Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Thinking With Algebra: A Project And Perspective, David Feikes, Bir Kafle, Natalie Mcgathey, William S. Walker Iii

Indiana STEM Education Conference

Thinking with Algebra (TWA) is a project to develop algebra curriculum for college classes. The overall goal is to develop curricular materials that will help prepare students conceptually for college algebra. The project is described and the importance of algebraic structure as a theoretical consideration is explained.

Contents, William S. Walker Iii, Lynn A. Bryan, Siddika Selcen Guzey, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores

Indiana STEM Education Conference

No abstract provided.

Creating Awareness Of The Turkey Industry Through Stem-Based Online Curriculum, Elizabeth Simmermeyer, Elizabeth Karcher

Indiana STEM Education Conference

As the food industry has evolved over the years, consumers have more accessible and convenient outlets to buy groceries, dine in, or carry out. While there are many advantages to this ever-changing industry, a large gap exists in the understanding of food production from farm to fork. Consumer perceptions are influenced beginning at an early age. Education is the solution to bridge this gap between farm to fork; however, there are limited STEM-based agricultural resources available for teachers to implement in their classrooms. Creating these agricultural resources provides teachers the opportunity to share the story of the agricultural industry with …

Authentic Stem Research, Practices Of Science, And Interest Development In An Informal Science Education Program, Bobby Habig, Preeti Gupta

Publications and Research

Background: Two critical challenges in science education are how to engage students in the practices of science and how to develop and sustain interest. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which high school youth, the majority of whom are members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM, learn the skills and practices of science and in turn develop interest in conducting scientific research as part of their career pursuits. To accomplish this goal, we applied Hidi and Renninger’s well-tested theoretical framework for studying interest development in the context of a museum-based, informal science …

Improving Student Attitudes Towards Stem Education By Building Self-Efficacy Through Robotics Education, Kevin Obillo

Theses and Dissertations

The United States must grow its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) trained workforce in order to fill the jobs projected to be in demand. One of the ways in which this can be done is to tap into the vast population of minorities and women who are underrepresented in the STEM fields. The United States has been looking for ways to improve STEM participation in these groups for many years now, through outreach, legislation and innovative academic programs. The purpose of this research was to examine the impact that a robotics education enrichment program had on elementary, predominantly Latinx …

Games In Environmental Sustainability Education, Shamila Janakiraman

Indiana STEM Education Conference

Sustainability education must not stop with creating awareness, it should promote mindfulness, be persuasive, and also adapt to the needs of young learners (Janakiraman et al., 2018). Knowledge, when provided as an activity and experience that is situated in scenarios, will help learners develop situated understandings (Gee, 2008). In environmental sustainability education (ESE), digital games can serve as effective pedagogical tools because they can encourage exploration and experimentation when teachers and parents use them purposefully. This brief examines the following questions: (a) Were there any differences in the environmental attitudes between students who played a game and students who did …

Use Of Free And Open-Source Software Apps Provide Many Benefits For College Students, Jeffrey A. Nowak

Indiana STEM Education Conference

Free and Open-Source software apps along with free Linux-based distributions of operating systems have developed at a blistering pace over the past decade. Today more than ever before, it is possible for students to download and use free software to complete a plethora of complex tasks related to educational pursuits. This paper considers the impact of allowing students to explore the use of more than a dozen cross-platform, free, and open-source software apps to complete STEM-related tasks in a University preservice education course. The core cross-platform apps install in Windows 10, macOS, and various Linux distributed operating systems. In addition, …

Gems Research Projects, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, Lili Zhou, Sue Ellen Richardson

Indiana STEM Education Conference

Informal learning spaces offer leaders and learners opportunities to develop their STEM identities and practices (e.g., Shokeen et al., 2020; Simpson et al., 2017). GEMS (Girls Excelling in Math and Science) is an after-school program where girls have had opportunities to be themselves while engaging with STEM activities. We present preliminary results of three research projects. By studying GEMS as a case of informal learning, we are learning about the possible benefits of such environments to 1) broaden views of mathematics and 2) support the development of learners’ STEM identities.

The Impact Of Teacher Talk On Student Engagement During An Integrated Stem Unit, Valarie Bogan

Indiana STEM Education Conference

This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to investigate the effect of teacher talk on the engagement of students in target groups during an integrated STEM unit. Each student in the target groups responded to the teacher talk in a unique way. The results of this study do not fully support the results of prior research because the engagement of only one of the eight target students was affected by the autonomy supportive talk of the teacher during the unit.

How Does An Integrated Stem Life Sciences Unit Affect Middle School Students' Engagement And Science Content Knowledge?, Zeynep Gonca Akdemir, Muhsin Menekse, Saira Anwar, Siddika Selcen Guzey

Indiana STEM Education Conference

This study explored the effect of an integrated engineering design-based life sciences unit on middle school students' engagement and science content knowledge, and the role of engagement in predicting their success. Participants were 530 seventh-grade students from rural schools in the Midwest region of the United States. Data included science content pre- and post-assessments and a multidimensional engagement survey. The data were analyzed by conducting paired-sample t-tests and multiple regression analysis. Results indicated that students' social engagement increased when they engaged in an integrated engineering design-based life science curriculum unit. Also, students’ pre-assessment scores were found to be the …

Goals And Proceedings Information, William S. Walker Iii, Lynn A. Bryan, Siddika Selcen Guzey, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores

Indiana STEM Education Conference

No abstract provided.

Where To Start And How To Judge? First And Third Graders' Measurement Conceptions, Ana-Maria Haiduc, Laura Bofferding, Mahtob Aqazade, Lizhen Chen, Sezai Kocabas

Indiana STEM Education Conference

We analyzed students’ responses to a series of broken ruler measurement tasks in the form of incorrect worked examples. The measurement tasks challenged students’ initial conceptions of where the measurement starts and how to determine the overall length.

Environmental Injustice, A City In Crisis: The Use Of Informal Science, Crystal Nettles, Jomo Mutegi

Indiana STEM Education Conference

In April of 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan gained national attention and assistance after the residents noticed physical issues in their water. This unfortunate event led to opportunities to address certain issues in research and provided a window of opportunity to learn. This work will allow us to analyze how individuals use science as a resource for decision making, conscious thinking, and understanding of informal science knowledge.

Harvest Of The Month, Abigail E. Heidenreich

Indiana STEM Education Conference

Harvest of the Month curriculum exists in many states, but Indiana lacks a statewide effort in this area. To meet this need, collection of lessons with complementary activities that are specific to Indiana agriculture were created. The driving force behind the curriculum was to create a lesson that is fun and engaging for students, but also well-rounded and standards-based for teachers. Components of the lesson include Life Cycle Discussions, Taste Testing, Interactive Activities, and Journal Prompts. Partnering with Indiana farmers, a harvest video was created to accompany each lesson that features a different agricultural product grown in Indiana each month. …

Using Mobile Technology To Promote Higher-Order Thinking Skills In Elementary Mathematics, Debbie Marie Versoza, Ma. Louise Antonette N. De Las Peñas, Jumela F. Sarmiento, Maria Alva Q. Aberin, Mark Anthony C. Tolentino, Mark L. Loyola

Mathematics Faculty Publications

The problem of rote-based learning in mathematics is well documented. Mobile technology can provide a potential solution, especially when application (app) design is based on sound pedagogical principles and gamification elements. However, an inventory of available mobile apps for mathematics reveals that many of the available apps are guided by a behaviorist perspective that favors repetition over meaningful learning. This paper reports on the design of mobile mathematics apps that harness gamification techniques to promote higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) even in basic elementary school concepts such as number comparison, and addition and subtraction. The integration of these apps in the …

Development Of A Gamified Number Line App For Teaching Estimation And Number Sense In Grades 1 To 7, Debbie Marie Versoza, Ma. Louise Antonette N. De Las Peñas, Maria Alva Q. Aberin, Agnes Garciano, Jumela F. Sarmiento, Mark Anthony C. Tolentino

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Fraction knowledge is known to be a gatekeeper to more advanced mathematical learning. On the basis of the literature on early number learning; a number line mobile application called Catch the Carrot was designed to develop students’ knowledge of whole number and fraction magnitude. This paper aims to describe the design of the Catch the Carrot app and discusses the rationale for using number lines as representational scaffolds for developing children’s understanding of numbers; particularly their estimation and number sense skills. The gamification features of the app; as well as strategies for integration in a classroom are also presented. This …

Teacher Questioning Practices In Early Childhood Science Activities, Erin Hamel, Yuenjung Joo, Soo-Young Hong, Anna Burton

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This study explores teachers’ use of questioning during collaborative science exploratory activities. We classified a total of 755 questions across 14 preschool science lessons implemented by four teachers by type (open- or closed-ended) and content (science- or non-science-related) while also recording the intended recipient. Results revealed that, overall, teachers primarily asked closed-ended questions to children during preschool science activities. While closed-ended questions outnumbered open-ended, science-related questions were more likely to be open-ended questions. We noticed this trend whether the teacher directed the question to a group of children or an individual child. Gender of the child recipient was also explored …

Frontier: Discipline-Based Education Research To Advance Authentic Learning In Agricultural And Biological Engineering, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Discipline-based education research (DBER) is research activity aimed at investigating “learning and teaching in a discipline from a perspective that reflects the discipline’s priorities, worldview, knowledge, and practices” for the purpose of producing research-based evidence to improve education in that discipline. DBER arose out of concerns about the quality of post-secondary science education. Physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, geosciences, and astronomy education each have unique DBER histories in the U.S. that date back to the late 1800s or early 1900s when colleges and university systems were expanding and formalizing. The DBER fields accelerated in the 1950s and 1960s as a result …

Genbio-Maps As A Case Study To Understand And Address The Effects Of Test-Taking Motivation In Low-Stakes Program Assessments, Crystal Uminski, Brian A. Couch

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The General Biology–Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science (GenBio-MAPS) assessment measures student understanding of the Vision and Change core concepts at the beginning, middle, and end of undergraduate biology degree programs. Assessment coordinators typically administer this instrument as a low-stakes assignment for which students receive participation credit. While these conditions can elicit high participation rates, it remains unclear how to best measure and account for potential variation in the amount of effort students give to the assessment. To better understand student test-taking motivation, we analyzed GenBio-MAPS data from more than 8000 students at 20 institutions. While the majority of students …

Don’T Count – Count On Visual Perception!, Klaus Rödler Dr.

Transformations

Verbal counting is the first step in the child‘s number building and this is why it seems natural to start arithmetic in school based on this competence. Under a cultural historical view, the development of number does not start with verbal counting but rather with ‚concrete counting‘. Number words and the number word sequence developed after experience with concrete numbers.

This article describes the roots, basics, and first practical steps of a didactics based on perception rather than on verbal counting.

This proposed change allows inclusive lessons that prevent all students from misunderstanding calculation as a quick or clever form …

School Librarian Preparation And Practice: An Exploration Of The Aasl National School Library Standards And Ala/Aasl/Caep School Librarian Preparation Standards, Elizabeth A. Burns, April M. Dawkins

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) recently released standards to guide the practice of school librarians. The National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries (2018) were put forward as a single text with integrated frameworks. One year later, the ALA/AASL/CAEP School Librarian Preparation Standards (2019) were adopted to inform the preparation of school librarians. Using a one-way crosswalk analysis, this study explores the alignment of the AASL Standards Framework for School Librarians from the AASL Standards with the ALA/AASL/CAEP Preparation Standards to determine consistencies in expectations as well as identify noted gaps. Findings will assist …

The Role Of Stereotype Threat In Ethnically Minoritized Students' Science Motivation: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study Of Achievement And Persistence In Stem, Delaram A. Totonchi, Tony Perez, You-Kyung Lee, Kristy A. Robinson, Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Grounded in expectancy-value and stereotype threat theories, this four-year longitudinal study examined associations between changes in stereotype threat and motivation (self-efficacy, task values, and perceived costs) among 425 undergraduates from racial/ethnic groups typically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Growth analyses indicated that students' stereotype threat and perceived cost of studying science increased during college, whereas science self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and attainment value declined. Parallel growth analyses suggested that higher initial stereotype threat related to a faster decline in attainment value and faster increase in perceived costs throughout college. Higher initial levels and a steeper increase in stereotype …

Analysis Of Assessments On Secondary Students' Development And Interpretation Of Models, Alaina L. Appley

Graduate Research Papers

As districts are making the shift to three-dimensional learning the development of a coherent set of high-quality task-based assessments has been a challenge. For this research I collected and analyzed twelve of my district's assessments over the scientific skill of modeling from grades seven through 12. The analysis involved two tools developed by NGSS and Achieve.org to determine the extent to which the assessments ask students to perform tasks that are driven by phenomena and use the three-dimensional in service of sense-making, the Task Screener and the Framework to Evaluate Cognitive Complexity in Science Assessments. The findings support what …

Promoting A Culture Of Student Self-Advocacy Within Secondary Science Classrooms, Elizabeth Anne Wessels

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the greatest source of self-efficacy that exists among 5-12 students in science through a meta-analysis of three previous studies. After analyzing the collected data, teaching strategies that aim to boost the most influential source of self-efficacy for students are recommended and briefly discussed. Gaining a better understanding of the sources self-efficacy, along with how to support these sources will help science educators understand how to support student self-advocacy.

Autoethnography On Teaching During A Pandemic, Kelsey Ufford

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted and changed teaching strategies in a young adolescent science classroom and how the pandemic changed personal ideas around online learning. Prior research shows how online learning can be implemented successfully in collegiate classrooms, but it is rare to find research that shows how to successfully implement online learning in a young adolescent classroom. This point of view is from a rural, Iowa middle school standpoint and data was collected through the use of personal journals, emails, and a timeline from March 2020 and May 2020. After the …

Mentoring Prospective Engineering Students Through The After School Program "Girls In Engineering" Focused On Building An Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle, Vukica M. Jovanović, Deborah Marshall, Jeff Warren Larson Jr., Abdul Rahman Badawi, Neil R. Stclair, Otilia Popescu, Murat Kuzlu, Petros J. Katsioloudis, Linda Vahala, Michael Anthony Crespo

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A number of studies by engineering education researchers have pointed out that all-female teams, rather than mixed teams, result in better forms of participation and interaction in engineering related after-school programs and clubs. In particular, for after-school programs or clubs that form in response to a STEM competition, all-female teams have better chances of developing. One such competition, which will be discussed in this paper, is a regional Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) competition in which students from Blind_Review High School have been participating for many years.For each year’s competition, an all-female team of students enrolled in the Career and …

Women’S Reflections On Learning 10 Years After A Middle School Stem Program, Susan Mary Caley Opsal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A lack of understanding of how women perceive their learning continues to hinder efforts to design educational experiences that prepare women for STEM disciplines. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore women’s perceptions of their learning from a middle school STEM program a decade earlier and other learning experiences they had into their adulthood. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 of 26 women who participated in that STEM program when they were in middle school. Belenky et al.’s women’s ways of knowing provided a unique lens for examining participants’ understanding of their development as learners. Key findings …

Haitian Immigrant Parents’ Perceptions On Acculturation And High-Risk Behaviors Among Their Children, Weiselande Cesar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Immigrant Haitian parents experience acculturative stress when adjusting to the norms and expectations of a new country. Acculturative stress may be exacerbated if their adolescent children display unfamiliar behaviors, which may result in a greater need for psychological assessments and education programs to mitigate the instances of family breakdown. Following Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, there has been an increase in high-risk behaviors among Haitian adolescents. To date, there is limited research on acculturative stress in immigrant Haitian parents and how this stress may relate to their actions and perceptions of high-risk behaviors in their adolescent children. In this case study date …

Implementation Of International Society For Technology In Education Standards In Elementary School Teachers’ Pedagogical Science Practices, Rochelle Anne Mccoy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study addressed the problem of whether elementary school teachers are consistently implementing the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards in their pedagogical practices of teaching science. It was evident that half of all teachers in the United States do not consistently implement technology into their instruction. The purpose of this study was to understand elementary school teachers’ perceptions about how teachers are using the three selected ISTE standards during their pedagogical practices when teaching elementary science in order to maximize learning. The technology acceptance model was the conceptual framework used in this study. The research questions focused …

Novel Statistical Analysis In The Context Of A Comprehensive Needs Assessment For Secondary Stem Recruitment, Norou Diawara, Sarah Ferguson, Melva Grant, Kumer Das

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

There is a myriad of career opportunities stemming from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In addition to careers in corporate settings, teaching is a viable career option for individuals pursuing degrees in STEM disciplines. With national shortages of secondary STEM teachers, efforts to recruit, train, and retain quality STEM teachers is greatly important. Prior to exploring ways to attract potential STEM teacher candidates to pursue teacher training programs, it is important to understand the perceived value that potential recruits place on STEM careers, disciplines, and the teaching profession. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ perceptions …