Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Integrating Math And Language Arts In The Classroom, Emilee Blake

Honors Projects

This is a unit outline with detailed lesson plans and a reflection. It is a unit teaching about adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators for fourth grade students. The unit focuses on incorporating language arts in the math classroom focusing on reading, writing, and speaking.

The Effects Of A Technology-Driven Science Application On Postsecondary Chemistry Student Achievement And Self-Efficacy, Darrell Byrum

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to establish if distinction exists in both student achievement and self-efficacy through the application of technology-based instructional approach in the laboratory environment of undergraduate chemistry courses. The achievement of 52 college students in the southeastern region of the United States was measured through one posttest assessment. Following this assessment, students were examined through a self-efficacy scale to determine preexisting thoughts of working in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory environment, as well as peer interaction. Accordingly, three separate college chemistry I courses were used to generate data via a nonequivalent control group design. From the three …

Development Of An Instrument To Measure Student Attitudes Toward Science Fairs, Claudia Huddleston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Science fairs are woven into the very fabric of science instruction in the United States and in other countries. Even though thousands of students participate in science fairs every year, no instrument to measure student attitudes toward partaking in this hands-on learning experience has been fully developed and available for school administrators and teachers to assess the perceived value that current students attribute to participation in science fairs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to continue the development and refinement of an instrument that measured student attitudes towards science fairs based on an unpublished instrument created by Michael (2005). …

Research Windows: Iste Standards In The Research, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

[First paragraph]

When ISTE began developing educational technology standards for PK-12 students in the early 1990s, it was ahead of its time. The organization saw the need to prepare students for the future, and it invested in standards as a way to give schools a clear path to staying relevant. The future that ISTE foresaw has definitely arrived, but it's not standing still. To ensure that the standards remain useful for students and educators around the world, ISTE has submitted them to a rigorous updating and revision process.

Discover Math With Sketchpad Explorer, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Review of Geometer's SketchPad.

Learning To Teach Mathematics And To Analyze Teaching Effectiveness: Evidence From A Video- And Practice-Based Pre-Service Course, Rossella Santagata, Cathery Yeh

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Although emerging consensus exists that practice-based approaches to teacher preparation assist in closing the distance between university coursework and fieldwork experiences and in assuring that future teachers learn to implement innovative research-based instructional strategies, little empirical research has investigated teacher learning from this approach. This study examines the impact of a video- and practice-based course on prospective teachers’ mathematics classroom practices and analysis of their own teaching. Two groups of elementary prospective teachers participated in the study—one attended the course and one did not. Findings reveal that the course assisted participants in making student thinking visible and in pursuing it …

An Investigation Into Instructional Support For Data Analysis In High School Science Inquiry, Anika Rae Baker-Lawrence

Dissertations and Theses

The implementation of scientific inquiry in the high school classroom has proven to be not only relevant and exploratory, but challenging and engaging as well. This style of curriculum design has been recognized as a primary means of achieving the goals and objectives set by the National Resource Council (NRC, 1996). While much research has shown that science inquiry helps students to gain understanding of content knowledge, little research has been conducted to assess gains in higher order thinking skills, specifically those related to data analysis (Anderson, 2002; Germann and Aram, 1996; Hofstein, Navon, Kipnis, and Mamlok-Naaman, 2005; Miner, Levy, …

Improvement Of Pedagogical Laboratory Based Learning: Multimedia Enhanced Instructional Methods, Sumbul Khan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In engineering technology and other scientific-based education, lab-based courses play a crucial role (Ma & Nickerson, 2006). Even though laboratory experience in student learning is crucial, it faces some problems. Due to insufficient laboratory conditions that lead to overcrowding and inability to view demonstrations, the effectiveness of hands on experience declines (Tiwari & Singh, 2011; Tuysuz, 2010). Considering the limitations that constrain lab experience, investigating and implementing alternatives to enhance pedagogical laboratory based learning becomes inevitable. This study investigates multimedia enhanced pedagogical teaching methods for delivering laboratory instruction to students. The purpose of this study was to improve pedagogical laboratory …

Teachers' Perceptions About The Types, Quality, And Impact Of Their Job-Embedded Professional Development Experiences, Delilah Mitchell

Dissertations

This study was designed to determine eighth grade teachers’ perceptions of the impact, quality, and types of job-embedded professional development activities they have participated in and the relationship to student achievement in language arts, math, or science. The researcher identified school districts with 50% or more of their eighth grade students scoring proficient or advanced on all three areas of Mississippi’s Curriculum Test, Second Edition (MCT2). Sixty-four eighth grade language arts, math, or science teachers who had been at their current school at least two years completed a questionnaire created by the researcher. Multiple Linear Regression and Pearson’s Correlation were …

Mathematics Interventions: A Correlational Study Of The Relationship Between Level Of Implementation Of The Accelerated Math Program And Student Achievement, Deborah Walker Driesel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Current legislation, such as No Child Left Behind (2001) or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), has increased accountability for schools for the education of all students. These laws require schools to provide interventions for struggling learners, as part of the Response to Intervention process (IDEA, 2004). Accelerated Math (AM), published by Renaissance Learning, is a scientifically based program designed to supplement quality instruction as part of the RtI process. This correlational study examined ex post facto data using pre and posttest scores on the STAR Math Test in relation to amount of classroom time dedicated to AM instruction …

Kindergarteners' Concept Development In Science And Literacy Learning Through Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (Cori), Char Adelia Moffit

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The notion that "real work" is somehow different from authentic and engaging discovery is troublesome. (Passman, 2001, p.196)

This qualitative case study examined science concept and literacy learning along with engagement of the students in a Kindergarten class in which science and literacy instruction was integrated through Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI). CORI is an instructional framework created to increase reading engagement by teaching reading comprehension strategies along with science concepts (Guthrie, et al., 1996). This study explored CORI at the Kindergarten level to examine how this curriculum framework engaged young learners in science concept and literacy learning. The study was …

Elements: Elementary Teachers Of Science – Building Collaborations Between Content And Pedagogy Communities, Krista Adams, Jenny Melander

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

The current UNL elementary teaching program does not include a science methods practicum in which pre‐service elementary teachers could observe and teach reformed based science lessons in the classroom setting. The science methods course was modified during Spring 2013 to address this missing component. The exploratory course engages pre‐service teachers in designing and implementing a science unit (a series of lessons) to be taught as a science club in an after school program for K – 5th grade students. In Fall 2013, the course experiences expanded to include collaborating with biomedical engineering students in connecting real‐world applications to teaching science. …

Cave And Climate Change: Educating The Public At Rats Nest Cave, Alberta, Canada, Charles J. Yonge, Andrea Corlett, Adam Walker

National Cave and Karst Management Symposium 2013

Rats Nest Cave is a Provincial Historic Site whose mandate is to present its natural history to the public. In addition to a suite of interpretive messages, and relevant to this conference’s topic, we have addressed diverse climate change over the geological history of the cave. We start with the cave-hosting rock and the fossils it contains, to its origin along a thrust fault, ending with its enlargement and secondary mineralization during the Quaternary glaciations (the latter having been dated by radiometric methods). We have undertaken a program of speleothem remediation which, visible to the public, serves to reinforce the …

Science, 7th Graders, And A Stream: An Integrated, Experience-Based Science Course For Honors Students, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie, Tara Shepperson, Linda Frost

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We report pedagogical results from a novel, integrated, experience-based science course for honors students funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The course seeks to improve science instruction and attitudes toward STEM disciplines for both honors students and underprivileged seventh-grade students by using honors students as learning mentors.

Educating Highly‐Qualified Science Teachers, Elizabeth Lewis, Aaron A. Musson, Jia Lu

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Understanding what makes a highly‐qualified science teacher requires careful research on teacher education programs. Existing research pertaining to secondary science preservice teachers (PSTs) is limited in the areas of: (a) mastery of subject matter knowledge; (b) evolving teaching selfefficacy, and (c) inquiry‐based enacted curricular practices. We studied each issue over the course of an intensive, 14‐month, graduate teacher certification program for practicing scientists and recent science graduates. First, we asked if there was a relationship between amount of content area undergraduate coursework and performance (GPA in core content courses) and found an expected, yet preliminary, connection between higher undergraduate GPA …

Game Design As Authentic Science: Creating Low-Tech Games That Do Science, Jason Paul Siko, Michael Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Many students love everything about video games, so teaching them to use technology to design their own games around content is an assignment that can offer built-in engagement. The problem, however, is that teachers often don’t have the time or expertise to teach computer programming, let alone content and process skills. On top of that, installing game design software can create friction between the teaching staff and technology department.

That’s where Microsoft PowerPoint comes in. Did you know you can help your students create—from scratch or from a template—a video game using PowerPoint?

Project-Oriented Science Instruction Involving General-Education Undergraduates Serving As Mentors To Underprivileged Middle-Students Students, Walter S. Borowski, Malcolm P. Frisbie, Tara Shepperson, Linda Frost

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We report results from a novel, project-based science course funded by the NSF for general-education students in the EKU Honors Program and for middle school students. Key aspects of the course are: (1) instruction in the natural sciences adopting a regional context; (2) investigation of the water quality of a local stream involving all portions of a scientific study from planning to data collection and analysis to presentation; and (3) direct mentoring of underprivileged, seventh-grade students by honors students in project activities, including trips to campus for laboratory work and presentations. The course is meant to provide high-quality scientific instruction …

Using The-Math-You-Need Modules In A General Education, Oceanography Course, Walter S. Borowski, E. Baer, J. Wenner

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The Math You Need (TMYN) is a series of on-line tutorials designed for students to increase their mathematical abilities while taking geology and other science courses. The aim of the program is to increase the quantitative abilities of students while demonstrating mathematical applications in an effort to make students more comfortable with and aware of the utility of mathematics. Over two semesters, we implemented targeted-TMYN modules into a general-education oceanography course that is typically populated by non-science majors with a wide variety of mathematical skills before calculus. Students participate voluntarily in TMYN modules with extra credit given for their successful …

Question Order Effects On A General Chemistry Concept Inventory, Travis Lund

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

During the development of a general chemistry concept survey, interviews demonstrated that students used distinctly different problem‐solving strategies to answer two survey questions, one verbally‐based and one pictorially‐based, despite the fact that the questions were both designed to test the same concept of strong versus weak acids. Alternate versions of the concept survey were administered, with the order of the pictorial and verbal questions reversed. A significant ordering effect was observed in the questions of interest, and the incorrect answer choices that became better or worse distractors were identified. Current findings, future directions, and practical implications for instructors and researchers …

Inclusion: Problems And Potential Solutions In Mathematics Instruction, Lynnea Marie Salscheider

Mathematics Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was (1) to identify and describe the attitudes and beliefs of general and special education teachers about inclusion and (2) to identify significant recommendations based on teacher attitudes for improving the teaching of mathematics to special needs students using inclusion.

Distributed Scaffolding: Wiki Collaboration Among Latino High School Chemistry Students, Edwin Duncan O'Sullivan

Dissertations (1934 -)

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate if wiki collaboration among Latino high school chemistry students can help reduce the science achievement gap between Latino and White students. The study was a quasi-experimental pre/post control group mixed-methods design. It used three intact sections of a high school chemistry course. The first research question asked if there is a difference in academic achievement between a treatment and control group on selected concepts from the topics of bonding, physical changes, and chemical changes, when Latino high school chemistry students collaborate on a quasi-natural wiki project. Overall results for all three …

Insects As Educational Tools: An Online Course Teaching The Use Of Insects As Instructional Tools, Douglas A. Golick, Tiffany M. Heng-Moss

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Publication of the 1996 National Science Education Standards (NSES) initiated a push to transform science education by engaging K-12 students in active learning through inquiry-based teaching (National Research Council, 1996). Students need opportunities to construct knowledge by asking questions, developing hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting and communicating results. Inquiry teaching has been shown to improve students’ attitudes toward science, enhance their performance, and promote scientific literacy (Haury, 1993; Lindberg, 1990: Mattheis and Nakayama, 1988; Rakow, 1986).

Providing both pre- and in-service teachers with courses and professional development programs that promote inquiry teaching are vital to teacher education (National …

Increasing Evidence Based Reasoning In An 8th Grade Classroom Through Explicit Instruction, Erol Chandler

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the effectiveness of an instructional strategy that uses students' prior understanding of informal evidence based reasoning (EBR) to build an understanding of scientific EBR. A pre and post instructional strategy survey revealed that students' understanding of EBR increased over the length of the study. Data collected from pre and post instructional discussions also showed increases in the amount of EBR students used.

Creating Interdisciplinary Collaborations To Support And Understand Mathematics Teaching And Learning, Ruth Heaton, Wendy M. Smith, Traci Kutaka

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Teaching mathematics is a complex endeavor and requires a deep understanding of content and pedagogy. Helping teachers learn what they need to know requires the expertise of disciplinary area faculty as well as those with pedagogical expertise. Similarly, understanding the learning of teachers or their students requires complex analyses of messy data by teams of researchers representing differing but complementary perspectives. Cases describing the nature and process of interdisciplinary teaching and research collaborations in mathematics education will be presented and analyzed for lessons learned.

Can The Differentiated Math Classroom Be A Reality?, Carl Jeff Morris

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Imagine a math classroom that looked more like a Google workplace where collaboration, teamwork, and innovation are the centerpieces. Instead of just students sitting in rows passively learning about the nature of mathematics, picture a classroom of students in small circle discussing mathematics. This could range from groups working together on a problem solving strategy for a newly learned concept, students helping students using technology as an aid, another small group receiving intervention from the teacher, or individual students making or viewing instructional math videos. All of this according to research focused on classroom differentiation; specifically in middle school and …

Lighting The Fire: How Peer-Mentoring Helps Adult Learners Increase Their Interest In Stem Careers: A Case Study At The Community College Level, Patricia Marie Deturk

Dissertations and Theses

In the U.S., about 7,000 high school students drop out each school day, representing a loss of talent and ability. Concurrently, there are a decreasing number of enrolled students taking science-related courses at the high school and college levels. Adults, who return to obtain their General Educational Development (GED) certification, are an untapped resource that could be steered toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. In this case study, 15 GED students were shown a STEM video, and then peer mentored by 8 CLA (Clinical Laboratory Assistant) students, in a student-centered laboratory experience. Individual interviews of the GED students …

Effect Of Computer-Aided Instruction On Attitude And Achievement Of Fifth Grade Math Students, Traci Shoemaker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group study was to test theories of constructivism and motivation, along with research-based teaching practices of differentiating instruction and instructing within a child's Zone of Proximal Development, in measuring the effect of computer-aided instruction on fifth grade students' attitude and achievement in math. Students in Pennsylvania completed an attitude survey at the beginning, middle, and end of the study (Pierce, Stacey & Barkatsas, 2007). Achievement was measured by the 4Sight Math assessment (Pennsylvania State Education Association, 2007) which was given at the beginning of the study, after the first seven weeks of instruction, …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Experience In Middle School Honors Math And Language Arts Courses And Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Preparedness For Similar High School Honors And Advanced Placement Courses, Melissa Butler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to investigate student and teacher perceptions concerning the impact of honors middle school language arts and mathematics courses on preparedness for similar ninth through twelfth grade classes at a high school in northwest Georgia. The questions that guided the study focused on examining the perceptions of students and teachers who had experienced this phenomenon and their notions of the impact that participation in middle school honors mathematics and language arts courses had on preparedness for non-gifted students enrolled in similar accelerated high school courses. A transcendental phenomenological design was used to discover …

An Investigation Into Teacher Support Of Science Explanation In High School Science Inquiry Units, Rebecca Sue Hoffenberg

Dissertations and Theses

The Framework for K-12 Science Education, the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards, identifies scientific explanation as one of the eight practices "essential for learning science." In order to design professional development to help teachers implement these new standards, we need to assess students' current skill level in explanation construction, characterize current teacher practice surrounding it, and identify best practices for supporting students in explanation construction. This multiple-case study investigated teacher practice in eight high school science inquiry units in the Portland metro area and the scientific explanations the students produced in their work samples.

Teacher Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) …

A Comparison Of Christian School And Public School Geometry Teachers Concerning The Beliefs Of Practices And Teaching Proofs, Benjamin Lane

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Theorists contend that mathematics teachers' beliefs influence their practices; consequently, differing Christian and public school philosophies should lead to different practices. However, some researchers have questioned if Christian education is "truly distinct" from public education. Other researchers have noted that this question is still open and that the philosophical differences between Christian and public school teachers might not be translating into differences in practices. A causal-comparative study was conducted between Christian and public school geometry teachers to investigate these differences. This study took place in Florida and Georgia using an instrument designed to measure four different aspects of teaching geometry …