Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Statistical Analysis Of The Role Of Critical-Thinking Games In College Students' Quantitative Reasoning, Melissa Radevicz

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Improving college students' quantitative reasoning is crucial to increase STEM-field retention rates. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), results indicate that "college students don't always get exposure to activities that develop [quantitative reasoning]" (Berrett & Sander, 2013). This study aimed to engage college students in quantitative reasoning through critical-thinking games. Phase 1, conducted in summer 2014 with a university research grant, involved a correlation analysis of the work of 133 college students enrolled in Elementary Statistics I, Chemical Principles II, Elements of Calculus, Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry, Multivariable Calculus, and Differential Equations. Participants held a variety of 39 different majors, …

Frameworks For Nurturing And Assessing Students’ Statistical Thinking In Regression Modelling, Wing Kin, Ken Li

Practical Social and Industrial Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Integration Of Ethics Across The Curriculum: From First Year Through Senior Seminar, Gail E. Gasparich, Larry Wimmers

Gail Gasparich

A Case Study Of How Ninth Grade Mathematics Students Construct Knowledge During A Productive Failure Model, Amy F. Westbrook Dr.

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explain how ninth grade mathematics students at a rural high school in Georgia constructed knowledge through student talk when problem solving using Kapur’s (2012) productive failure design. An embedded case study design was used to understand how a group of students constructed knowledge through their use of talk, persistence during the task, and use of prior knowledge while working on a productive failure modeled task. Triangulation resulted from the collected data from multiple sources, which included videotaping, interviewing, and analyzing student artifacts. Utilization of the constructivist perspectives of Vygotsky (1934/1962), Piaget (1971), …

Student Experience 14: "So What?", Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

This activity is designed to encourage students to question their own learning and the implications that learning has to them as well as to the broader community. For example: How will this knowledge, these skills and these concepts influence individual lives and the life of the community? What impact does this have on the environment? The activity also helps teachers to reflect about the relevance of lessons within their own curriculum and appropriateness of their teaching strategies. And it is a way for students to take the concepts and apply them in new ways making them more relevant.

Student Experience 03: Photo Points, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Students learn about using photogrammy (making multiple identical images of a location taken with a camera whose relative position is known to a certain degree of accuracy) to monitor change over time. This set of activities within the following lesson will help students learn about the process of collecting identical images and its importance, and practice collecting images from set locations, first in their own environments and then in the field. With this background, students can participate in photo point data collection during their expedition on Geology Day, and have a better understanding of the importance of this data collection. …

Student Experience 02: Powers Of Ten Background, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Powers of Ten (P10) refers to scale. This scale can be an excellent tool to use when framing observations. In other words, P10 is a way of putting objects being observed into context using size as the focal point. Once students understand the terminology, it can be used to both communicate and focus attention.

Student Experience 11b: Mammoth Hot Springs Microbe Wheel, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Mammoth Hot Springs Microbe Wheels.

Student Experience 12: Using The Ir Thermometer To Develop Answerable Questions, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Students learn about and use IR thermometers in the classroom or some place on the school grounds to develop answerable questions. After developing the questions, they perform brief investigations to answer their questions and share their findings with their classmates.

Student Experience 04: Mammoth Hot Springs Photo Points, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Photos taken over time from set photo points can help to increase understanding of terrace formation and concretely map the movement of microbial communities. Now, and in the future, researchers can use these high quality photos to help answer questions about things such as microbial mat migration, possible shifts in water flow, and formation of terracing through travertine precipitation/deposition. In the meantime, visitors and students will have access to these photos and can compare visible changes themselves.

Background 4: Student Experience Lesson - Systems Study, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

This lesson helps students observe, integrate and articulate their knowledge of a familiar earth system by considering how the different parts of the system interact to keep it in balance. Students first explore the word “system” and then apply the concept of systems to a familiar natural environment. Students will create a collage that is a representation of this system through discussion, further inquiry, and investigation.

Student Experience 08: Starrs Temperature Tools, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Students get a chance to use various temperature tools to explore the Celcius temperature scale. They also will explore the differences in the temperature tools and determine and share with the whole group which tools are appropriate for measuring temperature in different situations.

Background 3: Microbiological Communities In Mammoth Hot Springs, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Microbial Communities in Mammoth Hot Springs Background

Student Experience 07: What's In The Bag?, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

This is a "black box" activity. Students use their sense of hearing, touch, and smell to figure out what objects are contained in their paper bag.

Background 6: Student Experience Lesson - Facies Modeling Using Video, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Background for Student Experience Lesson: Facies Modeling Using Video

Student Experience 10: Grid Protocols, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Students will use specific protocols and equipment to systematically collect comprehensive data from a single location at a single point in time.

Student Experience 13: Student Driven Research, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

In groups of 4-5, students develop answerable quesitons about MHS, and design their investigations and data collection procedures. Next, they carry out their investigations in the field during the expedition, perform simple data analysis, and present their findings and challenges to authentic audiences both at E:Y! and back in their own communities.

Background 1: Mammoth Hot Springs Background, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Mammoth Hot Springs geologic background

Student Experience 06: Prolonged Observations, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Students participate in an exercise conducting a prolonged observation of a known object. Students will compare how their observations change as the observation time passes. This activity meant to teach the importance of careful, sustained observation as a "scientific tool".

Student Experience 09: Social Applications For Power Of Ten (P10), Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

In this lesson, students are asked to observe and record their observations of an object at a specific distance, either moving away from or toward at specific powers of ten intervals. Discussions of their observations may help students to see how detail changes with perspective, and how different jobs, including science, might require focus on different powers of ten.

Student Experience 05: The Candle, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Sometimes objects turn out to be something other than what we think we are observing. Learning to make careful observations provide the basis for students to engage in further observations of objects that are both familiar and unfamiliar. In this lesson, students make observations while the teacher manipulates an object that appears to be a candle. This leads to the exploration of the differences between observations and inferences.

Background 5: Student Experience Lesson - Labeling Facies, Ana K. Houseal

Ana K Houseal

Background for Student Experience Lesson: Labeling Facies

Annotated Bibliography: Environmental Education (1998-2013), Erich Yahner

Erich Yahner

No abstract provided.

Annotated Bibliography: Environmental Education (1998-2013), Erich Yahner

BIBLIOGRAPHIES

No abstract provided.

Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills In General Chemistry Students, Deborah L. Carlisle

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of organic chemistry requires the understanding and use of spatial relationships, which can be challenging for many students. Prior research has shown that there is a need to develop students’ spatial reasoning skills. To that end, this study implemented guided activities designed to strengthen students’ spatial skills, with the aim of preparing students for organic chemistry and other future STEM courses. Students, taking the second semester of a two-semester general chemistry course, engaged in these activities. This study followed a quasi experimental design, in which the experimental (n = 209) and the control group (n = 212) were …

Digital Scholarship: Applying Digital Tools To Undergraduate Student Research Papers, A Proposal For A Freshman Seminar. Part I: Definition Of Student Research Methodology, Charles W. Kann

Computer Science Faculty Publications

There are many digital tools that can be used for research and presentation in nearly every college discipline, including the social sciences and humanities. These tools hold the promise to radically change both the process and products of research. But in their application these tools have failed miserably to live up to their promise.

This paper is based on the hypothesis that one reason these tools do reach their potential is that there is no systemic way to include them in research process, resulting in the tools being seen as ways to improve the final research product. This results in …

Quantitative Evidence For The Use Of Simulation And Randomization In The Introductory Statistics Course, Nathan L. Tintle, Ally Rogers, Beth Chance, George Cobb, Allan Rossman, Soma Roy, Todd Swanson, Jill Vanderstoep

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The use of simulation and randomization in the introductory statistics course is gaining popularity, but what evidence is there that these approaches are improving students’ conceptual understanding and attitudes as we hope? In this talk I will discuss evidence from early full-length versions of such a curriculum, covering issues such as (a) items and scales showing improved conceptual performance compared to traditional curriculum, (b) transferability of findings to different institutions, (c) retention of conceptual understanding post-course and (d) student attitudes. Along the way I will discuss a few areas in which students in both simulation/randomization courses and the traditional course …

The Impact Of Student Performance On Large-Scale Assessments: A View Of Long-Term Health, Career, And Societal Outcomes, Roman Usatin

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examined the predictive power of student growth for large-scale assessments on meaningful life outcomes, focusing on the three categories of health, career, and societal involvement. Analysis was conducted using the NELS:88/00 dataset–a longitudinal study that followed a nationally-representative sample of over 12,000 eighth grade students from 1988 to 2000, until the students were 26 years old and entered into the work force. The large-scale assessment variables included math and reading performance in the 1988 cognitive batteries administered by NELS. To gauge growth levels, I generated Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) from tests administered by NELS from 1988 to 1992. …

Session A-1: Problem Solving Through Graph Theory, Noah Prince

Noah Prince

Graph theory is an area of mathematics often not encountered before college, and not always even there. Nonetheless, it is full of problems that novices can quickly understand and begin to figure out. Often, sixty seconds of introduction to such a problem can lead to literally an hour of discussion as students engage in finding solutions. In this presentation, I will offer some sample problems and discuss how to use them with students in middle or high school.

Calculator Usage In Secondary Level Classrooms: The Ongoing Debate, Nicole Plummer

Honors College Theses

With technology becoming more prevalent every day, it is imperative that students gain enough experience with different technological tools in order to be successful in the “real-world”. This thesis will discuss the debate and overall support for an increased usage of calculators as tools in the secondary level classroom. When the idea of calculators in the classroom first came to life, many educators were very apprehensive and quite hesitant of this change. Unfortunately, more than 40 years later, there is still hesitation for their usage; and rightfully so. While there are plenty of advantages of calculator use in the classroom, …