors Theses

Engagement and motivation in a mathematics classroom is an issue that educators and researchers continually examine and analyze to understand and develop ways to maintain or increase. The main goal of this thesis research project is to gain insight and understand what engagement and motivation means in a mathematics classroom by examining secondary mathematics teachers and students. The literature from researchers and educators describe components that contribute to engagement and motivation such as mathematical disposition, which is the attitudes and beliefs towards the subject and learning the subject, self-efficacy, which is about the student’s belief in one’s own capabilities, intrinsic …

Systematic Errors In Video Analysis, Tim Martin, Kayt Frisch, John Zwart

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Video analysis helps students to connect physical, mathematical, and graphical models with the phenomena that the models represent and improves student kinematic graph interpretation skills. The wide-spread availability of easy to use software packages like Logger Pro (Vernier), Capstone (PASCO), and Tracker have led to many introductory physics courses adopting video analysis techniques in the classroom. Such uses include high-speed cameras to study rocket launches and other innovative applications. In this paper, we will look at ways in which some common systematic errors can affect outcomes.

Project Based Learning: Are There Any Academic Benefits For The Teacher Or Students?, Michael Aristidou

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In this paper, I raise an issue often neglected in Project Based Learning (PBL) literature. What academic benefits, if any, does the teacher or the student gain by adopting PBL pedagogy in college? I argue that PBL by its structure yields little academic benefits for the teacher or the students, and this could affect motivation as well. I present some examples from my personal teaching experience in mathematics. And thus, as I explain, a more “traditional” project-based approach could be better for both teacher and students.

Mindset Matters: Using Research-Based Strategies To Enhance Middle-School Math Instruction, Catherine Harvey

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Stel Benchmark Verb Alignment To Cognitive, Affective, And Psychomotor Domains, T. Shown, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Curriculum developers and classroom teachers often need to make sure they are teaching and assessing students at the appropriate levels of the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. The STEL benchmarks are written with active verbs to target different levels of these domains. In addition, curriculum developers and classroom teachers want to know whether the benchmarks are at the factual, conceptual, procedural, or metacognitive level of knowledge. The second resource being provided on ITEEA’s interactive STEL website will identify these factors for all 142 STEL benchmarks. This tool was developed to help insure the alignment of the three domains …

A Scientometric Appreciation Of Robert J. Baker's Contributions To Science And Mammalogy, David J. Schmidly, Robert D. Bradley, Emma K. Roberts, Lisa C. Bradley, Hugh H. Genoways

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

This article describes Robert James Baker’s academic pedigree and genealogy, his scientific productivity (number of publications), his citations, his students, his contributions to his university and scientific societies, his personality in relation to his scientific achievements, his legacy, and a personal note of appreciation by individuals who worked with him and knew him well. His accomplishments are compared with other dominant personalities in the field of mammalogy, both historical and contemporary. The paper builds on the 2018 obituary authored by Hugh Genoways and others that was published in the Journal of Mammalogy, but includes a much more quantitative and …

Putting Educational Reform Into Practice: The Impact Of The No Child Left Behind Act On Students, Teachers, And Schools, Timothy Song

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to investigate the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on U.S. student achievement and teacher effectiveness. By combining the results from various data sources, I am able to indicate the levels of student preparedness, school spending, and specific classroom practices. After an analysis of my results, I suggest that NCLB has found moderate success in increasing the level of math preparedness for younger students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. On the other hand, the data also suggests that there have been no statistically significant gains in reading achievement after the implementation of NCLB. Additionally, spending …

Adapting Safemedicate (Medication Dosage Calculation Skills Software) For Use In Brazil, Samia Valeria Ozorio Dutra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Medication related errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. In Brazil, most errors are related to prescribing, preparing, and administering medications. One way to deal with this barrier to safe care is through assessment and education of medication calculation dosage skills. Considering the Brazilian reality, this dissertation is a context and language adaptation of an evidence-based intervention called safeMedicate, a program that reinforces learning synthesis in crucial elements of medication dosage problem solving and provides the foundation for development in remaining levels of the hierarchy of learning. A guideline for medication calculation skills development or improvement based on …

Student Attitudes On Cooperative Learning And Individual Learning In My Mathematics, Jessica Thompson

Honors Projects

The main purpose of this research is to see which learning style, individual or cooperative, is better for student attitudes in my classroom when implemented correctly. When students work within cooperative learning groups, research has found that they have more positive attitudes as well as higher performance levels. However, the students in my classroom did not have a significant change in attitude when in cooperative learning groups versus learning individually.

Impact Of Literacy On Student Readiness In Math And Science Classroom, Mackenzie Alexandra Rittner

Honors Projects

Lack of literacy, specifically disciplinary literacy, is an epidemic in education today. Here, I will illustrate how this problem presents itself in our student’s reading every day in every class. Within a literature review, many accounts are detailed about the impact literacy has on a student’s educational career. From the outset, literacy is a key factor in a student’s success in school. A research study was conducted that asked students to give varied definitions of the word ‘volume’ based on prior experience. These results showed that direct instruction in how a word can change based on its context had an …

From Science Student To Scientist: Predictors And Outcomes Of Heterogeneous Science Identity Trajectories In College, Kristy A. Robinson, Tony Perez, Amy K. Nuttall, Cary J. Roseth, Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This 5-year longitudinal study investigates the development of science identity throughout college from an expectancy-value perspective. Specifically, heterogeneous developmental patterns of science identity across 4 years of college were examined using growth-mixture modeling. Gender, race/ethnicity, and competence beliefs (efficacy for science tasks, perceived competence in science) were modeled as antecedents, and participation in a science career after graduation was modeled as a distal outcome of these identity development trajectories. Three latent classes (High with Transitory Incline, Moderate-High and Stable, and Moderate-Low with Early Decline) were identified. Gender, race/ethnicity, and competence beliefs in the first year of college significantly predicted latent …

Language Socialization Of Mainland Chinese Adolescents In U.S. Science Classrooms, Fang Yu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Secondary schools in the United States are enrolling an increasing number of Mainland Chinese students, and this cohort of students is often seen as a “model minority” that can achieve academic success without much if any, extra support. However, many Chinese students encounter difficulties not only in learning English but in learning other content areas raising questions as to what they experience as the affordances and constraints to their learning.

Developing A Faculty Learning Community To Support Writing Across Different Stem Disciplines, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Denise Tombolato-Terzic, Daniel P. Richards, Pilar Pazos, Megan Mckittrick, Julia Romberger, Otilia Popescu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Writing to learn is one of the very important pedagogical strategies in a variety of disciplines. This concept is not specifically addressed in the majority of engineering courses. Hence, university initiatives such as the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), emerging out of accreditation and institutional assessments, are focusing on infusing scholarship from other disciplines (in this case English) for the purpose of student learning improvement. Engineering and Science programs do include various courses in English Composition as the part of the curriculum; however, writing is not embedded in all discipline-specific courses at the upper-division level. The program outlined here focuses on …

Toys Redesigned: The Intersection Of Industrial Technology And Service-Learning Principles, Jill Stefaniak, Petros Katsioloudis, Basim Matrood

STEMPS Faculty Publications

To provide students with a situated learning experience that encouraged them to develop creative design solutions, the authors created a service-learning activity that required industrial technology students to apply design principles and procedures to design and develop toys to be given to pediatric patients at a local children's hospital. The following are excerpts from student reflections addressing the technological skills used and key takeaways from the project: * "I was able to use my mechanical skills in this project by knowing how to operate the drill press and by cutting all the pieces that were needed and assembling them." * …

A Reformed College Algebra Course: Understanding Instructors' And Students' Beliefs About Teaching And Learning Mathematics, Mary Williams

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Reforms of undergraduate mathematics (e.g. Bressoud & Rasmussen, 2015; Laursen et. al, 2011) are changing the practice of teaching and learning within their courses. Prior research has established strong connections between practices and beliefs (Brickhouse, 1990; Raymond, 1997; Aguirre & Speer, 1999), therefore changing the practices within these courses may be affecting the beliefs of those tasked to enact the reformed practices. Thus, part of the work of the reforms in undergraduate mathematics is to learn how and why these beliefs may or may not be changing in this culture of reform.

In this qualitative case study, I analyzed the …

To The Mathematical Beach, Francis Su

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

What context am I missing that hinders my connection with my students? How often do I take the time to get to know their backgrounds? What are the primary experiences that shaped them, and do those present obstacles or opportunities for learning? And in what ways does the mathematical beach say “open to all” but still feel restricted?

These questions appear unrelated to mathematics, but if we ignore their effects, some of our students will not flourish.

Middle School Student Perceptions Of Homework In Mathematics, Camille M. Thomas

Honors Scholar Theses

Homework has been a source of debate in schools for the past several decades and will continue to be an important topic in the future. It is a traditional part of education but some debate its importance in the classroom. This study explored student perception of homework and their reported performance in middle school mathematics. The research questions focused on student attitudes about homework, the relationship of students’ self-efficacy and support resources to their homework completion, and the relationship of students’ general level of achievement in mathematics to their attitudes about homework. The study involved a survey of 230 middle …