Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

The Importance Of Understanding Trophic Transfer In Top Marine Predators Due To An Increase In Plastic Production, Annika M. Markovich

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Deep Sea Sediments Of The Arctic Central Basin: A Potential Sink For Microplastics, Colleen Mcmaken

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Will Shark Skin Dissolve Under High Co2?, Emily K. Witt

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

First Estimates Of Greenland Shark (Somniosus Microcephalus) Abundances In Arctic Waters, Taryn Szalay

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Thirty Years Of Data Sheds Light On Plastic Pollution In The Deep Sea, Adam Warren

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Dolphin Study Gives Insight Into Marine Mammal Threat Response, Marshall Hawkins

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Social Structure Of Killer Whales (Orcinus Orca) In The Galápagos Archipelago, Mary Gad

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Using Drones To Assess Great White Shark Behavior Along Coastal Beaches, Alydia Moorhead

Scientific Communication News

No abstract provided.

Rigorous And Meaningful Science For English Learners: Urban Ecology And Transdisciplinary Instruction, Elvira G. Armas, Ed.D, Gisela Obrien, Ph.D., Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., Eric G. Strauss, Ph.D.

Practitioner Journal Articles

This article describes efforts undertaken by two centers at Loyola Marymount University—the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) and the Center for Urban Resilience (CURes)—in collaboration with five southern California school districts to develop and implement the Urban Ecology for English Learners Project. This project aligns with the 2018 NASEM report call to action to (1) create contexts for systems- and classroom-level supports that recognizes assets that English Learners contribute to the classroom and, and (2) increase rigorous science instruction for English Learners through the provision of targeted program models, curriculum, and instruction. The article presents project highlights, professional …

Dive In: Oceanographic Engineering, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

Although some is known about the oceans, many believe that there is still a majority of the oceans that remains unexplored. The oceans are home to wide variety of organisms and are constantly changing. Humans rely on the ocean for a multitude of reasons including food, products, recreation, and energy. Engineering is involved in all aspects of harnessing these resources. During Dive In: Oceanographic Engineering, students will be engaged in identifying problems, designing, testing, and evaluating potential solutions.

Engineering: Design & Build, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

Engineering: Design & Build focuses on investigating engineering. Student led teams conceptualize, build, test and acquire knowledge while becoming familiar with the engineering design process. Using an open-ended inquiry approach students are able to foster their creativity. Students learn to apply multiple skills and develop the habits of innovators.

Students are encouraged to think about needs, requirements, and alternatives as they progress throughout the curriculum. Additionally, students consider materials, energy, inputs and outputs. Unit lessons combine generative, analytical, synthesis, and evaluative thinking to allow students to finalize their design choice and initiate construction.

Living In A Material World, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

Materials science is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the understanding and application of the properties of matter. Materials scientists study the connections between the underlying structure of material, its properties, its processing methods, and its performance in applications.

Scholars have long classified eras of ancient civilizations by their progress in materials science, coining such terms the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. What is known about ancient cultures, especially those without written records, often comes from a scientific examination of the artifacts they left behind. Advances in materials science often went hand-in-hand with other cultural developments. In many cases …

Mars: Manifest Destiny, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

From the earliest days of space exploration, no other object has excited the imagination of writers, scientists, engineers, and the public more than Mars. A neighbor in space, and visible to the naked eye on many clear evenings, the Red Planet beckons.

The development of modern rocketry was advanced by visionaries such as Robert Goddard and Werner von Braun, who always considered Mars to be their true destination. Today, we have the technology to make that dream a reality. What’s more, there is a compelling reason to go, beyond the human instinct for exploration. Life on Earth has suffered a …

Out Of The Silo: Agronomic Stem, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

Out of the Silo: Agronomic STEM is a grade 6 – 8 curriculum which highlights the interplay between science, technology, engineering and mathematics inherent in the field of Agronomy. The growing of plants for commercial use, particularly food, is the essence of agronomy and the heart of this curriculum.

Agronomy in the Illinois region began long before Europeans arrived. Native Americans found the soil and climate well suited to growing corn and so it remains today. Fields for growing corn and soybeans dominate the state, as can be seen easily from the air. Students living in urban centers, who were …

Secret Communications: Sharing Concealed Messages, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

Secret Communications: Sharing Concealed Messages presents learners with examples of various encryption methods. Opportunities abound to use inquiry as an approach to get into the mind of the code writer in order to decipher messages encrypted in various fashions.

Exposure to such examples empowers learners with the capacity to transfer and extend their knowledge of logical schemes and rules to different and novel situations. This ability is an earmark of genuine understanding.

Synthetic Scorecard, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Fusion

Fusion

Synthetic biology is a young field with promises of finding solutions to issues such as water and environmental pollution, making more nutritional food, treating cancer and other medical conditions, cleaner energy, and improving computer power. Biologists, electrical engineers, and computer scientists merged forces to develop this venture. Taking the approach of design, test, build enables participants to work together to develop methods of standardization, abstraction, and synthesis that are used while engineering biological systems. The genetic code of G, A, T, C can be written and programmed at the cellular level inexpensively with a predictable outcome. In order for this …

2020 Viewbook, Office Of Admissions

Viewbook

IMSA fosters the discoverers. The thinkers. The problem-solvers of the future who can change the world. Our mission is to ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition. We are a diverse community that promotes curiosity and exploration. We’re about more than great college prospects and great jobs, we’re about making our families proud. We’re about a better world for everyone through immersive learning experiences.

In 2017, we adopted the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a call to action that commissions us all to make the right choices now to improve life for …

Graphic Novels In Biology – A Novel Assessment Idea, Sowmya Anjur

Faculty Publications & Research

Galileo once said, “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.” (Goodreads, 2020). I have often pondered upon how best I could use this advice. I have been an educator for 24 years and have loved every minute of it. During this time, I have seen students of all cadres come and go, but they all have one thing in common - their innate fear of written assessments. In general, students in high school tend to have a different perspective on education than their adult counterparts - they tend to procrastinate, are usually …

Early Engineering Experience (E3) Initiative, Danielle Nicole Carter, Rafael E. Landaeta

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This Work in Progress paper details an initiative designed to broaden exposure and attract increased interest in the study of engineering of a minority-serving institution (MSI) with a plurality of races represented. The University's student population where this initiative is being implemented consists of 26.2% African American and 6% that identify with two or more races. In contrast, the College of Engineering in this University is 20% African American; the freshmen class makes up 6.3% of this figure. By USDOE standards, this characterization is indicative of a predominantly white institution (PWI). According to the Bureau of Labor Statics, underrepresented minorities …

Teach-To-One Blended Mathematics' Impact On Middle School Students' Mathematics Achievement, Navdeep Dhindsa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Blended learning that integrates computer-assisted instruction with face-to-face instruction is gaining popularity in U.S. middle schools; therefore, the effectiveness of such blended learning models in improving middle school students' achievement in mathematics needs to be explored. Middle school students at a public Connecticut school have shown poor performance in mathematics on a state standardized test. The local district implemented a blended learning model, Teach to One: Math (TTO), in 1 of the middle schools to improve students' performance in mathematics. The theoretical framework for this study was Koehler and Mishra's theory of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. The key research …

Perceptions Of Urban Secondary Science Teachers Regarding Social Learning Professional Development, Mary Kaye Macauley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Traditional classroom environments may not motivate students to learn and may lack interactive connections between educators and learners in the classroom. The problem addressed in this research study is the lack of understanding of science teachers' use and perception of innovative social learning strategies implemented in urban classrooms. The purpose of this research study was to establish urban science teachers' perceptions regarding social learning strategies within their classrooms. The conceptual framework of Hall and Hord's levels of use was used. The research questions addressed in this study focused on the perceptions and experiences of secondary science teachers in a large, …

Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflections On Integrated Science/Engineering Design Lessons: Attending, Analyzing, And Responding To Students’ Thinking, Elaine M. Silva Mangiante, Adam Moore

Education Faculty Publications

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and recent efforts in STEM education have highlighted a multi-disciplinary vision of teachers’ integrating science education and engineering design problem-solving for student learning and critical thinking development. However, elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) typically are unfamiliar with engineering design. Since research is limited on elementary PSTs’ ability to notice student thinking for engineering problem-solving, the purpose of this exploratory study was to identify patterns in PSTs’ written reflections from their fourth-grade practicum teaching experience with an integrated science/engineering STEM unit. We adapted Barnhart and van Es’s (2015) teacher noticing coding scheme to examine PSTs’ level …

Applying Quantitative Reasoning To Clarify Arc Measurements, David Glassmeyer, Daniel Barton

Georgia Educational Researcher

The importance of reasoning quantitatively is reflected in both mathematics education research and mathematical standards for K-12 students. In this article, we detail how a quantitative reasoning framework can be used to help differentiate two quantities we have found students often struggle with: arc length and the measure of a central angle. We argue that taking the time to define all four components of a quantity can support students’ understanding of theorems involving these quantities.

Using Site Visits To Strengthen Collaboration, Victor Piercey, Rebecca Segal, Afroditi Vennie Filippas, Tao Chen, Soloman Kone, Rosalyn Hobson Hargraves, Jack Bookman, John Hearn, Debbie Pike, Kathy S. Williams

Publications and Research

The SUMMIT-P project is a multi-institutional endeavor to leverage interdisciplinary collaboration in order to improve the teaching of undergraduate mathematics courses in the first two years of college. One goal of this work is to establish collaborative communities among the institutions involved. As part of the project, institutions visit one another on site visits that are structured according to a common protocol. The site visits have been valuable to the project. Participating institutions report the exchange of actionable ideas and feedback; members of the grant leadership team have used the site visits to direct the overall project, and evaluators have …

Integrative And Contextual Learning In College Algebra: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration With Economics, Choon Shan Lai, Glenn Henshaw, Tao Chen, Soloman Kone

Publications and Research

Many students consider mathematics too abstract and useless for their academic and career goals. Meanwhile, instructors in quantitative disciplines such as economics find many students mathematically underprepared for their courses. The disconnect between students’ perceptions of the utility of mathematics and their life and career may have contributed to some of the under-performance in learning mathematics. Addressing this problem requires collaboration across disciplines to develop an understanding of each other’s needs, more specifically to develop an integrative platform that allows students to apply mathematical skills in interdisciplinary contexts (Ganter & Barker, 2004). We collaboratively designed and implemented an integrative platform …

Good Teachers Borrow, Great Teachers Steal: A Case Study In Borrowing For A Teaching Project, Mike May, Rebecca Segal, Victor Piercey, Tao Chen

Publications and Research

Very few great ideas in teaching are without ancestors or descendants. This paper presents a case study in how one particular pedagogical project, the work at Saint Louis University as part of the National Science Foundation supported SUMMIT-P consortium, borrowed from other sources. The particular project was an interdisciplinary collaboration to make mathematics education more effective for business students. The various borrowings are treated in roughly chronological order from initial inspiration through planned adoption and adaptation of the work of others to the addition of features that only became available mid-project. The kinds of sources include a particular business calculus …

Fishbowl Discussions: Promoting Collaboration Between Mathematics And Partner Disciplines, Stella K. Hofrenning, Rosalyn Hobson Hargraves, Tao Chen, Afroditi Vennie Filippas, Rhonda Fitzgerald, John Hearn, Lori J. Kayes, Joan Kunz, Rebecca Segal

Publications and Research

A National Consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships project (SUMMIT-P) is a collaboration of institutions focused on revising first- and second-year mathematics courses with the help of partner disciplines with prerequisite mathematics courses. This paper describes the fishbowl discussion technique used by the consortium members to encourage interdisciplinary conversation. Vignettes describing the results of conversations that occurred at several consortium member institutions are provided by the co-authors.

Iled: Iowa Leadership In Engineering Design, Ken Turner, Anne Turner, Brenda Kaufman

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Based on results of a 2018 Iowa Science Teacher Section survey, the Iowa Science Foundation of the Iowa Academy of Science funded a professional development opportunity focused on engineering design (ISF 19–01). A free one–day workshop was created for school districts in Iowa, and the first was held in fall of 2019. During this workshop, teachers learned more about engineering design, experienced engineering design activities from kindergarten through high school levels, and brainstormed facets of engineering design. The day ended with guiding teachers in writing their own engineering design activities. The workshop was successful and well–received according to a post–workshop …

Opportunity And Access To Informal Stem Learning Environments, Abigail Fowler, Caitlyn Yost, Margaret J. Mohr-Schroeder

Posters-at-the-Capitol Presentations

The University of Kentucky (UK) STEM Experiences is a collaboration amongst the UK Colleges of Education, Engineering, and Arts & Sciences. Our goal is to expose students to a variety positive learning experiences and career options in the STEM fields. Additionally, the summer experiences.

Chloride Dynamics In Urban Streams: An Eastern Iowa Case Study, Rebecca L. Kauten

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

A series of urban stream and snowmelt samples collected 2017-2018 provide a localized understanding of seasonal chloride concentrations in urban streams and establishes baseline knowledge of conditions in Cedar Rapids and Coralville, Iowa. Results indicate both variability in chloride concentrations based on location as well as conditions under which water was sampled.