Educational Methods Commons^™

Efficient Inquiry: Rethinking The Science Class Experience, Karen Ye

Professional Learning Day

Are you looking for quick and engaging, inquiry-based activities to incorporate in your classroom? Inquiry-based investigations play a critical role in learning and can be used from introduction to application of scientific concepts. In this session, participants will embrace the definition of “inquiry-based” and look at ways to transform more traditional worksheets or lessons into an inquiry-based activity.

Illinois State Assessment, Elizabeth Martinez

Professional Learning Day

The new science assessment, which is for 5th, 8th, and 11th grades, is NGSS aligned. In this session we will look at the test design, as well as ISBE resources that will help you develop model assessment questions for use in your classroom.

6-8 Foundational Science, Cassandra Armstrong

Professional Learning Day

During this session, we will explore the progression of science content and skills as presented in the Next Generation Science Standards as they build from Pre-K forward, with a focus on the expectations for 6-8 students. By participating in three-dimensional activities, teachers will develop strategies to provide students with opportunities to build a strong foundation in science and STEAM.

Young Mathematicians: Stem Skills For Success, Lindsey Herlehy

Professional Learning Day

Our youngest STEAM learners are creative and curious but require support and foundational skills in math and science. Through play-based, open-ended explorations, young students can engage in STEAM-learning skills such as subitizing, sorting, drawing, and patterns. In this session, participants will actively take part in activities highlighting each of the mathematical foundations, examine STEAM-integrated tasks that support these concepts, and share resources to be used in the classroom.

Einstein For 3rd Graders, Patrick Young

Professional Learning Day

Through children’s literature, we explore the life of a quirky boy who lived to think and dream. Hands-on STEM activities, related to Einstein’s work, are introduced as a way to address several of the required NGSS physical science standards for grade 3. We will learn about force, motion, electricity, and light using simple materials and the type of play once experienced by a boy growing up in his family’s electrical equipment shop. We will explore ways for students to document their physics discoveries through grade-appropriate writing.

Breaking Science Silos, Karen Ye

Professional Learning Day

While it is important for all students to engage in integrated STEM experiences, this can feel challenging in traditional subject specific settings. In this session, we will explore physical and life science activities that integrate STEM content across multiple disciplines. All are welcome as the activities and strategies focused upon are applicable across subjects and grade levels.

K-5 Integrating Ela And Science, Elizabeth Martinez

Professional Learning Day

Science, never enough time. How do you gain time so students may experience STEM activities? Integrate Science and English Language Arts. Leave with example science lessons and ideas for supporting children’s literature that are centered around thinking, problem solving, developing ideas, and science topics.

Effective Differentiation Utilizing Technology In The Elementary Mathematics Classroom, Sara Wiertzema

Graduate Teacher Education

The achievement gap between high-achieving and low-performing students has long been documented in the United States. Little, if any, efforts have proven effective in narrowing this gap. The goal of this research analysis was to identify whether technology can be used to effectively differentiate math content for students and increase achievement, thereby closing the achievement gap in American schools. The results of the studies investigated were clear that technology can be an effective method for math differentiation and can help lower-performing students accelerate their learning, in some cases even surpassing their higher-achieving peers. Technology, when used correctly to differentiate in …

A Qualitative Study Of Middle School Science Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Transition To Online Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brian S. Ward

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this study was to explore the unique lived experiences of four middle school science teachers from North Carolina and South Carolina during and following the transition from in-person to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four predominant themes were identified from individual, semi-structured interviews of the teachers: technology change; organizational change; changes in curricula, delivery, and student interaction; and career and personal changes. The teachers in this study described the challenges and opportunities experienced during the rapid transition in March 2020 to virtual teaching and learning. The teachers’ lived experiences seamlessly aligned with the stages of …

March 2022, Lisa Friesen

The CETL Correspondent

SWOSU Faculty Focus - Dr. Mark Garcia

Originally from California, Dr. Mark Garcia was born and raised in a small Central Valley town. Growing up among the farm animals and hiking through the rolling foothills of the valley gave Dr. Garcia a great appreciation for nature and animals.

From Acorn To Seedling: Developing The Great Oaks Fellowship Program, Kimberly Austin, Sangeetha Ramanathan

Center for Public Research and Leadership

Founded in 2011, the Great Oaks Fellowship Program (GO Fellowship Program) delivers high-dosage tutoring designed to improve academic performance for all students, narrowing the achievement gap between students marginalized by U.S. school systems and their more advantaged peers. It also aims to enrich school communities through mentorship and service that increase a school staff’s capacity to create a positive community.

This report, created by the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University, documents the program’s history, the development of its current strategy, and early evidence of this strategy’s impact. This work builds on the GO Foundation’s two …

Note To Self: How I Can Be A Better Reviewer?, Reddi Kotha

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business

In this article I review some of the common errors I have made as a reviewer and suggest ways to avoid them.The progress of science depends on reviewers as much as it depends upon researchers developing new science. Reviewers provide impartial, anonymous, and expert advice to researchers, and they screen which research gets published in scientific journals. When the review process works well, it acts as an effective filter and enables dissemination of high-quality and rigorous scientific work. As so much of scientific progress depends upon review, it is surprising that reviewers learn this science by doing. Of course, there …

Playing With Code: Big Ideas For Early Learners, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Publications & Research

For young children growing in today’s digital world, the acquisition of coding and computer programming skills has become a popular and appropriate focus in education. Beyond engaging in technology and coding applications as consumers – the passive act of sitting in front of a screen and merely pressing buttons without a high level of thought – early childhood students are capable of high-quality programming tasks through play-based learning experiences. As producers, our youngest students may explore the open-ended nature of computer programming and coding through design, art, and innovation. Engaging in coding builds valuable and transferable practices such as problem …

Little Changes, Big Impact: Integrating Evolution In Science And Ela, Christine L. Moskalik, Nicole Ross

Publications & Research

No abstract provided.

Teacher Perception Of Implicit Mindset And Its Influence On Math Instruction In Elementary Classrooms, Danielle E. Tamke

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Math achievement is frequently measured by various assessments. These assessments are then used to determine student and school success, often leading to high stakes decision making. Therefore, it is important to understand ways in which educators can improve student math achievement. Students with a growth mindset, as defined by Dweck (2006), exhibit higher math achievement than students with fixed mindsets. Additionally, teaching practices predict and influence the development of student mindsets. Therefore, one way to improve student math achievement may be through understanding the impact, as well as proper and consistent implementation of growth mindset instructional practices. This qualitative phenomenological …

A Case Study Investigating Teachers' Use Of Strategies To Address Anxiety Toward Reading In First-Grade And Second-Grade Students, Sherri Friddle Swaim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to investigate what strategies teachers are using to address reading anxiety in first and second graders. Reading anxiety can affect a person behaviorally, socially, and academically. Bandura’s social cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory guided this study, as they showed how behavior, environment, cognition, and self-efficacy could influence reading anxiety. Bandura also stated that cognition affected performance and that self-efficacy dealt with a student’s determination in the performance. The central research question asked, How are teachers addressing reading anxiety in the classroom? The participants in this study were first-grade and second-grade teachers who …

Students’ Engagement In Education As Sustainability: Implementing An Ethical Dilemma-Steam Teaching Model In Chemistry Learning, Yuli Rahmawati, Elisabeth Taylor, Peter Charles Taylor, Achmad Ridwan, Alin Mardiah

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper reports the results of a study on the implementation of the Ethical Dilemma STEAM Teaching Model in secondary schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. This interdisciplinary curriculum approach employed ‘ethical dilemma story pedagogy’ in a STEAM education project designed to engage students in values-based chemistry learning. Drawing on the arts, specially written ethical dilemma stories posing real-world environmental problems engaged students in exploring their value systems. Students reflected on the pros and cons of ethical dilemmas related to the everyday use of artificial fertilizers, disposal of used cooking oil and detergent waste, and environmental pollution caused by plastic waste. The …

Diseño De Una Prueba De Clasificación De Español No Estandarizada, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

Resumen

El presente estudio propone una nueva prueba de clasificación en línea específicamente creada para los estudiantes de español de New York City College of Technology (NYCCT), una institución caracterizada por la elevada diversidad de su comunidad educativa. En 2017 el Departamento de Humanidades decidió crear su propia prueba de clasificación de lenguas. En el caso del idioma español, esta se creó y se pilotó en 2018 con una muestra de 144 alumnos distribuidos en 3 niveles: inicial, intermedio y avanzado alto. Los resultados de esta práctica mostraron datos relevantes que permitieron identificar factores inesperados en el análisis, como la …

Gender Influence On Communication Initiated Within Student Teams, Rita Garcia, Chieh-Ju Trinity Liao, Ariane Pearce, Christoph Treude

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Collaboration is important during software development, but related work has found gender differences can influence the collaboration process, creating inequality in the team’s dynamics. In this paper, we present a gender analysis study that involved 39 students, examining their teams’ online collaborations while contributing to a large open-source software project. Eight teams of 4-6 Software Engineering (SE) students communicated over an online messaging platform, Slack, to complete an eight-week project. The goal of this study is to identify gender differences emerging from team collaboration. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect students’ teamwork experiences and analyse their collaboration. Our research …

Increasing Student Use Of Chemical Instrumentation In Undergraduate Research, Timothy D. Champion, Myron Todd Coolbaugh, Brian J. Hunt, Tracy Brown-Fox

SoTL Commons Conference

Recognizing the importance of student experience and familiarity with modern analytical instruments, the JCSU Chemistry faculty have developed a Shared Instrumentation Resource Laboratory (SIRL) for students and faculty from multiple STEM departments. These instruments were obtained through a series of grants from several sources. Use of the instruments in courses were also implemented. An analysis of Senior Investigative Papers (SIPs) by Biology and Chemistry majors from before and after the implementation of the SIRL show significant (p=0.0014) gains in SIPs based on data collected from JCSU instruments, showing the increased capability for on-campus undergraduate research using instrumentation was utilized.

Promoted Online Tutorial Use In General Chemistry: Effects On Student Performance, Timothy D. Champion, John Bannister

SoTL Commons Conference

Promoting student success in entry-level STEM courses is a continuing area of interest. While JCSU has made great strides in this area, in 2016, data began to show an increase in the DFW rates for key courses. The urban small university where these studies were conducted provides students with an online tutorial service. While the success of tutoring is well-documented, it is our perception that students do not utilize this resource as often or as effectively as they might. This project increased student utilization of online tutoring and improved participating students’ test and quiz grades.

Escaping Using Clinical Judgment, Kelley Noll, Claire Thompson

SoTL Commons Conference

An escape room experience was developed as an active experience to enhance critical thinking and clinical judgment in baccalaureate nursing students. This innovative teaching strategy was incorporated into a Childbearing Family and Reproductive Health clinical course. The escape room consisted of four scenarios focused on care of the mother with Type II Diabetes Mellitus during pregnancy, delivery of a macrosomic newborn, hypoglycemia in the newborn, and discharge education from the postpartum unit. Student evaluation of the experience revealed meaningful application of knowledge and a new way to engage students.

Interactive Virtual Scanning Electron Microscope Inspired By 3d Game-Design, Pnina Ari-Gur, Igor Lapsker, Tyler Bayne, Eric Allen Pietrowicz, Peter Thannhauser, Spencer Hoin, Hermanu Joko Nugroho

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) has evolved to become an indispensable tool for research and education in engineering, physics, nanotechnology, geosciences, materials science, biological sciences and other fields. However, training on a physical SEM is costly, time consuming, and often unavailable in economically disadvantaged areas. Advances in computer technology have made interactive three-dimensional (3D) virtual laboratory an effective tool for training in medicine and many engineering and technology fields. In the current work, in order to provide cost-effective hands-on training, a virtual 3D SEM was developed using the game development engine Unity 3D. It contains realistic 3D models of the …

Disrupted Learning During Covid-19: A Survey Of Student Experience, Celia Szelwach, John Cordes, Alia Sheety, Vinayak Mathur, Maia Magrakvelidze, John Doyle, Gifty Key, Joseph Cimakasky

SoTL Commons Conference

Navigating unexpected disruption caused by COVID-19 in Higher Education required immediate and flexible response by faculty and students as they pivoted to other learning modalities. In Spring Semester 2021, we administered a 40-question survey including several open-ended questions to 795 undergraduate and graduate students (master and doctoral level) in multiple disciplines across four Schools at a private university in Pennsylvania to capture student perceptions of learning experience in face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online environments. Ninety-nine students completed the survey. Lessons learned for teaching and learning include sensitivity to students’ stress and understanding learning environment design preferences and effectiveness.

Incorporating Reflection Activities In Simulation To Prepare Nursing Students For Clinical Practice, Amy Curtis, Sarah Watts, Katilya Ware, Tiffani Chidume, Meghan Jones

SoTL Commons Conference

Research indicates simulation is an effective approach to prepare nursing students for clinical practice. However, little is known about the impact of prebriefing on students’ experiences in simulation. This mixed methods study evaluated the impact of incorporating reflection activities during the prebriefing element of simulation on nursing students’ satisfaction in learning, confidence, and performance during the simulation. Findings noted that incorporating reflection during prebriefing improved students’ satisfaction in learning, confidence, and performance. This is significant to the profession, as it supports the incorporation of reflective activities during prebriefing in simulation to enhance student learning experiences.

Emphasizing Multilingualism In Teacher Education Courses: Teacher Candidates’ Responses To Translanguaging Pedagogy, Tuba Angay-Crowder, Jayoung Choi, Ji Hye Shin, Nihal Khote

SoTL Commons Conference

One of the presenters has embedded translanguaging pedagogy in her Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) courses for several semesters to increase teacher candidates’ pluralistic stance when working with multilingual students from immigrant backgrounds. Translanguaging honors all linguistic repertoires that multilingual learners bring to meaning construction. As TESOL course work often centers on students’ advancement of English skills without necessarily emphasizing multilingual development, she intentionally included activities and assignments related to translanguaging. In this presentation, we discuss how her teacher candidates responded to this pedagogy. The shared findings have implications for teaching and learning in teacher education courses.

Developing An Innovative Concept-Based Approach To Teaching And Learning In Family Nursing, Melody Blanco, Roqaia Dorri, Elham Al-Omari

SoTL Commons Conference

Concept-based teaching is an innovative pedagogy that allows for meaningful building and transfer of knowledge, especially in nursing education (Morse & Jutras, 2008). The University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ) has recently adopted in the concept-based approach in curriculum design with an aim to produce the next generation of nurses who can seamlessly transfer knowledge learned from their didactic experience to the bedside. In our poster board presentation, we will highlight the effectiveness of the innovative, concept-based teaching practices employed in Family in Nursing in an online setting. Our group utilized different techniques and modalities such as exemplars and gamification …

Infusing Covid-19 Into An Undergraduate Parasitology Research Course, Alexa Von Dohlen

SoTL Commons Conference

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global event that has impacted both how and what educators teach. An unexpected outcome of the pandemic was the ability to enhance student understanding of public health through discussion of the novel coronavirus. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) provide students with authentic research experiences in the framework of an undergraduate course. Here the reconfiguration of the Parasitology Research course as an online CURE is discussed. This course included curriculum focused not only on parasite diagnostics, but also how it relates to diagnosing COVID-19 with the aim of helping students become scientifically prepared citizens.

Public Health Sotl: From Anecdote To Data, Katie M. Mercer, Kelly Sullivan

SoTL Commons Conference

Challenges related to teaching and learning are often discussed among faculty. Student input is often sparse and subject to volunteer bias, resulting in feedback that is likely not representative. Furthermore, there is also anecdotal evidence that public health faculty have strong views regarding teaching and learning topics, particularly when it comes to online instruction for courses with rigorous methodologic or analytic content, and there are concerns student performance may differ based on course modality. In an effort to draw evidence-based conclusions based on non-anecdotal data, a public health student and faculty dataset creation and analysis model is explored.

Professional Development For Early Career Dber Scholars Through In-Person And Virtual Career Panel Workshops, Miranda M. Chen Musgrove, Elizabeth Genné-Bacon, Kelsey Gray, Ashley B. Heim, Anupriya Karippadath, Rita Margarida Magalhães, Brie Tripp, Anna J. Zelaya

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

In discipline-based education research (DBER), early career scholars, such as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, observe a slew of possible career pathways. Yet, there is a lack of opportunities to learn about such pathways, particularly when transitioning from traditional science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) disciplinary training into a DBER position. Thus, the DBER Scholars-in-Training Professional Development subcommittee was created within the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) community to develop a collection of workshops that would serve the greatest professional development needs of early career scholars entering DBER. Through a series of surveys disseminated over multiple …