Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Infographic: Black Unicorns - Pre-College Access To Stem And Non-Revenue Sports, Kobe Reese, Leroy Long Iii, Morris R. Council Iii, Sharnnia Artis

Publications

This infographic was created to support the article titled Black Unicorns: STEM Access for Black Student-Athletes in Non-Revenue Sports. The article is for the 3rd Annual Conference of CoNECD - Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity. The infographic covers Black students' pre-college access to non-revenue generating sports and STEM. Suggested recommendations are included.

Supporting Undergraduate Underrepresented Minority Students For Success In Stem, Nadia Kennedy, Urmi Ghosh-Dastidar, Sandie Han, Diana Samaroo, Armando Solis

Publications and Research

This presentation reports on a model for engaging, retaining, and supporting undergraduate STEM students, and in particular women and underrepresented minorities (URM), which aims at: recruitment of students in the STEM disciplines and in particular URM students; increased persistence of students; increased graduation rates, and shortened time to graduation. The model has been tested and found to be successful at an urban northeastern university in the USA that has been designated as a Hispanic-serving institution. In this presentation, we describe this model, built from support strategies that include mandatory academic advisement; increased exposure to early research experiences; expanded one-on-one faculty …

A Qualitative Case Study Research Investigation Of Youth Outcomes During An Appalachian Water-Quality Citizen Science Program, Jessica Kaplan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Citizen science has grown in the past decades to not only include everyday people in research, but also varying levels of engagement with diverse opportunities for participant learning and growth. However, few studies reflect the actual learning outcomes of educational citizen science specifically in youth. This single case study research study focuses on assessing learning and other outcomes of an environmental education, collaborative citizen science program with youth in Morgantown, West Virginia. In this study, a water quality monitoring citizen science program focused on Deckers Creek in Morgantown, WV was adapted for a high school afterschool club. Potential outcomes of …

Making The Water Cycle Accessible And Relevant For English Language Learners, Summer Teed

Graduate Research Papers

Students with limited English-proficiency present many unique challenges for educators and schools. These challenges multiply as both the number of students requiring services and the diversity of languages spoken increases. In Iowa’s 335 public school districts, the number of students classified as English-language learners (ELL) has nearly tripled in the last 15 years, jumping from 2.1% of the student population during the 1999-2000 school year to 5.7% in 2015- 2016 (Iowa Department of Education (IDOE), 2013; IDOE, 2015). Individual districts currently range from 0 to 57.4% of students requiring ELL services, with 25 of Iowa’s districts identifying more than 10% …

The Impact Of Confidence-Based Marking On Unit Exam Achievement In A High School Physical Science Course, Casey Clark

Graduate Research Papers

High school teachers begin each year with a plethora of content standards to teach, however, instructing students how to learn is hardly ever considered. Metacognition and learning how to learn are not present in high school science content standards. The ability to self-regulate our knowledge is essential to assumptions about learning (Cubukcu, 2009). Students are expected to use metacognitive strategies, even if they do not have them. When students work through problems, it is common to expect them to go back and recheck their work. This is a form of metacognition and self-regulation. Asking students apply metacognition can help them …

The Stained Glass Of Knowledge: On Understanding Novice Mental Models Of Computing, Briana Christina Bettin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Learning to program can be a novel experience. The rigidity of programming can be at odds with beginning programmer's existing perceptions, and the concepts can feel entirely unfamiliar. These observations motivated this research, which explores two major questions: What factors influence how novices learn programming? and How can analogy by more appropriately leveraged in programming education?

This dissertation investigates the factors influencing novice programming through multiple methods. The CS1 classroom is observed as a "whole system", with consideration to the factors present in it that can influence the learning process. Learning's cognitive processes are elaborated to ground exploration into specifically …

Elementary School Library Program Integration With Art, Literacy, And Steam Through Makerspaces, Kristi Baldwin

Graduate Research Papers

Note: This study refers to three co-researchers who each collected data in their respective schools and collaborated in reviewing that data, but each separately authored a paper using that data; the co-researchers are Sara Pflughaupt and Lisa Tegels.

The purpose of this mixed methods case study was to find out how makerspace use might influence an inquiry-based focus in student learning through the use of design thinking. The researchers were interested in how makerspaces support the National School Library Standards and local school district goals. This study investigated literacy, critical thinking, and inquiry-based processes that might justify having a makerspace …

Identification Of Trends In Scientific Communication By Minority Students In An Integrated And Advanced Ninth Grade Science Curriculum, Loren Thalacker

Graduate Research Papers

In the United States, the population of minorities is rapidly increasing. Our nation is facing a shortage in students pursuing STEM careers and it is vital to improve all students’ scientific communication abilities. As our population of minority students is also growing, it is especially important to tap into our potential STEM resources. While the Midwest is less diverse than the rest of the nation, the Waterloo Community School District in Waterloo, Iowa has a large population of minority students. When the district implemented the Next Generation Science Standards it created a problem for students wanting to take advanced science …

The Implications Of The Non-Linguistic Modes Of Meaning For Language Learners In Science: A Review, Melanie Williams

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In response to the globally escalating number of language learners tasked with learning science through a foreign language, this review seeks to bring new perspectives by reframing research findings, still dominated by historical language assumptions, through a contemporary language lens. We aim to unearth, amalgamate and expose the potentials of non-linguistic modes described by the theory of multiliteracies that appear sporadic and fragmentary within studies due to their linguistic focus, as we surmise they offer language learners alternative avenues for meaning-making. 40 peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 1995 and 2019 were systematically found and examined using theoretical thematic analysis to …