Throwing the Dice: Teaching the Hemocytometer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salm, Sarah; Goodwyn, Lauren; van Loon, Nanette; Lind, Georgia

2010-01-01

One of the concepts taught to science students is the use of hemocytometer. Students in microbiology, genetics, and anatomy and physiology (A&P) classes use the hemocytometer in a variety of activities. In microbiology and genetics classes, it is used to quantify yeast cells, while in A&P classes; students learn how to count blood cells. This…

Robotics and Children: Science Achievement and Problem Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Susan Preston

1999-01-01

Compared the impact of robotics (computer-powered manipulative) to a battery-powered manipulative (novelty control) and traditionally taught science class on science achievement and problem solving of fourth through sixth graders. Found that the robotics group had higher scores on programming logic-problem solving than did the novelty control…

Who's Teaching What in High School Physics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Susan; Tyler, John

2015-01-01

During the 2012-13 school year, approximately 27,000 teachers taught at least one physics course in a U.S. high school. About one-third of those teachers have earned a degree in physics or physics education; the vast majority of the others have earned degrees in a variety of other science fields. About 53,000 physics classes were taught, ranging…

Teaching Science Courses In and Out of Area of Specialisation in a Single-Sex/Co-Educational Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogunsola-Bandele, Mercy F.

This study examined the differences and similarities experienced by secondary school science teachers when teaching science within and outside their area of specialization in single sex and co-educational schools. Interviews were conducted and audio taped for six experienced science teachers on their qualification, classes/subjects taught and…

The Solar System/El Sistema Solar--A Fully Integrated Instructional Unit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Heukelem, Tom; Mercado, Maria de Jesus

This lesson plan for the second grade uses information on the solar system to provide science education for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in San Diego, California. The lesson has been developed to be taught in a bilingual class, a Spanish-language immersion class, or a two-way bilingual class. Lessons are arranged so that native…

A Scientist Tells Why "Intelligent Design" Is NOT Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sprackland, Robert George

2006-01-01

One of the most confrontational issues before American school boards and administrators is the effort by some Christian fundamentalists to have their views on life and its origins taught in science classes as a scientifically valid alternative to biological evolution. The issue continues to plague science education, suggesting that few school…

Research and Teaching: Does the Classroom Matter? How the Physical Space Affects Learning in Introductory Undergraduate Science Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Kaisa E.; Young, Chadwick H.; Beyer, Adam

2017-01-01

We compare student learning and perception data from astronomy, physics, and geology courses taught in a traditional classroom with individual desks to the same classes taught in a large auditorium. In a large student sample (1,593 students), there is no clear difference between rooms in measures of failure rates or average final grades. However,…

Effects of direct instruction of visual literacy skills on science achievement when integrated into inquiry learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galyas, Lesley Crowell

Understanding of visual representations is a pivotal skill necessary in science. These visual, verbal, and numeric representations are the crux of science discourses "by scientists, with students and the general public" (Pauwels, 2006, p.viii). Those who lack the understanding of these representations see it as a foreign language, one that they have never been taught to interpret. Roth, Bowen and Masciotra (2002) assert that students lack the necessary preparation to interpret scientific representational practices thoughtfully and skillfully and are not equipped to decipher the combinations of "divergent representational systems (graphs, images, equations) in a meaningful and edifying whole" (Pauwels, 2006, p.x). Several studies confirm that when students are unable to retrieve and apply knowledge, they will have difficulties with problem solving, critical thinking, and learning new material; moreover this has been demonstrated among all ability levels (O'Reilly & McNamara, 2007). The purpose of this mixed method case study was to explore the use of deliberate instruction of visual literacy skills embedded within inquiry science learning, utilizing the TLC method, for middle school students in a single classroom. Pre- and post-testing, teacher interviews and classroom observations were utilized. The study had three phases pre-implementation, implementation of TLC, and post implementation. The analysis was based on the Embedded Experimental Model. "This model is defined by having qualitative data embedded within an experimental design" (Creswell, 2007, Loc 806 of 3545). The 7th grade science classes studied are dual language immersion with 93% Hispanic and 100% economically disadvantaged students. These classes were taught by a single teacher where native Spanish speakers were taught in Spanish and English speakers were taught in English. The data for final test scores for students taught in English (English speakers, and EL exited) resulted in t (21)=5.42, * p≤.05; and for students taught in Spanish (EL) resulted in t (43)=10.29, *p≤.05. For these findings the following conclusions were made: Evidence from the t-test analysis suggests that increasing the focus of visual literacy skills increases student achievement on pre- and post-tests with both native English speakers as well as English learners.

Mixed-ability secondary science in one urban school district: A multiple case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tworek, Francis A.

The standards and accountability movements demand that all students be given the opportunity to learn more science than ever before. However, there is much uncertainty about how educators should proceed with this task. Issues of concern include achievement gaps, tracking, and graduation requirements. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the challenges identified by four secondary science teachers in one urban public school district as they taught classes that included students representing a wide range of abilities and prior academic success. These mixed-ability science classes were generally defined as science classes which are required for high school graduation but which have no academic prerequisites. The central research questions in this qualitative study were: (1) How do secondary science teachers describe the challenges they face while teaching a mixed-ability science course required for graduation when the course has no prerequisites; and (2) What strategies do they use to deal with these challenges? Data collection was confined to four cases within one Midwest urban school district during the 2004-2005 school year. Each case involved one class taught by an individual teacher. One case was an 8th grade science class at a middle school. The other three cases represented three district-required courses in three different high schools: 9th grade biology, 10th grade chemistry, and 11th grade physics. Data sources included interviews with the teachers, observations in their classrooms, district achievement and demographic data, and school documents. Three themes emerged from the cross-case analysis: (1) a sense of belonging; (2) the teacher's focus; and (3) successful learning. The final chapter discusses the implications of these themes and makes recommendations for further study.

An Integrative Landscape-Scale Exercise for Introductory Soil Science Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levy, D. B.; Graham, R. C.

1993-01-01

Describes how teachers can improve introductory soil science courses by applying concepts taught in the classroom to actual field situations. Presents a specific example of a field exercise designed to illustrate soil properties and processes with respect to their environmental settings. (11 references) (Author/MCO)

The Application of Community Service Learning in Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Betsy Ling-Ling

2012-01-01

Learning of science has been traditionally conducted in classrooms or in the form of lectures. Science education is usually context-specific learning as students are taught a particular module of content in class. In problem-based learning, they are provided with examples of problems in which they learn how to solve these types of problems.…

Assessment of a Constructivist-Motivated Mentoring Program to Enhance the Teaching Skills of Atmospheric Science Graduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drossman, Howard; Benedict, Jim; McGrath-Spangler, Erica; Van Roekel, Luke; Wells, Kelley

2011-01-01

This article describes a collaborative mentoring program in which graduate students (fellows) from a university atmospheric science research department team-taught environmental science classes with professors in a liberal arts college. The mentorship allowed fellows to develop and test the effectiveness of curriculum based on the Process Oriented…

Motivational Qualities of Hands-on Science Activities for Turkish Preservice Kindergarten Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulunuz, Mizrap

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research, conducted in a science methods course in Turkey, was to explore the qualities of hands-on science activities which might motivate preservice kindergarten teachers to use these activities in their own classrooms. Two similar classes totaling 47 students and taught by the same instructor were used in this study. On…

An Initial Needs Assessment of Science Inquiry Curriculum Practices at a Local Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cottingham, Susan M.

2010-01-01

Frequently, students learn in science classes taught like traditional reading courses in which reading texts and answering questions is the main activity. The problem at one southern middle school is that students are not developing an understanding of science concepts and are doing poorly on standardized testing. Students are seldom given the…

Student attitudes toward science and sciencerelated careers: A program designed to promote a stimulating gender-free learning environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mason, Cheryl L.; Butler Kahle, Jane

A project designed to foster the full and fair participation of girls in high-school science classes addressed obstacles, both perceived and actual, to equal participation. In order to modify existing classroom techniques and environments, a Teacher Intervention Program was designed. By means of a workshop and periodic personal communications, teachers were sensitized to the importance of a stimulating, gender-free learning environment. In addition, they were presented with a variety of methods and materials which had been shown to encourage girls in science. Twelve teachers, who were selected randomly, taught in diverse communities throughout one Midwestern state. The subjects tested were students in 24 general biology classes taught by the 12 teachers. Although both qualitative and quantitative measures were used during the research, only the quantitative results are discussed in this paper. Using ANOVA's, treatment group by student sex, a comparison of the mean scores was made for all students, as well as for all females and for all males. The results indicated that the experimental group, compared to the control group, had significantly higher mean scores on tests of attitudes toward science, perceptions of science, extracurricular science activities, and interest in a science-related career.

The Video Toaster Meets Science + English + At-Risk Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perryess, Charlie

1992-01-01

Describes an experimental Science-English class for at-risk students which was team taught and used technology--particularly a Video Toaster (a videotape editing machine)--as a motivator. Discusses procedures for turning videotape taken on field trips into three- to five-minute student productions on California's water crisis. (SR)

Experience and the Arts: An Examination of an Arts-Based Chemistry Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wunsch, Patricia Ann

2013-01-01

Many high school students are either intimidated or unmotivated when faced with science courses taught with a traditional teaching methodology. The focus of this study was the integration of the arts, specifically the Creative Arts Laboratory (CAL) approach, into the teaching methodology and assessment of a high school chemistry class, with…

Ciencias en Espanol, 1995-96 (Sciences in Spanish, 1995-96). Research Report on Educational Grants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houston Independent School District, TX. Dept. of Research and Evaluation.

An elementary science program was taught in Spanish for English-speaking children to give them the opportunity to acquire second language skills through hands-on science instruction. The program included 4 classes of approximately 22 students at kindergarten and first-grade levels in the gifted and talented program at the Gary Herod Elementary…

Learning to Teach Computer Science: Qualitative Insights into Secondary Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbard, Aleata Kimberly

2017-01-01

In this dissertation, I explored the pedagogical content knowledge of in-service high school educators recently assigned to teach computer science for the first time. Teachers were participating in a professional development program where they co-taught introductory computing classes with tech industry professionals. The study was motivated by…

Physics instructors are not blank slates either: An exploratory study of introductory physics instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, Willyetta Adele

2009-11-01

The purpose of the study was to investigate the views of the nature of science and the classroom practices of instructors who teach introductory physics at a research intensive university. A study of this nature is necessary because calls to change how science is taught have been made since the 1800's, yet the methods of instruction have remained virtually unchanged. The conflict between how science is taught and how students learn science can be remedied by effective professional development at the university. However, training on the change process is virtually nonexistent in teacher education programs and in teacher professional development workshops at all levels. The Views About Science Survey (VASS) was first administered to a sample of twenty-nine physics instructors and graduate assistants who have taught introductory physics courses within the last five years. To assess instructional practices in introductory physics at a research extensive university, a purposeful, stratified sample of 56 classes was observed. The interactions between the students and teachers were analyzed using the Flanders Interaction Analysis. The findings suggest that the physics instructors hold a mixed view of the nature of science. The instructors' views do not necessarily indicate how they teach physics. The results also showed that the professors reported that they use elements of effective teaching practices throughout their instruction. The results of the classroom observations revealed that non interactive lecture is the dominate instructional method used. The Flander's confirms that the majority of the class time is spent with the teacher talking and the student passively listening.

Encouraging Student Participation in Large Astronomy Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willoughby, Shannon D.

2012-01-01

Introductory astronomy is one of the most widely taught classes in the country and the majority of the students who take these classes are non-science majors. Because this demographic of students makes up the majority of astronomy enrollments, it is especially important as instructors that we do our best to make sure these students don't finish…

Career and Technical Education Teachers' Perceptions of Culturally Diverse Classes: Rewards, Difficulties, and Useful Teaching Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rehm, Marsha L.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify CTE teachers' perceptions of selected rewards, difficulties, and useful teaching strategies in culturally diverse classes. The sample was comprised of 41 trade and industrial, business technology, and family and consumer sciences teachers who taught students from 30 cultural backgrounds. The data were…

Teaching for Transformative Experience in Science: An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Two Instructional Elements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pugh, Kevin J.

2002-01-01

Examined the effectiveness of two teaching elements (the artistic crafting of content and the modeling and scaffolding of perception and value) at fostering transformative experiences among students in a high school zoology class. Student outcomes were compared to the outcomes of students in a class taught with a case-based method. Significantly…

Clubes de Ciencia: Intensive science workshops in Mexico provide a unique opportunity for teaching, scientific and cultural exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Bras, I.; Rosengard, S.; Estefania, M.; Jinich, A.

2016-02-01

Clubes de Ciencia, which translates to "Science Clubs" is an initiative started by a group of graduate students at Harvard University in 2014 to encourage scientific exchange between the US and Mexico. These science clubs are one-week long intensive workshops taught by graduate students and/or postdocs on a subject of their choice in six Mexican cities. Instructors apply to teach a workshop by sending a proposal to the organizing committee, who is looking for workshops that emphasize hands-on, practical ideas. The instructors, primarily graduate students in the US, are paired with local co-instructors who assist and often co-teach the workshop. Local student participants, who are in their last two years of high school and the first two years of college, are selected based on their interest and enthusiasm. Each class has about 15-20 students, so that the classroom setting is intimate and interactive Sponsors, who fund instructor stipends, class supplies and program development, include the Mexican department of energy (SENER), the Mexican national science foundation (CONACYT), Harvard and MIT. Host universities also provide space and resources. In this presentation we focus on clubs that were taught in January 2015 on ocean physics and July 2015 on ocean chemistry, both taught in Ensenada, Baja California at the national autonomous university. Both workshops included a combination of data analysis, lectures, experiments and computational modeling. The ocean physics class was also recorded intermittently and is being used as a test case for an online course. The format provided an intensive teaching and networking experience and could be interesting to implement in other contexts.

What I Wish I Had Learned in School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuttle, Jerome E.

1990-01-01

Discussed are some applications of mathematics involved in actuarial science which may be taught in high school mathematics classes. Described are the importance of approximate solutions, multiple answers, and selling the solution to a problem. (CW)

Training Master's-Level Graduate Students to Use Inquiry Instruction to Teach Middle-Level and High-School Science Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilman, Sharon Larimer; Hitt, Austin M.; Gilman, Craig

2015-01-01

Through the GK-12 program of the National Science Foundation, graduate student fellows in a coastal marine and wetland studies program were trained to present targeted science concepts to middle- and high-school classes through their own research-based lessons. Initially, they were taught to follow the 5-E learning cycle in lesson plan…

Effects of Explicit Instruction on the Acquisition of Students' Science Inquiry Skills in Grades 5 and 6 of Primary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruit, P. M.; Oostdam, R. J.; van den Berg, E.; Schuitema, J. A.

2018-01-01

In most primary science classes, students are taught science inquiry skills by way of learning by doing. Research shows that explicit instruction may be more effective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of inquiry skills. Participants included 705 Dutch fifth and sixth graders. Students…

A study of the relationships between "highly qualified" status, instructional practices, and students' science achievement in three high poverty Louisiana school systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clayton, Michelle

Using a mixed methods research design, the author examined the relationships between "highly qualified" status, instructional practices, and students' science achievement for six third grade teachers in three high poverty Louisiana school systems. The study analyzed qualitative and quantitative data for three science classes taught by "highly qualified" teachers and three science classes taught by "non-highly qualified" teachers. The qualitative portion of the study was conducted through classroom observations, teacher interviews, and lesson plan reviews. The qualitative data was coded and triangulated to determine whether the instructional practices of each teacher were more "teacher-centered" or "student-centered." The qualitative data analysis indicated various patterns and consistencies in the instructional practices used by the "highly qualified" and "non-highly qualified" teachers selected for this study. The quantitative portion of the study involved analysis of the students' science achievement data for the six third grade science teachers selected for the study. Science achievement was measured by the third grade Integrated Louisiana Education Assessment Program (iLEAP) scores. A two-way ANOVA indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the three high poverty Louisiana school systems as well as the students taught by "highly qualified" and "non-highly qualified" teachers and the interactions between the two: F(2, 123) = 46.99, p < 0.01; F(1, 123) = 4.54, p = 0.035; F(2, 123) = 3.73, p = 0.027. A separate one-way ANOVA indicated that statistically significant differences existed between the six participating teachers in the study: F (5, 123) = 20.386, p < 0.01). Tukey's HSD post-hoc tests and homogeneous subset analyses were conducted in order to determine which teachers' scores significantly differed from each other.

The Effect of Co-Teaching on Student Achievement in Ninth Grade Physical Science Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LaFever, Karen M.

Co-teaching is a method that is increasing within schools across the US as educators strive to leave no child behind. It is a costly method, having two paid instructors in one classroom, with an average of 24 students shared between them. If it significantly increases the achievement of all students, it is well worth the costs involved. However, few studies have analyzed the effectiveness of this method on student achievement. This research follows the academic accomplishments of students in a ninth grade physical science course. Nine sections of the course "Force and Motion" were taught with a single teacher, and two additional sections were co-taught, one led by a science-certified and special educator, and another co-taught by two science certified teachers. Subgroup achievement performance was analyzed to determine whether significant differences exist between students with or without IEPs, as well as other factors such as free and reduced lunch status or gender. The results show significance with the presence of a co-teacher, while there is minimal effect size of co-teaching in this study for students with IEPs. The benefactors in these ninth grade co-taught classes were the students without IEPs, an unintended result of co-teaching.

Urban Fifth Graders' Connections-Making between Formal Earth Science Content and Their Lived Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brkich, Katie Lynn

2014-01-01

Earth science education, as it is traditionally taught, involves presenting concepts such as weathering, erosion, and deposition using relatively well-known examples--the Grand Canyon, beach erosion, and others. However, these examples--which resonate well with middle- and upper-class students--ill-serve students of poverty attending urban schools…

Scientific Experts and the Controversy about Teaching Creation/Evolution in the UK Press

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allgaier, Joachim

2010-01-01

The issue whether creationist accounts of the origins of life should be taught in science education alongside or even instead Darwin's theory of evolution is controversial in many countries. In 2002 there was a controversy around teaching creationism in science classes at a secondary school in England. The research presented in this paper uses…

Exercise, Nutrition and You: An Off-Campus Course for Grades 2?12

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Ann C.; Mauzy-Melitz, Debra K.

2005-01-01

Since interest in science classes has declined recently and obesity, especially in youth, continues to increase, an exercise physiology-based course was taught in public parks to promote active-learning science and healthy living. The course emphasized and integrated exercise, nutrition, and health during a 3-h session. Following an introduction,…

Research and Teaching: Undergraduate Science Learners Show Comparable Outcomes Whether Taught by Undergraduate or Graduate Teaching Assistants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapin, Hannah C.; Wiggins, Benjamin L.; Martin-Morris, Linda E.

2014-01-01

Peer educators can be a powerful addition to classroom learning environments. Traditionally, the university science teaching model relies on graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) to provide instruction in laboratory class sessions, but there is increasing evidence that undergraduate TAs (UTAs) can fill an equivalent role. A comparison of student…

A Programme-Wide Training Framework to Facilitate Scientific Communication Skills Development amongst Biological Sciences Masters Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Divan, Aysha; Mason, Sam

2016-01-01

In this article we describe the effectiveness of a programme-wide communication skills training framework incorporated within a one-year biological sciences taught Masters course designed to enhance the competency of students in communicating scientific research principally to a scientific audience. In one class we analysed the numerical marks…

Understanding Protein Synthesis: A Role-Play Approach in Large Undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sturges, Diana; Maurer, Trent W.; Cole, Oladipo

2009-01-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of role play in a large undergraduate science class. The targeted population consisted of 298 students enrolled in 2 sections of an undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course taught by the same instructor. The section engaged in the role-play activity served as the study group, whereas the section…

Using clickers in nonmajors- and majors-level biology courses: student opinion, learning, and long-term retention of course material.

PubMed

Crossgrove, Kirsten; Curran, Kristen L

2008-01-01

Student response systems (clickers) are viewed positively by students and instructors in numerous studies. Evidence that clickers enhance student learning is more variable. After becoming comfortable with the technology during fall 2005-spring 2006, we compared student opinion and student achievement in two different courses taught with clickers in fall 2006. One course was an introductory biology class for nonmajors, and the other course was a 200 level genetics class for biology majors. Students in both courses had positive opinions of the clickers, although we observed some interesting differences between the two groups of students. Student performance was significantly higher on exam questions covering material taught with clickers, although the differences were more dramatic for the nonmajors biology course than the genetics course. We also compared retention of information 4 mo after the course ended, and we saw increased retention of material taught with clickers for the nonmajors course, but not for the genetics course. We discuss the implications of our results in light of differences in how the two courses were taught and differences between science majors and nonmajors.

How Does the Science Writing Heuristic Approach Affect Students' Performances of Different Academic Achievement Levels? A Case for High School Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kingir, Sevgi; Geban, Omer; Gunel, Murat

2012-01-01

This study investigates the effects of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), known as an argumentation-based science inquiry approach, on Grade 9 students' performance on a post-test in relation to their academic achievement levels. Four intact classes taught by 2 chemistry teachers from a Turkish public high school were selected for the study; one…

Using Problem-Based Learning to Deliver a More Authentic Experience in Paleontology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery, Homer; Donaldson, Katherine

2014-01-01

This study is a research project focused on the implementation of problem-based learning in an honors, paleontology-oriented, Earth Science course. The course, the Age of Dinosaurs, is taught at the University of Texas at Dallas to undergraduates from a range of majors who seek core-curriculum science credit. All class work is centered on fossils…

Who Assesses the Risks in School Science Lessons?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunyan, Phil

2010-01-01

Although the law requires the employer to assess the risks, the person who knows the circumstances of the lesson well enough to do this is the science teacher. Only the teacher knows what s/he plans to do and can make a judgement about her/his own skills and the experiences, skills and potential behaviour of the classes taught. Although the…

Games in an Introductory Soil Science Course: A Novel Approach for Increasing Student Involvement with Course Material

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sulzman, Elizabeth W.

2004-01-01

An optional 1-credit recitation course was developed to supplement a traditionally taught 4-credit lecture-plus-laboratory course in soil science at Oregon State University. Popular, competitive games that would be familiar to students were revised to be "soils-based" and were employed in the recitation class. These games were seen as a…

Peer Instruction in Introductory Physics: A Method to Bring about Positive Changes in Students' Attitudes and Beliefs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Ping; Ding, Lin; Mazur, Eric

2017-01-01

This paper analyzes pre-post matched gains in the epistemological views of science students taking the introductory physics course at Beijing Normal University (BNU) in China. In this study we examined the attitudes and beliefs of science majors (n = 441) in four classes, one taught using traditional (lecture) teaching methods, and the other three…

Impact of Redesigning a Large-Lecture Introductory Earth Science Course to Increase Student Achievement and Streamline Faculty Workload

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kapp, Jessica L.; Slater, Timothy F.; Slater, Stephanie J.; Lyons, Daniel J.; Manhart, Kelly; Wehunt, Mary D.; Richardson, Randall M.

2011-01-01

A Geological Perspective is a general education survey course for non-science majors at a large southwestern research extensive university. The class has traditionally served 600 students per semester in four 150-student lectures taught by faculty, and accompanied by optional weekly study groups run by graduate teaching assistants. We radically…

Effect of levels of inquiry model of science teaching on scientific literacy domain attitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Achmad, Maulana; Suhandi, Andi

2017-05-01

The aim of this research was to obtain an overview of the increase scientific literacy attitudes domain in high school students as the effects of the Levels of Inquiry (LOI) model of science teaching. This research using a quasi-experimental methods and randomizedpretest-posttest control group design. The subject of this research was students of grade X in a senior high school in Purwakarta and it consists of two classes who were divided into experimental class (30 students) and control class (30 students). While experimental class was taught LOIand control class was taught Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILD). Data were collected using an attitude scale scientific literacy test which is based on the Likert scale. Data were analyzed using normality test, homogeneity test, and t-test to the value of N-gain attitude of scientific literacy scale test. The result of percentage average N-gain experimental class and control are 49 and 31 that classified into medium improvement category. Based on the results of hypothesis testing on the N-gain value obtained by the Sig.(One-tailed) 0.000 < 0.050, it means that H1 was accepted. The results showed that scientific literacy domain attitude of students who got learning by LOI is higher than students who got learning by ILD. It can be concluded that the effect of LOI is better to improve scientific literacy domain attitudes significantly.

Learning about the Scientific Enterprise in Saskatchewan High School Chemistry Classes: An Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aikenhead, G. S.

1975-01-01

This study assessed the knowledge about science and scientists possessed by grade 11 and 12 Saskatchewan chemistry students and is a partial evaluation of CHEM Study and Modern Chemistry taught in Saskatchewan in the 1972-73 school year. (Author/RK)

We Teach as We Are Taught: Exploring the Potential for Emotional Climate to Enhance Elementary Science Preservice Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olitsky, Stacy

2013-01-01

Bellocchi, Ritchie, Tobin, Sandhu and Sandhu's (2013) study highlights the crucial role that emotions play in learning at the university level in a preservice secondary science teacher education class. They examine the classroom structures that tended to lead to both a positive valence and a high level of intensity of the emotional climate…

Effects of an SWH Approach and Self-Evaluation on Sixth Grade Students' Learning and Retention of an Electricity Unit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Memis, Esra Kabatas; Seven, Sabriye

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of guided, inquiry-based laboratory activities using the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach and self-evaluation on students' science achievement. The study involved three sixth grade classes studying an electricity unit taught by the same primary school teacher. Before the study began, one…

Do Student-Centred Learning Activities Improve Learning Outcomes on a BTEC Applied Science Course in FE?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dear, Denise V.

2017-01-01

This article provides quantitative evidence on the effect on learning outcomes of contrasting teaching styles applied to a class of Level 3 final-year students on a BTEC Applied Science course within a further education college in the UK. Two topics within a unit were taught using either a student-centred or teacher-centric (instructional)…

Writing across the Curriculum: A How-To Plan for a "Writing-in-the-Social Sciences" Class That Works.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Limbert, Claudia A.

A writing course (adapted from Eliot Wigginton's "Foxfire" method) for college freshmen and sophomores is taught in a way that is not only important to the students concerned but to their community--a valley in the "rust belt" of Pennsylvania--as a whole. The course differs from the usual writing-in-the-social-sciences course…

Gender Differences in Both Force Concept Inventory and Introductory Physics Performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Docktor, Jennifer; Heller, Kenneth

2008-10-01

We present data from a decade of introductory calculus-based physics courses for science and engineering students at the University of Minnesota taught using cooperative group problem solving. The data include 40 classes with more than 5500 students taught by 22 different professors. The average normalized gain for males is 0.4 for these large classes that emphasized problem solving. Female students made up approximately 20% of these classes. We present relationships between pre and post Force Concept Inventory (FCI) scores, course grades, and final exam scores for females and males. We compare our results with previous studies from Harvard [2] and the University of Colorado [3,4]. Our data show there is a significant gender gap in pre-test FCI scores that persists post-instruction although there is essentially no gender difference in course performance as determined by course grade.

Using Clickers in Nonmajors- and Majors-Level Biology Courses: Student Opinion, Learning, and Long-Term Retention of Course Material

PubMed Central

Crossgrove, Kirsten

2008-01-01

Student response systems (clickers) are viewed positively by students and instructors in numerous studies. Evidence that clickers enhance student learning is more variable. After becoming comfortable with the technology during fall 2005–spring 2006, we compared student opinion and student achievement in two different courses taught with clickers in fall 2006. One course was an introductory biology class for nonmajors, and the other course was a 200 level genetics class for biology majors. Students in both courses had positive opinions of the clickers, although we observed some interesting differences between the two groups of students. Student performance was significantly higher on exam questions covering material taught with clickers, although the differences were more dramatic for the nonmajors biology course than the genetics course. We also compared retention of information 4 mo after the course ended, and we saw increased retention of material taught with clickers for the nonmajors course, but not for the genetics course. We discuss the implications of our results in light of differences in how the two courses were taught and differences between science majors and nonmajors. PMID:18316817

Teaching 5th grade science for aesthetic understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girod, Mark A.

Many scientists speak with great zeal about the role of aesthetics and beauty in their science and inquiry. Few systematic efforts have been made to teach science in ways that appeal directly to aesthetics and this research is designed to do just that. Drawing from the aesthetic theory of Dewey, I describe an analytic lens called learning for aesthetic understanding that finds power in the degree to which our perceptions of the world are transformed, our interests and enthusiasm piqued, and our actions changed as we seek further experiences in the world. This learning theory is contrasted against two other current and popular theories of science learning, that of learning for conceptual understanding via conceptual change theory and learning for a language-oriented or discourse-based understanding. After a lengthy articulation of the pedagogical strategies used to teach for aesthetic understanding the research is described in which comparisons are drawn between students in two 5th grade classrooms---one taught for the goal of conceptual understanding and the other taught for the goal of aesthetic understanding. Results of this comparison show that more students in the treatment classroom had aesthetic experiences with science ideas and came to an aesthetic understanding when studying weather, erosion, and structure of matter than students in the control group. Also statistically significant effects are shown on measures of interest, affect, and efficacy for students in the treatment class. On measures of conceptual understanding it appears that treatment class students learned more and forgot less over time than control class students. The effect of the treatment does not generally depend on gender, ethnicity, or prior achievement except in students' identity beliefs about themselves as science learners. In this case, a significant interaction for treatment class females on science identity beliefs did occur. A discussion of these results as well as elaboration and extension of the pedagogical model used in teaching for aesthetic understanding is discussed.

Evaluation of the Third Class Science Text Book from the Teacher's Perspective at Madaba Municipality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraishan, Osama M.; Almaamah, Ismail

2016-01-01

This study aimed at evaluating the science textbook of the third grade primary school in Jordan from the point of view of the teachers who have taught this textbook, in order to find out how suitable and relevant this textbook is to the structure of the curriculum and its guidelines, by trying to answer this question: What is the evaluation of…

Dealing with Peer Pressure

MedlinePlus

... Peer Pressure Print en español Cómo lidiar con la presión de grupo "Come on! ALL of us are cutting ... and they learn from you. It's only human nature to listen to and learn from ... another student in your science class taught you an easy way to remember ...

Science Newsletters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nall, Melissa

2005-01-01

Having students write and publish their own newsletters is a great way to integrate reading and writing, infuse technology, and build home/school relationships. These newsletters can be used to keep parents informed of what is being taught in class, important test dates, homework and project due dates, and any other information you'd like to…

BONES, TEACHER'S GUIDE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elementary Science Study, Newton, MA.

THIS GUIDE WAS DEVELOPED FOR USE WITH THE ELEMENTARY SCIENCE STUDY UNIT ON "BONES.""BONES" HAS BEEN TAUGHT IN THE FOURTH GRADE AND REQUIRES FROM 10 TO 25 LESSONS, DEPENDING ON THE NUMBER OF ACTIVITIES USED. THE GUIDE DOES NOT PROVIDE DETAILED INSTRUCTION FOR CONDUCTING CLASSES, BUT RATHER SOME POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES, AND LEAVES…

Project CHAMP, 1986-1987. OEA Evaluation Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabrera, Eulalia; And Others

In its fourth year, Project CHAMP (Chinese Achievement and Mastery Program) provided instruction in English as a second language (ESL), native language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies to 728 limited-English-speaking Chinese immigrant students in grades nine through twelve at three schools. Content-area classes were taught in English…

A Course on Plasma Processing in Integrated Circuit Fabrication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sawin, Herbert H.; Reif, Rafael

1983-01-01

Describes a course, taught jointly by electrical/chemical engineering departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, designed to teach the fundamental science of plasma processing as well as to give an overview of the present state of industrial processes. Provides rationale for course development, texts used, class composition, and…

Useful Expressions for Implementing Cooperative Learning in English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asakawa, Machiko; Kanamaru, Ayako; Plaza, Taron; Shiramizu, Chie

2016-01-01

With the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and Technology calling for junior and senior high school English classes in Japan to be more communicative and taught in English, teachers need effective tools to help make their classrooms more interactive. Cooperative learning activities have the potential to increase interaction among students and…

Integrating ethics into technical courses: micro-insertion.

PubMed

Davis, Michael

2006-10-01

Perhaps the most common reason science and engineering faculty give for not including 'ethics' (that is, research ethics, engineering ethics, or some discussion of professional responsibility) in their technical classes is that 'there is no room'. This article 1) describes a technique ('micro-insertion') that introduces ethics (and related topics) into technical courses in small enough units not to push out technical material, 2) explains where this technique might fit into the larger undertaking of integrating ethics into the technical (scientific or engineering) curriculum, and 3) concludes with some quantified evidence (collected over more than a decade) suggesting success. Integrating ethics into science and engineering courses is largely a matter of providing context for what is already being taught, context that also makes the material already being taught seem 'more relevant'.

Three Approaches to Teaching the Same Subject at Two Universities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taricani, Ellen

In the fall of 1997, a senior level course was taught as an interdisciplinary class for learning the processes in food product development. The course implemented many new teaching methods and technologies. It was an effort between two departments: food science and agricultural economics. Students worked in teams with industry mentors who assisted…

Curriculum Development in Studio-Style University Physics and Implications for Dissemination of Research-Based Reforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foote, Kathleen T.

2016-01-01

Over the past few decades, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that students learn best in engaging, interactive, collaborative, and inquiry-based environments. However, most college science classes are still taught with traditional methods suggesting the existing selection of research-based instructional materials has not widely transformed…

Composition and Science: A Symbiotic Relationship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coward, Pat; Taylor, Jo

Critical thinking skills were taught to students in a lower-track freshman English class through the use of cross-disciplinary subject matter. Given a set of three transmission electron micrographs, or photographs of magnified tissue used in histology and pathology, students were asked to support their conclusions on which two of micrographs A, B,…

Integrating Faculty Led Service Learning Training to Quantify Height of Natural Resources from a Spatial Science Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unger, Daniel R.; Kulhavy, David L.; Busch-Petersen, Kai; Hung, I.-Kuai

2016-01-01

Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) faculty members were trained how to integrate service learning activities within senior level classes at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Nacogdoches, Texas. The service learning training, taught under the acronym Mentored Undergraduate Scholarship (MUGS), involved meeting…

CASE Thriving on the Sunshine Coast

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Neil

2016-01-01

Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) on the Sunshine Coast is growing rapidly. It has expanded from one inaugural Year 8 class in 2012 to the current state of play with the involvement of over 3,000 CASE students from eleven Sunshine Coast State High Schools. It is being taught by more than seventy CASE teachers with…

The impact of different college science courses on students' attitude towards science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flohic, Helene

2015-08-01

For non-science majors, a general education course in college is often the last science course they will ever take. General education courses are often regarded by students as a right of passage in which they have no interest. Thus strict coursework might aggravate students against the matter taught, and decrease their general interest in the subject. To test whether general education courses killed the students' interest in science, we administered a science attitude inventory at the beginning and at the end of an introductory astronomy course. We compared the gain/loss in science attitude with that experienced by students of a writing course as a baseline. Finally, we evaluated the gain/loss in science attitude for students enrolled in a general education seminar on science and society, where no formal science knowledge was taught, but where the students discussed the different aspects of the relation between science and society.We find that the science and society seminar had a more positive impact on students' attitude towards science than the astronomy class, which decreased the students' confidence in their ability to understand science. This study (once tested on a larger scale) could serve as a guideline for educational policies aiming to foster a positive attitude in the population of college graduates.

A Comparison of Student Outcomes and Student Satisfaction in Three MBA Human Resource Management Classes Based on Traditional vs. Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Jane Whitney

2008-01-01

The author taught three MBA Human Resource Management classes in the spring term of 2007 at a large private university in Florida. Two of the classes were taught in a 100% online format while the third was taught off campus in a university-owned building in Orlando where students met in a face-to-face, weekend setting. This traditional class was…

Children Working with Text in Science: disparities with 'Literacy Hour' practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peacock, Alan; Weedon, Helen

2002-02-01

The National Literacy Strategy (NLS) provides a coherent plan of what and how children should be taught about non-fiction text. Nevertheless, the difficulties that children actually experience when using science texts are not fully addressed: in particular, the use and interpretation of the visual elements of science text is given limited attention in the prescriptions for teaching the 'Literacy Hour'. Such disparities identified by prior research and by a content analysis of the NLS Framework Document are considered alongside evidence of the difficulties encountered by a class of Year 5 pupils working with a range of non-fiction texts during science lessons. Pupils' text use is studied through observations and interviews with children, through interviews with their teachers and through a questionnaire about text use strategies. The findings suggest that (1) the pupils experienced considerable difficulty in making sense of the science content of non-fiction text, particularly in terms of interpretation of visual elements and their links to written text and (2) use of retrieval strategies taught during the Literacy Hour was not transferred to learning from text during science lessons. The study proposes closer planning of text use in science and literacy lessons.

The academic majors of students taking American soil science classes: 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 academic years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brevik, Eric C.; Vaughan, Karen L.; Parikh, Sanjai J.; Dolliver, Holly; Lindbo, David; Steffan, Joshua J.; Weindorf, David; McDaniel, Paul; Mbila, Monday; Edinger-Marshall, Susan

2017-04-01

Many papers have been written in recent years discussing the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary aspects of soil science. Therefore, it would make sense that soil science courses would be taken by students in a wide array of academic majors. To investigate this, we collected data from eight different American universities on the declared academic majors of students enrolled in soil science courses over a 10 year time period (2004-2005 to 2013-2014 academic years). Data was collected for seven different classes taught at the undergraduate level: introduction to soil science, soil fertility, soil management, pedology, soil biology/microbiology, soil chemistry, and soil physics. Overall trends and trends for each class were evaluated. Generally, environmental science and crop science/horticulture/agronomy students were enrolled in soil science courses in the greatest numbers. Environmental science and engineering students showed rapid increases in enrollment over the 10 years of the study, while the number of crop science/ horticulture/ agronomy students declined. In the introduction to soil science classes, environmental science and crop science/ horticulture/ agronomy students were enrolled in the greatest numbers, while declared soil science majors only made up 6.6% of the average enrollment. The highest enrollments in soil fertility were crop science/ horticulture/ agronomy students and other agricultural students (all agricultural majors except crop science, horticulture, agronomy, or soil science). In both the soil management and pedology classes, environmental science and other agricultural students were the largest groups enrolled. Other agricultural students and students from other majors (all majors not otherwise expressly investigated) were the largest enrolled groups in soil biology/microbiology courses, and environmental science and soil science students were the largest enrolled groups in soil chemistry classes. Soil physics was the only class investigated where declared soil science students made up the largest single group of students, with other agricultural students being the second largest group. Results of the study showed that students from many different academic majors take soil science classes at American universities, and the most common majors in these classes depended on the class and the material it addressed.

Looking in a science classroom: exploring possibilities of creative cultural divergence in science teaching and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baron, Alex; Chen, Hsiao-Lan Sharon

2012-03-01

Worldwide proliferation of pedagogical innovations creates expanding potential in the field of science education. While some teachers effectively improve students' scientific learning, others struggle to achieve desirable student outcomes. This study explores a Taiwanese science teacher's ability to effectively enhance her students' science learning. The authors visited a Taipei city primary school class taught by an experienced science teacher during a 4-week unit on astronomy, with a total of eight, 90-minute periods. Research methods employed in this study included video capture of each class as well as reflective interviews with the instructor, eliciting the teacher's reflection upon both her pedagogical choices and the perceived results of these choices. We report that the teacher successfully teaches science by creatively diverging from culturally generated educational expectations. Although the pedagogical techniques and ideas enumerated in the study are relevant specifically to Taiwan, creative cultural divergence might be replicated to improve science teaching worldwide.

Relationship between students' understandings of nature of science and instructional context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khishfe, Rola Fouad

The study investigated and compared two different instructional approaches (integrated and nonintegrated), which address the explicit teaching of nature of science (NOS), in relation to improving students' understanding of NOS. Participants were three teachers and their students---a total of 129---which comprised six groups of 89 ninth and 40 10th/11th graders. Each teacher taught two intact sections of the same grade level within a specific science discipline (environmental science, chemistry, or biology). The treatment for all groups spanned five to six weeks and involved teaching a unit, which included both the regular science content and NOS. Participants in each of the two intact classes were taught by the same teacher about their regular science content, with the difference being the context in which NOS was explicitly taught (integrated or nonintegrated). In the integrated group, NOS instruction was related to the science content addressed in the unit. In the nonintegrated group, NOS was taught through a set of generic (non content-embedded) activities that specifically addressed NOS aspects and were "interspersed" across the science content addressed in the unit. An open-ended questionnaire, in conjunction with semi-structured interviews, was used to assess participants' views prior to and following instruction. Data analysis involved a systematic process consistent with analytic induction. Results showed general improvements in participants' views of NOS regardless of whether or not NOS was integrated within the regular science content. The results of this study do not support the appealing assumption held by many science educators that integrating NOS within the context of the science content would better enhance the learning of NOS. However, the results suggest the possibility of an interaction between the type of change (naive to transitional, transitional to informed, naive to informed, no changes, regression) in students' views and the explicit instructional approach (integrated or nonintegrated) to teach NOS. Moreover, the findings suggest the transferability of NOS understandings among various contexts, with the consequence that learning NOS might not be context-dependent. Implications for the teaching and learning of NOS are discussed.

Instruction and Assessment Technique Choices of Adjunct Humanities and Social Science Instructors in Virginia Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiser, Lyda Costello

2017-01-01

Issues of instruction and assessment at community colleges are influenced by the high percentage of classes taught by adjunct faculty. In 2014 for the Virginia Community College System, part-time instructors comprised 70.3% of instructional faculty. This dissertation describes the instruction and assessment technique choices of adjunct instructors…

An Electromagnetic Spectrum for Millennial Students: Teaching Light, Color, Energy, and Frequency Using the Electronic Devices of Our Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Maureen Kendrick

2010-01-01

In this article, a comparison of student learning outcomes is made in sophomore-level physical science classes using a "traditional" pedagogical approach versus a "modern" approach. Specifically, when students were taught the electromagnetic spectrum using diagrams and examples that incorporate technological advances and electronic devices of our…

Self-Monitoring Checklists for Inquiry Problem-Solving: Functional Problem-Solving Methods for Students with Intellectual Disability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Bridget; Taber-Doughty, Teresa

2014-01-01

Three students with mild to moderate intellectual and multiple disability, enrolled in a self-contained functional curriculum class were taught to use a self-monitoring checklist and science notebook to increase independence in inquiry problem-solving skills. Using a single-subject multiple-probe design, all students acquired inquiry…

The Effects of Computer-Assisted Material on Students' Cognitive Levels, Misconceptions and Attitudes Towards Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cepni, Salih; Tas, Erol; Kose, Sacit

2006-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a Computer-Assisted Instruction Material (CAIM) related to "photosynthesis" topic on student cognitive development, misconceptions and attitudes. The study conducted in 2002-2003 academic year and was carried out in two different classes taught by the same teacher, in which…

Gorilla Creativity: A Study Unit To Promote Critical and Creative Thinking.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Cindi Nolen

This book provides student activities organized around a class science project with the Gorilla Foundation. The gorillas featured in the project have been taught American Sign Language. Many of the activities involve the use of the story "Koko's Kitten" by Francine Patterson (New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1985). Sections of the book include: (1) "To…

Collaborative Science Work in the Elementary Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kersey, Denise A.

Not all students with disabilities receive special education accommodations in science class. Without special education support, students with disabilities are unable to comprehend and apply science concepts. Implementing a co-teaching model could be a remedy for this lack of supports. Framed by constructivist theory, this study sought to determine if there was a difference in science assessment scores between students in a co-taught science class and those in a regular education science class. Following a pretest-posttest control group design, this study examined the relation between two teaching models and achievement in science. Using a convenience sample of 84 students drawn from a population of 144 fourth grade special education students in a public school district located in the Southeastern United States, analysis of variance was used to compare the mean growth of the two groups. The data revealed no statistically significant difference in mean gain scores between the two groups. Additional studies using a larger sample and longer trial are needed. Implications for social change include understanding instructional strategies that allow educators to differentiate for diverse learners in mainstreamed classrooms as well as removing barriers for underrepresented groups, thereby allowing equal access to science related professions.

Secondary science students' beliefs about class discussions: a case study comparing and contrasting academic tracks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva Pimentel, Diane; McNeill, Katherine L.

2016-08-01

The dialogue that occurs in science classrooms has been the subject of research for many decades. Most studies have focused on the actual discourse that occurs and the role of the teacher in guiding the discourse. This case study explored the neglected perspective of secondary science students and their beliefs about their role in class discussions. The study participants (N = 45) were students in one of the three differentially tracked chemistry classes taught by the same teacher. Findings about the differences that exist among students from different academic tracks are reported. While it seems that epistemological beliefs focusing on content are common for the students in this study, the students' social framing in the different tracks is important to consider when teachers attempt to transition to more dialogic forms of discourse. Some key findings of this study are (a) students' beliefs that science is a body of facts to be learned influenced the factors they deemed important for whole-class discussion, (b) students from the lower-level track who typically were associated with lower socioeconomic status were more likely to view their role as passive, and (c) students' comfort level with the members of the class seemed to influence their decisions to participate in class discussions.

Evolution/Creationism Controversy: Analysis of Past and Current Policies in Public Schools and the Practice of Allowing Students to Opt Out of Learning Evolution Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speake, Jacquelyn Hoffmann

2011-07-01

Recent anti-evolution legislation, in the form of Academic Freedom bills, has been introduced in many state legislatures over the last three years. The language in the proposed Academic Freedom bills may allow different interpretations of what can be taught in the science classrooms, and possibly spur parents to take advantage of their perceived parental rights to request their child be opted-out of class when the scientific theory of evolution is taught. Five research questions guided the analysis of participant responses to questions and perception statements focusing on secondary school administrators' actions, perceptions, and awareness as they relate to their decision to allow or not allow a student to opt out of academics, specifically evolution, through the collection of data using a web-based survey. Opt out policies are typically invoked to excuse students from activities to which they or their parents may have religious objections (Scott & Branch, 2008). Florida statutes allow parents to opt out their child from human sexuality and animal dissection. The population consisted of 281 Florida public secondary school administrators, who were divided into two subgroups based on whether they have allowed or would allow a student to opt out of evolution, or have not allowed or would not allow a student to opt out of class when the scientific theory of evolution is taught. Results found that over 70% of the administrators who completed the survey have allowed or would allow parents to opt out their child from learning about the scientific theory of evolution. There was a significant relationship between the decision to allow opt out and the following variables: (a) Free and Reduced Lunch population, (b) grade level served, (c) support for teaching evolution and alternative theories, and (d) the perception that parent rights supersede state statute requiring students to learn evolution. In Florida, any scientific concept that is based on empirical evidence is included in the state-mandated curriculum. If administrators are influenced to believe teachers have the academic freedom to teach alternative ideas that are not scientifically valid, they may be intentionally or unintentionaly allowing subject matter relevant to a student's academic success to be suppressed or distorted, which is also a violation of state statute. The implications from this study indicated that many participants would allow a student to opt out of class when evolution is taught, including assigning an alternative assignment. Since the scientific theory of evolution is infused into the biological sciences, and therefore, the Florida State Standards for science, evolution concepts are assessed on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and the Biology End-of-Course exam. Allowing students to opt out of class when evolution is taught may have a negative impact on student success on state mandated assessments, which can directly impact school grades and state and federal funding that is tied to Adequate Yearly Progress.

Evolving Impressions: Undergraduate Perceptions of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Faculty Members over a Semester

PubMed Central

Kendall, K. Denise; Schussler, Elisabeth E.

2013-01-01

Undergraduate experiences in lower-division science courses are important factors in student retention in science majors. These courses often include a lecture taught by faculty, supplemented by smaller sections, such as discussions and laboratories, taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Given that portions of these courses are taught by different instructor types, this study explored student ratings of instruction by GTAs and faculty members to see whether perceptions differed by instructor type, whether they changed over a semester, and whether certain instructor traits were associated with student perceptions of their instructors’ teaching effectiveness or how much students learned from their instructors. Students rated their faculty instructors and GTAs for 13 instructor descriptors at the beginning and near the end of the semester in eight biology classes. Analyses of these data identified differences between instructor types; moreover, student perception changed over the semester. Specifically, GTA ratings increased in perception of positive instructional descriptors, while faculty ratings declined for positive instructional descriptors. The relationship of these perception changes with student experience and retention should be further explored, but the findings also suggest the need to differentiate professional development by the different instructor types teaching lower-division science courses to optimize teaching effectiveness and student learning in these important gateway courses. PMID:23463232

A Feasibility Study to Determine the Possibility of Teaching Freshman Composition and Rhetoric with a Programmed Text. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lutz, William D.

The question of whether a significant amount of time could be saved if freshman composition were taught with a programed text was studied. Two sections of English I were randomly selected from the regular class schedule. Class A was taught using the usual syllabus and texts. Class B was taught using the same syllabus and texts with one exception.…

Primary Pre-Service Teachers' Skills in Planning a Guided Scientific Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

García-Carmona, Antonio; Criado, Ana M.; Cruz-Guzmán, Marta

2017-01-01

A study is presented of the skills that primary pre-service teachers (PPTs) have in completing the planning of a scientific inquiry on the basis of a guiding script. The sample comprised 66 PPTs who constituted a group-class of the subject "Science Teaching," taught in the second year of an undergraduate degree in primary education at a…

What Literacy Means in Math Class: Teacher Team Explores Ways to Remake Instruction to Develop Students' Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ippolito, Jacy; Dobbs, Christina L.; Charner-Laird, Megin

2017-01-01

Secondary teachers and leaders, many of whom are implementing the Common Core State Standards, are seeking guidance about how to implement disciplinary literacy practices. Of the four core subjects taught in secondary schools--English, history, math, and science--the authors have found through their work with secondary teachers that math teachers…

The "spotlight" ... highlighting researchers at work: Krista Gebert: "The beauty of economics"

Treesearch

Sharon Ritter

2008-01-01

Economics is the science of allocating scarce resources among unlimited wants." That was Krista Gebert's response when I asked her to define economics for me. Having taught several economics classes at the University of Montana after graduate school, Krista had the definition down to its essence. As an economist with RMRS in Missoula, Krista applies economics...

CIMAC: A Coordinated Introduction to Calculus and Mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fathe, Laurie; Quinn, Jennifer; McDonald, Michael A.

1997-04-01

CIMAC, new course incorporating Mechanics, Precalculus, and Calculus, targets the growing number of motivated but underprepared students who wish to pursue a major in science or mathematics. Team-taught by a Physicist and a Mathematician, CIMAC, a new course incorporating Mechanics, Precalculus, and Calculus, targets the growing number of motivated but underprepared students who wish to pursue a major in science or mathematics. Team-taught by a Physicist and a Mathematician, the class contains specific content while exploiting the substantial commonality of these subjects. CIMAC also addresses variety of non-content areas, including supplementing basic mathematics and communication skills, accommodating various learning styles, and building student confidence. Specific approaches include class formats; gateway exams; group assignments; emphasis on writing and reading; use of computers and graphing calculators for comprehension, data acquisition, analysis, and modeling; student-led help sessions; and use of the Web http://www.oxy.edu/ departments/math/cimac/ This talk highlights the development of the course and teaching insights and innovations which have arisen from it, and addresses benefits and difficulties of coordinating material and team teaching across disciplinary lines. Finally, it presents data on student success and retention.

Communicating Discovery-Based Research Results to the News: A Real-World Lesson in Science Communication for Undergraduate Students.

PubMed

Garcia, Julie Torruellas

2018-01-01

Communicating science effectively to the general public is a necessary skill that takes practice. Generally, undergraduate science majors are taught to communicate to other scientists but are not given formal training on how to communicate with a nonscientist. An opportunity to appear on a news segment can be used as a real-world lesson on science communication for your students. This article will describe how to contact a producer to get your class on a news segment, ideas for types of research that may be of interest to the media, and how to practice communicating the results effectively.

Astronomy stories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berenson, Rhoda

2015-03-01

For many years I have taught physics and astronomy courses to liberal arts students. I have found most of my students to be intelligent and diligent, but not anxious to study science. They typically take the class only because their degree requires a science course. Many arrive having already decided they will not be able to do the math or understand the scientific concepts, and have essentially built a wall between themselves and science. In the 1990s, in an effort to help break down that wall, as part of an NSF-supported course, "The Evolution of the Universe, Earth and Life," I began using creative writing assignments.

An evaluation of pharmacology curricula in Australian science and health-related degree programs.

PubMed

Lloyd, Hilary; Hinton, Tina; Bullock, Shane; Babey, Anna-Marie; Davis, Elizabeth; Fernandes, Lynette; Hart, Joanne; Musgrave, Ian; Ziogas, James

2013-11-19

Pharmacology is a biomedical discipline taught in basic science and professional degree programs. In order to provide information that would facilitate pharmacology curricula to be refined and developed, and approaches to teaching to be updated, a national survey was undertaken in Australia that investigated pharmacology course content, teaching and summative assessment methods. Twenty-two institutions participated in a purpose-built online questionnaire, which enabled an evaluation of 147 courses taught in 10 different degrees. To enable comparison, degrees were grouped into four major degree programs, namely science, pharmacy, medicine and nursing. The pharmacology content was then classified into 16 lecture themes, with 2-21 lecture topics identified per theme. The resultant data were analysed for similarities and differences in pharmacology curricula across the degree programs. While all lecture themes were taught across degree programs, curriculum content differed with respect to the breadth and hours of coverage. Overall, lecture themes were taught most broadly in medicine and with greatest coverage in pharmacy. Reflecting a more traditional approach, lectures were a dominant teaching method (at least 90% of courses). Sixty-three percent of science courses provided practical classes but such sessions occurred much less frequently in other degree programs, while tutorials were much more common in pharmacy degree programs (70%). Notably, problem-based learning was common across medical programs. Considerable diversity was found in the types of summative assessment tasks employed. In science courses the most common form of in-semester assessment was practical reports, whereas in other programs pen-and-paper quizzes predominated. End-of-semester assessment contributed 50-80% to overall assessment across degree programs. The similarity in lecture themes taught across the four different degree programs shows that common knowledge- and competency-based learning outcomes can be defined for pharmacology. The authors contend that it is the differences in breadth and coverage of material for each lecture theme, and the differing teaching modes and assessment that characterise particular degree programs. Adoption of pharmacology knowledge-based learning outcomes that could be tailored to suit individual degree programs would better facilitate the sharing of expertise and teaching practice than the current model where pharmacology curricula are degree-specific.

How Information Literate Are Junior and Senior Class Biology Students?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schiffl, Iris

2018-03-01

Information literacy—i.e. obtaining, evaluating and using information—is a key element of scientific literacy. However, students are frequently equipped with poor information literacy skills—even at university level—as information literacy is often not explicitly taught in schools. Little is known about students' information skills in science at junior and senior class level, and about teachers' competences in dealing with information literacy in science class. This study examines the information literacy of Austrian 8th, 10th and 12th grade students. Information literacy is important for science education in Austria, because it is listed as a basic competence in Austria's science standards. Two different aspects of information literacy are examined: obtaining information and extracting information from texts. An additional research focus of this study is teachers' competences in diagnosing information skills. The results reveal that students mostly rely on online sources for obtaining information. However, they also use books and consult with people they trust. The younger the students, the more they rely on personal sources. Students' abilities to evaluate sources are poor, especially among younger students. Although teachers claim to use information research in class, their ability to assess their students' information competences is limited.

Engaging undergradate students in interdisciplinary courses in nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodchild, Fiona

2008-03-01

Two new courses at UCSB engage both undergraduate and graduate students in situated learning so that they can acquire the knowledge and skills they will need for future academic courses and career development. These courses are designed and taught by research faculty and education staff at the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI) at UC Santa Barbara. The speaker, Dr. Goodchild, Education Director at CNSI, collaborated in the course design and is advisor on assessment and pedagogy for both courses. The first course, entitled INSCITES, is aimed at first and second year students who are interested in the impacts of science and technology in society. This general education course is team taught by three Graduate Teaching Scholars from across engineering, science and social sciences. They collaborate with lead faculty from Materials Science and History to design both the curriculum and instructional format for the 10 week course that is supported by the National Science Foundation. INSCITES was taught for the first time in Spring 2007 and feedback indicated that the course had convinced the undergraduate students that they would like to take further courses outside their majors. The second course, entitled the Practice of Science is open to all majors in science and engineering, especially those in second and third year who are interested in scientific research and related career opportunities. The course has been taught for the past 4 years as a two quarter course by two research faculty who focus on the nature of scientific discovery, the role of graduate researchers and faculty, the challenges of collaboration across disciplines and the mechanisms for funding research in academia and industry. In the first quarter each students is expected to identify a mentor and a research group in which they can pursue an individual research project, to be completed during the second quarter when the classes are designed to operate like research group meetings. Evaluation indicates that both courses attract students from underrepresented groups in science who value gaining a broader perspective about nanotechnology and the career opportunities that it offers to undergraduate students.

Rescuing Middle School Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayo, L. A.; Janney, D.

2010-12-01

There is a crisis in education at the middle school level (Spellings, 2006). Recent studies point to large disparities in middle school performance in schools with high minority populations. The largest disparities exist in areas of math and science. Astronomy has a universal appeal for K-12 students but is rarely taught at the middle school level. When it is taught at all it is usually taught in isolation with few references in other classes such as other sciences (e.g. physics, biology, and chemistry), math, history, geography, music, art, or English. The problem is greatest in our most challenged school districts. With scores in reading and math below national averages in these schools and with most state achievement tests ignoring subjects like astronomy, there is little room in the school day to teach about the world outside our atmosphere. Add to this the exceedingly minimal training and education in astronomy that most middle school teachers have and it is a rare school that includes any astronomy teaching at all. In this presentation, we show how to develop and offer an astronomy education training program for middle school teachers encompassing a wide range of educational disciplines that are frequently taught at the middle school level. The prototype for this program was developed and launched in two of the most challenged and diverse school systems in the country; D.C. Public Schools, and Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools.

An analysis of the arguments for intelligent design creationism to be taught in science classes, in the public education system of the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Godden, Paul

Teaching creationism, also called creation science, intelligent design (ID), and evidence against evolution--a religious doctrine, holding that life and the universe were created by a supernatural actor out of nothing--contravenes the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and is illegal in U.S. public science classes. Nevertheless many U.S. high school science teachers continue to teach creationist doctrine as part of an undocumented, or hidden, curriculum. The arguments advanced in this study propose that creationism--as opposed to evolution--cannot be defined as science, and seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What arguments have been put forward by advocates of creationism, to make the case for creationist ideology in U.S. public school science classes? (2) What impact have the arguments of proponents of intelligent design creationism had, on American public education policy and the law? Data has been collected from precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court rulings and associated texts, e.g., expert witness testimony under oath, cross-examination, and published works referred to in the proceedings. Testimony was analysed for its content--content analytic--to address specific creationist arguments with regard to scientific rigour, honesty and empirical reasoning. Judicial opinion proved to be more relevant in terms of commentary--context analytic. Judges as decision makers have given clear accounts of how creationist arguments have swayed their ruling, and thus U.S. law and government education policy, thereby directly addressing this study's second research question. In addressing these questions, this research has provided a summative analysis of the arguments presented for ID to be taught in the science classrooms of U.S. public schools, and the counter arguments which have convinced U.S. Supreme Court Judges to deny consistent attempts to include its doctrine in science curricula. In doing so, this study provides a detailed baseline to which future arguments can be compared to highlight new--or simply recycled--points in the debate, and to identify any potential strategies for alleviating this on-going and costly dispute.

An Augmented Reality-Based Mobile Learning System to Improve Students' Learning Achievements and Motivations in Natural Science Inquiry Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiang, Tosti H. C.; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2014-01-01

In this study, an augmented reality-based mobile learning system is proposed for conducting inquiry-based learning activities. An experiment has been conducted to examine the effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of learning achievements and motivations. The subjects were 57 fourth graders from two classes taught by the same teacher in…

The Earth System Course at the University of Oklahoma: Science and Pedagogy Aimed at Pre-service Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Postawko, S.; Soreghan, M.; Marek, E.

2005-12-01

Traditionally, education majors at the University of Oklahoma took either Introduction to Physical Geology or Introduction to Meteorology to fulfill their physical sciences requirement. Science education majors were required to take both courses. These courses are large-enrollment lecture type courses, with required lab sections taught by graduate teaching assistants. Beginning in 1997, faculty from the Colleges of Education and Geosciences at the University of Oklahoma began working together to provide effective earth science education for pre-service teachers. The first step in this collaboration was the development of a new course on The Earth System that focuses on Earth as a whole rather than on the more narrow focus of either the geology or meteorology courses. The new course, which was taught for the first time in the Spring of 2001, covers a number of major themes related to Earth Science, including the Carbon Cycle, Earth Materials, Plate Tectonics, Atmosphere and Oceans. The particular concepts within each theme were chosen based on two criteria: 1) alignment with content advocated by national (NSES) and state (Priority Academic Student Skills-PASS) standards; and 2) they are amenable to a learning cycle pedagogical approach. Besides an interdisciplinary approach to the content, the new course features pedagogical innovations. In lieu of independent laboratory and lecture times, we scheduled two class periods of longer duration, so that active learning, involving hands-on activities and experiments were possible throughout each class period. The activities modeled the learning-cycle approach with an exploration, concept invention, and an expansion phase (Marek and Cavallo, 1997). Therefore, the pre-service teachers experienced the learning cycle in practice prior to learning the theory in their upper division "methods" course. In the first 3 years that the course was taught, students were given surveys early in the semester and at the end of the semester. The surveys aimed to both assess the students' learning and retention (compared to students in the more traditional Introductory Geology course, who were given similar surveys), and solicit the students' opinions of the inquiry-based learning approach compared to more traditional lecture/lab classroom teaching methods.

Archaeological Geophysics in Field Courses and Flipped-Classrooms: Lessons Learned from the Marine and Geological Science Programs at North Carolina State University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohnenstiehl, D. R.; Wall, J.; Sprinkle, D. P., II

2016-12-01

The Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University routinely uses archaeological geophysics as an inquiry based teaching tool in our capstone Coastal Processes and Geologic Field Camps. Examples of past projects include a search for civil war artifacts within the moat surrounding historic Fort Macon, near Beaufort North Carolina, and investigations of ancient adobe pueblos in northern New Mexico. These types of studies, being of modest spatial scale, provide students with an opportunity to image the subsurface using multiple techniques and integrate the results into a geographic information system for analysis and interpretation. In the spring of 2016, our semester-long Applied Geophysics course was built around a project to identify unmarked graves at the Oberlin African-American cemetery Raleigh, North Carolina. The classroom experience was flipped with required readings, video lectures and weekly graded quizzes accessible online. Class meeting time was entirely spent collecting or processing data. To facilitate hands on learning, the class was taught with two sections having only ten students each. The methods used included GPR, EMI, Magnetics, and DC Resistivity. Students responded positively to the opportunity to tackle a real-world problem as part of the class; however, many where frustrated by the expectation that they master theoretical aspects of the course using the online content. Compared to a class taught with a traditional lecture format, students clearly gained more knowledge regarding field procedures; however, their performance on a comprehensive final suggests a poorer understand of many fundamental concepts.

Effects of Reinforcement Method of Dissection Physiology Education on the Achievement in Pharmacology.

PubMed

Kitayama, Tomoya; Kagota, Satomi; Yoshikawa, Noriko; Kawai, Nobuyuki; Nishimura, Kanae; Miura, Takeshi; Yasui, Naomi; Shinozuka, Kazumasa; Nakabayashi, Toshikatsu

2016-01-01

The Pharmaceutical Education Support Center was established in the Department of Pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science of Mukogawa Women's University in 2014. We started teaching first and second years students according to proficiency from the 2014 academic year. Students were divided into two classes: the regular class (high proficiency class) and the basic class (low proficiency class), based on achievement in several basic subjects related to the study of pharmacy. The staffs in the Pharmaceutical Education Support Center reinforce what is taught to students in the basic class. In this reinforcement method of education, the class size is small, consisting of about 15 students, a quiz to review the previous lesson is given at the beginning of each lecture, and an additional five lectures are conducted, compared to the high proficiency class, which receives 15 lectures. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the reinforcement method of physiology education on achievement in pharmacology that was not conducted in the proficiency-dependent teaching method. The students in the basic class in physiology education were chosen based on achievement levels in anatomy. Achievement levels of pharmacology students in the basic class of physiology improved compared with those of students who had the same achievement levels in physiology but were not taught according to proficiency-dependent teaching in the 2013 academic year. These results suggest that the reinforcement method for education in basic subjects in pharmacy, such as physiology, can improve achievement in more advanced subjects, such as pharmacology.

Interdisciplinary Teaching of Theatre and Human Rights in Honors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szasz, Maria

2017-01-01

Since spring 2012, the author has taught a 300-level Theatre and Human Rights class in the University of New Mexico Honors College. One of the centerpieces of honors education is careful research and thorough analysis of what is taught and why it is taught. In creating the honors class Theatre and Human Rights, the author explored how she would…

A comparative study teaching chemistry using the 5E learning cycle and traditional teaching with a large English language population in a middle-school setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McWright, Cynthia Nicole

For decades science educators and educational institutions have been concerned with the status of science content being taught in K-12 schools and the delivery of the content. Thus, educational reformers in the United States continue to strive to solve the problem on how to best teach science for optimal success in learning. The constructivist movement has been at the forefront of this effort. With mandatory testing nationwide and an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs with little workforce to fulfill these needs, the question of what to teach and how to teach science remains a concern among educators and all stakeholders. The purpose of this research was to determine if students' chemistry knowledge and interest can be increased by using the 5E learning cycle in a middle school with a high population of English language learners. The participants were eighth-grade middle school students in a large metropolitan area. Students participated in a month-long chemistry unit. The study was a quantitative, quasi-experimental design with a control group using a traditional lecture-style teaching strategy and an experimental group using the 5E learning cycle. Students completed a pre-and post-student attitude in science surveys, a pretest/posttest for each mini-unit taught and completed daily exit tickets using the Expert Science Teaching Educational Evaluation Model (ESTEEM) instrument to measure daily student outcomes in main idea, student inquiry, and relevancy. Analysis of the data showed that there was no statistical difference between the two groups overall, and all students experienced a gain in content knowledge overall. All students demonstrated a statistically significant difference in their interest in science class, activities in science class, and outside of school. Data also showed that scores in writing the main idea and writing inquiry questions about the content increased over time.

On teaching computer ethics within a computer science department.

PubMed

Quinn, Michael J

2006-04-01

The author has surveyed a quarter of the accredited undergraduate computer science programs in the United States. More than half of these programs offer a 'social and ethical implications of computing' course taught by a computer science faculty member, and there appears to be a trend toward teaching ethics classes within computer science departments. Although the decision to create an 'in house' computer ethics course may sometimes be a pragmatic response to pressure from the accreditation agency, this paper argues that teaching ethics within a computer science department can provide students and faculty members with numerous benefits. The paper lists topics that can be covered in a computer ethics course and offers some practical suggestions for making the course successful.

Argumentation Practices in Classroom: Pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaya, Ebru

2013-05-01

This study examines the impact of argumentation practices on pre-service teachers' understanding of chemical equilibrium. The sample consisted of 100 pre-service teachers in two classes of a public university. One of these classes was assigned as experimental and the other as control group, randomly. In the experimental group, the subject of chemical equilibrium was taught by using argumentative practices and the participants were encouraged to participate in the lessons actively. However, the instructor taught the same subject by using the lecturing method without engaging argumentative activities in the control group. The Chemical Equilibrium Concept Test and Written Argumentation Survey were administered to all participants to assess their conceptual understanding and the quality of their arguments, respectively. The analysis of covariance results indicate that argumentation practices significantly improved conceptual understanding of the experimental group when compared to the control group. Furthermore, the results show that the pre-service teachers exposed to argumentative practices constructed more quality arguments than those in the control group after the instruction. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the instruction based on argumentative practices is effective in concept teaching in science education. Therefore, argumentation should be explicitly taught in teacher education besides elementary and secondary education.

International medical graduates in the United States: a view from an ECFMG certificant.

PubMed

Zerhouni, Elias A

2006-12-01

The author was instilled with a passion for mathematics and physics by his father, who taught those subjects in a small Algerian town. Another indelible influence came during a high school mathematics class when his teacher gave the class a problem to solve. Little did the students know that it was Fermat's Last Theorem, which stumped them, and before that, every mathematician since 1630. This experience taught the author that failing to get the final answer was part of learning. He became enchanted with imaging techniques and after earning his medical degree in Algeria, came to study at Johns Hopkins. There he received the training he desired in diagnostic radiology. The author believes science has no borders and would like to see the opportunities that were extended to him in 1975 given to immigrants today. Although the United States produces many graduates in the sciences and mathematics, the nation still has a shortfall and must, he argues, work harder to educate and inspire this country's youth in addition to welcoming the brightest and most able scientists from around the world. He also discusses the crucial role of the National Institutes of Health in furthering global health by funding international biomedical research and by transforming medicine in the 21st century.

Science and Cooking: Motivating the Study of Freshman Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weitz, David

2011-03-01

This talk will describe a course offered to Harvard undergraduates as a general education science course, meant to intrduce freshman-level science for non-science majors. The course was a collaboration between world-class chefs and science professors. The chefs introduced concepts of cooking and the professors used these to motivate scientific concepts. The lectures were designed to provide a coherent introduction to freshman physics, primarily through soft matter science. The lectures were supplemented by a lab experiments, designed by a team of very talented graduate students and post docs, that supplemented the science taught in lecture. The course was very successful in motivating non-science students to learn, and even enjoy, basic science concepts. This course depended on contributions from Michael Brenner, Otger Campas, Amy Rowat and a team of talented graduate student teaching fellows.

Working with the nature of science in physics class: turning ‘ordinary’ classroom situations into nature of science learning situations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansson, Lena; Leden, Lotta

2016-09-01

In the science education research field there is a large body of literature on the ‘nature of science’ (NOS). NOS captures issues about what characterizes the research process as well as the scientific knowledge. Here we, in line with a broad body of literature, use a wide definition of NOS including also e.g. socio-cultural aspects. It is argued that NOS issues, for a number of reasons, should be included in the teaching of science/physics. Research shows that NOS should be taught explicitly. There are plenty of suggestions on specific and separate NOS activities, but the necessity of discussing NOS issues in connection to specific science/physics content and to laboratory work, is also highlighted. In this article we draw on this body of literature on NOS and science teaching, and discuss how classroom situations in secondary physics classes could be turned into NOS-learning situations. The discussed situations have been suggested by secondary teachers, during in-service teacher training, as situations from every-day physics teaching, from which NOS could be highlighted.

A Comparison of Students in Single-Sex Classes and Coeducational Classes in High Poverty Public Elementary Schools in Mathematics and Reading Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aldridge, Ashley Elizabeth

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether any statistically significant differences in mathematics and reading academic achievement and academic gains of male and female students taught in single-sex classes existed when compared to male and female students taught in coeducational classes. This study reported findings from mathematics…

Bright Sparks of Our Future!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riordan, Naoimh

2016-04-01

My name is Naoimh Riordan and I am the Vice Principal of Rockboro Primary School in Cork City, South of Ireland. I am a full time class primary teacher and I teach 4th class, my students are aged between 9-10 years. My passion for education has developed over the years and grown towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. I believe these subjects are the way forward for our future. My passion and beliefs are driven by the unique after school programme that I have developed. It is titled "Sparks" coming from the term Bright Sparks. "Sparks" is an after school programme with a difference where the STEM subjects are concentrated on through lessons such as Science, Veterinary Science Computer Animation /Coding, Eco engineering, Robotics, Magical Maths, Chess and Creative Writing. All these subjects are taught through activity based learning and are one-hour long each week for a ten-week term. "Sparks" is fully inclusive and non-selective which gives all students of any level of ability an opportunity to engage into these subjects. "Sparks" is open to all primary students in County Cork. The "Sparks" after school programme is taught by tutors from the different Universities and Colleges in Cork City. It works very well because the tutor brings their knowledge, skills and specialised equipment from their respective universities and in turn the tutor gains invaluable teaching practise, can trial a pilot programme in a chosen STEM subject and gain an insight into what works in the physical classroom.

Verbal and visual learning of science terminology by high school biology students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, Andrew Morton

The purpose of this study is to determine whether scientific terms with multiple meanings are more easily learned when taught pictorially or when taught verbally. The question of interference from previously known colloquial meanings is addressed as well. In carrying out this study, an experimental group of 30 students was taught pictorially and a control group of 30 students was taught verbally. Each group was made up of male and female students from the dominant culture (Caucasian) and from alternate cultures (mainly African American and Asian). The age of the participants was between 14 and 17. Students were selected as class groups. There were four class groups in the study. Class groups were assigned to the experimental or control group by random selection. Results were compared by use of a pre-test and post-test procedure. Students were asked to verbally describe 41 terms having scientific and colloquial meanings; they were to give the scientific meaning, if known, the colloquial if not, or leave a question mark if the term was unknown. They were then asked to draw a picture of the meaning of the term, if known. The same instructions were given to both groups. A series of seven hypotheses were identified. These hypotheses considered learning outcomes related to instructional mode as well as outcomes related to gender and cultural differences. An attempt was made to determine the similarity of the experimental and control groups. Student profiles, a learning styles inventory, and an imbedded image test all showed an initial similarity of the two groups. Once the pretest and posttest were given, data were analyzed by the use of the Chi-square of Association, the McNemar Chi-square, and Z scores (at.05 significance level). Results indicated significant differences in outcomes between the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group showed more science vocabulary learning than the control group and experienced more interference from the colloquial meanings of the terms used. Gender and cultural relationships were tested both between groups and within groups. Significant gender differences were found between groups. The patterns of response described in the experimental group were attributed to the method of pictorial instruction given this group.

Impact of Adaptive Materials on Teachers and their Students with Visual Impairments in Secondary Science and Mathematics Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rule, Audrey C.; Stefanich, Greg P.; Boody, Robert M.; Peiffer, Belinda

2011-04-01

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, important in today's world, are underrepresented by students with disabilities. Students with visual impairments, although cognitively similar to sighted peers, face challenges as STEM subjects are often taught using visuals. They need alternative forms of access such as enlarged or audio-converted text, tactile graphics, and involvement in hands-on science. This project focused on increasing teacher awareness of and providing funds for the purchase of supplemental adaptive resources, supplies, and equipment. We examined attitude and instructional changes across the year of the programme in 15 science and mathematics teachers educating students with visual impairments. Positive changes were noted from pretest to posttest in student and teacher perspectives, and in teacher attitudes towards students with disabilities in STEM classes. Teachers also provided insights into their challenges and successes through a reflective narrative. Several adolescent students resisted accommodations to avoid appearing conspicuous to peers. Teachers implemented three strategies to address this: providing the adaptations to all students in the class; convincing the student of the need for adaptation; and involving the class in understanding and accepting the student's impairment. A variety of teacher-created adaptations for various science and mathematics labs are reported. Another finding was many adaptations provided for the student with visual impairment benefitted the entire class. This study supports the claim that given knowledgeable, supportive teachers, and with appropriate accommodations such as tactile or auditory materials, students with visual impairments can be as successful and engaged as other students in science and mathematics.

We teach as we are taught: exploring the potential for emotional climate to enhance elementary science preservice teacher education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olitsky, Stacy

2013-09-01

Bellocchi, Ritchie, Tobin, Sandhu and Sandhu's (2013) study highlights the crucial role that emotions play in learning at the university level in a preservice secondary science teacher education class. They examine the classroom structures that tended to lead to both a positive valence and a high level of intensity of the emotional climate (EC). This article explores the implications of their study for better understanding how to foster a positive classroom emotional climate for elementary level preservice teachers, given the specifics of elementary school environments. Drawing on theories of interactional solidarity. I explore the implications of EC for increasing pre-service teachers' capacity to avoid order-giving rituals and to create science-centered communities in their classrooms. I also suggest possible areas for future research, such as the role of expectations in EC, the different EC outcomes of lectures, EC and the development of confidence in science, and the ways in which teacher candidates are positioned within interaction rituals in elementary science methods classes.

Collaborative science activities and the social construction of understanding of physical science concepts by pre-service teachears in Fiji

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Neil; Lucas, Keith B.; Watters, James J.

1999-12-01

The research reported was part of a larger study that was founded on the belief that the introduction of a teaching style informed by a constructivist view of teaching and learning and utilising collaborative group work would improve the understanding of science concepts held by pre-service primary teacher education studients in Fuji. It sought to test this belief, and to explore whether such an approach would be effective for students from different ethnic groups. Two intact classes in a teachers' college studied a physical science unit, one class being involved in extensive collaborative group activities and the other, the comparison group, being taught in the usual transmissive fashion. An interpretive methodology was adopted, involving a range of data sources and analytical techniques. Data presented here support the claim that the collaborative group work stimulated increased levels of discussion and fostered deeper conceptual understanding. There were, however, some unexpected learning outcomes for some students. Implications for science education in Fiji and similar locations are discussed.

Teaching internet use to adult learners: The LANL experience

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, S.; Comstock, D.

The Research library at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been teaching an Internet class to adult learners since May 1994. The class is a team effort, combining lecture/demo with hands-on practice using Gopher and the World Wide Web. What started out as a small short-term project has become a weekly class available to any Lab employee or associate. More than 250 people have been taught to find basic reference materials and to navigate the Internet on the Gopher and World Wide Web. The class is one of the first classes offered by the Research Library to be filled every month,more » and one Laboratory group has recommended that their staff attend this class in preparation for more advanced Internet and HTML classes as part of their group training. The success of this class spurred development by the Research Library of more specific subject classes using Internet resources, specifically business and general science resources.« less

Teaching Scientists to Communicate: Evidence-based assessment for undergraduate science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy; Kuchel, Louise

2015-07-01

Communication skills are one of five nationally recognised learning outcomes for an Australian Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. Previous evidence indicates that communication skills taught in Australian undergraduate science degrees are not developed sufficiently to meet the requirements of the modern-day workplace-a problem faced in the UK and USA also. Curriculum development in this area, however, hinges on first evaluating how communication skills are taught currently as a base from which to make effective changes. This study aimed to quantify the current standard of communication education within BSc degrees at Australian research-intensive universities. A detailed evidential baseline for not only what but also how communication skills are being taught was established. We quantified which communication skills were taught and assessed explicitly, implicitly, or were absent in a range of undergraduate science assessment tasks (n = 35) from four research-intensive Australian universities. Results indicate that 10 of the 12 core science communication skills used for evaluation were absent from more than 50% of assessment tasks and 77.14% of all assessment tasks taught less than 5 core communication skills explicitly. The design of assessment tasks significantly affected whether communication skills were taught explicitly. Prominent trends were that communication skills in tasks aimed at non-scientific audiences were taught more explicitly than in tasks aimed at scientific audiences, and the majority of group and multimedia tasks taught communication elements more explicitly than individual, or written and oral tasks. Implications for science communication in the BSc and further research are discussed.

Establishing Astronomy in the Curriculum at a Teacher Preparation College: Some Successes and Some Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, L. M.; Borkovitz, D.

1999-12-01

At Wheelock College, a liberal arts college in Boston which prepares students for careers in elementary and early childhood teaching and social work, we are developing science and mathematics courses designed to prepare our students for their work with children while teaching them adult-level math and science. Our students arrive with varying skill levels and, often, a great deal of math and science anxiety. We must address the anxiety in order for the students to make progress as learners and, eventually, teachers of math and science. Two courses have been notable successes. A one-semester course entitled The Solar System has become a staple in the curriculum. Major topics covered include finding our way around the sky, the nature of light and color, the size and scale of the solar system, and the causes of the Earth’s seasons and the phases of the moon. Students report that it changes their minds about how science can be taught by modeling a style of teaching which is more interactive than the way they were taught. In the graduate school, astronomy is the focus for a course entitled Teaching and Learning. Co-taught by an education faculty member and an astronomer, the course immerses students in learning a new content area and asks them to consider their own learning process. Observations play an important role here, with students keeping journals of their own sky observations. We also describe two challenges. One is the establishment of more advanced courses; although an astrophysics class has been offered twice to overwhelmingly positive student reviews, it is not easy to “sell”. The other challenge is the establishment of an introductory level course in stars and galaxies for non-science majors. This work has been supported in part by a grant from the DUE of the National Science Foundation.

Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and Hearing Signing Undergraduates’ Attitudes toward Science in Inquiry-Based Biology Laboratory Classes

PubMed Central

Gormally, Cara

2017-01-01

For science learning to be successful, students must develop attitudes toward support future engagement with challenging social issues related to science. This is especially important for increasing participation of students from underrepresented populations. This study investigated how participation in inquiry-based biology laboratory classes affected students’ attitudes toward science, focusing on deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing signing students in bilingual learning environments (i.e., taught in American Sign Language and English). Analysis of reflection assignments and interviews revealed that the majority of students developed positive attitudes toward science and scientific attitudes after participating in inquiry-based biology laboratory classes. Attitudinal growth appears to be driven by student value of laboratory activities, repeated direct engagement with scientific inquiry, and peer collaboration. Students perceived that hands-on experimentation involving peer collaboration and a positive, welcoming learning environment were key features of inquiry-based laboratories, affording attitudinal growth. Students who did not perceive biology as useful for their majors, careers, or lives did not develop positive attitudes. Students highlighted the importance of the climate of the learning environment for encouraging student contribution and noted both the benefits and pitfalls of teamwork. Informed by students’ characterizations of their learning experiences, recommendations are made for inquiry-based learning in college biology. PMID:28188279

When Nature of Science Meets Marxism: Aspects of Nature of Science Taught by Chinese Science Teacher Educators to Prospective Science Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Zhi Hong; Wong, Siu Ling; Zhan, Ying

2013-05-01

Nature of science (NOS) is beginning to find its place in the science education in China. In a study which investigated Chinese science teacher educators' conceptions of teaching NOS to prospective science teachers through semi-structured interviews, five key dimensions emerged from the data. This paper focuses on the dimension, NOS content to be taught to prospective science teachers. Among a total of twenty NOS elements considered by the Chinese science teacher educators to be important ideas to be taught, five were suggested by no less than a half of the educators. They are (1) empirical basis of scientific investigation, (2) logics in scientific investigation, (3) general process of scientific investigation, (4) progressive nature of scientific knowledge, and (5) realist views of mind and natural world. This paper discusses the influence of Marxism, a special socio-cultural factor in China, on Chinese science teacher educators' conceptions of NOS content to be taught to prospective science teachers. We argue the importance of considering ideological traditions (mainly those in general philosophy and religion) when interpreting views of NOS or its content to be taught in different countries and regions and understanding students' conceptual ecology of learning NOS.

Enacted Types of Algebraic Activity in Different Classes Taught by the Same Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenmann, Tammy; Even, Ruhama

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine how teachers enact the same written algebra curriculum materials in different classes. The study addresses this issue by comparing the types of algebraic activity (Kieran, 2004) enacted in two 7th grade classes taught by the same teacher, using the same textbook. Data sources include lesson observations and an…

Comparative Outcomes of Two Instructional Models for Students with Learning Disabilities: Inclusion with Co-Teaching and Solo-Taught Special Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tremblay, Philippe

2013-01-01

We compared two instructional models (co-teaching inclusion and solo-taught special education) for students with learning disabilities (LD) with regard to their effect on academic achievement and class attendance. Twelve inclusive classes (experimental group) and 13 special education classes (control group) participated in the study. In grade 1,…

Information intervention in the pharmaceutical sciences.

PubMed

Chatfield, Amy J; Romero, Rebecca M; Haworth, Ian S

2012-01-01

Professional guidelines state that higher-order thinking skills are a desirable outcome of pharmacy education. In this context, courses in pharmaceutics at the University of Southern California are taught in a learner-centered manner that requires use of chemical reference sources and interpretation of physicochemical information for drug molecules. To facilitate these activities, a librarian worked with faculty to design a class on reference sources and primary literature. Students believed the librarian instruction was beneficial. After the intervention, faculty fielded fewer information-related questions and the librarian received more sophisticated questions. The class emphasizes the importance of collaboration between librarians and faculty in achieving these results.

The effect of trade books on the environmental literacy of 11th and 12th graders in aquatic science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Ann S.

The purpose of this study was to compare the environmental literacy of 11th and 12th graders who participated in an eighteen-week environmental education program using trade books versus 11 th- and 12th-graders who participated in an eighteen-week, traditional environmental education program without the use of trade books. This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental research technique. Four high school aquatic science classes at two suburban high schools were used in the research. One teacher at each high school taught one control class and one experimental class of aquatic science. In the experimental classes, four trade books were read to the classes during the eighteen-week semester. These four books were selected by the participating teachers before the semester began. The books used were A Home by the Sea, Sea Otter Rescue, There's a Hair in My Dirt, and The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo. The instrument used to measure environmental literacy was the Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale. This test was given at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester. The scores at the end of the semester were analyzed by 2 x 2 mixed model ANOVA with the teacher as the random effect and the condition (trade books) as the fixed effect. The statistical analysis of this study showed that the students in the experimental classes did not score higher than the control classes on the Children's Environmental Attitude and Knowledge Scale or on a subset of "water" questions. Several limitations were placed on this research. These limitations included the following: (1) a small number of classes and a small number of teachers, (2) change from the original plan of using environmental science classes to aquatic science classes, (3) possible indifference of the students, and (4) restrictive teaching strategies of the teachers.

Characterizing the Fundamental Intellectual Steps Required in the Solution of Conceptual Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, John

2010-02-01

At some level, the performance of a science class must depend on what is taught, the information content of the materials and assignments of the course. The introductory calculus-based electricity and magnetism class at the University of Arkansas is examined using a catalog of the basic reasoning steps involved in the solution of problems assigned in the class. This catalog was developed by sampling popular physics textbooks for conceptual problems. The solution to each conceptual problem was decomposed into its fundamental reasoning steps. These fundamental steps are, then, used to quantify the distribution of conceptual content within the course. Using this characterization technique, an exceptionally detailed picture of the information flow and structure of the class can be produced. The intellectual structure of published conceptual inventories is compared with the information presented in the class and the dependence of conceptual performance on the details of coverage extracted. )

Introduction to Mathematica® for Physicists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grozin, Andrey

We were taught at calculus classes that integration is an art, not a science (in contrast to differentiation—even a monkey can be trained to take derivatives). And we were taught wrong. The Risch algorithm (which is known for decades) allows one to find, in a finite number of steps, if a given indefinite integral can be taken in elementary functions, and if so, to calculate it. This algorithm has been constructed in works by an American mathematician Risch near 1970; many cases were not analyzed completely in these works and were later considered by other mathematicians. The algorithm is very complicated, and no computer algebra system implements it fully. Its implementation in Mathematica is rather complete, even with extensions to some classes of special functions, but details are not publicly known. Strictly speaking, it is not quite an algorithm, because it contains algorithmically unsolvable subproblems, such as finding out if a given combination of elementary functions vanishes. But in practice computer algebra systems are quite good in solving such problems. Here we shall consider, at a very elementary level, the main ideas of the Risch algorithm; see [16] for more details.

Professors in the Trenches: Deployed Soldiers and Social Science Academics

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

CGSC Experiential Learning Model, or ELM . The ELM serves as the methodology for both lesson plan design at the Command and General Staff College and as...the experiential learning model ( ELM ) than the U.S. contractors – the ELM methodology, by design, addresses all four learning style preferences. The...Since the CGSC team used the experiential learning model as the way to teach, they modeled the ELM as they taught all their classes. After the first

Astronautics Degrees for Space Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gruntman, M.; Brodsky, R.; Erwin, D.; Kunc, J.

The Astronautics Program (http://astronautics.usc.edu) of the University of Southern California (USC) offers a full set of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis in Astronautics. The Bachelor of Science degree program in Astronautics combines basic science and engineering classes with specialized astronautics classes. The Master of Science degree program in Astronautics offers classes in various areas of space technology. The Certificate in Astronautics targets practicing engineers and scientists who enter space-related fields and/or who want to obtain training in specific space-related areas. Many specialized graduate classes are taught by adjunct faculty working at the leading space companies. The Master of Science degree and Certificate are available through the USC Distance Education Network (DEN). Today, the Internet allows us to reach students anywhere in the world through webcasting. The majority of our graduate students, as well as those pursuing the Certificate, work full time as engineers in the space industry and government research and development centers. The new world of distance learning presents new challenges and opens new opportunities. We show how the transformation of distance learning and particularly the introduction of webcasting transform organization of the program and class delivery. We will describe in detail the academic focus of the program, student reach, and structure of program components. Program development is illustrated by the student enrollment dynamics and related industrial trends; the lessons learned emphasize the importance of feedback from the students and from the space industry.

Integrating Quantitative Reasoning into STEM Courses Using an Energy and Environment Context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, J. D.; Lyford, M. E.; Mayes, R. L.

2010-12-01

Many secondary and post-secondary science classes do not integrate math into their curriculum, while math classes commonly teach concepts without meaningful context. Consequently, students lack basic quantitative skills and the ability to apply them in real-world contexts. For the past three years, a Wyoming Department of Education funded Math Science Partnership at the University of Wyoming (UW) has brought together middle and high school science and math teachers to model how math and science can be taught together in a meaningful way. The UW QR-STEM project emphasizes the importance of Quantitative Reasoning (QR) to student success in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To provide a social context, QR-STEM has focused on energy and the environment. In particular, the project has examined how QR and STEM concepts play critical roles in many of the current global challenges of energy and environment. During four 3-day workshops each summer and over several virtual and short face-to-face meetings during the academic year, UW and community college science and math faculty work with math and science teachers from middle and high schools across the state to improve QR instruction in math and science classes. During the summer workshops, faculty from chemistry, physics, earth sciences, biology and math lead sessions to: 1) improve the basic science content knowledge of teachers; 2) improve teacher understanding of math and statistical concepts, 3) model how QR can be taught by engaging teachers in sessions that integrate math and science in an energy and environment context; and 4) focus curricula using Understanding by Design to identify enduring understandings on which to center instructional strategies and assessment. In addition to presenting content, faculty work with teachers as they develop classroom lessons and larger units to be implemented during the school year. Teachers form interdisciplinary groups which often consist of math and science teachers from the same school or district. By jointly developing units focused on energy and environment, math and science curricula can be coordinated during the school year. During development, teams present their curricular ideas for peer-review. Throughout the school year, teachers implement their units and collect pre-post data on student learning. Ultimately, science teachers integrate math into their science courses, and math teachers integrate science content in their math courses. Following implementation, participants share their experiences with their peers and faculty. Of central interest during these presentations are: 1) How did the QR-STEM experience change teacher practices in the classroom?; and 2) How did the modification of their teaching practices impact student learning and their ability to successfully master QR? The UW QR-STEM has worked with Wyoming science and math teachers from across the state over the three year grant period.

Astronautics degrees for the space industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gruntman, M.; Brodsky, R. F.; Erwin, D. A.; Kunc, J. A.

2004-01-01

The Astronautics Program (http://astronautics.usc.edu) of the University of Southern California (USC) offers a full set of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis in Astronautics. The Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree programs in Astronautics combine basic science and engineering classes with specialized classes in space technology. The Certificate in Astronautics targets practicing engineers and scientists who enter space-related fields and/or who want to obtain training in specific space-related areas. Many specialized graduate classes are taught by adjunct faculty working at the leading space companies. The Master of Science degree and Certificate are available entirely through the USC Distance Education Network (DEN). Today, the Internet allows us to reach students anywhere in the world through webcasting. The majority of our graduate students, as well as those pursuing the Certificate, work full time as engineers in the space industry and government research and development centers while earning their degrees. The new world of distance learning presents new challenges and opens new opportunities. Distance learning, and particularly the introduction of webcasting, transform the organization of the graduate program and class delivery. We describe in detail the program's academic focus, student reach, and structure of program components. Program development is illustrated by the student enrollment dynamics and related industrial trends; the lessons learned emphasize the importance of feedback from the students and from the space industry.

Engineering Design Modules as Physics Teaching Tools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Douglas L.; Kane, Jackie

2011-01-01

Pre-engineering is increasingly being taught as a high school subject. This development presents challenges as well as opportunities for the physics education community. If pre-engineering is taught as a separate class, it may divert resources and students from traditional physics classes. However, design modules can be used as physics teaching…

A Research-Based Development Economics Course for Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Prakarsh; Guo, Hongye; Morales, Alvaro

2015-01-01

The authors present details of a research-based course in development economics taught at a private liberal arts college. There were three key elements in this class: teaching of applied econometrics, group presentations reviewing published and working papers in development economics, and using concepts taught in class to write an original…

Using Pseudozoids to Teach Classification and Phylogeny to Middle School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freidenberg, Rolfe Jr.; Kelly, Martin G.

2004-01-01

This research compared the outcomes of teaching middle school students two different methods of classification and phylogeny. Two classes were randomly selected and taught using traditional methods of instruction. Three classes were taught using the "Pseudozoid" approach, where students learned to classify, develop and read dichotomous keys, and…

Influence of professional preparation and class structure on sexuality topics taught in middle and high schools.

PubMed

Rhodes, Darson L; Kirchofer, Gregg; Hammig, Bart J; Ogletree, Roberta J

2013-05-01

This study examined the impact of professional preparation and class structure on sexuality topics taught and use of practice-based instructional strategies in US middle and high school health classes. Data from the classroom-level file of the 2006 School Health Policies and Programs were used. A series of multivariable logistic regression models were employed to determine if sexuality content taught was dependent on professional preparation and /or class structure (HE only versus HE/another subject combined). Additional multivariable logistic regression models were employed to determine if use of practice-based instructional strategies was dependent upon professional preparation and/or class structure. Years of teaching health topics and size of the school district were included as covariates in the multivariable logistic regression models. Findings indicated professionally prepared health educators were significantly more likely to teach 7 of the 13 sexuality topics as compared to nonprofessionally prepared health educators. There was no statistically significant difference in the instructional strategies used by professionally prepared and nonprofessionally prepared health educators. Exclusively health education classes versus combined classes were significantly more likely to have included 6 of the 13 topics and to have incorporated practice-based instructional strategies in the curricula. This study indicated professional preparation and class structure impacted sexuality content taught. Class structure also impacted whether opportunities for students to practice skills were made available. Results support the need for continued advocacy for professionally prepared health educators and health only courses. © 2013, American School Health Association.

Computational Physics in a Nutshell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schillaci, Michael

2001-11-01

Too often students of science are expected to ``pick-up'' what they need to know about the Art of Science. A description of the two-semester Computational Physics course being taught by the author offers a remedy to this situation. The course teaches students the three pillars of modern scientific research: Problem Solving, Programming, and Presentation. Using FORTRAN, LaTeXe, MAPLE V, HTML, and JAVA, students learn the fundamentals of algorithm development, how to implement classes and packages written by others, how to produce publication quality graphics and documents and how to publish them on the world-wide-web. The course content is outlined and project examples are offered.

Development of research paper writing skills of poultry science undergraduate students studying food microbiology.

PubMed

Howard, Z R; Donalson, L M; Kim, W K; Li, X; Zabala Díaz, I; Landers, K L; Maciorowski, K G; Ricke, S C

2006-02-01

Because food and poultry industries are demanding an improvement in written communication skills among graduates, research paper writing should be an integral part of a senior undergraduate class. However, scientific writing assignments are often treated as secondary to developing the technical skills of the students. Scientific research paper writing has been emphasized in an undergraduate course on advanced food microbiology taught in the Poultry Science Department at Texas A& M University (College Station, TX). Students' opinions suggest that research paper writing as part of a senior course in Poultry Science provides students with scientific communication skills and useful training for their career, but more emphasis on reading and understanding scientific literature may be required.

Improving student learning in calculus through applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, C. Y.; Georgiopoulos, M.; Hagen, S. C.; Geiger, C. L.; Dagley-Falls, M. A.; Islas, A. L.; Ramsey, P. J.; Lancey, P. M.; Straney, R. A.; Forde, D. S.; Bradbury, E. E.

2011-07-01

Nationally only 40% of the incoming freshmen Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors are successful in earning a STEM degree. The University of Central Florida (UCF) EXCEL programme is a National Science Foundation funded STEM Talent Expansion Programme whose goal is to increase the number of UCF STEM graduates. One of the key requirements for STEM majors is a strong foundation in Calculus. To improve student learning in calculus, the EXCEL programme developed two special courses at the freshman level called Applications of Calculus I (Apps I) and Applications of Calculus II (Apps II). Apps I and II are one-credit classes that are co-requisites for Calculus I and II. These classes are teams taught by science and engineering professors whose goal is to demonstrate to students where the calculus topics they are learning appear in upper level science and engineering classes as well as how faculty use calculus in their STEM research programmes. This article outlines the process used in producing the educational materials for the Apps I and II courses, and it also discusses the assessment results pertaining to this specific EXCEL activity. Pre- and post-tests conducted with experimental and control groups indicate significant improvement in student learning in Calculus II as a direct result of the application courses.

Extending positive CLASS results across multiple instructors and multiple classes of Modeling Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brewe, Eric; Traxler, Adrienne; de la Garza, Jorge; Kramer, Laird H.

2013-12-01

We report on a multiyear study of student attitudes measured with the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey in calculus-based introductory physics taught with the Modeling Instruction curriculum. We find that five of six instructors and eight of nine sections using Modeling Instruction showed significantly improved attitudes from pre- to postcourse. Cohen’s d effect sizes range from 0.08 to 0.95 for individual instructors. The average effect was d=0.45, with a 95% confidence interval of (0.26-0.64). These results build on previously published results showing positive shifts in attitudes from Modeling Instruction classes. We interpret these data in light of other published positive attitudinal shifts and explore mechanistic explanations for similarities and differences with other published positive shifts.

The relationship between nature of science understandings and science self-efficacy beliefs of sixth grade students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Elisabeth Allyn

Bandura (1986) posited that self-efficacy beliefs help determine what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they have and are critical determinants of how well skill and knowledge are acquired. Research has correlated self-efficacy beliefs with academic success and subject interest (Pajares, Britner, & Valiante, 2000). Similar studies report a decreasing interest by students in school science beginning in middle school claiming that they don't enjoy science because the classes are boring and irrelevant to their lives (Basu & Barton, 2007). The hypothesis put forth by researchers is that students need to observe models of how science is done, the nature of science (NOS), so that they connect with the human enterprise of science and thereby raise their self-efficacy (Britner, 2008). This study examined NOS understandings and science self-efficacy of students enrolled in a sixth grade earth science class taught with explicit NOS instruction. The research questions that guided this study were (a) how do students' self-efficacy beliefs change as compared with changes in their nature of science understandings?; and (b) how do changes in students' science self-efficacy beliefs vary with gender and ethnicity segregation? A mixed method design was employed following an embedded experimental model (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). As the treatment, five NOS aspects were first taught by the teachers using nonintegrated activities followed by integrated instructional approach (Khishfe, 2008). Students' views of NOS using the Views on Nature of Science (VNOS) (Lederman, Abd-El-Khalick, & Schwartz, 2002) along with their self-efficacy beliefs using three Likert-type science self-efficacy scales (Britner, 2002) were gathered. Changes in NOS understandings were determined by categorizing student responses and then comparing pre- and post-instructional understandings. To determine changes in participants' self-efficacy beliefs as measured by the three subscales, a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted. Findings indicated that explicit NOS instruction was effective for all students except minority (Black, Hispanic, Asian, or multiracial) male students in improving NOS understandings. Furthermore, all students that received NOS instruction demonstrated decreased anxiety towards science. Future research should focus on long-term investigations of changes in anxiety and value of research constructs with regards to NOS instruction.

Evolving Impressions: Undergraduate Perceptions of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Faculty Members over a Semester

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, K. Denise; Schussler, Elisabeth E.

2013-01-01

Undergraduate experiences in lower-division science courses are important factors in student retention in science majors. These courses often include a lecture taught by faculty, supplemented by smaller sections, such as discussions and laboratories, taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Given that portions of these courses are taught by…

A National Study Assessing the Teaching and Learning of Introductory Astronomy; Part I: The Effect of Interactive Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prather, E. E.; Rudolph, A. L.; Brissenden, G.; Schlingman, W. M.

2011-09-01

We present the results of a national study on the teaching and learning of astronomy taught in general education, non-science major, introductory astronomy courses (Astro 101). Nearly 4000 students enrolled in 69 sections of Astro 101 taught at 31 institutions completed (pre- and post- instruction) the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI) from Fall 2006 to Fall 2007. The classes varied in size from very small (N < 10) to large (N˜180) and were from all types of institutions, including both 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities. To study how the instruction in different classrooms affected student learning, we developed and administered an Interactivity Assessment Instrument (IAI). This short survey, completed by instructors, allowed us to estimate the fraction of classroom time spent on learner- centered, active-engagement instruction such as Peer Instruction and collaborative tutorials. Pre-instruction LSCI scores were clustered around ˜25% (24 ± 2%), independent of class size and institution type; however, the gains measured varied from about (-)0.07-0.50. The distribution of gain scores indicates that differences were due to instruction in the classroom, not the type of class or institution. Interactivity Assessment Scores (IAS's) ranged from 0%-50%, showing that our IAI was able to distinguish between classes with higher and lower levels of interactivity. A comparison of class-averaged gain score to IAS showed that higher interactivity classes (IAS > 25%) were the only instructional environments capable of reaching the highest gains ( > 0.30). However, the range of gains seen for both groups of classes was quite wide, suggesting that the use of interactive learning strategies is not sufficient by itself to achieve high student gain.

The effects of collaborative video production on the attitudes and science knowledge of sixth graders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaston, Joseph Pickett

This quantitative study examined the effects of collaborative video production (CVP) on the attitudes and conceptual understanding of sixth-grade science students at a public middle school in the Southeastern United States. This study followed the nonequivalent control group design, as described by Campbell and Stanley (1963). The study involved four classes of sixth-grade students. The two control classes were taught the science concept by the cooperating teacher through direct instruction, and the two experimental classes learned the science concept through the CVP project. Pre- and posttests were administered to all students, as well as two pre- and post-surveys measuring student attitudes towards science and technology. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with the pretest scores as the covariate (Xc) was conducted with the posttest and post-survey data to determine if a significant difference existed in scores between the two groups. In each case, no significant difference was found. The results of this study suggest that CVP was as effective at conveying conceptual understanding to sixth-grade science students as direct instruction. Although not significant, the study also showed that mean scores of students' attitudes towards science and technology increased from pre-surveys to post-surveys for those who participated in the CVP activity. These findings suggest that the treatment contributed to an increase in participants' attitudes and towards technology and the academic subject. No such increase in mean post-survey scores existed for students receiving direct instruction.

Specialized Reading Instruction for Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: What Special Education Co-Teachers Say

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King-Sears, Margaret E.; Bowman-Kruhm, Mary

2011-01-01

In this exploratory study, secondary special education co-teachers report about specialized reading instruction for students with learning disabilities in co-taught classes. Almost half of the respondents were concerned that reading instruction was not occurring in co-taught classes. One-third were concerned reading instruction was not occurring…

A Conceptual Model for Engagement of the Online Learner

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angelino, Lorraine M.; Natvig, Deborah

2009-01-01

Engagement of the online learner is one approach to reduce attrition rates. Attrition rates for classes taught through distance education are 10-20% higher than classes taught in a face-to-face setting. This paper introduces a Model for Engagement and provides strategies to engage the online learner. The Model depicts various opportunities where…

Salish Kootenai College and U.S. Geological Survey partnership—Enhancing student opportunities and professional development

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sando, Roy; Fordham, Monique

2017-08-29

Salish Kootenai College (SKC), in the Flathead Reservation in the northwestern corner of Montana, is the largest of the seven Tribal colleges in the State. In 2011, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Tribal Liaison Monique Fordham from the Office of Tribal Relations/Office of Science Quality and Integrity began discussions with SKC faculty to examine ways the USGS could assist with classes taught as part of the new hydrology program at the college. With funding provided by the USGS Office of Tribal Relations, Roy Sando from the Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center began collaborating with SKC. From 2012 to 2017, Sando and others have developed and taught eight educational workshops at SKC. Topics of the workshops have included classifying land cover using remote sensing, characterizing stream channel migration, estimating actual evapotranspiration, modeling groundwater contamination plumes, and building custom geographic information system tools. By contributing to the educational training of SKC students and establishing this high level of collaboration with a Tribal college, the USGS is demonstrating its commitment to helping build the next generation of Tribal scientists.

The effects of traditional learning and a learning cycle inquiry learning strategy on students' science achievement and attitudes toward elementary science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ebrahim, Ali

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of two instructional methods on students' academic achievement and attitudes toward elementary science in the State of Kuwait: traditional teaching method and the 4-E learning cycle inquiry teaching method. The subjects were 111 students from four intact 4th grade classes. The experiment group (n = 56) received the learning cycle instruction while the control group (n = 55) received a more traditional approach over a four week period. The same female teacher taught the experimental and control groups for boys and a different female teacher taught experimental and control groups for girls. The dependent variables were measured through the use of: (1) a science achievement test to assess student achievement; and (2) an attitude survey to measure students' attitudes toward science. Quantitative data were collected on students' pre- and post-treatment achievement and attitudes measures. The two way MANOVA reveals that: the 4-E learning cycle instructional method produces significantly greater achievement and attitudes among fourth grade science students than the traditional teaching approach F (2, 93) = 19.765, (P = .000), corresponding to Wilks' Lambda = .702 with an effect size of .298 and a power of 1. In light of these findings, it is therefore suggested that students can achieve greater and have higher science attitudes when the 4-E learning cycle is used. In addition, these findings support the notion that effective instruction in teaching science, such as the 4-E learning cycle instruction, should be proposed and implemented in elementary schools.

The effects of an integrated Algebra 1/physical science curriculum on student achievement in Algebra 1, proportional reasoning and graphing abilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawrence, Lettie Carol

1997-08-01

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if an integrated curriculum in algebra 1/physical science facilitates acquisition of proportional reasoning and graphing abilities better than a non-integrated, traditional, algebra 1 curriculum. Also, this study was to ascertain if the integrated algebra 1/physical science curriculum resulted in greater student achievement in algebra 1. The curriculum used in the experimental class was SAM 9 (Science and Mathematics 9), an investigation-based curriculum that was written to integrate physical science and basic algebra content. The experiment was conducted over one school year. The subjects in the study were 61 ninth grade students. The experimental group consisted of one class taught concurrently by a mathematics teacher and a physical science teacher. The control group consisted of three classes of algebra 1 students taught by one mathematics teacher and taking physical science with other teachers in the school who were not participating in the SAM 9 program. This study utilized a quasi-experimental non-randomized control group pretest-posttest design. The investigator obtained end-of-algebra 1 scores from student records. The written open-ended graphing instruments and the proportional reasoning instrument were administered to both groups as pretests and posttests. The graphing instruments were also administered as a midtest. A two sample t-test for independent means was used to determine significant differences in achievement on the end-of-course algebra 1 test. Quantitative data from the proportional reasoning and graphing instruments were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance to determine differences in scores over time for the experimental and control groups. The findings indicate no significant difference between the experimental and control groups on the end-of-course algebra 1 test. Results also indicate no significant differences in proportional reasoning and graphing abilities between the two groups over time. However, all subjects (experimental and control groups) made significant improvement in graphing abilities over one school year. In this study, students participating in an investigation-based curriculum integrating algebra 1 and physical science performed as well on the instruments as the students in the traditional curriculum. Therefore, an argument can be made that instruction using an integrated curriculum (algebra l/physical science) is a viable alternative to instruction using a more traditional algebra 1 curriculum. Finally, the integrated curriculum adheres to the constructivist theoretical perspective (Krupnik-Gotlieb, 1995) and is more consistent with recommendations in the NCTM Standards (1992) than the traditional curriculum.

The Effect of Guided-Inquiry Instruction on 6th Grade Turkish Students' Achievement, Science Process Skills, and Attitudes Toward Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koksal, Ela Ayse; Berberoglu, Giray

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of guided-inquiry approach in science classes over existing science and technology curriculum in developing content-based science achievement, science process skills, and attitude toward science of grade level 6 students in Turkey. Non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the treatment effect. There were 162 students in the experimental group and 142 students in the control group. Both the experimental and control group students took the Achievement Test in Reproduction, Development, and Growth in Living Things (RDGLT), Science Process Skills Test, and Attitudes Toward Science Questionnaire, as pre-test and post-test. Repeated analysis of variance design was used in analyzing the data. Both the experimental and control group students were taught in RDGLT units for 22 class hours. The results indicated the positive effect of guided-inquiry approach on the Turkish students' cognitive as well as affective characteristics. The guided inquiry enhanced the experimental group students' understandings of the science concepts as well as the inquiry skills more than the control group students. Similarly, the experimental group students improved their attitudes toward science more than the control group students as a result of treatment. The guided inquiry seems a transition between traditional teaching method and student-centred activities in the Turkish schools.

How Things Work, an Enrichment Class for Middle School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goller, Tamara; Watson, Nancy; Watson, James

1998-05-01

Middle School students are curious about their surroundings. They are always asking questions about how things work. So this semester two middle school science teachers and a physicist combined their strengths and taught HOW THINGS WORK, THE PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY LIFE (a book by Louis A. Bloomfield). The students studied the physics behind everyday objects to see how they worked. They read, discussed the physics, and completed laboratory exercises using lasers, cameras, and other objects. Each student then picked an inventor that interested him/her and used the INTERNET to research the inventor and made a class presentation. For the final project, each students use the physics they learned and became an inventor and made an invention.

Teaching and learning grade 7 science concepts by elaborate analogies: Mainstream and East and South Asian ESL students' experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Judy Joo-Hyun

This study explored the effectiveness of an instructional tool, elaborate analogy, in teaching the particle theory to both Grade 7 mainstream and East or South Asian ESL students. Ten Grade 7 science classes from five different schools in a large school district in the Greater Toronto area participated. Each of the ten classes were designated as either Group X or Y. Using a quasi-experimental counterbalanced design, Group X students were taught one science unit using the elaborate analogies, while Group Y students were taught by their teachers' usual methods of teaching. The instructional methods used for Group X and Y were interchanged for the subsequent science unit. Quantitative data were collected from 95 students (50 mainstream and 45 ESL) by means of a posttest and a follow-up test for each of the units. When the differences between mainstream and East or South Asian ESL students were analyzed, the results indicate that both groups scored higher on the posttests when they were instructed with elaborate analogies, and that the difference between the two groups was not significant. That is, the ESL students, as well as the mainstream students, benefited academically when they were instructed with the elaborate analogies. The students obtained higher inferential scores on the posttest when their teacher connected the features of less familiar and more abstract scientific concepts to the features of the familiar and easy-to-visualize concept of school dances. However, after two months, the students were unable to recall inferential content knowledge. This is perhaps due to the lack of opportunity for the students to represent and test their initial mental models. Rather than merely employing elaborate analogies, perhaps, science teachers can supplement the use of elaborate analogies with explicit guidance in helping students to represent and test the coherence of their mental models.

The role of a science story, activities, and dialogue modeled on Philosophy for Children in teaching basic science process skills to fifth graders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Louise Brandes Moura

This study was an application of Philosophy for Children pedagogy to science education. It was designed to answer the question, What roles do a science story (Harry Discovers Science), multi-sensorial activities designed to accompany the story, and classroom dialogue associated with the story---all modeled on the Philosophy for Children curriculum---play in the learning processes of a class of fifth graders with regard to the basic science process skills of classification, observation, and inference? To answer the question, I collected qualitative data as I carried out a participatory study in which I taught science to fifth graders at an international, bilingual private religious school in Brasilia, Brazil for a period of one semester. Twenty-one (n = 21) children participated in the study, 10 females and 11 males, who came from a predominantly middle and upper class social background. Data were collected through student interviews, student class reflection sheets, written learning assessments, audiotapes of all class sessions, including whole-class and small-class group discussions, and a videotape of one class session. Some of the key findings were that the story, activities and dialogue facilitated the children's learning in a number of ways. The story modeled the performance of classification, observation and inference skills for the children as well as reflection on the meaning of inference. The majority of the students identified with the fictional characters, particularly regarding traits such as cleverness and inquisitiveness, and with the learning context of the story. The multi-sensorial activities helped children learn observation and inference skills as well as dialogue. Dialogue also helped children self-correct and build upon each other's ideas. Some students developed theories about how ideal dialogue should work. In spite of the inherent limitations of qualitative and teacher research studies, as well as the limitations of this particular study, and despite the fact that there is a need for further research to confirm the transferability of findings, this study both supports and expands to the domain of basic science process skills the claim that Philosophy for Children helps students develop thinking skills.

Using Team-based Learning to teach a Large-enrollment Environmental Science Course Online

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harder, V.

2013-12-01

Student enrollment in many online courses is usually limited to small classes, ranging from 20-25 students. Over two summers Environmental Science 1301, with an enrollment of 50, has been piloted online using team-based learning (TBL) methods. Teams, consisting of 7 members, were assigned randomly using the group manager tool found in the learning management system. The course was organized around Learning Modules, which consisted of a quiz (individual) over the reading, a team assignment, which covered a topic from one of the chapters was completed for each learning module, and a class/group discussion. The discussion usually entailed a presentation of findings to the class by each team. This allowed teams to interact with one another and was also designed to encourage competition among the teams. Over the course of the class it was observed that as the students became comfortable with the course procedures they developed a commitment to the goals and welfare of their team. They found that as a team they could accomplish much more than an individual; they discovered strengths in their team mates that they, themselves, lacked, and they helped those team mates who struggled with the material. The teams tackled problems that would be overwhelming to an individual in the time allotted, such as running multiple scenarios with the simulations and tackling a large amount of data. Using TBL shifted the majority of responsibility of learning the material to the student with the instructor functioning as a facilitator instead of dispenser of knowledge. Dividing the class into teams made the course load manageable for the instructor while at the same time created a small-class environment for the students. In comparing this course to other, nonTBL-based online courses taught, the work load was very manageable. There were only 7-10 items to be graded per Learning Module and only 7-10 teams to monitor and provide guidance to instead of 50 individuals. Retention rates (86%) were much higher for this course than for nonTBL-based online courses taught by the same instructor and students didn't fall behind.

Design and Assessment of a General Science STEM Course with a Blended Learning Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Courtier, A. M.; Liu, J. C.; St John, K. K.

2015-12-01

Blended learning, a combination of classroom- and computer-mediated teaching and learning, is becoming prominent in higher education, and structured assessment is necessary to determine pedagogical costs and benefits. Assessment of a blended general education science class at James Madison University used a mixed-method causal-comparative design: in Spring 2014, two classes with identical content and similar groups of non-science majors were taught by the same instructor in either blended or full face-to-face formats. The learning experience of 160 students in the two classes was compared based on course and exam grades, classroom observation, and student survey results. Student acquisition of content in both classes was measured with pre-post tests using published concept inventories, and surveys, quizzes, and grade reports in the Blackboard learning management system were additionally used for data collection. Exams were identical between the two sections, and exam questions were validated in advance by a faculty member who teaches other sections of the same course. A course experience questionnaire was administered to measure students' personal experiences in both classes, addressing dimensions of good teaching, clear goals and standards, generic skills, appropriate assessment and workload, and emphasis on independence. Using a STEM classroom observation checklist, two researchers conducted in-class observations for four 75-minute face-to-face meetings with similar content focus in both classes, which allowed assessment of student engagement and participation. We will present details of the course design and research plan, as well as assessment results from both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The preliminary findings include slightly higher average grade distribution and more ready responses to in-class activities in the blended class.

An Exploratory Study of Universal Design for Teaching Chemistry to Students with and without Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King-Sears, Margaret E.; Johnson, Todd M.; Berkeley, Sheri; Weiss, Margaret P.; Peters-Burton, Erin E.; Evmenova, Anya S.; Menditto, Anna; Hursh, Jennifer C.

2015-01-01

In this exploratory study, students in four co-taught high school chemistry classes were randomly assigned to a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) treatment or a comparison condition. Each co-teaching team taught one comparison and treatment class. UDL principles were operationalized for treatment: (a) a self-management strategy (using a…

What My Refugee Students Taught Me

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Sidney

2016-01-01

In the early 1990s, a coup in Haiti sent a new wave of political refugees to southern Florida. First-year teacher Sidney Brown taught ESOL classes to Haitian teens who came to Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale. As she got to know her students, she was surprised by the class distinctions that divided the French-speaking students, whose…

Active versus Passive Teaching Styles: An Empirical Study of Student Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michel, Norbert; Cater, John James, III; Varela, Otmar

2009-01-01

This study compares the impact of an active teaching approach and a traditional (or passive) teaching style on student cognitive outcomes. Across two sections of an introductory business course, one class was taught in an active or nontraditional manner, with a variety of active learning exercises. The second class was taught in a passive or…

The Science Program in Small Rural Secondary Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colton, R. W.

Rural schools may have an advantage over urban schools in science teaching if sciences are perceived as means of exploring our surroundings, are presented as many viewpoints of one overall picture, and are taught in a form that deals with human situations. Collaboratively taught, rural science curricula can include study of agricultural ecology,…

NGSS-Aligned, K-12 Climate Science Curricula, taught with citizen science and teacher-led inquiry methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zainfeld, S.

2017-12-01

Teacher-led inquiry into student learning is a promising method of formative assessment to gain insight into student achievement. NGSS-aligned K-12 Climate Science curricula taught with citizen science and teacher-led inquiry methods are described, along with results from a scientist-teacher collaboration survey.

"Socratic Circles are a Luxury": Exploring the Conceptualization of a Dialogic Tool in Three Science Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Copelin, Michelle Renee

Research has shown that dialogic instruction promotes learning in students. Secondary science has traditionally been taught from an authoritative stance, reinforced in recent years by testing policies requiring coverage. Socratic Circles are a framework for student-led dialogic discourse, which have been successfully used in English language arts and social studies classrooms. The purpose of this research was to explore the implementation process of Socratic Circles in secondary science classes where they have been perceived to be more difficult. Focusing on two physical science classes and one chemistry class, this study described the nature and characteristics of Socratic Circles, teachers' dispositions toward dialogic instruction, the nature and characteristics of student discussion, and student motivation. Socratic Circles were found to be a dialogic support that influenced classroom climate, social skills, content connections, and student participation. Teachers experienced conflict between using traditional test driven scripted teaching, and exploring innovation through dialogic instruction. Students experienced opportunities for peer interaction, participation, and deeper discussions in a framework designed to improve dialogic skills. Students in two of the classrooms showed evidence of motivation for engaging in peer-led discussion, and students in one class did not. The class that did not show evidence of motivation had not been given the same scaffolding as the other two classes. Two physical science teachers and one chemistry teacher found that Socratic Circles required more scaffolding than was indicated by their peers in other disciplines such as English and social studies. The teachers felt that student's general lack of background knowledge for any given topic in physical science or chemistry necessitated the building of a knowledge platform before work on a discussion could begin. All three of the teachers indicated that Socratic Circles were a rewarding activity, beneficial to students, which they would use in the future.

Creating Science Education Specialists and Scientific Literacy in Students through a Successful Partnership among Scientists, Science Teachers, and Education Researchers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metoyer, S.; Prouhet, T.; Radencic, S.

2007-12-01

The nature of science and the nature of learning are often assumed to have little practical relationship to each other. Scientists conduct research and science teachers teach. Rarely do the scientist and the science teacher have an opportunity to learn from each other. Here we describe results from a program funded by NSF, the Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center for Teaching and Learning. The ITS Center provided the support and structure necessary for successful long-term collaboration among scientists, science teachers, and education researchers that has resulted in the creation of new science education specialists. These specialists are not only among the science teachers, but also include avid recruits to science education from the scientists themselves. Science teachers returned to their classrooms armed with new knowledge of content, inquiry, and ideas for technology tools that could support and enhance students' scientific literacy. Teachers developed and implemented action research plans as a means of exploring educational outcomes of their use and understanding of new technologies and inquiry applied to the classroom. In other words, they tried something different in the class related to authentic inquiry and technology. They then assessed the students' to determine if there was an impact to the students in some way. Many of the scientists, on the other hand, report that they have modified their instructional practices for undergraduate courses based on their experiences with the teachers and the ITS Center. Some joined other collaborative projects pairing scientists and educators. And, many of the scientists continue on-going communication with the science teachers serving as mentors, collaborators, and as an "expert" source for the students to ask questions to. In order to convey the success of this partnership, we illustrate and discuss four interdependent components. First, costs and benefits to the science teacher are discussed through case studies, survey results, and descriptive categories. Costs and benefits to the scientist are discussed through the use of case studies, surveys, and observations. Third, student learning outcomes from a case study are presented. It is argued that the partnership created the opportunity for the integration of imaginative tools of science (specifically GIS in the case study) and authentic science inquiry. The last component is the discussion of the various tools of science utilized by the scientists for their research, taught to the science teachers by the scientists, and then taught to the students by the science teachers. At each step the technology was modified to fit the levels and applications of the specific science teacher, the grade level taught, and the content area taught. Examples of imaginative tools utilized include Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), Google Earth, time-lapse photography, digital microscopy, and Excel. In summary, by examining this collaborative partnership through the lens of the scientists, the science teachers, and the science teachers' students it is evident that this partnership has created new science education specialists and can ultimately improve scientific literacy in K-12 students. Reference: NRC (2005). How Students Learn. The National Academies Press. Washington D.C.

Effectiveness of Tutorials for Introductory Physics in Argentinean high schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benegas, J.; Flores, J. Sirur

2014-06-01

This longitudinal study reports the results of a replication of Tutorials in Introductory Physics in high schools of a Latin-American country. The main objective of this study was to examine the suitability of Tutorials for local science education reform. Conceptual learning of simple resistive electric circuits was determined by the application of the single-response multiple-choice test "Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuits Concepts Test" (DIRECT) to high school classes taught with Tutorials and traditional instruction. The study included state and privately run schools of different socioeconomic profiles, without formal laboratory space and equipment, in classes of mixed-gender and female-only students, taught by novice and experienced instructors. Results systematically show that student learning is significantly higher in the Tutorials classes compared with traditional teaching for all of the studied conditions. The results also show that long-term learning (one year after instruction) in the Tutorials classes is highly satisfactory, very similar to the performance of the samples of college students used to develop the test DIRECT. On the contrary, students following traditional instruction returned one year after instruction to the poor performance (<20%) shown before instruction, a result compatible with the very low level of conceptual knowledge of basic physics recently determined by a systematic study of first-year students attending seven universities in Spain and four Latin-American countries. Some replication and adaptation problems and difficulties of this experience are noted, as well as recommendations for successful use of Tutorials in high schools of similar educational systems.

Videoconferencing in Math and Science Preservice Elementary Teachers' Field Placements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plonczak, Irene

2010-03-01

This study was designed to examine benefits and challenges of teaching through videoconferencing in the context of students’ field placement experiences, particularly as it relates to an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning math and science. In the context of mathematics and science methods courses, preservice teachers, with the supervision of professors, field placement supervisors and cooperating teachers, taught a series of math and science lessons via video conferencing to 5th grade classes in a major urban public school. Two major results of this study indicate that: (1) teaching through videoconferencing highlights strengths and weaknesses in questioning skill techniques that are at the heart of an inquiry-based approach; (2) teaching through videoconferencing raises the intellectual challenge of teaching and allows preservice teachers to look face to face into their limited understanding of the content matter in math and science.

Nevada's Climate Change High School Science Fair Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buck, P.

2012-12-01

The purpose of this 3 year project funded by NSF (GEO 1035049) is to increase the climate change science content knowledge and teaching effectiveness of in-service high school science teachers and increase the numbers of quality of high school geoscience projects competing in Nevada's three regional Intel ISEF (International Science & Engineering Fair) affiliated science fairs. In year 1 of the project participants consisted of six female and three male high school teachers from across Nevada. Eight of the participants were white and one was Asian. Five participants taught in Clark County, two taught in Owyhee, one taught in Elko and one taught in Spring Creek. Over 20% of the projects were noted (by the teachers) as being submitted by underrepresented students; however, this information is not reliable as most students did not provide this data themselves. Pre-and post- content tests were given. Teachers improved from an average of eight missed on the pre-test to an average of only four items missed on the post-test. Participants were also asked to evaluate their own teaching efficacy. In general, participants had a strong science efficacy. The item on which there was the most discrepancy among participants was on #10, the one stating that "The low achievement of some students cannot generally be blamed on their teachers." Most teachers completed an end of year program evaluation. All but one of the participants felt that the pace of the workshop was comfortable. All participants who used faculty mentors in helping their students rated their faculty mentors very highly. All participants rated the program content very highly in terms of clarity, organization, relevance, helpfulness and usefulness. All participants gave the program a very high rating overall and stated they would likely use the information to mentor future students and in instruction in future classes. The science fairs are the culmination of the program. Teachers were required to have at least one student submit a project related to climate change science in their regional fair. There were 28 projects submitted in 2011; of these there were 10 first place winners, 5 second place winners, and 1 third place winner. Over half of the projects entered in the regional science fairs received an award. The reported student science fair projects relating to climate change include, among others: comparing CO2 emissions in old and new cars, comparing travel by mass transit with travel by private car, studying how CO2 effects global warming, studying seedlings in a climate controlled environment, studying the effect of climate change on hurricanes, determining ammonia emission from bovine manure, and studying the effect of Dendroctonus brevicomis on the depopulation of Pinus edulis and Pinus ponderosa due to climate change.

Diagnostic Tests for Entering and Departing Undergraduate Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waltham, Chris; Kotlicki, A.

2006-12-01

A diagnostic test administered at the start of a class should test basic concepts which are recognized as course prerequisites. The questions should not be over-packaged: e.g. students should be required to create models, rather than this being done for them each time. Students should be allowed great latitude in their answers, so we can discover what they are thinking. When administered at the end of a class the goals should be similar: testing concepts taught in the class itself and the retention of necessary concepts from previous classes. Great care has to be taken to avoid teaching to the test. In assessing an entire program, for example an undergraduate majors degree in physics, then one looks for very general skills and knowledge not specific to any one course. The purpose of an undergraduate degree in physics (or indeed any science) is to equip the students with a set of problem-solving skills and basic knowledge which can be applied in a large variety of workplace settings and to allow that student to contribute to civic society as a science-literate person. The creator of any diagnostic test should always have these big goals in mind. We have developed a set of questions which we think fulfill these criteria, yet are not specific to any particular level of science education. They have been administered to students in secondary schools across Canada, incoming first-year science students and final-year physics students at the University of British Columbia. The results will be presented.

Team-teaching a current events-based biology course for nonmajors.

PubMed

Bondos, Sarah E; Phillips, Dereth

2008-01-01

Rice University has created a team-taught interactive biology course for nonmajors with a focus on cutting edge biology in the news-advances in biotechnology, medicine, and science policy, along with the biological principles and methodology upon which these advances are based. The challenges inherent to teaching current topics were minimized by team-teaching the course, providing knowledgeable and enthusiastic lecturers for every topic while distributing the effort required to update material. Postdoctoral associates and advanced graduate students served as lecturers, providing an opportunity for them to develop their teaching skills and learn to communicate effectively with nonscientists on newsworthy topics related to their research. Laboratory tours, in-class demonstrations, and mock-ups helped lecturers convey surprisingly advanced ideas with students who lacked a strong theoretical or practical science background. A faculty member and co-coordinator administer the class, organize class activities, and mentor the speakers on teaching techniques and lecture design. Course design, lecture topics, hands-on activities, and approaches to successfully solve the difficulties inherent to team teaching are discussed. Course evaluations reflect student involvement in, and enjoyment of, the class. Copyright © 2008 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

The Missing Curriculum in Physics Problem-Solving Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Mobolaji

2018-05-01

Physics is often seen as an excellent introduction to science because it allows students to learn not only the laws governing the world around them, but also, through the problems students solve, a way of thinking which is conducive to solving problems outside of physics and even outside of science. In this article, we contest this latter idea and argue that in physics classes, students do not learn widely applicable problem-solving skills because physics education almost exclusively requires students to solve well-defined problems rather than the less-defined problems which better model problem solving outside of a formal class. Using personal, constructed, and the historical accounts of Schrödinger's development of the wave equation and Feynman's development of path integrals, we argue that what is missing in problem-solving education is practice in identifying gaps in knowledge and in framing these knowledge gaps as questions of the kind answerable using techniques students have learned. We discuss why these elements are typically not taught as part of the problem-solving curriculum and end with suggestions on how to incorporate these missing elements into physics classes.

Evaluating a Positive Parenting Curriculum Package: An Analysis of the Acquisition of Key Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berard, Kerri P.; Smith, Richard G.

2008-01-01

The effectiveness of a parenting curriculum designed for parents who exhibit risk factors for child maltreatment was evaluated. Six skills were taught during a 5-week series of 3-hour classes that met 1 day per week. A written quiz containing questions corresponding to skills taught in each class was administered to participants before the series…

Home-Made Breads [and] Home-Baked Breads for Busy People.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, John

This packet contains two lesson plans for a class on making bread to be taught in an adult literacy program. Developed by a teacher who has taught the classes to 175 people, the lesson plans each contain complete directions for working with students while baking bread. One lesson plan is for experienced home bakers, and the other is a simpler…

Harry Potter and the Ghost Teacher: Resurrecting the Lost Art of Lecturing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDaniel, Kathryn N.

2010-01-01

A significant image of classroom lectures is the one presented in J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. At Harry's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the most torturous class is easily History of Magic, which is, incidentally, the only class in the school taught by a ghost. Being taught by a ghost could be quite exciting: not so in…

Integration of basic sciences and clinical sciences in oral radiology education for dental students.

PubMed

Baghdady, Mariam T; Carnahan, Heather; Lam, Ernest W N; Woods, Nicole N

2013-06-01

Educational research suggests that cognitive processing in diagnostic radiology requires a solid foundation in the basic sciences and knowledge of the radiological changes associated with disease. Although it is generally assumed that dental students must acquire both sets of knowledge, little is known about the most effective way to teach them. Currently, the basic and clinical sciences are taught separately. This study was conducted to compare the diagnostic accuracy of students when taught basic sciences segregated or integrated with clinical features. Predoctoral dental students (n=51) were taught four confusable intrabony abnormalities using basic science descriptions integrated with the radiographic features or taught segregated from the radiographic features. The students were tested with diagnostic images, and memory tests were performed immediately after learning and one week later. On immediate and delayed testing, participants in the integrated basic science group outperformed those from the segregated group. A main effect of learning condition was found to be significant (p<0.05). The results of this study support the critical role of integrating biomedical knowledge in diagnostic radiology and shows that teaching basic sciences integrated with clinical features produces higher diagnostic accuracy in novices than teaching basic sciences segregated from clinical features.

Focusing on the Classical or Contemporary? Chinese Science Teacher Educators' Conceptions of Nature of Science Content to Be Taught to Pre-Service Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wan, Zhi Hong; Wong, Siu Ling; Wei, Bing; Zhan, Ying

2013-01-01

Drawing from the phenomenographic perspective, an exploratory study investigated Chinese teacher educators' conceptions of teaching Nature of Science (NOS) to pre-service science teachers through semi-structured interviews. Five key dimensions emerged from the data. This paper focuses on the dimension, "NOS content to be taught to pre-service…

Group by Subject or by Ability? Tertiary Mathematics for Engineering Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plank, Michael; James, Alex; Hannah, John

2011-01-01

The mathematics topics taught to engineering students at university are ostensibly no different to those taught to mathematics majors, so should these students be taught together or separately? Should engineering students be segregated by ability in their mathematics classes? This study analyses the grades of over 1000 engineering students, and…

Impact of Jigsaw on the Achievement and Attitudes of Saudi Arabian Male High School Science Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alghamdi, Abdulmonem

The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of cooperative learning instruction, specifically by using the Jigsaw instructional strategy on science achievement and attitudes towards science among 11th grade students. Based upon previous research literature, it was hypothesized that significant differences existed on gains between general science achievement of experimental group and control group. The quasi-experimental design was chosen for this study. The study sample consisted of 50 students of 11th grade class who were equally distributed among experimental group and control group, matched on the basic of their annual examination at general science scores. The students' achievement was measured through the implementation of 30-item achievement test used as a pretest, as well as a posttest and deferred (follow-up) test. The experiment group was taught through cooperative learning while control group was taught through the instructions of "traditional teaching". The material was used such as lesson plans, worksheets and quizzes, designed to implement Jigsaw as a cooperative learning methodology. For the attitude scale towards science, a published 30-item Likert scale called Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) has been translated to Arabic in order to determine the students' attitudes ranging between strongly agree to strongly disagree. The data were analyzed through repeated measure analysis and multivariate analysis of variance with a .05 selected level of significance. The results of this study showed that using Jigsaw as a cooperative learning strategy has improved the students' achievement for the benefit of the experimental group. However, there was no significant change on the students' attitudes towards science for both groups, where the scores of all the attitude subscales were at or near the neutral level.

Physiology Should Be Taught as Science Is Practiced: An Inquiry-Based Activity to Investigate the "Alkaline Tide"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lujan, Heidi L.; DiCarlo, Stephen E.

2015-01-01

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) strongly recommends that "science be taught as science is practiced." This means that the teaching approach must be consistent with the nature of scientific inquiry. In this article, the authors describe how they added scientific inquiry to a large lecture-based physiology…

Project-Based Learning versus Textbook/Lecture Learning in Middle School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Main, Sindy

2015-01-01

As schools continue to become more diverse, it is important to look at science teaching methods that will meet the needs of all students. In this study, 172 students in a middle school in Northwestern Illinois were taught using two methods of teaching science. Half of the students were taught using project-based science (PBS) and the other half of…

Comparison of traditional six-year and new four-year dental curricula in South Korea.

PubMed

Komabayashi, Takashi; Ahn, Chul; Kim, Kang-Ju; Oh, Hyo-Won

2012-01-01

This study aimed to compare the dental curriculum of the traditional six-year system with that of the new four-year (graduate-entry) system in South Korea. There are 11 dental schools in South Korea: six are public and five are private. Eight offer the new four-year program and the other three offer the traditional six-year program. Descriptive analyses were conducted using bibliographic data and local information along with statistical analyses such as chi-square tests. In the six-year programs, clinical dentistry subjects were taught almost equally in practical and didactic courses, while the basic science courses were taught more often as practical courses (P < 0.0001). In the four-year programs, both the basic science and clinical dentistry subjects were taught didactically more often; while more dentistry subjects were taught than basic sciences (P = 0.004). The four-year program model in South Korea is more focused on dentistry than on basic science, while both basic and clinical dentistry subjects were equally taught in the six-year program.

Effectiveness of integrating case studies in online and face-to-face instruction of pathophysiology: a comparative study.

PubMed

Saleh, Suha M; Asi, Yara M; Hamed, Kastro M

2013-06-01

Due to growing demand from students and facilitated by innovations in educational technology, institutions of higher learning are increasingly offering online courses. Subjects in the hard sciences, such as pathophysiology, have traditionally been taught in the face-to-face format, but growing demand for preclinical science courses has compelled educators to incorporate online components into their classes to promote comprehension. Learning tools such as case studies are being integrated into such courses to aid in student interaction, engagement, and critical thinking skills. Careful assessment of pedagogical techniques is essential; hence, this study aimed to evaluate and compare student perceptions of the use of case studies in face-to-face and fully online pathophysiology classes. A series of case studies was incorporated into the curriculum of a pathophysiology class for both class modes (online and face to face). At the end of the semester, students filled out a survey assessing the effectiveness of the case studies. Both groups offered positive responses about the incorporation of case studies in the curriculum of the pathophysiology class. This study supports the argument that with proper use of innovative teaching tools, such as case studies, online pathophysiology classes can foster a sense of community and interaction that is typically only seen with face-to-face classes, based on student responses. Students also indicated that regardless of class teaching modality, use of case studies facilitates student learning and comprehension as well as prepares them for their future careers in health fields.

The Effects of a Cognitive Acceleration Intervention Programme on the Performance of Secondary School Pupils in Malawi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mbano, Nellie

2003-01-01

The use of the 'Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education' (CASE) intervention programme was explored in Malawi to see if the critical period for cognitive transition from concrete operations to formal operations at 12-14 years of age actually exists. The older pupils (16-17 years of age) in secondary school classes in Malawi made similar cognitive gains to younger English pupils after being taught CASE for 2 years. This was taken to suggest that the critical period does not exist. However, in Malawi, girls, who are on average a year younger than boys in the same class, and older boys, had lower academic achievement than younger boys. Explanations for this age and gender interaction are explored.

A Tale of Two Sections: An Experiment to Compare the Effectiveness of a Hybrid versus a Traditional Lecture Format in Introductory Microbiology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Alison E. M.; Randall, Shelby; Traustadóttir, Tinna

2015-01-01

Two sections of an introductory microbiology course were taught by one instructor. One was taught through a hybrid format and the other through a traditional format. Students were randomly assigned to the two sections. Both sections were provided with identical lecture materials, in-class worksheets, in-class assessments, and extra credit…

Comparing the Principle-Based SBH Maieutic Method to Traditional Case Study Methods of Teaching Media Ethics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Thomas A.

2012-01-01

This quasi-experimental study at a Northwest university compared two methods of teaching media ethics, a class taught with the principle-based SBH Maieutic Method (n = 25) and a class taught with a traditional case study method (n = 27), with a control group (n = 21) that received no ethics training. Following a 16-week intervention, a one-way…

Effects of In-Class Hands-On Laboratories in a Large Enrollment, Multiple Section Blended Linear Circuits Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferri, Bonni H.; Ferri, Aldo A.; Majerich, David M.; Madden, Amanda G.

2016-01-01

This paper examines the effects of hands-on learning in an undergraduate circuits class that is taught to non-majors; i.e., students outside of electrical and computing engineering. The course, ECE3710, is taught in a blended format facilitated by the video lectures prepared for two Massive Open Online Courses developed for the Coursera Platform.…

A National Study Assessing the Teaching and Learning of Introductory Astronomy; Part I: The Effect of Interactive Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rudolph, Alexander; Prather, E. E.; Brissenden, G.; Schlingman, W. M.; CATS

2009-01-01

We present the results of a national study on the teaching and learning of astronomy taught in general education, non-science major, introductory astronomy courses (Astro 101). Nearly 4000 students enrolled in 69 sections of Astro 101 taught at 30 institutions around the United States completed (pre- and post-instruction) the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI) from Fall 2006 to Fall 2007. The classes varied in size from very small (N<10) to large (N 180) and were from all types of institutions, including both 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities. To study how the instruction in different classrooms affected student learning, we developed and administered an Interactivity Assessment Instrument (IAI). This short survey, completed by instructors, allowed us to estimate the fraction of total classroom time that was dedicated to the use of interactive learning strategies. Pre-instruction LSCI scores were clustered around 25% (24±2%), independent of class size and institution type; however, the normalized gains for these classes varied from about (-)0.07-0.50. These two results suggest that the differences in gain were due to instruction in the classroom, not the size of class or type of institution. Interactivity Assessment Scores (IAS's) ranged from 0%-50%, showing that our IAI was able to distinguish between classes with higher and lower levels of interactive instruction. A comparison of class-averaged gain score to IAS showed that higher interactivity classes (IAS > 25%) were the only instructional environments capable of reaching the highest gains ( > 0.30). However, the range of gains seen for the higher interactivity classes was quite wide, suggesting that the use of interactive learning strategies is not sufficient by itself to achieve high student gains. We acknowledge the NSF for funding under Award No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS) Program.

Signing in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Rachael

2013-01-01

This article describes British Sign Language (BSL) as a viable option for teaching science. BSL is used by a vast number of people in Britain but is seldom taught in schools or included informally alongside lessons. With its new addition of a large scientific glossary, invented to modernise the way science is taught to deaf children, BSL breaks…

Development and Assessment of a Horizontally Integrated Biological Sciences Course Sequence for Pharmacy Education

PubMed Central

Wright, Nicholas J.D.; Alston, Gregory L.

2015-01-01

Objective. To design and assess a horizontally integrated biological sciences course sequence and to determine its effectiveness in imparting the foundational science knowledge necessary to successfully progress through the pharmacy school curriculum and produce competent pharmacy school graduates. Design. A 2-semester course sequence integrated principles from several basic science disciplines: biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology, anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology. Each is a 5-credit course taught 5 days per week, with 50-minute class periods. Assessment. Achievement of outcomes was determined with course examinations, student lecture, and an annual skills mastery assessment. The North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) results were used as an indicator of competency to practice pharmacy. Conclusion. Students achieved course objectives and program level outcomes. The biological sciences integrated course sequence was successful in providing students with foundational basic science knowledge required to progress through the pharmacy program and to pass the NAPLEX. The percentage of the school’s students who passed the NAPLEX was not statistically different from the national percentage. PMID:26430276

The effectiveness of student team-achievement division (STAD) for teaching high school chemistry in the United Arab Emirates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balfakih, Nagib M. A.

2003-05-01

Education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) faces major problems which may hinder its future development. These include low achievement in science and a negative attitude toward science subjects, which have resulted in a high number of student dropouts from the science track in high school. It is believed among UAE educators that the main reason is the way science that has been taught in its schools. A solution to this problem depends on finding effective teaching methods, which maintain student achievement, improve students' attitude and provide opportunities to develop essential scientific skills. The effectiveness of Student Team-Achievement Division (STAD) for teaching science to high school classes in the UAE was investigated. The sample was selected randomly. A representative group of UAE high school students was chosen from the northern province, which includes urban areas, and from the eastern province, which includes rural areas. The study involved sixteen tenth grade classes. During the second semester of the academic year 1998/1999, three units in the chemistry curriculum were covered. This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of STAD in teaching high school chemistry in the UAE and to find out which groups, gender, area, and ability benefitted most.

Teaching science to science teachers: Lessons taught and lessons learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Douglas, E. M.; Hashimoto-Martell, E. A.; Balicki, S.; Oglavie, D. R.

2009-12-01

The Boston Science Partnership has created a comprehensive set of graduate courses that immerse teachers in the science topics most relevant to their teaching practices. In these courses, teachers become students of science, developing their conceptual understandings through scientific inquiry. All courses are co-taught by a university faculty and teacher leaders from the Boston Public Schools. Each course provides contextual linkages between the science content and the standards-based curriculum of the Boston Public School district. One of the most relevant science topics to teachers and students of all disciplines is climate change. This served as the overarching theme for our course delivered during summer 2008 and 2009. This course focused on weather and the pivotal role that water and solar radiation play in the exchange of energy at the Earth's surface. Basic concepts such as the behavior of gases, energy flow, density changes, phase changes, heat capacities, and thermal convection were applied to examine short-term weather and water dynamics and longer-term impacts on global warming and climate change. The course was designed to embrace the 7E learning cycle and instructional model, as proposed by Eisenkraft in his landmark 2003 Science Teacher article. This inquiry-based instructional model builds upon prior conceptions and engages the learner in activities in which they begin to construct meaning of a concept prior to being given an explanation. Each day focused on an essential topic related to weather and climate change, and experiential learning was our main objective. There were many successes and challenges with our course. Twenty-five participants were enrolled, and all had different background knowledge and skill sets. Additionally, their level of teaching varied greatly, from K-12, so the level of depth with which to learn the content in order to bring it back to their classrooms varied a great deal as well. Therefore differentiating instruction for our diverse participants was a constant challenge for us as instructors. In summer 2008, the course was organized so that fundamentals (chemistry, heat transfer, convection, physics) were taught in the first week and then applied in broader topics (water cycle, carbon cycle, weather and precipitation) in the second week. Learning these fundamentals was challenging for many teachers. Furthermore, the organization of topics caused frustration because there was not enough connection to the broader concepts of the course. In summer 2009, we rearranged the topics and interwove fundamentals with contextual topics within each week. We found this approach to be more successful in engaging and educating the teachers. The most successful activities were often the simplest to organize. Valuable instructional strategies included daily assessments in the form of morning quizzes, keeping a class website with all course materials, and centering the major project of the course around a lesson that teachers would design for their particular context. We saw a dramatic improvement in pre- and post-assessment test scores, with the class average increasing from 58% (pre-test) to 95% (post-test).

A Study of Discourse in Relation to Language Learning in English Classes Co-Taught by Native English-Speaking Teachers and Local Teachers in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Wen-Hsing

2013-01-01

This study attempts to explore the nature and the potential of various discourse structures and linguistic functions that may facilitate students' learning in English classes co-taught by a native English-speaking teacher (NEST) and a local English teacher in Taiwanese elementary schools. Considering the nature of the study, the author employed a…

A Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Two Song-Teaching Methods: Holistic vs. Phrase-by-Phrase

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Persellin, Diane; Bateman, Laura

2009-01-01

The purpose of our study was to compare the effectiveness of two song-teaching methods: holistic and phrase-by-phrase. Thirty-two first-grade children (n = 32) from two music classes in an urban elementary school were taught two folksongs. The first class (n = 16) was taught one song through the phrase-by-phrase method and another song through the…

Can Clinical Skills Be Taught Online? Comparing Skill Development between Online and F2F Students Using a Blinded Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilke, Dina J.; King, Erin; Ashmore, Margaret; Stanley, Craig

2016-01-01

This study compared the development of clinical assessment and intervention skills between students enrolled in a face-to-face (F2F) or an asynchronous online clinical social work class. All students from three semesters of F2F (n = 74) and online (n = 78) sections of an MSW clinical class taught by the same instructor were included. Two…

My Body and Its Reflection: A Case Study of Eight Dance Students and the Mirror in the Ballet Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radell, Sally Anne; Keneman, Margaret Lynn; Adame, Daniel D.; Cole, Steven P.

2014-01-01

This qualitative study investigated the impact of the mirror on a dancer's body image. Two groups of students enrolled in beginner ballet classes were taught the same classroom material; one group was taught with mirrors, the other, without. At the end of the semester four students from each class were randomly selected to participate in a private…

Deaf Children's Science Content Learning in Direct Instruction Versus Interpreted Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kurz, Kim B.; Schick, Brenda; Hauser, Peter C.

2015-01-01

This research study compared learning of 6-9th grade deaf students under two modes of educational delivery--interpreted vs. direct instruction using science lessons. Nineteen deaf students participated in the study in which they were taught six science lessons in American Sign Language. In one condition, the lessons were taught by a hearing…

Teacher research experiences, epistemology, and student attitudes toward science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Payne, Diana L.

This concurrent mixed methods research study examined the impact of a Teacher Research Experience (TRE) on science teacher beliefs about science, scientific research, science teaching, and student attitudes toward science. Surveys, interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations of six teachers involved in a TRE were utilized to examine changes in beliefs as a result of participation in the TRE. Student attitudes were measured with a pre and post survey. An analysis of qualitative data from the teachers' interviews, journals, and pre and post TRE surveys indicated that some change occurred in their beliefs about science and scientists for all six teachers, and that teachers' beliefs about science teaching were affected in a variety of ways after participating in the TRE. The quantitative results of the study using Science Teachers' Beliefs About Science (STBAS) instrument suggest that the change from the beginning to the end of the school year, if any, was minimal. However, interviews with and observations of teachers identified valuable components of the TRE, such as the advanced resources (e.g., DVD, samples), a feeling of rejuvenation in teaching, a new perspective on science and scientific research, and first hand experiences in science. Results from the classroom observations using the Science Classroom Practice Record (SCPR) were mixed. Some differences may be explained, however, as relating to content taught in the pre and post classes observed or simply to inherent differences in student dynamics and behavior from class to class. There were no significant differences from pre to post TRE regarding student attitudes toward science as measured by paired samples t-tests on the modified Attitudes Toward Science (mATSI) instrument. Attitudes and beliefs are not easily changed, and change is more likely to result from direct experience and education rather than an indirect experience. Although the results are generalizable only to the participants in this study, the findings have the potential to inform other types of TRE professional development efforts of different design, duration, and location.

Assessing faculty professional development in STEM higher education: Sustainability of outcomes.

PubMed

Derting, Terry L; Ebert-May, Diane; Henkel, Timothy P; Maher, Jessica Middlemis; Arnold, Bryan; Passmore, Heather A

2016-03-01

We tested the effectiveness of Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching IV (FIRST), a professional development program for postdoctoral scholars, by conducting a study of program alumni. Faculty professional development programs are critical components of efforts to improve teaching and learning in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, but reliable evidence of the sustained impacts of these programs is lacking. We used a paired design in which we matched a FIRST alumnus employed in a tenure-track position with a non-FIRST faculty member at the same institution. The members of a pair taught courses that were of similar size and level. To determine whether teaching practices of FIRST participants were more learner-centered than those of non-FIRST faculty, we compared faculty perceptions of their teaching strategies, perceptions of environmental factors that influence teaching, and actual teaching practice. Non-FIRST and FIRST faculty reported similar perceptions of their teaching strategies and teaching environment. FIRST faculty reported using active learning and interactive engagement in lecture sessions more frequently compared with non-FIRST faculty. Ratings from external reviewers also documented that FIRST faculty taught class sessions that were learner-centered, contrasting with the teacher-centered class sessions of most non-FIRST faculty. Despite marked differences in teaching practice, FIRST and non-FIRST participants used assessments that targeted lower-level cognitive skills. Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of the FIRST program and the empirical utility of comparison groups, where groups are well matched and controlled for contextual variables (for example, departments), for evaluating the effectiveness of professional development for subsequent teaching practices.

Assessing faculty professional development in STEM higher education: Sustainability of outcomes

PubMed Central

Derting, Terry L.; Ebert-May, Diane; Henkel, Timothy P.; Maher, Jessica Middlemis; Arnold, Bryan; Passmore, Heather A.

2016-01-01

We tested the effectiveness of Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching IV (FIRST), a professional development program for postdoctoral scholars, by conducting a study of program alumni. Faculty professional development programs are critical components of efforts to improve teaching and learning in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, but reliable evidence of the sustained impacts of these programs is lacking. We used a paired design in which we matched a FIRST alumnus employed in a tenure-track position with a non-FIRST faculty member at the same institution. The members of a pair taught courses that were of similar size and level. To determine whether teaching practices of FIRST participants were more learner-centered than those of non-FIRST faculty, we compared faculty perceptions of their teaching strategies, perceptions of environmental factors that influence teaching, and actual teaching practice. Non-FIRST and FIRST faculty reported similar perceptions of their teaching strategies and teaching environment. FIRST faculty reported using active learning and interactive engagement in lecture sessions more frequently compared with non-FIRST faculty. Ratings from external reviewers also documented that FIRST faculty taught class sessions that were learner-centered, contrasting with the teacher-centered class sessions of most non-FIRST faculty. Despite marked differences in teaching practice, FIRST and non-FIRST participants used assessments that targeted lower-level cognitive skills. Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of the FIRST program and the empirical utility of comparison groups, where groups are well matched and controlled for contextual variables (for example, departments), for evaluating the effectiveness of professional development for subsequent teaching practices. PMID:27034985

John Barclay (1758-1826) extra-mural teacher of anatomy in Edinburgh: Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

PubMed

Kaufman, M H

2006-04-01

John Barclay (1758-1826) was one of the most distinguished, respected and enthusiastic teachers of anatomy in Edinburgh during the first decades of the 19th century. He taught this subject in the extra-mural school from 1797 until 1825. He initially studied divinity at St Andrews University, intending entering the Church. After acting as a minister of the Church for about 10 years and tutoring for most of these years, he decided to study medicine in Edinburgh, and was particularly attracted to anatomy. After he qualified with the MD degree, he proceeded to London where he attended the anatomical classes of Dr Marshall for about a year. On his return to Edinburgh he taught anatomy to a small class for three years in High School Yards. He then acquired a property at Number 10 Surgeons' Square where he taught from 1800 until 1825, when he was forced to withdraw due to poor health. His lectures were meticulously prepared, and his illustrations clear and copious. In 1804, his class was recognised by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh as fulfilling their requirements for students who wished to take the College's examinations. During the winter sessions he taught anatomy, physiology and surgery, while in the summer sessions he taught comparative anatomy, a subject in which he was particularly interested. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1821. His classes were taken over by his partner Robert Knox, at that time Conservator of the College's Museum.

Comparison of Student Achievement Using Didactic, Inquiry-Based, and the Combination of Two Approaches of Science Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, Hyacinth Carmen

Science educators and administrators support the idea that inquiry-based and didactic-based instructional strategies have varying effects on students' acquisition of science concepts. The research problem addressed whether incorporating the two approaches covered the learning requirements of all students in science classes, enabling them to meet state and national standards. The purpose of this quasiexperimental, posttest design research study was to determine if student learning and achievement in high school biology classes differed for each type of instructional method. Constructivism theory suggested that each learner creates knowledge over time because of the learners' interactions with the environment. The optimal teaching method, didactic (teacher-directed), inquiry-based, or a combination of two approaches instructional method, becomes essential if students are to discover ways to learn information. The research question examined which form of instruction had a significant effect on student achievement in biology. The data analysis consisted of single-factor, independent-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) that tested the hypotheses of the research study. Locally, the results indicated greater and statistically significant differences in standardized laboratory scores for students who were taught using the combination of two approaches. Based on these results, biology instructors will gain new insights into ways of improving the instructional process. Social change may occur as the science curriculum leadership applies the combination of two instructional approaches to improve acquisition of science concepts by biology students.

Listening to the Boys Again: An Exploration of What Boys Want to Learn in Sex Education Classes and How They Want to Be Taught

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilton, Gillian L. S.

2007-01-01

This article describes the preferences expressed by 16-year-old and 17-year-old boys when they were asked what they want to learn from sex and relationship education classes and how they want to be taught. Research was carried out in eight secondary schools with boys in year 12. Qualitative responses from questionnaires issued to 307 boys were…

Astronauts in Outer Space Teaching Students Science: Comparing Chinese and American Implementations of Space-to-Earth Virtual Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

An, Song A.; Zhang, Meilan; Tillman, Daniel A.; Robertson, William; Siemssen, Annette; Paez, Carlos R.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences between science lessons taught by Chinese astronauts in a space shuttle and those taught by American astronauts in a space shuttle, both of whom conducted experiments and demonstrations of science activities in a microgravity space environment. The study examined the instructional structure…

From Proposal Writing to Data Collection to Presentation: Physical Oceanography Laboratory Class Students Explore the Fundamentals of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buijsman, M. C.; Church, I.; Haydel, J.; Martin, K. M.; Shiller, A. M.; Wallace, D. J.; Blancher, J.; Foltz, A.; Griffis, A. M.; Kosciuch, T. J.; Kincketootle, A.; Pierce, E.; Young, V. A.

2016-02-01

To better prepare first-year Department of Marine Science MSc students of the University of Southern Mississippi for their science careers, we plan to execute a semester-long Physical Oceanography laboratory class that exposes the enrolled students to all aspects of interdisciplinary research: writing a proposal, planning a cruise, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting their results. Although some of these aspects may be taught in any such class, the incorporation of all these aspects makes this class unique.The fieldwork will be conducted by boat in the Rigolets in Louisiana, a 13-km long tidal strait up to 1 km wide connecting the Mississippi Sound with Lake Pontchartrain. The students have the opportunity to collect ADCP, CTD, multibeam sonar, sediment and water samples.A second novel characteristic of this class is that the instructor partnered with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, a not for profit environmental advocacy group. The foundation will give an hour-long seminar on the natural history of the study area and its environmental problems. This information provides context for the students' research proposals and allows them to formulate research questions and hypotheses that connect their research objectives to societally relevant issues, such as coastal erosion, salt water intrusion, and water quality. The proposal writing and cruise planning is done in the first month of the 3.5-month long semester. In the second month two surveys are conducted. The remainder of the semester is spent on analysis and reporting. Whenever possible we teach Matlab for the students to use in their data analysis. In this presentation, we will report on the successes and difficulties associated with teaching such a multi-faceted class.

An analysis of science instruction in the fifth-grade science classroom: Investigating activity-based instruction with student-generated discussion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vowell, Julie E.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which debriefing impacts the level of cognitive understanding among students in the fifth-grade science classroom. This mixed methods study involved two fifth-grade science classrooms (N = 39) in a one month exploration of rocks and minerals. Two fifth-grade science classrooms participated in a unit using identical content, but had different pedagogical orientations. The experimental class was taught using the "Do-Talk-Do-Debrief" instructional method and the control class was taught using the "Do-Talk-Do" instructional method without the "Debrief" (metacognitive component). Research for the quantitative portion of this study was conducted using a pretest-posttest control-group design. The design was used to test the hypothesized relationship between an activity-based instructional method with debriefing and students' achievement. Two intact, equivalent fifth-grade classes were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Prior to the beginning of the study, a researcher-developed pretest was administered to all participants to assess the students' prior knowledge of rocks and minerals. A posttest measure was given to the participants upon conclusion of the unit to measure knowledge and understanding. Following the posttest, the participants did not receive additional instruction over rocks and minerals. A similar posttest was administered to both groups two weeks later as an added measure for retention. A t-test for independent samples was used to examine differences on the pretest between the experimental and control groups. Likewise, a t-test was used to compare the mean scores on the first posttest (achievement). A separate t-test was conducted on the second posttest (retention) and was followed by a Pearson Product Moment Correlation, conducted by group. Research for the qualitative portion of this study involved classroom observations throughout the rock and mineral unit followed by a teacher interview. Observations were made in two fifth-grade classrooms and Flanders' Categories for Interaction Analysis was used as a framework for observing the level of social interaction. The observations were transcribed and developed into a "thick" record as suggested by Dr. Phil Carspecken's stages of qualitative research. Member checking and peer debriefing techniques were employed to increase the trustworthiness of the study. The quantitative data suggested science achievement of fifth-grade science students who learned through activity-based instruction with debriefing was statistically significantly higher than the science achievement of fifth-grade science students who learned through activity-based instruction without debriefing (p<.01), as measured by the first posttest. Also, student retention as measured by fifth-grade science students who learned through activity-based instruction was statistically significantly higher than fifth-grade science students who learned through activity-based instruction without debriefing (p<.01), as measured by the second posttest. Additionally, the effect sizes for achievement and retention were very large and educationally meaningful. Activity-based instruction enhanced with debriefing resulted in a deeper construction of knowledge and retention of understanding.

Student-generated illustrations and written narratives of biological science concepts: The effect on community college life science students' achievement in and attitudes toward science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, Robert Christopher

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of two conceptually based instructional strategies on science achievement and attitudes of community college biological science students. The sample consisted of 277 students enrolled in General Biology 1, Microbiology, and Human Anatomy and Physiology 1. Control students were comprised of intact classes from the 2005 Spring semester; treatment students from the 2005 Fall semester were randomly assigned to one of two groups within each course: written narrative (WN) and illustration (IL). WN students prepared in-class written narratives related to cell theory and metabolism, which were taught in all three courses. IL students prepared in-class illustrations of the same concepts. Control students received traditional lecture/lab during the entire class period and neither wrote in-class descriptions nor prepared in-class illustrations of the targeted concepts. All groups were equivalent on age, gender, ethnicity, GPA, and number of college credits earned and were blinded to the study. All interventions occurred in class and no group received more attention or time to complete assignments. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) via multiple regression was the primary statistical strategy used to test the study's hypotheses. The model was valid and statistically significant. Independent follow-up univariate analyses relative to each dependent measure found that no research factor had a significant effect on attitude, but that course-teacher, group membership, and student academic characteristics had a significant effect (p < .05) on achievement: (1) Biology students scored significantly lower in achievement than A&P students; (2) Microbiology students scored significantly higher in achievement than Biology students; (3) Written Narrative students scored significantly higher in achievement than Control students; and (4) GPA had a significant effect on achievement. In addition, given p < .08: (1) Microbiology students averaged lower in achievement than A&P students; (2) Illustration students averaged higher in achievement than Control students; and (3) Written Narrative students averaged higher in achievement than Illustration students. Findings suggest that science achievement can be enhanced via student-generated illustrations and written narratives, these interventions had no effect on attitudes toward science, and the interventions benefited A&P students more than Microbiology and Biology students.

Using a Multicultural Social Justice Framework to Analyze Elementary Teachers' Meanings of Multicultural Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kye, Hannah Anne

In response to the persistent gaps in science opportunities and outcomes across lines of race, class, gender, and disability, decades of science reforms have called for "science for all." For elementary teachers, science for all demands that they not only learn to teach science but learn to teach it in ways that promote more equitable science learning opportunities and outcomes. In this qualitative case study, I use a framework of multicultural social justice education to examine three teachers' beliefs and practices of multicultural science education. The teachers, one preservice and two in-service, taught elementary science in a month-long summer program and met weekly with this researcher to discuss connections between their expressed commitments about teaching toward social justice and their work as science teachers. The data sources for this study included audio recordings of weekly meetings, science lessons, and semi-structured individual interviews. These data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to define the most salient themes and categories among the individual teachers and across cases. I found that the teachers' beliefs and practices aligned with traditional approaches to school and science wherein science was a set of scripted right answers, diversity was only superficially acknowledged, and multiculturalizing the curriculum meant situating science in unfamiliar real world contexts. These meanings of science positioned the teacher as authority and operated outside of a structural analysis of the salience of race, culture, gender, and disability in students' science learning experiences. As they taught and reflected on their teaching in light of their social justice commitments, I found that the teachers negotiated more constructivist and student-centered approaches to science education. These meanings of science required teachers to learn about students and make their experiences more central to their learning. Yet they continued to only acknowledge student diversity rather than critically examine perceptions and practices. Implications for this study include continuing support for teachers focused on applying a structural and explicit analysis of oppression and marginalization in science, so that they are prepared to recognize and teach science as a means of empowering students, disrupting inequity, and changing society.

What Oceanography Concepts are Taught in Ohio's Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skinner, Ray, Jr.; Martin, Ralph E., Jr.

1985-01-01

A survey listing 21 major oceanographic concepts and several sub-concepts was mailed to all Ohio earth science teachers. Respondents indicated that most of the oceanography topics taught were geologically-oriented. Oceanography concepts relating to ecology, chemical, physical or life science are considered less important. (DH)

Characteristical Analysis of High School Astronomy's Teaching in Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires and Mauá

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faria, R. Z.

2008-08-01

Considering that Astronomy is one of the oldest science that contributes to the human and technological development, its concepts are rarely taught for students of High School. The present research argues two aspects related to the method of teaching Astronomy. The first aspect is if it has been discussed in the classes by teachers of High School, and the second one treats of the way it has been taught by these teachers. In order to find out this, a questionnaire was applied for the teachers who teach Physics classes and work in state schools in Rio Grande da Serra, Ribeirão Pires and Mauá in São Paulo. From 66.2% of the teachers who answered to the questionnaire in the three cities researched, 57.4% did not give any subject about Astronomy, 89.4% did not use any kind of computer program, 70.2% did not use laboratory, 83.0% never took the students for museums or observatories and 38.3% did not indicate any kind of magazine or book about Astronomy. Although the majority of the teachers admit that the Astronomy influence the education of the student, they do not include the subject in their planning.

Does Stereotype Threat Affect Post-Course Scores on the Astronomy Diagnostic Test?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deming, G. L.; Hufnagel, B.; Landato, J. M.; Hodari, A. K.

2003-12-01

During the 1990s, Claude Steele and others demonstrated that women mathematics students under-performed while men over-performed on selected GRE questions when told that the exam could differentiate by gender. Stereotype threat is triggered for these women when they fear someone else may negatively stereotype them, and therefore, their performance is affected. In a limited study involving 229 students, we investigated the effect of stereotype threat on performance on the Astronomy Diagnostic Test (ADT). The ADT was administered as a pre-test in four introductory astronomy classes intended for non-science majors. The same professors taught pairs of classes at the University of Maryland, a large research institution, and W. R. Harper College, a small liberal arts school. The classes were treated the same until the final day before the post-course ADT was given. One "threatened" class at each campus was told that gender mattered so they should be sure to include it on the ADT. The "control" classes were told that gender does not matter. The results show no stereotype threat effect on the women in these introductory classes. The university men did slightly over-perform at low statistical significance. As Steele suggested, students must identify with a subject in order to strongly invoke a stereotype threat. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation through grants REC-0089239 to GLD, DGE-97014489 to BH, and DGE-9714452 for AKH.

Preliminary evaluation of a coping strategy enhancement method of preparation for labour.

PubMed

Escott, Diane; Slade, Pauline; Spiby, Helen; Fraser, Robert B

2005-09-01

To compare the use and effects of enhanced pre-existing coping strategies with the use and effects of coping strategies usually taught in National Health Service (NHS) antenatal education on women's experience of pain and emotions during labour. A between-group comparison of women who chose to attend NHS antenatal education where courses of preparation were randomly assigned to include either a new method of coping strategy enhancement (CSE) or standard taught coping strategies. Two large maternity units in one city in the North of England. 20 women participated in antenatal classes incorporating the CSE method and 21 women participated in antenatal classes incorporating the standard approach to developing coping strategies for labour. Women who attended CSE classes used enhanced coping strategies for a larger proportion of their labour than women who attended standard classes who used taught coping strategies. Birth companions were more involved in women's use of enhanced than taught strategies. Self-efficacy for use of coping strategies and subsequent experiences of pain and emotions during labour were equivalent between groups. An approach based on enhancing pre-existing coping strategies was associated with greater coping strategy use and involvement from the birth companion, and provided benefits to women's overall experience of labour at least equivalent to that associated with standard preparation. Further research should explore this novel approach in larger groups, and for women who may choose not to attend group antenatal preparation.

A Teaching Model for Scaffolding 4th Grade Students' Scientific Explanation Writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Hsiu-Ting; Wang, Kuo-Hua

2014-08-01

Improving students scientific explanations is one major goal of science education. Both writing activities and concept mapping are reported as effective strategies for enhancing student learning of science. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a teaching model, named the DCI model, which integrates a Descriptive explanation writing activity, Concept mapping, and an Interpretive explanation writing activity, is introduced in a 4th grade science class to see if it would improve students' scientific explanations and understanding. A quasi-experimental design, including a non-randomized comparison group and a pre- and post-test design, was adopted for this study. An experimental group of 25 students were taught using the DCI teaching model, while a comparison group received a traditional lecture teaching. A rubric and content analysis was used to assess students' scientific explanations. The independent sample t test was used to measure difference in conceptual understanding between the two groups, before and after instruction. Then, the paired t test analysis was used to understand the promotion of the DCI teaching model. The results showed that students in the experimental group performed better than students in the comparison group, both in scientific concept understanding and explanation. Suggestions for using concept mapping and writing activities (the DCI teaching model) in science classes are provided in this study.

Grouping Minerals by Their Formulas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulvey, Bridget

2018-01-01

Minerals are commonly taught in ways that emphasize mineral identification for its own sake or maybe to help identify rocks. But how do minerals fit in with other science content taught? The author uses mineral formulas to help Earth science students wonder about the connection between elements, compounds, mixtures, minerals, and mineral formulas.…

Student Performance in New High School Biology Programs.

PubMed

Grobman, H

1964-01-17

Data on the effectiveness of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study course were obtained from several sources, including experimental use with 65,000 students. Any of the three versions of this biology course can be taught to average and above-average 10th-grade students. Achievement on the associated comprehensive test is more closely related to the ability and sex of the student, the salary of the teacher, the proportion of graduates of the school who go to college, the size of the class, and the adequacy of laboratory facilities than to the version of the course.

Impact of the 3-D model strategy on science learning of the solar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alharbi, Mohammed

The purpose of this mixed method study, quantitative and descriptive, was to determine whether the first-middle grade (seventh grade) students at Saudi schools are able to learn and use the Autodesk Maya software to interact and create their own 3-D models and animations and whether their use of the software influences their study habits and their understanding of the school subject matter. The study revealed that there is value to the science students regarding the use of 3-D software to create 3-D models to complete science assignments. Also, this study aimed to address the middle-school students' ability to learn 3-D software in art class, and then ultimately use it in their science class. The success of this study may open the way to consider the impact of 3-D modeling on other school subjects, such as mathematics, art, and geography. When the students start using graphic design, including 3-D software, at a young age, they tend to develop personal creativity and skills. The success of this study, if applied in schools, will provide the community with skillful young designers and increase awareness of graphic design and the new 3-D technology. Experimental method was used to answer the quantitative research question, are there significant differences applying the learning method using 3-D models (no 3-D, premade 3-D, and create 3-D) in a science class being taught about the solar system and its impact on the students' science achievement scores? Descriptive method was used to answer the qualitative research questions that are about the difficulty of learning and using Autodesk Maya software, time that students take to use the basic levels of Polygon and Animation parts of the Autodesk Maya software, and level of students' work quality.

Learning to Write Like a Scientist: A Writing-Intensive Course for Microbiology/Health Science Students †

PubMed Central

Grzyb, Kimi; Snyder, Wesley; Field, Katharine G.

2018-01-01

Learning the tools and conventions of expert communication in the sciences provides multiple benefits to bioscience students, yet often these skills are not formally taught. To address this need, we designed a writing-intensive microbiology course on emerging infectious diseases to provide upper-division students with science-specific writing skills along with disciplinary course content. The course followed the guidelines of our university’s Writing Intensive Curriculum (WIC) program. Students wrote a press release, a case study, a controversy/position paper, and a grant prospectus, and revised drafts after feedback. To assess the course, in 2015 and 2016 we administered pre-post surveys and collected writing samples for analysis. Students reported on their experience, training, skills, and knowledge before taking the course. They then rated the extent to which the assignments, lectures, in-class activities, and writing activities contributed to their attainment of the learning outcomes of the course. Students entering the class were inexperienced in tools of science writing and the specific genres covered by the class. Their confidence levels rose in both skills and knowledge. Feedback from instructors was cited as most helpful in the majority of the areas where students reported the most gains. The survey provided evidence that discipline-specific knowledge had been acquired through writing activities. Teaching science writing by allowing the students to write “fiction” (e.g., a case report about a fictional patient) was effective in maintaining a high level of interest, both in learning the conventions of the genre and in seeking out detailed information about emerging infectious diseases. Both the course structure and the specific assignments would be useful at other institutions to teach science writing. PMID:29904515

Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and Hearing Signing Undergraduates' Attitudes toward Science in Inquiry-Based Biology Laboratory Classes.

PubMed

Gormally, Cara

2017-01-01

For science learning to be successful, students must develop attitudes toward support future engagement with challenging social issues related to science. This is especially important for increasing participation of students from underrepresented populations. This study investigated how participation in inquiry-based biology laboratory classes affected students' attitudes toward science, focusing on deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing signing students in bilingual learning environments (i.e., taught in American Sign Language and English). Analysis of reflection assignments and interviews revealed that the majority of students developed positive attitudes toward science and scientific attitudes after participating in inquiry-based biology laboratory classes. Attitudinal growth appears to be driven by student value of laboratory activities, repeated direct engagement with scientific inquiry, and peer collaboration. Students perceived that hands-on experimentation involving peer collaboration and a positive, welcoming learning environment were key features of inquiry-based laboratories, affording attitudinal growth. Students who did not perceive biology as useful for their majors, careers, or lives did not develop positive attitudes. Students highlighted the importance of the climate of the learning environment for encouraging student contribution and noted both the benefits and pitfalls of teamwork. Informed by students' characterizations of their learning experiences, recommendations are made for inquiry-based learning in college biology. © 2017 C. Gormally. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beichner, Robert J.

2011-04-01

How do you keep a classroom of 100 undergraduates actively learning? Can students practice communication and teamwork skills in a large class? How do you boost the performance of underrepresented groups? The Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) Project has addressed these concerns. Because of their inclusion in a leading introductory physics textbook, project materials are used by more than 1/3 of all science, math, and engineering majors nationwide. The room design and pedagogy have been adopted at more than 100 leading institutions across the country. Physics, chemistry, math, astronomy, biology, engineering, earth sciences, and even literature classes are currently being taught this way. Educational research indicates that students should collaborate on interesting tasks and be deeply involved with the material they are studying. We promote active learning in a redesigned classroom for 100 students or more. (Of course, smaller classes can also benefit.) Class time is spent primarily on "tangibles" and "ponderables"--hands-on activities, simulations, and interesting questions. Nine students sit in three teams at round tables. Instructors circulate and engage in Socratic dialogues. The setting looks like a banquet hall, with lively interactions nearly all the time. Hundreds of hours of classroom video and audio recordings, transcripts of numerous interviews and focus groups, data from conceptual learning assessments (using widely-recognized instruments in a pretest/posttest protocol), and collected portfolios of student work are part of our rigorous assessment effort. Our findings (based on data from over 16,000 students collected over five years as well as replications at adopting sites) can be summarized as the following: 1) Female failure rate is 1/5 of previous levels, even though more is demanded of students. 2) Minority failure rate is 1/4 that seen in traditionally taught courses. 3) At-risk students are more successful in later engineering courses. 4) Top students gain the most, although students at all levels benefit. 5) Conceptual learning and problem solving are significantly improved, with same content coverage. In this talk I will discuss the need for reform, the SCALE-UP classroom environment, and examine the findings of studies of learning.

The impact of embedding multiple modes of representation on student construction of chemistry knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDermott, Mark Andrew

2009-12-01

This study was designed to examine the impact of embedding multiple modes of representing science information on student conceptual understanding in science. Multiple representations refer to utilizing charts, graphs, diagrams, and other types of representations to communicate scientific information. This study investigated the impact of encouraging students to embed or integrate the multiple modes with text in end of unit writing-to-learn activities. A quasi-experimental design with four separate sites consisting of intact chemistry classes taught by different teachers at each site was utilized. At each site, approximately half of the classes were designated treatment classes and students in these classes participated in activities designed to encourage strategies to embed multiple modes within text in student writing. The control classes did not participate in these activities. All classes participated in identical end of unit writing tasks in which they were required to use at least one mode other than text, followed by identical end of unit assessments. This progression was then repeated for a second consecutive unit of study. Analysis of quantitative data indicated that in several cases, treatment classes significantly outperformed control classes both on measures of embeddedness in writing and on end of unit assessment measures. In addition, analysis at the level of individual students indicated significant positive correlations in many cases between measures of student embeddedness in writing and student performance on end of unit assessments. Three factors emerged as critical in increasing the likelihood of benefit for students from these types of activities. First, the level of teacher implementation and emphasis on the embeddedness lessons was linked to the possibility of conceptual benefit. Secondly, students participating in two consecutive lessons appeared to receive greater benefit during the second unit, inferring a cumulative benefit. Finally, differential impact of the degree of embeddedness on student performance was noted based on student's level of science ability prior to the initiation of study procedures.

A tale of two sections: an experiment to compare the effectiveness of a hybrid versus a traditional lecture format in introductory microbiology.

PubMed

Adams, Alison E M; Randall, Shelby; Traustadóttir, Tinna

2015-03-02

Two sections of an introductory microbiology course were taught by one instructor. One was taught through a hybrid format and the other through a traditional format. Students were randomly assigned to the two sections. Both sections were provided with identical lecture materials, in-class worksheets, in-class assessments, and extra credit opportunities; the main difference was in the way the lecture material was delivered-online for the hybrid section and in person for the traditional section. Analysis of final grades revealed that students in the traditional section did significantly better than those in the hybrid section (p<0.001). There was a significant main effect of class standing (p<0.01). When performance in the two sections was compared for each class year separately, the differences were only significant for sophomores (p<0.001); freshmen, juniors, and seniors did not perform differently in the hybrid versus the traditional section. An anonymous midterm survey suggested factors likely contributing to the overall lower success of students in the hybrid section: some students in the hybrid section did not take lecture notes and/or use the audio component of the online lectures, suggesting minimal interaction with the lecture material for these students. © 2015 A. E. M. Adams et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2015 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

"That's Not the Way I Was Taught Science at School!" How Preservice Primary Teachers in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Are Affected by Their Own Schooling Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dickson, M.; Kadbey, H.

2014-01-01

Government schools in Abu Dhabi, as part of widescale educational reforms undertaken in the whole of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have undergone significant change since 2007 across cycles and across subjects including science. Science had been taught historically in the UAE using fairly traditional "chalk and talk", teacher-centered…

Effective Teacher Qualities from International Mathematics, Science, and Computer Teachers' Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahin, Alpaslan; Adiguzel, Tufan

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate how international teachers, who were from overseas but taught in the United States, rate effective teacher qualities in three domains; personal, professional, and classroom management skills. The study includes 130 international mathematics, science, and computer teachers who taught in a multi-school…

Systematic Modeling versus the Learning Cycle: Comparative Effects of Integrated Science Process Skill Achievement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norman, John T.

1992-01-01

Reports effectiveness of modeling as teaching strategy on learning science process skills. Teachers of urban sixth through ninth grade students were taught modeling techniques; two sets of teachers served as controls. Results indicate students taught by teachers employing modeling instruction exhibited significantly higher competence in process…

[Post-graduate gerontology training in Spain: Number, characteristics, and contents taught in master courses].

PubMed

Villar, Feliciano; Giuliani, María Florencia; Serrat, Rodrigo

Population aging raises the need for specialised professionals to address the needs of the elderly. The aim of this paper is to describe the number, characteristics, and contents of the Master degree courses that are currently offered in Spain. There were 32 Master degree courses offered in the 2014-15 academic year. These required at least 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). At least half of the course credits were based on contents directly related to old age, older people, or aging. An analysis was made that included, information on the institutional affiliation, official status, academic structure, and contents taught. A content analysis was performed on curriculum subjects, in order to classify the courses into multidisciplinary or specialised (with focus either on health, behavioural, or social sciences). Most of the courses required mandatory class attendance, and lasted one academic year (60 ECTS). They also included the completion of a final project and a practicum. The majority (59%) of Master degree courses were classified as multidisciplinary. Of the remaining ones, 19% were labelled as specialised in behavioural sciences, 16% in health sciences, and 2% in social sciences. The field of higher education in gerontology in Spain seems to be consolidated, taking into account indicators such as the number of courses offered, their territorial distribution, or the number of official Master degree courses. While the academic structure of the courses is quite similar, in contrast, their contents and nature are highly diverse, which responds to the different training needs. Copyright © 2016 SEGG. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

From agricultural geology to hydropedology: Forging links within the twenty-first-century geoscience community

USGS Publications Warehouse

Landa, E.R.; ,

2006-01-01

Despite historical linkages, the fields of geology and soil science have developed along largely divergent paths in the United States during much of the mid- to late-twentieth century. The shift in recent decades within both disciplines, towards greater emphasis on environmental-quality issues and a systems approach, has created new opportunities for collaboration and cross-training. Because of the importance of the soil as a dynamic interface between the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere, introductory and advanced soil-science classes are now taught in a number of Earth and environmental science departments. The National Research Council's recent report, Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science, highlights the soil zone as part of the land surface to groundwater 'critical zone' requiring additional investigation. To better prepare geology undergraduates to deal with complex environmental problems, their training should include a fundamental understanding of the nature and properties of soils. Those undergraduate geology students with an interest in this area should be encouraged to view soil science as a viable Earth-science specialty area for graduate study. ?? The Geological Society of London 2006.

Single-sex middle school science classrooms: Separate and equal?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glasser, Howard M.

The U.S. Department of Education's amended regulations to Title IX have attempted to expand the circumstances in which single-sex classes are permissible in public schools. This ethnographic study uses grounded theory to investigate aspects of one single-sex offering at a public, coeducational middle school. Applying elements of postmodern, queer, and sociocultural lenses, it examines the perspectives for this offering, shedding insight into the cultures of two single-sex classrooms and what it meant to be a boy or girl in this setting. Additionally, it focuses attention on the all-boy and all-girl science classes that were taught by the same teacher and examines what it meant to learn science as boys and girls in this program. Although participants supplied financial, socio-emotional, and academic reasons for these classes, the initial motivation for these classes stemmed from the teachers' desire to curb the amount of sex talk and related behaviors that were exhibited in their classrooms. Through these conversations and classroom events, the girls were constructed as idealized students, academically and behaviorally, who needed to be protected from boys' behaviors---both boys' dominating classroom behaviors and aggressive (hetero)sexual behaviors. Conversely, boys were constructed as needing help both academically and behaviorally, but in the specific discipline of science boys were identified as the sex that was more interested in the content and gained greater exposure to skills that could assist them in future science courses and careers. Overall, boys and girls, and the culture of their two classrooms, were regularly defined relative to each other and efforts were made to maintain these constructed differences. As a result, the classes and students were hierarchically ranked in ways that often pitted one sex of students, or the entire class, as better or worse than the other. The theory emerging from this study is that single-sex policies arise and survive through an endorsement of exclusion, which perpetuates the construction of differences between the sexes. These single-sex settings construct identities and cultures that could have substantial effects on students' understanding of themselves and other students, their future academic and professional pursuits, and their relationships with other people.

Prediction/discussion-based learning cycle versus conceptual change text: comparative effects on students' understanding of genetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

khawaldeh, Salem A. Al

2013-07-01

Background and purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of a prediction/discussion-based learning cycle (HPD-LC), conceptual change text (CCT) and traditional instruction on 10th grade students' understanding of genetics concepts. Sample: Participants were 112 10th basic grade male students in three classes of the same school located in an urban area. The three classes taught by the same biology teacher were randomly assigned as a prediction/discussion-based learning cycle class (n = 39), conceptual change text class (n = 37) and traditional class (n = 36). Design and method: A quasi-experimental research design of pre-test-post-test non-equivalent control group was adopted. Participants completed the Genetics Concept Test as pre-test-post-test, to examine the effects of instructional strategies on their genetics understanding. Pre-test scores and Test of Logical Thinking scores were used as covariates. Results: The analysis of covariance showed a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the favor of experimental groups after treatment. However, no statistically significant difference between the experimental groups (HPD-LC versus CCT instruction) was found. Conclusions: Overall, the findings of this study support the use of the prediction/discussion-based learning cycle and conceptual change text in both research and teaching. The findings may be useful for improving classroom practices in teaching science concepts and for the development of suitable materials promoting students' understanding of science.

Stimulus Equivalence, Generalization, and Contextual Stimulus Control in Verbal Classes

PubMed Central

Sigurðardóttir, Zuilma Gabriela; Mackay, Harry A; Green, Gina

2012-01-01

Stimulus generalization and contextual control affect the development of equivalence classes. Experiment 1 demonstrated primary stimulus generalization from the members of trained equivalence classes. Adults were taught to match six spoken Icelandic nouns and corresponding printed words and pictures to one another in computerized three-choice matching-to-sample tasks. Tests confirmed that six equivalence classes had formed. Without further training, plural forms of the stimuli were presented in tests for all matching performances. All participants demonstrated virtually errorless performances. In Experiment 2, classifications of the nouns used in Experiment 1 were brought under contextual control. Three nouns were feminine and three were masculine. The match-to-sample training taught participants to select a comparison of the same number as the sample (i.e., singular or plural) in the presence of contextual stimulus A regardless of noun gender. Concurrently, in the presence of contextual stimulus B, participants were taught to select a comparison of the same gender as the sample (i.e., feminine or masculine), regardless of number. Generalization was assessed using a card-sorting test. All participants eventually sorted the cards correctly into gender and number stimulus classes. When printed words used in training were replaced by their picture equivalents, participants demonstrated almost errorless performances. PMID:22754102

ICT-Mediated Science Inquiry: The Remote Access Microscopy Project (RAMP)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, John

2007-01-01

The calls for the transformation of how science is taught (and what is taught) are numerous and show no sign of abating. Common amongst these calls is the need to shift from the traditional teaching and learning towards a model that represents the social constructivist epistemology. These calls have coincided with the Internet revolution. Through…

Teaching Health and Safety through Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Science Review, 2013

2013-01-01

Experimental and investigative work has been an integral element in the teaching of science in schools for many years. Although students have always been taught to work safely, there is now a more general requirement that they will be taught about health and safety and how it should be implemented. That is, they must understand something of the…

Linear Programming across the Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoder, S. Elizabeth; Kurz, M. Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Linear programming (LP) is taught in different departments across college campuses with engineering and management curricula. Modeling an LP problem is taught in every linear programming class. As faculty teaching in Engineering and Management departments, the depth to which teachers should expect students to master this particular type of…

The Comparative Effects of Prediction/Discussion-Based Learning Cycle, Conceptual Change Text, and Traditional Instructions on Student Understanding of Genetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yilmaz, Diba; Tekkaya, Ceren; Sungur, Semra

2011-03-01

The present study examined the comparative effects of a prediction/discussion-based learning cycle, conceptual change text (CCT), and traditional instructions on students' understanding of genetics concepts. A quasi-experimental research design of the pre-test-post-test non-equivalent control group was adopted. The three intact classes, taught by the same science teacher, were randomly assigned as prediction/discussion-based learning cycle class (N = 30), CCT class (N = 25), and traditional class (N = 26). Participants completed the genetics concept test as pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test to examine the effects of instructional strategies on their genetics understanding and retention. While the dependent variable of this study was students' understanding of genetics, the independent variables were time (Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3) and mode of instruction. The mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance revealed that students in both prediction/discussion-based learning cycle and CCT groups understood the genetics concepts and retained their knowledge significantly better than students in the traditional instruction group.

The use of parent involved take-home science activities during student teaching: Understanding the challenges of implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zarazinski, Jill

The purpose of this study was to identify student teachers use and implementation of Science in a Bag when it was no longer a required course-based assessment. This take-home science activity acted as the elaboration component of the 5Es lesson teacher candidates designed and taught in the classroom, utilized household items, and directly involved parents in their child's education. The purposeful sample was comprised of six teacher candidates during their student teaching practicum, the last semester of the childhood education teacher certification program. This collective case study centered on student teachers' use of the focused activity, Science in a Bag, in order to gain knowledge of challenges faced in applying take-home science kits and working with parents. Data collection was comprised of student teacher and parent interviews, candidate reflections, as well as in-class observations and discussions carried out during weekly seminars. Data collection occurred throughout the seven-week student teaching practicum. The four research questions were: 1) What factors do teacher candidates identify as interfering with their ability to implement Science in a Bag during student teaching placements? 2) What factors do teacher candidates identify as enhancing their ability to carry out Science in a Bag? 3) What forms of support do teacher candidates believe are important to their success in implementing Science in a Bag during student teaching? 4) How do teacher candidates deal with obstacles when implementing Science in a Bag? Despite the fact that no student teacher was prohibited from implementing Science in a Bag, the level to which candidates valued and utilized this instructional strategy varied compared to how they were taught and practiced it during the science methods course. Some student teachers attempted to hide their feelings toward Science in a Bag, however their actions revealed that they were simply carrying out the instructional strategy because they had agreed to implement it, not because they appreciated its worth to students and their families. Altering candidate beliefs in one semester prior to student teaching proved difficult, especially when cooperating teachers were demonstrating and encouraging methodologies which were frowned upon during the science methods coursework. Therefore, this study also raised issues with teacher education and identified the need to better align educational philosophies taught throughout the program and those showcased by cooperating teachers if science education reform is to transpire. Teacher candidates very often abandoned the inquiry-based modes of instruction taught to them during the science methods course prior to student teaching and replaced them with ideas and suggestions from their cooperating teacher, approaches which were more traditional and teacher-centered. Cooperating teacher opinions and suggestions appeared to take precedence over what was taught and practiced during their preparation coursework. Candidates' prior beliefs and experiences with education appeared to dominate their teaching repertoire. The culmination of their own K-12 education and much of their undergraduate courses made altering their beliefs toward inquiry-based methodologies difficult during only one semester prior to student teaching. Therefore, all candidates reverted back to some level of teacher-centered, recipe-like science lessons and tasks. It was also noted that the candidates' understanding of hands-on versus inquiry learning was often blurred. Hands-on learning was often demonstrated and applauded by cooperating teachers, as well as parents, once they responded to Science in a Bag surveys and interviews, further supporting this misconception by praising hands-on learning and in some cases stating it was the way students learned best. Most parents were willing to and enjoyed performing these take-home family activities. Some of the most frequent parent comments related to family time, being informed about the content their child was learning in school and the child taking on the role of teacher. The level to which candidates acknowledged and embraced student and parent feedback of Science in a Bag differed. Finally, it became apparent that teacher educators need to acknowledge components of instruction outside content and pedagogy. Many candidates had issues when it came to designing lesson materials which were aesthetically pleasing with proper writing quality and conventions. It is clear that this component of teaching is absent and needs to be addressed throughout the program's coursework and during field experience placements. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Climate Engineering: A Nexus of Ethics, Science and Governance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackerman, T. P.

2015-12-01

Climate engineering (or geoengineering) has emerged as a possible component of a strategy to mitigate global warming. This emergence has produced a novel intersection of atmospheric science, environmental ethics and global governance. The scientific questions of climate engineering, while difficult to answer in their own right, are compounded by ethical considerations regarding whether these questions should be addressed and governance questions of how research and deployment could be managed. In an effort to address this intersection of ideas and provide our students with a rich interdisciplinary experience, we (T. Ackerman and S. Gardiner, both senior professors at the University of Washington) taught a cross-listed course in the Atmospheric Sciences and Philosophy departments. The course attracted 12 students (mostly graduate students but with two upper level undergraduates), with roughly equal representation from environmental sciences, ethics, and public policy disciplines, as well as two post-docs. Our primary goal for the course was to develop a functioning research community to address the core issues at the intersection of science and ethics. In this presentation, we discuss the course structure, identify strategies that were successful (or less so), and describe outcomes. We consider this course to be primarily pedagogical in nature, but we also recognize that many of the students in the class, perhaps even a majority, are intending to pursue careers outside academia in areas of public policy, environmental consulting, etc., which added an extra dimension to our class. Here, we also discuss the possibility of developing and teaching such courses in an academic environment that is stressed financially and increasingly dependent on metrics related to class size and student credit hours.

Critical Pedagogy in Undergraduate English Writing Classes in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chi, Gen-Hua

2011-01-01

This one-year study explores the possibility of integrating critical pedagogy into undergraduate English writing classes in Taiwan. The participants were the students in 2 first-year writing classes taught by the researcher. For these classes, I reinvented Freire's (2000) pedagogy of the oppressed, which emphasizes problem-posing, dialogue, and…

Flipping Quantitative Classes: A Triple Win

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swart, William; Wuensch, Karl L.

2016-01-01

In the "flipped" class, students use online materials to learn what is traditionally learned by attending lectures, and class time is used for interactive group learning. A required quantitative business class was taught as a flipped classroom in an attempt to improve student satisfaction in the course and reduce the "transactional…

A Source Book for Teaching Chemical Oceanography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loder, Theodore C.; Glibert, Patricia M.

Chemical oceanography or marine chemistry are taught in many colleges and universities. This publication provides sources for instructors of such courses. The first section of this report is a detailed composite outline of a course in chemical oceanography. It includes fundamental topics taught in many chemical oceanography classes. The outline…

Emotion, Engagement, and Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herreid, Clyde Freeman; Terry, David R.; Lemons, Paula; Armstrong, Norris; Brickman, Peggy; Ribbens, Eric

2014-01-01

Three college faculty taught large general biology classes using case studies and personal response systems (clickers). Each instructor taught the same eight cases in two different sections, except the questions within the cases differed. In one section the questions were lower order (LO) factual inquiries, and in the other they were largely…

Geometric Mean--What Does It Mean?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalder, Robin S.

2012-01-01

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and numerous mathematics educators promote the combination of conceptual understanding and procedural learning in the successful instruction of mathematics. Despite this, when geometric mean is taught in a typical American geometry class, it is taught as a process only despite the many connections…

Composite Scheduling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Childers, Gary L.; Ireland, Rebecca Weeks

2005-01-01

In education, there is no one best way to do anything. There are compelling reasons why some courses should be taught in longer segments of time, which the block schedule provides. There are also compelling reasons why some classes should be taught in shorter segments. At Watauga High School in Boone, North Carolina, an alternative schedule that…

Preparing perservice teachers to teach elementary school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Amy D.

The development of scientifically literate citizens begins in the elementary school. Yet elementary school teachers are ill prepared to teach science (Trygstad, Smith, Banilower, Nelson, & Horizon Research, Inc., 2013). The research base on teacher preparation finds that programs designed to prepare elementary teachers are inadequate in providing both the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge necessary to teach science effectively (Baumgartner, 2010; Bodzin & Beerer, 2003; Bulunuz & Jarrett 2009). This mixed methods study examined what happened when a science methods course was interactively co-taught by an expert in elementary teaching methods and a physics expert. This study also aimed to discover what aspects of the curriculum pre-service teachers (PSTs) said helped them in developing their understanding of science content and scientific reasoning, and how to implement inquiry practices to teach science. A nested case study of three PSTs provided descriptive portraits of student experiences in the class. A whole class case analysis was used to examine what PSTs learned in terms of science, scientific reasoning skills, and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) from their experiences in the course. It was found that students often conflated science content with the experiences they had in learning the content. Although PSTs felt the interactive co-teaching model effectively created a balance between theory and practice, it was their experiences doing science--conducting physical experiments, developing and discussing scientific models, and the use of inquiry-based instruction--that they credited for their learning. Even with careful curriculum planning, and a course purposely designed to bridge the theory to practice gap, this study found one semester-long methods course to be insufficient in providing the vast content knowledge and PCK elementary school science teachers need.

Effects of notetaking instruction on 3rd grade student's science learning and notetaking behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Pai-Lin

The research examined effects of notetaking instruction on elementary-aged students' ability to recall science information and notetaking behavior. Classes of 3rd grade students were randomly assigned to three treatment conditions, strategic notetaking, partial strategic notetaking, and control, for 4 training sessions. The effects of the notetaking instruction were measured by their performances on a test on science information taught during the training, a long-term free recall of the information, and number of information units recalled with or without cues. Students' prior science achievement was used to group students into two levels (high vs. low) and functioned as another independent variable in analysis. Results indicated significant treatment effect on cued and non-cued recall of the information units in favor of the strategy instruction groups. Students with higher prior achievement in science performed better on cued recall and long-term free recall of information. The results suggest that students as young as at the third grade can be instructed to develop the ability of notetaking that promotes their learning.

An elective course in aromatherapy science.

PubMed

Esposito, Emily R; Bystrek, Mary V; Klein, JoAnn S

2014-05-15

To evaluate the impact of an innovative team-taught elective course on second-year (P2) students' knowledge and skills relating to the relationship between aromatherapy and pharmacy. An Aromatherapy Science elective course was offered to P2 students in an accelerated doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree program and was designed to provide an elective course experience while focusing on active-learning skills such as group work, student-led presentations, and in-class activities. Lectures were designed to reinforce core curricular threads from the basic sciences within the pharmaceutical sciences department while highlighting key aromatherapy principles. Course evaluations, grades, and student self-assessments were used to evaluate student fulfillment and knowledge gained. Students agreed this hands-on course integrated pharmaceutical science experiences, enriched their pharmacy education, and provided knowledge to enhance their confidence in describing essential oil uses, drug interactions, and key aromatherapy clinical implications. Students agreed this course prepared them to identify essential oil therapeutic uses and potential essential oil-drug interactions, and interpret literature. The introduction of aromatherapy principles to pharmacy students will prepare a new generation of healthcare professionals on the role of alternative medicines.

A Comparative Study of Problem-Based and Lecture-Based Learning in Junior Secondary School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Kenson Kin Hang; Day, Jeffrey Richard

2009-01-01

The purpose of the study is to compare problem based learning (PBL) and lecture-based learning (LBL) in Hong Kong secondary students' science achievement. Secondary One students were divided into two groups: group A (n = 37), was taught two topics: "Human Reproduction" and "Density" through PBL; group B (n = 38) was taught the…

The Effects of Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning on Secondary Student ACT Science Scores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Judd, William Lindsey

The purpose of this study was to examine any significant difference on secondary school chemistry students' ACT Science Test scores between students taught by the Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) method versus students taught by traditional, teacher-centered pedagogy. This study also examined any difference between students taught by the POGIL method versus students taught by traditional, teacher-centered pedagogy in regard to the three different types of questions on the ACT Science Test: data representation, research summaries, and conflicting viewpoints. The sample consisted of sophomore-level students at two private, suburban Christian schools. A pretest-posttest design was used to compare the mean difference in scores from ACT issued sample test booklets before and after each group had received instruction via the POGIL method or more traditional methods. This study found that there was no significant difference in the mean difference of test scores between the two groups. This study also found that there was not a significant difference in the mean difference of scores in regard to the three different types of questions on the ACT Science Test. Further implications of this study are discussed.

Ice, Ice, Baby: A Program for Sustained, Classroom-Based K-8 Teacher Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, C.

2009-12-01

Ice, Ice, Baby is a K-8 science program created by the education team at the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), an NSF-funded science and technology center headquartered at the University of Kansas. The twenty-four hands-on activities, which constitute the Ice, Ice, Baby curriculum, were developed to help students understand the role of polar ice sheets in sea level rise. These activities, presented in classrooms by CReSIS' Educational Outreach Coordinator, demonstrate many of the scientific properties of ice, including displacement and density. Student journals are utilized with each lesson as a strategy for improving students' science process skills. Journals also help the instructor identify misconceptions, assess comprehension, and provide students with a year-long science reference log. Pre- and post- assessments are given to both teachers and students before and after the program, providing data for evaluation and improvement of the Ice, Ice, Baby program. While students are actively engaged in hands-on learning about the unusual topics of ice sheets, glaciers, icebergs and sea ice, the CReSIS' Educational Coordinator is able to model best practices in science education, such as questioning and inquiry-based methods of instruction. In this way, the Ice, Ice, Baby program also serves as ongoing, in-class, professional development for teachers. Teachers are also provided supplemental activities to do with their classes between CReSIS' visits to encourage additional science lessons, reinforce concepts taught in the Ice, Ice, Baby program, and to foster teachers' progression toward more reform-based science instruction.

Enrollment trends in American soil science classes: 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 academic years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brevik, Eric C.; Vaughan, Karen L.; Parikh, Sanjai J.; Dolliver, Holly; Lindbo, David; Steffan, Joshua J.; Weindorf, David; McDaniel, Paul; Mbila, Monday; Edinger-Marshall, Susan

2017-04-01

Studies indicate that soil science enrollment in the USA was on the decline in the 1990s and into the early 2000s (Baveye et al., 2006; Collins, 2008). However, a recent study indicated that in the seven years from 2007 through 2014 the number of soil science academic majors, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, was on the increase (Brevik et al., 2014). However, the Brevik et al. (2014) study only looked at the number of soil science majors, it did not look at other important trends in soil science enrollment. Therefore, this study was developed to investigate enrollment numbers in individual soil science classes. To investigate this, we collected data from ten different American universities on the enrollment trends for seven different classes taught at the undergraduate level, introduction to soil science, soil fertility, soil management, pedology, soil biology/microbiology, soil chemistry, and soil physics, over a 10 year time period (2004-2005 to 2013-2014 academic years). Enrollment in each individual class was investigated over five (2009-2010 to 2013-2014) and 10 (2004-2005 to 2013-2014) year trends. All classes showed increasing enrollment over the five year study period except for soil physics, which experienced a modest decline in enrollment (-4.1% per year). The soil chemistry (23.2% per year) and soil management (10.1% per year) classes had the largest percentage gain in enrollment over the five year time period. All classes investigated experienced increased enrollment over the 10 year study period except soil biology/microbiology, which had an essentially stable enrollment (0.8% enrollment gain per year). Soil physics (28.9% per year) and soil chemistry (14.7% per year) had the largest percentage gain in enrollment over the 10 year time period. It is worth noting that soil physics enrollments had a large increase from 2004-2005 through 2009-2010, then dropped to and stabilized at a level that was lower than the 2009-2010 high but much higher than enrollment levels through the first three years of the study. This explains soil physics being the only class to show an enrollment decline over the five year trend while showing the greatest percentage gain over the 10 year trend. Overall, the individual classes showed 12 examples of increasing enrollment, one example of stable enrollment, and one example of declining enrollment. These results were interpreted as indicating that enrollment in soil science classes at American universities was on the rise over the time period of the study. References Baveye, P., Jacobson, A.R., Allaire, S.E., Tandarich, J.P. and Bryant, R.B., 2006. Whither goes soil science in the United States and Canada? Soil Science 171, 501-518. Brevik, E.C., Abit, S., Brown, D., Dolliver, H., Hopkins, D., Lindbo, D., Manu, A., Mbila, M., Parikh, S.J., Schulze, D., Shaw, J., Weil, R., Weindorf, D., 2014. Soil science education in the United States: history and current enrollment trends. Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science 62(4), 299-306. Collins, M.E., 2008. Where have all the soils students gone? Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education 37, 117-124.

Team-Taught versus Individually Taught Undergraduate Education: A Qualitative Study of Student Experiences and Preferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Money, Arthur; Coughlan, Jane

2016-01-01

Team teaching is becoming more common in undergraduate programmes of study although the relative merits to the more traditional individually taught courses have not been determined for best practice. For this study, 15 final-year undergraduate computer science students were interviewed to gain insight into their learning experiences. A thematic…

A Study of Instructional Methods Used in Fast-Paced Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Seon-Young; Olszewski-Kubilius, Paula

2006-01-01

This study involved 15 secondary-level teachers who taught fast-paced classes at a university based summer program and similar regularly paced classes in their local schools in order to examine how teachers differentiate or modify instructional methods and content selections for fast-paced classes. Interviews were conducted with the teachers…

Teaching between-class generalization of toy play behavior to handicapped children.

PubMed Central

Haring, T G

1985-01-01

In this study, young children with severe and moderate handicaps were taught to generalize play responses. A multiple baseline across responses design, replicated with four children, was used to assess the effects of generalization training within four sets of toys on generalization to untrained toys from four other sets. The responses taught were unique for each set of toys. Across the four participants, training to generalize within-toy sets resulted in complete between-class generalization in 11 sets, partial generalization in 3 sets, and no generalization in 2 sets. No generalization occurred to another class of toys that differed from the previous sets in that they produced a reaction to the play movement (e.g., pianos). Implications for conducting research using strategies based on class interrelationships in training contexts are discussed. PMID:4019349

Efficacy of changing physics misconceptions held by ninth grade students at varying developmental levels through teacher addition of a prediction phase to the learning cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oglesby, Michael L.

This study examines the efficacy in correcting student misconceptions about science concepts by using the pedagogical method of asking students to make a prediction in science laboratory lessons for students within pre-formal, transitional, or formal stages of cognitive development. The subjects were students (n = 235) enrolled in ninth grade physical science classes (n=15) in one high school of an urban profile school district. The four freshmen physical science teachers who were part of the study routinely taught the concepts in the study as a part of the normal curriculum during the time of the school year in which the research was conducted. Classrooms representing approximately half of the students were presented with a prediction phase at the start of each of ten learning cycle lesson. The other classrooms were not presented with a prediction phase. Students were pre and post tested using a 40 question instrument based on the Force Concept Inventory augmented with questions on the concepts taught during the period of the study. Students were also tested using the Test of Scientific Reasoning to determine their cognitive developmental level. Results showed 182 of the students to be cognitively pre-formal, 50 to be transitional, and only 3 to be cognitively formal. There were significantly higher gains (p < .05) for the formal group over the transitional group and for the transitional group over the Pre-formal group. However, there were not significantly higher gains (p > .05) for the total students having a prediction phase compared to those not having a prediction phase. Neither were there significant gains (p > .05) within the pre-formal group or within the transitional group. There were too few students within the formal group for meaningful results.

Linking Class and Community: An Investigation of Service Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleck, Bethany; Hussey, Heather D.; Rutledge-Ellison, Lily

2017-01-01

This study contributes to the service learning (SL) literature by providing new empirical evidence of learning from a problem-based SL research project conducted in a developmental research methods course. Two sections of the course taught in a traditional manner were compared to two sections of the course taught with an integrated SL project…

Original Recipes for Matrix Multiplication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallman-Thrasher, Allyson; Litchfield, Erin T.; Dael, Kevin E.

2016-01-01

Matrices occupy an awkward spot in a typical algebra 2 textbook: sandwiched between solving linear systems and solving quadratics. Even teachers who do not base their course timeline and pacing on the class textbook may find a disconnect between how matrices are taught (procedurally) and how other topics are taught (conceptually or with real-world…

Teaching Aging Content to University-Level Non-Gerontology Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beland, Robert

2004-01-01

The older adult population in America will significantly increase in the future. Older adults have important needs for recreation and leisure services (Beland, 2002). The author taught a class titled "Leisure Services for Older Adults" for over 24 years at the University of Florida. He has taught gerontology and recreation by teaching about life…

Teaching Aging Content to University-Level Non-Gerontology Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beland, Robert

2004-01-01

The older adult population in America will significantly increase in the future. Older adults have important needs for recreation and leisure services (Beland, 2002). The author taught a class titled "Leisure Services for Older Adults" for over 24 years at the University of Florida. He has taught gerontology and recreation by teaching…

Flipped Statistics Class Results: Better Performance than Lecture over One Year Later

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winquist, Jennifer R.; Carlson, Keith A.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we compare an introductory statistics course taught using a flipped classroom approach to the same course taught using a traditional lecture based approach. In the lecture course, students listened to lecture, took notes, and completed homework assignments. In the flipped course, students read relatively simple chapters and answered…

Democracy and Education, Schools and Communities Initiative: Conceptual Framework and Preliminary Findings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koliba, Christopher

Nine rural Vermont schools committed to linking to their local communities are participating in an ongoing study of how manifest curricula (what is taught) and latent curricula (how classes are taught and schools are governed) influence development of student dispositions toward democratic participation. This paper presents preliminary findings…

Teaching Composition in Prisons: Methods and Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mowery, Carl D., Jr.

A pilot study gathered information on materials and methods used by writing instructors teaching in prisons in Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri via a questionnaire. The classes taught by the respondents were all at the college level, were sponsored by various universities and colleges, and all but two were taught at maximum security…

Phase transition to turbulence in a pipe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldenfeld, Nigel

Leo Kadanoff taught us much about phase transitions, turbulence and collective behavior. Here I explore the transition to turbulence in a pipe, showing how a collective mode determines the universality class. Near the transition, turbulent puffs decay either directly or through splitting, with characteristic time-scales that exhibit a super-exponential dependence on Reynolds number. Direct numerical simulations reveal that a collective mode, a so-called zonal flow emerges at large scales, activated by anisotropic turbulent fluctuations, as represented by Reynolds stress. This zonal flow imposes a shear on the turbulent fluctuations that tends to suppress their anisotropy, leading to a Landau theory of predator-prey type, in the directed percolation universality class. Stochastic simulations of this model reproduce the functional form and phenomenology of pipe flow experiments. Talk based on work performed with Hong-Yan Shih and Tsung-Lin Hsieh. This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant NSF-DMR-1044901.

Promoting Ethical Reasoning, Affect and Behaviour Among High School Students: An Evaluation of Three Teaching Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeHaan, Robert; Hanford, Russell; Kinlaw, Kathleen; Philler, David; Snarey, John

1997-01-01

Compares the effectiveness of three classes teaching ethical reasoning to high school students. The three classes were an introductory ethics class, a blended economics-ethics class, and a role-model ethics class taught by graduate students. Tests measured the ways students reason, feel, and act with regard to ethical-normative issues. (MJP)

A study of the effects of gender and different instructional media (computer-assisted instruction tutorials vs. textbook) on student attitudes and achievement in a team-taught integrated science class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eardley, Julie Anne

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different instructional media (computer assisted instruction (CAI) tutorial vs. traditional textbook) on student attitudes toward science and computers and achievement scores in a team-taught integrated science course, ENS 1001, "The Whole Earth Course," which was offered at Florida Institute of Technology during the Fall 2000 term. The effect of gender on student attitudes toward science and computers and achievement scores was also investigated. This study employed a randomized pretest-posttest control group experimental research design with a sample of 30 students (12 males and 18 females). Students had registered for weekly lab sessions that accompanied the course and had been randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. The treatment group used a CAI tutorial for completing homework assignments and the control group used the required textbook for completing homework assignments. The Attitude toward Science and Computers Questionnaire and Achievement Test were the two instruments administered during this study to measure students' attitudes and achievement score changes. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), using hierarchical multiple regression/correlation (MRC), was employed to determine: (1) treatment versus control group attitude and achievement differences; and (2) male versus female attitude and achievement differences. The differences between the treatment group's and control group's homework averages were determined by t test analyses. The overall MANCOVA model was found to be significant at p < .05. Examining research factor set independent variables separately resulted in gender being the only variable that significantly contributed in explaining the variability in a dependent variable, attitudes toward science and computers. T test analyses of the homework averages showed no significant differences. Contradictory to the findings of this study, anecdotal information from personal communication, course evaluations, and homework assignments indicated favorable attitudes and higher achievement scores for a majority of the students in the treatment group.

Cooperative Learning in Industrial-sized Biology Classes

PubMed Central

Chang, Shu-Mei; Brickman, Marguerite

2007-01-01

This study examined the impact of cooperative learning activities on student achievement and attitudes in large-enrollment (>250) introductory biology classes. We found that students taught using a cooperative learning approach showed greater improvement in their knowledge of course material compared with students taught using a traditional lecture format. In addition, students viewed cooperative learning activities highly favorably. These findings suggest that encouraging students to work in small groups and improving feedback between the instructor and the students can help to improve student outcomes even in very large classes. These results should be viewed cautiously, however, until this experiment can be replicated with additional faculty. Strategies for potentially improving the impact of cooperative learning on student achievement in large courses are discussed. PMID:17548878

Cooperative learning in industrial-sized biology classes.

PubMed

Armstrong, Norris; Chang, Shu-Mei; Brickman, Marguerite

2007-01-01

This study examined the impact of cooperative learning activities on student achievement and attitudes in large-enrollment (>250) introductory biology classes. We found that students taught using a cooperative learning approach showed greater improvement in their knowledge of course material compared with students taught using a traditional lecture format. In addition, students viewed cooperative learning activities highly favorably. These findings suggest that encouraging students to work in small groups and improving feedback between the instructor and the students can help to improve student outcomes even in very large classes. These results should be viewed cautiously, however, until this experiment can be replicated with additional faculty. Strategies for potentially improving the impact of cooperative learning on student achievement in large courses are discussed.

Using a motivation-based instructional model for teacher development and students' learning of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bae, Min-Jung

2009-10-01

Science teachers often have difficulty helping students participate in scientific practices and understand scientific ideas. In addition, they do not frequently help students value their science learning. As one way to address these problems, I designed and examined the effects of professional development using a motivation-based instructional model with teachers and students. This motivation-based inquiry and application instructional model (MIAIM) consists of four steps of activities and identifies instructional and motivational functions that teachers can use to engage their students in scientific inquiry and application and to help them value their science learning. In order to conduct this study, I worked with three teachers (4 th, 8th, and 8th) in both suburban and urban environments. This study consisted of three parts-an initial observation of teachers' classrooms, professional development with MIAIM, and an observation of teachers' classrooms after the professional development. Data analysis of class observations, interviews, and class artifacts shows that there was a moderate change in teachers' teaching approach after the intervention. The three teachers designed and enacted some inquiry and application lessons that fit the intent of MIAIM. They also used some instructional and motivational practices more frequently after the intervention than they did before the intervention. In particular, they more frequently established central questions for investigations, helped students find patterns in data by themselves, provided opportunities for application, related science to students' everyday lives, and created students' interests in scientific investigation by using interesting stories. However, there was no substantial change in teachers' use of some practices such as providing explanations, supporting students' autonomy, and using knowledge about students in designing and enacting science lessons. In addition, data analysis of students' surveys, class observations, and tests indicates that some students from each class became more motivated to learn science when their teachers taught MIAIM based science lessons. They became more interested in science class and more appreciative of how science is related and important to their lives. In addition, students from all classes significantly increased their knowledge about scientific topics. Several factors might have influenced the teachers' use of MIAIM: their initial teaching approaches and practices; experiences with using MIAIM in their class; the content area; and school and classroom contexts. Those aspects of MIAIM that teachers did not use may have been more difficult for the teachers to understand or may have been inconsistent with other some of their other beliefs. In addition, the changes in students' motivation and understanding of scientific ideas seemed to be closely associated with what kinds of practices of MIAIM the teachers used. This study indicates that teachers can help students participate in scientific practices, learn important ideas, and value learning science with the help of MIAIM as a conceptual tool and contextualized support from professional development activities and curriculum materials such as worksheets and lesson plans.

A Test of the Discrimination Account in Equivalence Class Formation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Ting; McHugh, Louise A.; Whelan, Robert

2012-01-01

An equivalence class is typically established when a subject is taught a set of interrelated conditional discriminations with physically unrelated stimuli and additional, untaught, conditional discriminations are then demonstrated. Interestingly, and perhaps counter-intuitively, the relations among the stimuli within such a class are not…

Data Day to Day: building a community of expertise to address data skills gaps in an academic medical center

PubMed Central

Surkis, Alisa; LaPolla, Fred Willie Zametkin; Contaxis, Nicole; Read, Kevin B.

2017-01-01

Background The New York University Health Sciences Library data services team had developed educational material for research data management and data visualization and had been offering classes at the request of departments, research groups, and training programs, but many members of the medical center were unaware of these library data services. There were also indications of data skills gaps in these subject areas and other data-related topics. Case Presentation The data services team enlisted instructors from across the medical center with data expertise to teach in a series of classes hosted by the library. We hosted eight classes branded as a series called “Data Day to Day.” Seven instructors from four units in the medical center, including the library, taught the classes. A multipronged outreach approach resulted in high turnout. Evaluations indicated that attendees were very satisfied with the instruction, would use the skills learned, and were interested in future classes. Conclusions Data Day to Day met previously unaddressed data skills gaps. Collaborating with outside instructors allowed the library to serve as a hub for a broad range of data instruction and to raise awareness of library services. We plan to offer the series three times in the coming year with an expanding roster of classes. PMID:28377684

Using Creative Dramatics to Foster Conceptual Learning in a Science Enrichment Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendrix, Rebecca Compton

This study made analysis of how the integration of creative drama into a science enrichment program enhanced the learning of elementary school students' understanding of sound physics and solar energy. The study also sought to determine if student attitudes toward science could be improved with the inclusion of creative drama as an extension to a well-known science inquiry program. The qualitative portion of this study explored the treatment groups' perceptions of how the use of creative drama helped them to learn science. A treatment group of fourth and fifth grade students were taught using the Full Option Science System (FOSS) kit in sound physics and solar energy with the inclusion of creative drama, while a control group of fourth and fifth grade students were taught using only the FOSS kit. The quantitative data analysis revealed that the students who were taught science with the inclusion of creative drama showed greater understanding of the science content than the students in the control group taught without the inclusion of creative drama. Both groups and grade levels in this study showed a slight decline in science attitudes from pre to post survey. Although the overall change was small it was statistically significant. The conclusion from this data is that the inclusion of creative drama in a science inquiry science program does not increase student's attitudes toward learning science any better than inquiry based instruction without creative drama. The drama treatment group students reported that they enjoyed participating in creative drama activities and generally viewed the creative drama intervention as a fun way to learn more about science. The students indicated that the creative drama activities helped them to remember and think about science. The researcher concluded that creative drama when used as an extension to an inquiry science program increases student understanding of science content better than the use of a science inquiry program alone. Although students in both treatment and control groups showed a small decline in attitude toward science, the drama treatment students responded favorably to creative drama's use and implementation in helping them to learn more about science.

Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linn, Marcia

2006-12-01

The overall research question addressed by the NSF-funded echnologyEnhanced Learning in Science (TELS) Center is whether interactive scientific visualizations embedded in high quality instructional units can be used to increase pre-college student learning in science. The research draws on the knowledge integration framework to guide the design of instructional modules, professional development activities, and assessment activities. This talk reports on results from the first year where 50 teachers taught one of the 12 TELS modules in over 200 classes in 16 diverse schools. Assessments scored with the knowledge integration rubric showed that students made progress in learning complex physics topics such as electricity, mechanics, and thermodynamics. Teachers encountered primarily technological obstacles that the research team was able to address prior to implementation. Powerful scientific visualizations required extensive instructional supports to communicate to students. Currently, TELS is refining the modules, professional development, and assessments based on evidence from the first year. Preliminary design principles intended to help research teams build on the findings will be presented for audience feedback and discussion.

Teacher practices and student science grades as indicators of performance on the Reading, Mathematics, and Science Reasoning subtests of the ACT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wade, Marilyn R.

In light of the federal mandates of standardized testing at all levels set in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, the purpose of this study was to determine if a significant relationship exists between high school science averages, the number of high school science courses taken, and the ACT Reading, Mathematics, and Science Reasoning subscores with consideration of the demographic characteristics of gender, ethnicity, and school attended. Further, this study examined the influence of the instructional practices and assessment methods used by the classroom teacher on students' ACT Science Reasoning subscores. The sample consisted of four public high schools in Northwest Tennessee, which provided data for students in the graduating classes of 2003 and 2004. Eight of 16 teachers at these schools who had taught students from both graduating classes completed a survey indicating instructional practices and assessment methods used in the classroom. Multiple regression results indicated positive significant relationships of white ethnicity, high school science average, and the number of high school courses taken to the three ACT subscores. Negative significant relationships were found for black ethnicity in relation to the three ACT subscores and for gender in relation to the ACT Mathematics and ACT Science Reasoning subscore. MANOVA results indicated no significant difference in instructional practices and Mann-Whitney U test results indicated no significant difference in assessment methods of teachers at lower- and higher-scoring schools. Further study is needed to determine the types of professional development activities that teachers need and desire to make positive changes in instructional practices and assessment methods to raise levels of achievement for all students.

CosmoQuest: Educating the Public (and Ourselves) With CosmoAcademy Online Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francis, M. R.; Gay, P.

2016-12-01

CosmoAcademy is a part of the CosmoQuest mission to educate the public about astronomy, planetary science, and similar subjects. Through short-duration online classes with small enrollment, we can cover many subjects of interest to the interested layperson, taught by experts. Typical CosmoAcademy classes consist of four hours of face-to-face time, and are limited to fewer than 20 students. This is in contrast to massive online classes such as MOOCs, which often replicate typical university courses, but which rarely allow student-instructor interaction. Additionally, we offer continuing-education classes for classroom teachers and other educators on similar subjects, to let them enrich their own teaching. WeBecause of the short classes, we can offer short classes both on standard topics (the Solar System planets, introduction to cosmology) and specific subjects relating to the news (LIGO, asteroid missions). The expert instructors may be graduate students, research professionals, or anyone with the technical background. We also offer classes to train instructors before they begin teaching. These professional development classes are designed to help those without classroom experience, but also support those who To make that work, we offer classes to train the instructors before they begin teaching, if they don't have the experience or just want to learn how to be more effective in the classroom.We will present CosmoAcademy's program, and explain what it offers both to people taking the class and those who might want to teach with us.

Using News Media Databases (LexisNexis) To Identify Relevant Topics For Introductory Earth Science Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervato, C.; Jach, J. Y.; Ridky, R.

2003-12-01

Introductory Earth science courses are undergoing pedagogical changes in universities across the country and are focusing more than ever on the non-science majors. Increasing enrollment of non-science majors in these introductory Earth science courses demands a new look at what is being taught and how the content can be objectively chosen. Assessing the content and effectiveness of these courses requires a quantitative investigation of introductory Earth science topics and their relevance to current issues and concerns. Relevance of Earth science topics can be linked to improved students' attitude toward science and a deeper understanding of concepts. We have used the Internet based national news search-engine LexisNexis Academic Universe (http://www.lexisnexis.org/) to select the occurrence of Earth science terms over the last 12 months, five and ten years both regionally and nationally. This database of term occurrences is being used to examine how Earth sciences have evolved in the news through the last 10 years and is also compared with textbook contents and course syllabi from randomly selected introductory earth science courses across the nation. These data constitute the quantitative foundation for this study and are being used to evaluate the relevance of introductory earth science course content. The relevance of introductory course content and current real-world issues to student attitudes is a crucial factor when considering changes in course curricula and pedagogy. We have examined students' conception of the nature of science and attitudes towards science and learning science using a Likert-scale assessment instrument in the fall 2002 Geology 100 classes at Iowa State University. A pre-test and post-test were administered to see if the students' attitudes changed during the semester using as reference a control group comprised of geoscience undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty. The results of the attitude survey have been analyzed in terms of student demographics and socioeconomic variables (e.g., year in school, gender).

"Making the Ordinary More Extraordinary": Exploring Creativity as a Health Promotion Practice Among Older Adults in a Community-Based Professionally Taught Arts Program.

PubMed

Cantu, Adelita G; Fleuriet, K Jill

2018-06-01

Document psychosocial and mental well-being outcomes across artistic mediums and classes of a community-based, professionally taught arts program for older adults. One hundred and thirty-eight students completed pre and post class surveys about expectations/experiences when creating art in four mediums (painting, drawing, mixed media, creative writing). In addition, 162 students composed one-paragraph biographical narratives describing their relationships to art and creative engagement. Text was coded for a priori and emergent themes to identify and explain well-being outcomes. Results of this new study supported and expanded our earlier model of improved psychosocial and mental well-being due to creative engagement: impact of class-cognitive focus and outcome of class-cognitive focus, happiness as component of mental and social well-being due to creative engagement, and robust sense of calmness during the creative process. Results suggest that professionally taught arts programming can contribute to well-being and may contribute to brain health through promoting an enhanced ability to focus. Holistic nursing treats creativity as healing, and results suggest that creative engagement should be a priority in therapeutic programming, and individual counseling for older adults to begin engaging in some form of art making suited to their abilities should be incorporated into nursing practice.

How Is Science Being Taught? Measuring Evidence-Based Teaching Practices across Undergraduate Science Departments

PubMed Central

Drinkwater, Michael J.; Matthews, Kelly E.; Seiler, Jacob

2017-01-01

While there is a wealth of research evidencing the benefits of active-learning approaches, the extent to which these teaching practices are adopted in the sciences is not well known. The aim of this study is to establish an evidential baseline of teaching practices across a bachelor of science degree program at a large research-intensive Australian university. Our purpose is to contribute to knowledge on the adoption levels of evidence-based teaching practices by faculty within a science degree program and inform our science curriculum review in practical terms. We used the Teaching Practices Inventory (TPI) to measure the use of evidence-based teaching approaches in 129 courses (units of study) across 13 departments. We compared the results with those from a Canadian institution to identify areas in need of improvement at our institution. We applied a regression analysis to the data and found that the adoption of evidence-based teaching practices differs by discipline and is higher in first-year classes at our institution. The study demonstrates that the TPI can be used in different institutional contexts and provides data that can inform practice and policy. PMID:28232589

Urban fifth graders' connections-making between formal earth science content and their lived experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brkich, Katie Lynn

2014-03-01

Earth science education, as it is traditionally taught, involves presenting concepts such as weathering, erosion, and deposition using relatively well-known examples—the Grand Canyon, beach erosion, and others. However, these examples—which resonate well with middle- and upper-class students—ill-serve students of poverty attending urban schools who may have never traveled farther from home than the corner store. In this paper, I explore the use of a place-based educational framework in teaching earth science concepts to urban fifth graders and explore the connections they make between formal earth science content and their lived experiences using participant-driven photo elicitation techniques. I argue that students are able to gain a sounder understanding of earth science concepts when they are able to make direct observations between the content and their lived experiences and that when such direct observations are impossible they make analogies of appearance, structure, and response to make sense of the content. I discuss additionally the importance of expanding earth science instruction to include man-made materials, as these materials are excluded traditionally from the curriculum yet are most immediately available to urban students for examination.

The College Literature Class: Observation and Description of Class Sessions on "The Scarlet Letter."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitkpatrick, Carolyn Grinnell

How seven college teachers and their students discussed Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" is described in order to discover basic information about how different teachers approach the teaching of the same work. All of the classes were surveys of American literature taught by experienced teachers. The 24 class hours were tape-recorded and…

Soil science and geology: Connects, disconnects and new opportunities in geoscience education

USGS Publications Warehouse

Landa, E.R.

2004-01-01

Despite historical linkages, the fields of geology and soil science have developed along largely divergent paths in the United States during much of the mid- to late- twentieth century. The shift in recent decades within both disciplines to greater emphasis on environmental quality issues and a systems approach has created new opportunities for collaboration and cross-training. Because of the importance of the soil as a dynamic interface between the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere, introductory and advanced soil science classes are now being taught in a number of earth and environmental science departments. The National Research Council's recent report, Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science, highlights the soil zone as part of the land surface-to-groundwater "critical zone" requiring additional investigation. To better prepare geology undergraduates to deal with complex environmental problems, their training should include a fundamental understanding of the nature and properties of soils. Those undergraduate geology students with an interest in this area should be encouraged to view soil science as a viable earth science specialty area for graduate study. Summer internships such as those offered by the National Science Foundation-funded Integrative Graduate Education, Research, and Training (IGERT) programs offer geology undergraduates the opportunity to explore research and career opportunities in soil science.

Integration of e-learning technologies in an interprofessional health science course.

PubMed

Carbonaro, Mike; King, Sharla; Taylor, Elizabeth; Satzinger, Franziska; Snart, Fern; Drummond, Jane

2008-02-01

Advances in information and communication technology are influencing instructional formats and delivery modes for post secondary teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to determine whether interprofessional team process skills traditionally taught in a small group face-to-face classroom setting could be taught in a blended learning environment; without compromising the pedagogical approach and collaborative Group Investigation Model (Sharan & Sharan 1992) used in the course. A required interprofessional team development course designed to teach health science students (Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Dentistry, Dental Hygiene, Medical Laboratory Science, and Nutrition) team process skills was redesigned from a 100% face-to-face delivery format to a blended learning format where 70% of the instruction was delivered using a new synchronous virtual classroom technology (Elluminate www.elluminate.com) in conjunction with asynchronous technology (WebCT). It was hypothesized there would be no significant difference between the blended learning format and the traditional face-to-face format in the development of interprofessional team knowledge, skills and attitudes. The two formats were evaluated on demographic information, computer experience, and interprofessional team attitudes, knowledge and skills. The three main findings are: (a) no significant differences between student groups on achieving team process skills, (b) an observation of differences between the groups on team dynamics, and (c) a more positive achievement of course learning objectives perceived by students in the blended learning class. The results provide evidence to support our blended learning format without compromising pedagogy. They also suggest that this format enhances students' perceptions of their learning.

Special Classes for Gifted Students? Absolutely!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burton-Szabo, Sally

1996-01-01

This article makes a case for special classes for gifted students and answers objections to special classes raised by the middle school movement and the cooperative learning movement. A sample "Celebration of Me" unit taught to gifted seventh graders which involved poetry, literature, personal development, art, music, and physical fitness is…

The flipped classroom stimulates greater learning and is a modern 21st century approach to teaching today's undergraduates.

PubMed

Mortensen, C J; Nicholson, A M

2015-07-01

Many classrooms in higher education still rely on a transformative approach to teaching where students attend lectures and earn course grades through examination. In the modern age, traditional lectures are argued by some as obsolete and do not address the learning needs of today’s students. An emerging pedagogical approach is the concept of the flipped classroom. The flipped classroom can simply be described as students viewing asynchronous video lectures on their own and then engaging in active learning during scheduled class times. In this study, we examined the flipped classroom teaching environment on student learning gains in an Introduction to Equine Science course. Students (n = 130) were asked to view 7.5 h of recorded lectures divided into 8 learning modules, take online quizzes to enforce lecture viewing, take 3 in-class exams, and prepare to participate in active learning during scheduled class times. Active learning approaches included individual activities, paired activities, informal small groups, and large group activities. When compared to students in the traditional lecture format in earlier years, students in the flipped format scored higher on all 3 exams (P < 0.05), with both formats taught by the same instructor. Analysis of ACT scores demonstrated no intellectual capacity differences between the student populations. To evaluate any gains in critical thinking, flipped format students were asked to take the Cornell Critical Thinking Exam (version X). Scores improved from the pretest (50.8 ± 0.57) to the posttest (54.4 ± 0.58; P < 0.01). In the flipped course, no correlations were found with student performance and interactions with online content. Students were asked in class to evaluate their experiences based on a 5-point Likert scale: 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The flipped classroom was ranked as an enjoyable learning experience with a mean of 4.4 ± 0.10, while students responded positively to other pointed questions. In formal course evaluations, flipped format students ranked the following higher (P < 0.05): instructor availability to assist students; encouragement of independent, creative, and critical thinking; and amount learned. Overall, the flipped classroom proved to be a positive learning experience for students. As the classroom continues to modernize, pedagogical approaches such as the flipped classroom should be considered for many lecture-style courses taught in the animal sciences.

Former Students' Feedback on a Liberal Arts Undergraduate Course in Entrepreneurship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Egge, Karl A.

2006-01-01

We present initial and preliminary results from a questionnaire survey in early 2005 of former students who took the only entrepreneurship class taught once/year at Macalester College. The objective was to elicit their opinions of what should be taught, the importance of alternative classroom pedagogies, and judgments on how to evaluate student…

Teaching Project-Based Assessment in 12 Days in a Developing Country

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hargis, Jace

2007-01-01

Through a partnership between the University of North Florida (UNF) and the University of Belize (UB), faculty members from UNF taught a graduate course on Assessment and Measurement at UB to train in-service teachers and principals in the area of educational leadership. Two classes totalling 71 graduate students were taught during a three-week…

Inexpensive Equipment for the Physics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koehn, Theodore

2013-01-01

The author taught for years in rural high schools, where students often helped their parents out around the house or farm with chores, learning basic mechanical skills that he could then build on in class. Then the author taught in an urban high school, where student skills often centered on video games and other electronics. The author knew that…

STUDIES IN THE USE OF COLOR.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HINDS, LILLIAN R.

STUDIES RELATED TO WORDS IN COLOR, THE MORPHOLOGICO-ALGEBRAIC APPROACH TO TEACHING READING, ARE DISCUSSED. ADULT CLASSES IN MILWAUKEE TAUGHT TO READ BY THIS METHOD ACHIEVED A MEAN GAIN OF .93 OF A YEAR IN 30 HOURS OF INSTRUCTION. IN EUCLID, OHIO, KINDERGARTENERS WHOSE PROGRESS WAS FOLLOWED THROUGH THE SECOND GRADE WERE TAUGHT BY WORDS IN COLOR AND…

It's Instruction over Place--Not the Other Way Around!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kauffman, James M.; Badar, Jeanmarie

2017-01-01

Full inclusion of students with disabilities focuses on where students are taught, not on instruction. The idea that all students, including those with disabilities, can and should be taught together in the same class and school is a highly prized myth. Focusing on inclusion rather than on appropriate instruction and on a continuum of alternative…

Teaching Experiences of Students with Special Educational Needs in Co-Taught and Non-Co-Taught Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strogilos, Vasilis; Avramidis, Elias

2016-01-01

Co-teaching has gained considerable interest as a service delivery model for promoting the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream classrooms. This study examines whether co-teaching has an effect on the teaching experiences of 12 students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 10 students with intellectual…

Going deeper: teaching more than the mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruck, R. A.

2013-02-01

What follows is a description of an introductory holography course titled "Lasers and Holography," taught by the author at Columbia College Chicago since 1997. Because this is a science class at an arts college with an open admissions policy, these students have many different levels of education, dissimilar backgrounds, and varied fields of interest. There are few science majors. Therefore, specific learning objectives are developed. The author contends that for many of these students it is not enough to teach the physics of making holograms. To inspire and instill a lifelong appreciation for science and physics, one must go still deeper. Students need to be touched on more than just an intellectual level. Consequently, a broader approach is used. Ultimately, it may stir students to want to learn more, and to be confident they can. The paper addresses: 1) Becoming aware of one's individual state of seeing 2) Perceptual illusions: their impact on the advancement of science 3) Promoting artistic applications and exposing students to fine art holography 4) Teaching holography as an information processing, as well as an image-making technology 5) Introducing and exploring philosophical implications of holographic principles.

Student performance in and perceptions of a high structure undergraduate human anatomy course.

PubMed

Shaffer, Justin F

2016-11-01

Human anatomy has usually been taught in a didactic fashion in colleges and universities. However, recent calls from United States governmental agencies have called for the transformation of undergraduate life sciences education to include active learning in the classroom. In addition, high structure courses have been shown to increase student engagement both in and out of the classroom and to improve student performance. Due to these reform efforts and the evidence on the benefits of these student-centered pedagogies, the goal of this study was to develop and assess a high structure college undergraduate human anatomy course with a lecture and laboratory component. The course was taught using a systems anatomy approach that required students to read the textbook and complete assignments before class, actively participate in class, and complete review quizzes after class. Results showed that teaching with high structure methods did not negatively affect any student groups (based on gender, ethnicity, or major) as measured by performance on lecture examinations and laboratory practical examinations. Students reported that reading the textbook and working with anatomical models were the most important towards helping them learn the course material and students' confidence in achieving the course goals significantly increased at the end of the course. The successful development and implementation of this course suggests that it is possible to teach human anatomy using active learning and high structure. Future studies can now be conducted to determine the contributions of specific course components to student success in high structure human anatomy courses. Anat Sci Educ 9: 516-528. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Exploring Science Through Polar Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfirman, S. L.; Bell, R. E.; Zadoff, L.; Kelsey, R.

2003-12-01

Exploring the Poles is a First Year Seminar course taught at Barnard College, Columbia University. First Year Seminars are required of incoming students and are designed to encourage critical analysis in a small class setting with focused discussion. The class links historical polar exploration with current research in order to: introduce non-scientists to the value of environmental science through polar literature; discuss issues related to venturing into the unknown that are of relevance to any discipline: self-reliance, leadership, preparation, decisions under uncertainty; show students the human face of science; change attitudes about science and scientists; use data to engage students in exploring/understanding the environment and help them learn to draw conclusions from data; integrate research and education. These goals are met by bringing analysis of early exploration efforts together with a modern understanding of the polar environment. To date to class has followed the efforts of Nansen in the Fram, Scott and Amundsen in their race to the pole, and Shackleton's Endurance. As students read turn-of-the-century expedition journals, expedition progress is progressively revealed on an interactive map showing the environmental context. To bring the exploration process to life, students are assigned to expedition teams for specific years and the fates of the student "expeditions" are based on their own decisions. For example, in the Arctic, they navigate coastal sea ice and become frozen into the ice north of Siberia, re-creating Nansen's polar drift. Fates of the teams varied tremendously: some safely emerged at Fram Strait in 4 years, while others nearly became hopelessly lost in the Beaufort Gyre. Students thus learn about variability in the current polar environment through first hand experience, enabling them to appreciate the experiences, decisions, and, in some cases, the luck, of polar explorers. Evaluation by the Columbia Center for New Media, Teaching and Learning shows that combining historical texts with current data/simulations is an extremely powerful way of engaging non-scientists in science, and explaining the role of science and the environment in decision-making.

From Teacher-at-Sea to Authentic Science in the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzer, M. A.; Laj, C.

2007-12-01

Research has shown that most teachers will teach the way they have been taught, unless a sustainable intervention has taken place. This has the greatest implications for teachers of science, where those who have been taught with inquiry approaches will employ inquiry approaches in their classrooms, and those who have been taught with lecture and note taking will teach primarily using lectures and note taking. If our children are to learn about the nature of science, they need to be taught using constructivist and inquiry methods. A teacher who only uses textbooks and lectures will not create students who can employ critical thinking skills indicative of the nature of science. There is a way to change the way our teachers teach science, and that is by exposing teachers to authentic inquiry. The Teacher at Sea Program sponsored by Institut Polaire Francais (IPEV) created such an opportunity for 4 teachers, who participated in the PACHIDERME deep sea sediment cruise on the R/V Marion Dufresne off the coast of Chile for 3 weeks in February, 2007. While onboard the teachers assisted research scientists from France, Germany, Norway, and Chile in their quest to gather and analyze sediment cores for clues to past climates. The teachers were immersed in the research projects right from the start. They all participated in a "watch" and assisted those on the watch with the processing of the cores, which included properly labeling and packaging each of the core segments. Prior to the packaging, preliminary analysis was done to identify the physical and biological attributes of the core. The scientists gave of their time to coach the teachers not only on the techniques they were using, but also on the process of science. Whether it's working on an unstable platform, coring into the unknown, or adjusting to the weather that Mother Nature brings, the nature and process of science out at sea is complicated. The teachers came to realize this as they sailed in and out of the fjord region and into the open ocean off the coast of Chile, and shared these experiences with colleagues and students from around the world. They sent daily logs via email, sent pictures, and answered questions sent by teachers and students from Europe, the United States, and Chile. Students kept journals as they followed the daily events of the teachers at sea. A powerpoint presentation documenting the scientific endeavors of the cruise was created and is being used by many teachers as a tool to show how scientific research is done at sea. Was this cruise effective in changing the teaching styles of those teachers on board? The teachers observed how scientists generate questions, propose study plans, and employ creative methods to answer those questions. Having witnessed the nature and process first hand, these teachers reassessed their teaching styles for scientific validity. They are employing a greater number of open/full inquiry projects where the students are constructing and seeking to answer their own questions. These students will leave their classes knowing about the challenges of doing science, and the excitement in doing science. Whether it's out at sea, in the field, or in a lab, the participation of teachers in authentic inquiry is the best way to ensure our students are participating in authentic inquiry.

Space Rocks Tell Their Secrets: Space Science Applications of Physics and Chemistry for High School and College Classes: Update

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindstrom, M. M.; Tobola, K. W.; Stocco, K.; Henry, M.; Allen, J. S.; McReynolds, Julie; Porter, T. Todd; Veile, Jeri

2004-01-01

As the scientific community studies Mars remotely for signs of life and uses Martian meteorites as its only available samples, teachers, students, and the general public continue to ask, How do we know these meteorites are from Mars? This question sets the stage for a six-lesson instructional package Space Rocks Tell Their Secrets. Expanding on the short answer It s the chemistry of the rock , students are introduced to the research that reveals the true identities of the rocks. Since few high school or beginning college students have the opportunity to participate in this level of research, a slide presentation introduces them to the labs, samples, and people involved with the research. As they work through the lessons and interpret authentic data, students realize that the research is an application of two basic science concepts taught in the classroom, the electromagnetic spectrum and isotopes.

The APSU 0.5m Telescope - A Hands-On Learning Environment for Secondary Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allyn Smith, J.; Buckner, S. L.; Pirkle, S. F.

2012-05-01

Physical science teachers with hands-on experience are critical to secondary education learning. In "Before It’s Too Late," the U.S. Department of Education (2000) estimated "about 56% of high school students taking physical science are taught by out-of-field teachers." In Tennessee, the problem is even greater, while the demand is increasing. This project aims to address the shortage of well-prepared physics and astronomy teachers. Austin Peay State University has recently installed a 0.5m telescope with imaging and rudimentary spectroscopic capability. We are committed to working with the College of Education to bring secondary teachers in training and practicing secondary teachers to the telescope to experience basic operations and conduct small research projects. This is done via classes and summer workshops. We describe the program setup, expectations for the participants, learning outcomes, and the evaluation process.

Process-oriented guided inquiry learning strategy enhances students' higher level thinking skills in a pharmaceutical sciences course.

PubMed

Soltis, Robert; Verlinden, Nathan; Kruger, Nicholas; Carroll, Ailey; Trumbo, Tiffany

2015-02-17

To determine if the process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) teaching strategy improves student performance and engages higher-level thinking skills of first-year pharmacy students in an Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences course. Overall examination scores and scores on questions categorized as requiring either higher-level or lower-level thinking skills were compared in the same course taught over 3 years using traditional lecture methods vs the POGIL strategy. Student perceptions of the latter teaching strategy were also evaluated. Overall mean examination scores increased significantly when POGIL was implemented. Performance on questions requiring higher-level thinking skills was significantly higher, whereas performance on questions requiring lower-level thinking skills was unchanged when the POGIL strategy was used. Student feedback on use of this teaching strategy was positive. The use of the POGIL strategy increased student overall performance on examinations, improved higher-level thinking skills, and provided an interactive class setting.

A Preliminary Study of the Effectiveness of Different Recitation Teaching Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Endorf, Robert J.; Koenig, Kathleen M.; Braun, Gregory A.

2006-02-01

We present preliminary results from a comparative study of student understanding for students who attended recitation classes which used different teaching methods. Student volunteers from our introductory calculus-based physics course attended a special recitation class that was taught using one of four different teaching methods. A total of 272 students were divided into approximately equal groups for each method. Students in each class were taught the same topic, "Changes in energy and momentum," from Tutorials in Introductory Physics. The different teaching methods varied in the amount of student and teacher engagement. Student understanding was evaluated through pretests and posttests given at the recitation class. Our results demonstrate the importance of the instructor's role in teaching recitation classes. The most effective teaching method was for students working in cooperative learning groups with the instructors questioning the groups using Socratic dialogue. These results provide guidance and evidence for the teaching methods which should be emphasized in training future teachers and faculty members.

Mapping classroom experiences through the eyes of enlace students: The development of science literate identities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oemig, Paulo Andreas

The culture of a science classroom favors a particular speech community, thus membership requires students becoming bilingual and bicultural at the same time. The complexity of learning science rests in that it not only possesses a unique lexicon and discourse, but it ultimately entails a way of knowing. My dissertation examined the academic engagement and perceptions of a group (N=30) of high school students regarding their science literate practices. These students were participating in an Engaging Latino Communities for Education (ENLACE) program whose purpose is to increase Latino high school graduation rates and assist them with college entrance requirements. At the time of the study, 19 students were enrolled in different science classes to fulfill the science requirements for graduation. The primary research question: What kind of science classroom learning environment supports science literate identities for Latino/a students? was addressed through a convergent parallel mixed research design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Over the course of an academic semester I interviewed all 30 students arranged in focus groups and observed in their science classes. ENLACE students expressed interest in science when it was taught through hands-on activities or experiments. Students also stressed the importance of having teachers who made an effort to get to know them as persons and not just as students. Students felt more engaged in science when they perceived their teachers respected them for their experiences and knowledge. Findings strongly suggest students will be more interested in science when they have opportunities to learn through contextualized practices. Science literate identities can be promoted when inquiry serves as a vehicle for students to engage in the language of the discipline in all its modalities. Inquiry-based activities, when carefully planned and implemented, can provide meaningful spaces for students to construct knowledge, evaluate claims, and collaborate with each other.

Philomaths, Herschel, and the myth of the self-taught man

PubMed Central

Winterburn, Emily

2014-01-01

The role of technicians and background characters in the historical practice of science is slowly gaining recognition. This paper looks at the collective effort involved in learning science, using as my case study the eighteenth-century musician turned astronomer, William Herschel. Lacking a university education, Herschel, like many contemporaries, presented himself as self-taught, thereby hiding his engagement with a rich network of didactic resources. Placing Herschel's story within the history of pedagogy, I argue that this network, previously discussed only in the context of popular or marketplace science, was an important resource for science education at its highest level. PMID:25254276

Storms in Space: Bringing NASA Earth-Sun Science Educational Resources to Hearing- Impaired Students.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowry, K.; Sindt, M.; Jahn, J.

2007-12-01

Using assistive technology, children with hearing loss can actively participate in the hearing world. However, to develop the necessary skills, hearing-impaired students need to be immersed in a language-rich environment which compensates for the lack of "incidental" learning that typifies the language acquisition of their peers with typical hearing. For any subject matter taught in class, this means that the conceptual and language framework of the topic has to be provided in addition to regular class materials. In a collaboration between the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children and the Southwest Research Institute, we are exploring how NASA-developed educational resources covering Space Science topics can be incorporated successfully in blended classrooms containing children with hearing loss and those with typical hearing in grades 3-5. Utilizing the extensive routine language monitoring performed at Sunshine Cottage, student progress is directly monitored during the year as well as from year to year. This allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the resources used. Since all instruction at Sunshine Cottage is auditory-oral, our experiences in using those materials can be fed back directly into mainstream classrooms of the same grade levels.

Design for learning - a case study of blended learning in a science unit.

PubMed

Gleadow, Roslyn; Macfarlan, Barbara; Honeydew, Melissa

2015-01-01

Making material available through learning management systems is standard practice in most universities, but this is generally seen as an adjunct to the 'real' teaching, that takes place in face-to-face classes. Lecture attendance is poor, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage students, both in the material being taught and campus life. This paper describes the redevelopment of a large course in scientific practice and communication that is compulsory for all science students studying at our Melbourne and Malaysian campuses, or by distance education. Working with an educational designer, a blended learning methodology was developed, converting the environment provided by the learning management system into a teaching space, rather than a filing system. To ensure focus, topics are clustered into themes with a 'question of the week', a pre-class stimulus and follow up activities. The content of the course did not change, but by restructuring the delivery using educationally relevant design techniques, the content was contextualised resulting in an integrated learning experience. Students are more engaged intellectually, and lecture attendance has improved. The approach we describe here is a simple and effective approach to bringing this university's teaching and learning into the 21 (st) century.

An Innovative Course in Technical Communication and More

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cranor, Maria B.; Price, Richard H.

2004-05-01

Several studies have shown that otherwise well-prepared physics undergraduates do not develop writing and speaking skills sufficient to the demands of graduate school or the technical workplace. To rectify this, we have developed and taught, for five semesters, a very successful course for junior and senior physics majors. Students improve their writing and speaking skills through technical projects and through a reading list which includes modules on scientific practice and ethics, pseudo science, management, and workplace collaboration. We present here an overview of this course, and discuss the pros and cons of introducing a useful, yet unusual and highly labor-intensive (for teachers and for students) class into the traditional physics curriculum.

Flipped Instruction in a High School Science Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leo, Jonathan; Puzio, Kelly

2016-10-01

This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study examining the effectiveness of flipped instruction in a 9th grade biology classroom. This study included four sections of freshmen-level biology taught by the first author at a private secondary school in the Pacific Northwest. Using a block randomized design, two sections were flipped and two remained traditional. The quiz and posttest data were adjusted for pretest differences using ANCOVA. The results suggest that flipped instruction had a positive effect student achievement, with effect sizes ranging from +0.16 to +0.44. In addition, some students reported that they preferred watching video lectures outside of class and appreciated more active approaches to learning.

Developing and Teaching an Online MBA Marketing Research Class: Implications for Online Learning Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Qin; Ganesh, Gopala

2014-01-01

The authors intend to describe the experience of developing and teaching an online marketing research class for master of business administration students. The class has been taught for four fall semesters. Each time, the class also completed an online survey, analyzed the resulting data, and wrote a detailed report for a real client. The course…

Using the Web To Deliver and Enhance Classes: Two Case Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helford, Paul Q.; Lei, Richard M.

This paper discusses two case studies conducted at Northern Arizona University. The studies are from classes that are using the World Wide Web to enhance teaching and learning. One class is the Art of Cinema, a film studies class that has been taught via Instructional Television (ITV) for five years. Various techniques have been used over the…

Effects of multisensory resources on the achievement and science attitudes of seventh-grade suburban students taught science concepts on and above grade level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, Patrice Helen

This research was designed to determine the relationships among students' achievement scores on grade-level science content, on science content that was three years above-grade level, on attitudes toward instructional approaches, and learning-styles perceptual preferences when instructional approaches were multisensory versus traditional. The dependent variables for this investigation were scores on achievement posttests and scores on the attitude survey. The independent variables were the instructional strategy and students' perceptual preferences. The sample consisted of 74 educationally oriented seventh-grade students. The Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) (Dunn, Dunn, & Price, 1990) was administered to determine perceptual preferences. The control group was taught seventh-grade and tenth-grade science units using a traditional approach and the experimental group was instructed on the same units using multisensory instructional resources. The Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) (Pizzo, 1981) was administered to reveal attitudinal differences. The traditional unit included oral reading from the textbook, completing outlines, labeling diagrams, and correcting the outlines and diagrams as a class. The multisensory unit included five instructional stations established in different sections of the classroom to allow students to learn by: (a) manipulating Flip Chutes, (b) using Electroboards, (c) assembling Task Cards, (d) playing a kinesthetic Floor Game, and (e) reading an individual Programmed Learning Sequence. Audio tapes and scripts were provided at each location. Students circulated in groups of four from station to station. The data subjected to statistical analyses supported the use of a multisensory, rather than a traditional approach, for teaching science content that is above-grade level. T-tests revealed a positive and significant impact on achievement scores (p < 0.0007). No significance was detected on grade-level achievement nor on the perceptual-preference effect. Furthermore, the students indicated significantly more positive attitudes when instructed with a multisensory approach on either grade-level or above-grade level science content (p < 0.0001). The findings supported using a multisensory approach when teaching science concepts that are new to and difficult for students (Martini, 1986).

MSaTERs: Mathematics, Science, and Technology Educators and Researchers of The Ohio State University. Proceedings of the Annual Spring Conference (2nd, May 16, 1998, Columbus, OH).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Michelle K., Ed.; Costner, Kelly M., Ed.

The Mathematics, Science, and Technology Educators and Researchers of The Ohio State University (MSaTERS-OSU) is a newly formed student organization. Papers from the conference include: (1) "Was the Geometry Course, The Nature of Proof, Taught by Harold Pascoe Fawcett the Best Course Ever Taught in Secondary School?" (Frederick Flener); (2) "A…

Mineral Physics Educational Modules for Advanced Undergraduates and Graduate Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burnley, P. C.; Thomas, S.; Honn, D. K.

2011-12-01

We are assembling a group of web-based educational modules for a course entitled "Introduction to Mineral Physics". Although the modules are designed to function as part of a full semester course, each module will also be able to stand alone. The modules are targeted at entry level graduate students and advanced undergraduate students. Learning outcomes for the course are being developed in consultation with educators throughout the mineral physics community. Potential users include mineral physicists teaching "bricks and mortar" graduate classes at their own institutions, mineral physicists teaching graduate classes in a distance education setting, mineralogy teachers interested in including supplementary material in their undergraduate mineralogy class, undergraduates doing independent study projects and graduate students and colleagues in other subdisciplines who wish to brush up on mineral physics topics. The modules reside on the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College web site in the On the Cutting Edge - Teaching Mineralogy collection. Links to the materials will be posted on the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences website. The modules will be piloted in a graduate level distance education course in mineral physics taught from UNLV during the spring 2012 semester. This course and others like it can address the current problems faced by faculty in state universities where rising minimum enrollments are making it difficult to teach a suitable graduate course to incoming students.

A Sourcebook of Cooperative Learning Activities for Introductory Undergraduate Astronomy for Non-Science Majors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deming, Grace L.; Miller, Scott T.; Trasco, John D.

1996-05-01

Students become more interested in learning and retain more in courses that rely on active rather than passive teaching methods. Cooperative learning activities can be structured to engage students toward greater participation in their own education. We have developed a sourcebook containing a variety of cooperative learning methods and activities to aid in the teaching of astronomy at the undergraduate level. Special effort has been made to include activities that can be used within the classroom or as a group homework assignment, in courses with teaching assistants and those without, and in large or small classes. In addition to reinforcing concepts taught in introductory astronomy, the activities are structured to strengthen skills associated with a scientifically literate person. A goal of undergraduate science education is to produce citizens who can understand and share in the excitement of scientific discoveries as well as make informed decisions regarding scientific and technological issues. The sourcebook, available in August, 1996, will contain sections on the advantages/disadvantages of group activities, basic cooperative learning techniques, in class/out of class activities, and how to use peer instruction to expose students to the wonderfaul astronomy resources on the internet. Each activity includes suggestions to the instructor as to how the assignment can be incorporated into an introductory astronomy course. This project funded by NSF DUE-9354503.

Roles, intents, and actions: First-year teachers' uses of discourse during elementary science instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, William J., Jr.

In this study, I examined how three first-year elementary teachers constructed and used classroom discourse during science instruction. The three participants, though graduates from different universities, learned to teach science through similar science methods courses, which stressed the importance of inquiry-based science instruction. The participants taught different grade levels, and two of them taught at the same school. Data sources included field notes, videotapes, audiotapes, and semi-structured teacher interviews. While monologic and dialogic discourse existed in all three classrooms, monologic discourse was more prominent, especially when the discourse was teacher controlled. Dialogic discourse occurred most often during student-centered activities. The teachers constructed discourse with authoritative function to present science content and determine student comprehension. Generative function was most likely during student-based small group discussions. Monologic character often aligned with authoritative function, and dialogic character often aligned with generative function. However, monologic/generative and dialogic/authoritative discourse events did occur, contributing to the development of a discourse theory model. The teacher explanations for discourse included classroom control, inadequate planning, time constraints, life experiences, science education standards, and assessment. The teachers relied on their texts, kits, and state science standards to determine the content and methods for science instruction. They rarely reported that their science methods courses influenced how they taught science. The observed lessons rarely aligned with science education reform descriptions of appropriate science instruction. Implications include the need for in-service programs for beginning science teachers, curricular reform for science texts and kits, and explicit instruction of discourse strategies in science methods courses and in-service programs.

Summer Spectacular: Children's Literature Workshops, Institutes, and Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huff, Karen; Pavonetti, Linda; Roser, Nancy

2012-01-01

No matter how long teachers have been out of school, or how many children's literature classes they have taught, when summer comes, most of them long to "go back to class." It is because of the intriguing, exciting, reinvigorating institutes and conferences their colleagues offer in summer. In this interview, two veteran planners of summer…

Intensive Education: How It Affects Teachers' and Students' Work Conditions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fallon, Karin

This qualitative study of a high school using intensive education shows how teaching and learning were improved when teachers taught and students attended one class daily for 6 weeks. Intensive education is an alternative scheduling and organizational format that reduces class size and extends class length by having teachers and students in one…

Estimation of a Frontier Production Function for the South Carolina Educational Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Samuel T.; Cohn, Elchanan

1997-01-01

Estimates frontier production functions for South Carolina's educational process, using data from 541 classes. Classes taught by teachers who received merit awards show greater mathematics and reading achievement gain scores, as do classes with fewer free-lunch students. There was a positive relationship between achievement and (larger) class…

A Study of Coordination Between Mathematics and Chemistry in the Pre-Technical Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loiseau, Roger A.

This research was undertaken to determine whether the mathematics course offered to students taking courses in chemical technology was adequate. Students in a regular class and an experimental class were given mathematics and chemistry pretests and posttests. The experimental class was taught using a syllabus designed to maximize the coherence…

Impact of Class Lecture Webcasting on Attendance and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Traphagan, Tomoko; Kucsera, John V.; Kishi, Kyoko

2010-01-01

The present study investigated the impact of class lecture webcasts on students' attendance and learning. The research design employed four data collection methods in two class sections--one with webcast access and another without--of the same course taught by the same instructors. Results indicated the following four major findings. (1) The…

Learning the Class Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasanen, Kati; Raty, Hannu; Snellman, Leila

2003-01-01

The class test is one of the important school practices which construct and convey to the pupils the predominant conception of ability and the related psychometric notion of individuality represented by the school. The aim of this study was to examine how the class test is actually "taught" to children--what sorts of elements the teacher…

To Click or Not to Click

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abramzon, Nina; Sadaghiani, Homeyra

2009-03-01

A comparison of clickers v. flashcards in a controlled setting was done to test a) whether clickers show an improvement over flashcards in students learning the following concepts: i) Coulomb's force law and ii) magnetic fields caused by currents, and b) if students using clickers are more open towards conceptual questions and the peer instruction method compared to students using flashcards. Two classes taught concurrently by the same instructor were taught identically, except that in one class the collection of answers to concept questions was done using clickers, and in the other using flashcards. To test which students learned the concepts better, a few multiple choice questions from a standard exam used in physics education were included in the final exam of both classes, and the performance of the two classes was compared. In addition, a questionnaire was given to each class to evaluate students' opinions about the benefits of lectures including conceptual TPS questions and the use of related conceptual questions on exams. The results of the survey were compared between the two classes. The experimental design and results of the study will be presented.

A Study on Teaching Gases to Prospective Primary Science Teachers Through Problem-Based Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Senocak, Erdal; Taskesenligil, Yavuz; Sozbilir, Mustafa

2007-07-01

The aim of this study was to compare the achievement of prospective primary science teachers in a problem-based curriculum with those in a conventional primary science teacher preparation program with regard to success in learning about gases and developing positive attitudes towards chemistry. The subjects of the study were 101 first year undergraduate students, who were in two different classes and who were taught by the same lecturer. One of the classes was randomly selected as the intervention group in which problem-based learning (PBL) was used, and the other as the control in which conventional teaching methods were used. The data were obtained through use of the gases diagnostic test (GDT), the chemistry attitude scale (CAS), and scales specific to students’ evaluation of PBL such as the peer evaluation scale (PES), self evaluation scale (SES), tutor’s performance evaluation scale (TPES) and students’ evaluation of PBL scale (SEPBLS). Data were analysed using SPSS 10.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). In order to find out the effect of the intervention (PBL) on students’ learning of gases, independent sample t-tests and ANCOVA (analysis of co-variance) were used. The results obtained from the study showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of students’ GDT total mean scores and, their attitude towards chemistry, as well as PBL has a significant effect on the development of students’ skills such as self-directed learning, cooperative learning and critical thinking.

Enhancement of Performance and Motivation through Application of Digital Games in an English Language Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wichadee, Saovapa; Pattanapichet, Fasawang

2018-01-01

The study was conducted to find out what impact a digital game had on students' learning performance and motivation. A quasi-experimental study was performed with two groups of students. The experimental group was taught using the digital game "Kahoot" whereas the control group was taught with the conventional method. Pre-tests,…

Facilitating Student Learning through Contextualization. CCRC Brief. Number 53

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perin, Dolores

2011-01-01

Skills in reading, writing, and mathematics are key to academic learning but are conventionally taught separately from the discipline areas to which they must be applied. For example, students may be taught writing skills in the morning in an English course and then be expected to apply them to writing an essay in a history class in the afternoon.…

Research and Teaching: Eight Is Not Enough--The Level of Questioning and Its Impact on Learning in Clicker Cases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terry, David R.; Lemons, Paula; Armstrong, Norris; Brickman, Peggy; Ribbens, Eric; Herreid, Clyde Freeman

2016-01-01

Three college faculty taught large general biology classes using case studies and personal response systems (clickers). Each instructor taught the same eight cases in two different sections, except the questions within the cases differed. In one section the questions were lower order (LO) factual inquiries, and in the other they were largely…

Redesigning a Large Enrollment Course: The Impact on Academic Performance, Course Completion and Student Perceptions in Introductory Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hudson, Danae L.; Whisenhunt, Brooke L.; Shoptaugh, Carol F.; Rost, Ann D.; Fondren-Happel, Rachel N.

2014-01-01

Increasing college enrollments, and decreased funding have led institutions and instructors to focus on developing courses that can be taught effectively in a large class format. This article presents the effectiveness of a redesigned, blended format of Introductory Psychology taught in large sections. The goals of the project included improving…

Measuring Students' Attitudes towards Teachers' Use of Humour during Lessons: A Questionnaire Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AbdAli, Arafat; Ashur, Najoom; Ghazi, Luma; Muslim, Ammar

2016-01-01

There is a common saying that if students like their teachers, they will start liking the subjects taught by them and be more attentive in the class. "A strict teacher can be successful but a humorous teacher can be more successful" (Vijay, et al, 2014:260-61). Hence, students' attitudes towards their instructors and subjects taught by…

Integrating Total Physical Response Strategy in a Level I Spanish Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolfe, David E.; Jones, Gwendolyn

1982-01-01

Reports on an experiment in which one group of high school students was taught using Total Physical Response (TPR) for 20 minutes a day and a control group was taught by the usual manner. Results showed students in the TPR group scored better on standard unit tests and expressed greater satisfaction with their teacher and course. (EKN)

A STUDY OF FARM MECHANICS JOBS TAUGHT BY TEACHERS OF VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE IN MISSOURI.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GEORGE, WILLIAM C.

IN ORDER TO DETERMINE WHAT FARM MECHANICS JOBS WERE BEING TAUGHT IN MISSOURI HIGH SCHOOL VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE DAY CLASSES, 175 VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE TEACHERS DURING THE 1962-63 SCHOOL YEAR RESPONDED TO A QUESTIONNAIRE WHICH INCLUDED 73 FARM MECHANICS JOBS IN 16 SUBJECT MATTER AREAS BASED ON A MISSOURI STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LIST. THE…

Decoding Skills Acquired by Low Readers Taught in Regular Classrooms Using Clinical Techniques. Research Report No. 35.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallistel, Elizabeth; Fischer, Phyllis

This study evaluated the decoding skills acquired by low readers in an experimental project that taught low readers in regular class through the use of clinical procedures based on a synthetic phonic, multisensory approach. An evaluation instrument which permitted the tabulation of specific decoding skills was administered as a pretest and…

Explicit argumentation instruction to facilitate conceptual understanding and argumentation skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seda Cetin, Pinar

2014-01-01

Background: Argumentation is accepted by many science educators as a major component of science education. Many studies have investigated students' conceptual understanding and their engagement in argumentative activities. However, studies conducted in the subject of chemistry are very rare. Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of argumentation-based chemistry lessons on pre-service science teachers' understanding of reaction rate concepts, their quality of argumentation, and their consideration of specific reaction rate concepts in constructing an argument. Moreover, students' perceptions of argumentation lessons were explored. Sample: There were 116 participants (21 male and 95 female), who were pre-service first-grade science teachers from a public university. The participants were recruited from the two intact classes of a General Chemistry II course, both of which were taught by the same instructor. Design and methods: In the present study, non-equivalent control group design was used as a part of quasi-experimental design. The experimental group was taught using explicit argumentation activities, and the control group was instructed using traditional instruction. The data were collected using a reaction rate concept test, a pre-service teachers' survey, and the participants' perceptions of the argumentation lessons questionnaire. For the data analysis, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, the Mann-Whitney U-test and qualitative techniques were used. Results: The results of the study indicated that an argumentation-based intervention caused significantly better acquisition of scientific reaction rate-related concepts and positively impacted the structure and complexity of pre-service teachers' argumentation. Moreover, the majority of the participants reported positive feelings toward argumentation activities. Conclusions: As students are encouraged to state and support their view in the chemistry classroom when studying reaction rate, it was observed that their understanding increased in terms of both the context and the quality of the argumentation that they produced. In light of the findings, it is suggested that argumentation activities should be developed to promote students' science content knowledge and argumentation skills.

Gaining A Geological Perspective Through Active Learning in the Large Lecture Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapp, J. L.; Richardson, R. M.; Slater, S. J.

2008-12-01

NATS 101 A Geological Perspective is a general education course taken by non science majors. We offer 600 seats per semester, with four large lecture sections taught by different faculty members. In the past we have offered optional once a week study groups taught by graduate teaching assistants. Students often feel overwhelmed by the science and associated jargon, and many are prone to skipping lectures altogether. Optional study groups are only attended by ~50% of the students. Faculty members find the class to be a lot of work, mainly due to the grading it generates. Activities given in lecture are often short multiple choice or true false assignments, limiting the depth of understanding we can evaluate. Our students often lack math and critical thinking skills, and we spend a lot of time in lecture reintroducing ideas students should have already gotten from the text. In summer 2007 we were funded to redesign the course. Our goals were to 1) cut the cost of running the course, and 2) improve student learning. Under our redesign optional study groups were replaced by once a week mandatory break out sessions where students complete activities that have been introduced in lecture. Break out sessions substitute for one hour of lecture, and are run by undergraduate preceptors and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). During the lecture period, lectures themselves are brief with a large portion of the class devoted to active learning in small groups. Weekly reading quizzes are submitted via the online course management system. Break out sessions allow students to spend more time interacting with their fellow students, undergraduate preceptors, and GTAs. They get one on one help in break out sessions on assignments designed to enhance the lecture material. The active lecture format means less of their time is devoted to listening passively to a lecture, and more time is spent peer learning an interacting with the instructor. Completing quizzes online allows students more freedom in when and where they complete their work, and we provide instant feedback on their submitted work. The University of Wyoming Cognition in Astronomy, Physics and Earth sciences Research (CAPER) Team, who specialize in project evaluation, are leading the evaluation effort. We are comparing pre-test to post-test gains on the Geoscience Concept Inventory and Attitudes Toward Science surveys before and after the redesign, and inductive analysis of student interviews and reflective writing that describe student perceptions of the modified learning environment. The redesign has cut the cost of the class per student by more than half. This was achieved primarily in two ways: 1) by greatly reducing the number of hours spent by faculty and graduate teaching assistants on preparation, class time, and grading; and 2) reducing the number of graduate teaching assistants required for the class and replacing many of them with undergraduate preceptors. Undergraduate preceptors are not paid, but receive academic credit for their teaching service. The savings from the redesign is used to allow faculty more time to work on institutional priorities.

`Risky fun' or `Authentic science'? How teachers' beliefs influence their practice during a professional development programme on outdoor learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glackin, Melissa

2016-02-01

Teaching outdoors has been established as an important pedagogical strategy; however, science classes rarely take place outside. Previous research has identified characteristics of teachers who have integrated out-of-classroom opportunities into their teaching repertoire; yet little is understood as to why teachers make these different pedagogical decisions. This paper explores the relationship between secondary science teachers' beliefs and their pedagogical practice during a two-year professional development programme associated with the 'Thinking Beyond the Classroom' project. Using data from lesson observations, interviews, session questionnaires and field notes, six teacher case studies were developed from participants completing the programme. Data analysis reveals that teachers who successfully taught outside generally held social constructivist beliefs about learning and valued 'authentic' science opportunities. Conversely, teachers who were less successful in teaching outside generally held traditional learning beliefs and simply valued the outdoors for the novelty and potential for fun. All the case study teachers were concerned about managing student learning outside, and for the majority, their concerns influenced their subsequent pedagogical practice. The findings are discussed in detail, as are the implications for pre-service and in-service professional development programmes related to outdoor science learning.

An Elective Course in Aromatherapy Science

PubMed Central

Bystrek, Mary V.; Klein, JoAnn S.

2014-01-01

Objective. To evaluate the impact of an innovative team-taught elective course on second-year (P2) students’ knowledge and skills relating to the relationship between aromatherapy and pharmacy. Design. An Aromatherapy Science elective course was offered to P2 students in an accelerated doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree program and was designed to provide an elective course experience while focusing on active-learning skills such as group work, student-led presentations, and in-class activities. Lectures were designed to reinforce core curricular threads from the basic sciences within the pharmaceutical sciences department while highlighting key aromatherapy principles. Assessment. Course evaluations, grades, and student self-assessments were used to evaluate student fulfillment and knowledge gained. Students agreed this hands-on course integrated pharmaceutical science experiences, enriched their pharmacy education, and provided knowledge to enhance their confidence in describing essential oil uses, drug interactions, and key aromatherapy clinical implications. Conclusion. Students agreed this course prepared them to identify essential oil therapeutic uses and potential essential oil-drug interactions, and interpret literature. The introduction of aromatherapy principles to pharmacy students will prepare a new generation of healthcare professionals on the role of alternative medicines. PMID:24850941

50 Years of the Astro-Science Workshop at the Adler Planetarium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammergren, Mark; Martynowycz, M. W.; Ratliff, G.

2014-01-01

Since 1964, the Adler Planetarium has hosted a program for highly motivated and interested high-school students known as the Astro-Science Workshop (ASW). Created in response to the national “call to arms” for improved science education following the stunning launch of Sputnik, ASW was originally conducted as an extracurricular astronomy class on Saturday mornings throughout the school year, for many years under the leadership of Northwestern University professor J. Allen Hynek. A gradual decline in student interest in the 1990’s led to a redesign of ASW as a summer program featuring hands-on, student-driven investigation and experimentation. Since 2002, ASW has been organized and taught by graduate student “scientist-educators” and funded through a series of grants from the NSF. For the past seven years, students have designed, built, and flown experiments on helium balloons to altitudes of around 30 km (100,000 feet). Here, as we enter its 50th anniversary, we present the history of the Astro-Science Workshop, its context among the small but still vibrant community of post-Sputnik science enrichment programs, and its rich legacy of inspiring generations of astronomers and other explorers.

Producing physician-scientists: a survey of graduates from the Harvard--MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.

PubMed

Wilkerson, L; Abelmann, W H

1993-03-01

The Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST) is a flexible, preclinical curriculum, taught by members of the faculties of both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that stresses a rigorous, scientific, quantitative approach, small classes (usually fewer than 50 students), and student-faculty interaction. The program is aimed at students with strong backgrounds in quantitative and biological sciences who are interested in careers as physician-scientists. The first 234 students of the program, who graduated between 1975 and 1985, were asked to participate in a 1990 follow-up study by completing a four-page questionnaire and submitting curricula vitae and lists of publications, if available. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Of the 234 graduates, 211 (90%) responded. Sixty-three (30%) had received both MD and PhD degrees. The graduates were twice as likely to describe their primary professional roles as academic than as clinical practice; 94 held full-time faculty positions at 50 medical schools. The 154 (73%) in research spent an average of 51% of their time on this activity. According to the 179 graduates (85%) who stated that they would choose HST again, the most frequently mentioned reasons were the quantitative approach that emphasized integration of basic science and clinical practice (49%) and the small class size (37%). The HST MD curriculum, with its emphasis on basic science and research experience, has been successful in preparing carefully selected students for careers as physician-scientists, without necessarily requiring the completion of a PhD degree.

EFFICIENTLY ESTABLISHING CONCEPTS OF INFERENTIAL STATISTICS AND HYPOTHESIS DECISION MAKING THROUGH CONTEXTUALLY CONTROLLED EQUIVALENCE CLASSES

PubMed Central

Fienup, Daniel M; Critchfield, Thomas S

2010-01-01

Computerized lessons that reflect stimulus equivalence principles were used to teach college students concepts related to inferential statistics and hypothesis decision making. Lesson 1 taught participants concepts related to inferential statistics, and Lesson 2 taught them to base hypothesis decisions on a scientific hypothesis and the direction of an effect. Lesson 3 taught the conditional influence of inferential statistics over decisions regarding the scientific and null hypotheses. Participants entered the study with low scores on the targeted skills and left the study demonstrating a high level of accuracy on these skills, which involved mastering more relations than were taught formally. This study illustrates the efficiency of equivalence-based instruction in establishing academic skills in sophisticated learners. PMID:21358904

A study of preservice elementary teachers enrolled in a discrepant-event-based physical science class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lilly, James Edward

This research evaluated the POWERFUL IDEAS IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE (PIiPS) curriculum model used to develop a physical science course taken by preservice elementary teachers. The focus was on the evaluation of discrepant events used to induce conceptual change in relation to students' ideas concerning heat, temperature, and specific heat. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used for the analysis. Data was collected during the 1998 Fall semester using two classes of physical science for elementary school teachers. The traditionally taught class served as the control group and the class using the PIiPS curriculum model was the experimental group. The PIiPS curriculum model was evaluated quantitatively for its influence on students' attitude toward science, anxiety towards teaching science, self efficacy toward teaching science, and content knowledge. An analysis of covariance was performed on the quantitative data to test for significant differences between the means of the posttests for the control and experimental groups while controlling for pretest. It was found that there were no significant differences between the means of the control and experimental groups with respect to changes in their attitude toward science, anxiety toward teaching science and self efficacy toward teaching science. A significant difference between the means of the content examination was found (F(1,28) = 14.202 and p = 0.001), however, the result is questionable. The heat and energy module was the target for qualitative scrutiny. Coding for discrepant events was adapted from Appleton's 1996 work on student's responses to discrepant event science lessons. The following qualitative questions were posed for the investigation: (1) what were the ideas of the preservice elementary students prior to entering the classroom regarding heat and energy, (2) how effective were the discrepant events as presented in the PIiPS heat and energy module, and (3) how much does the "risk taking factor" associated with not telling the students the answer right away, affect the learning of the material. It was found that preservice elementary teachers harbor similar preconceptions as the general population according to the literature. The discrepant events used in this module of the PIiPS curriculum model met with varied results. It appeared that those students who had not successfully confronted their preconceptions were less likely to accept the new concepts that were to be developed using the discrepant events. Lastly, students had shown great improvement in content understanding and developed the ability to ask deep and probing questions.

A Systemic Functional Linguistic Analysis of the Utterances of Three South African Physical Sciences Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jawahar, Kavish; Dempster, Edith R.

2013-06-01

In this study, the sociocultural view of science as a language and some quantitative language features of the complementary theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics are employed to analyse the utterances of three South African Physical Sciences teachers. Using a multi-case study methodology, this study provides a sophisticated description of the utterances of Pietermaritzburg Physical Sciences teachers in language contexts characterised by varying proportions of English Second Language (ESL) students in each class. The results reveal that, as expected, lexical cohesion as measured by the cohesive harmony index and proportion of repeated content words relative to total words, increased with an increasing proportion of ESL students. However, the use of nominalisation by the teachers and the lexical density of their utterances did not decrease with an increasing proportion of ESL students. Furthermore, the results reveal that each individual Physical Sciences teacher had a 'signature' talk, unrelated to the language context in which they taught. This study signals the urgent and critical need for South African science teacher training programmes to place a greater emphasis on the functional use of language for different language contexts in order to empower South African Physical Sciences teachers to adequately apprentice their students into the use of the register of scientific English.

The relationship between participation in student-centered discussions and the academic achievement of fifth-grade science students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathues, Patricia Kelly

Although the social constructivist theory proposed by Vygotsky states the value of discourse as a contribution to the ability of the learner to create meaning, student-led discussions have often been relegated to the language arts classroom. The standards created by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association have long recognized that learners create meaning in a social context. The National Science Education Standards have also challenged science teachers to facilitate discourse. However, the science standards document provides no specific structure through which such discourse should be taught. This study investigated the effectiveness of a discussion strategy provided by Shoop and Wright for teaching and conducting student-centered discussions (SCD). Fifth graders in one school were randomly selected and randomly assigned to one of two science classes; 22 students in one class learned and applied the SCD strategies while a second class with 19 students learned the same science concepts from a teacher using traditional methods as described by Cazden. This study used a pretest-posttest design to test the hypothesis that participation in SCD's would effect a difference in fifth-graders' abilities to comprehend science concepts. Results of independent-samples t-tests showed that while there was no significant difference between the mean ability scores of the two groups of subjects as measured by a standardized mental abilities test, the mean pretest score of the traditional group was significantly higher than the SCD group's mean pretest score. ANCOVA procedures demonstrated that the SCD group's mean posttest score was significantly higher than the mean posttest score of the traditional group. Data analysis supported the rejection of the null hypothesis. The investigator concluded that the SCD methodology contributed to students' understanding of the science concepts. Results of this study challenge content area teachers to provide direct instruction of the SCD strategies and to encourage students to engage in the construction of knowledge through such discourse. Future research should focus on the application of the SCD strategies in other settings and for various durations of time.

Teaching Astronomy using a Flipped Classroom Model of Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wenger, Matthew; Impey, Chris D.; Rivera Chavez, Wendy

2014-11-01

Astronomy: State of the Art is a MOOC specifically developed to study student participation in an online learning environment. The project aims to serve multiple audiences of learners. For this project we focused on college students who use the online environment for lectures and quizzes but whose classroom time is devoted to hands-on activities and group work; this is the “flipped classroom” model.In spring 2014, Astronomy: State of the Art was co-convened with “The Physical Universe,” a Natural Sciences course taught at the University of Arizona that satisfies a General Education requirement for non-science majors. Using the same core material as Astronomy - State of the Art (with additional modules on the physics of radiation, atomic structure, energy, and gravity that are not necessary for the informal learners), the local course employed a “flipped” model where the students access lectures and podcasts online but are in a face-to-face classroom two times a week for labs and hands-on activities, lecture tutorials, group discussions, and other research-validated tools for enhancing learning. A flipped or hybrid model gives students flexibility, uses the online medium for the aspects of instruction where interaction with an instructor isn’t required, and optimizes the scarce resource of time in a large classroom.Final student grades were closely related to their attendance, however, performance in this class was not correlated with completion of the online video lectures, even though the quizzes were closely tied to the content of these videos. The course will next be taught using Coursera which allow instructors to more closely examine the relationship between students use of course materials and understanding of course topics. The eventual goal is to recruit undergraduates from anywhere in the United States and award them transferrable credit for completing the class.

Virtual fetal pig dissection as an agent of knowledge acquisition and attitudinal change in female high school biology students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maloney, Rebecca Scudari

One way to determine if all students can learn through the use of computers is to introduce a lesson taught completely via computers and compare the results with those gained when the same lesson is taught in a traditional manner. This study attempted to determine if a virtual fetal pig dissection can be used as a viable alternative for an actual dissection for females enrolled in high school biology classes by comparing the knowledge acquisition and attitudinal change between the experimental (virtual dissection) and control (actual dissection) groups. Two hundred and twenty-four students enrolled in biology classes in a suburban all-girl parochial high school participated in this study. Female students in an all-girl high school were chosen because research shows differences in science competency and computer usage between the genders that may mask the performance of females on computer-based tasks in a science laboratory exercise. Students who completed the virtual dissection scored significantly higher on practical test and objective tests that were used to measure knowledge acquisition. Attitudinal change was measured by examining the students' attitudes toward dissections, computer usage in the classroom, and toward biology both before and after the dissections using pre and post surveys. Significant results in positive gain scores were found in the virtual dissection group's attitude toward dissections, and their negative gain score toward virtual dissections. Attitudinal changes toward computers and biology were not significant. A purposefully selected sample of the students were interviewed, in addition to gathering a sample of the students' daily dissection journals, as data highlighting their thoughts and feelings about their dissection experience. Further research is suggested to determine if a virtual laboratory experience can be a substitute for actual dissections, or may serve as an enhancement to an actual dissection.

Re-learning how to write: student successes and challenges in a targeted geoscience communication course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elwood Madden, M.; Miller-Deboer, C.; Eodice, M.; Miller, J.; Johnson, J.; Rifenburg, M.

2013-12-01

Students in OU's Geology and Geophysics (G&G) program must complete either English Technical Writing or a major-specific Geowriting class as sophomores or juniors. We asked students in Geowriting and students in a G&G colloquium course (required for G&G scholarship students and an elective for others) to complete surveys reporting their writing experiences and attitudes, as well as write an abstract for a Scientific American story to assess writing skills at the beginning and end of the semester. Geowriting students had stronger writing skills and more positive attitudes towards writing at the beginning of the semester than their colloquium peers, suggesting that students who were already interested and skilled in writing were self-selecting into the class. During the semester, Geowriting focused on improving the clarity, organization, efficiency, and mechanics of student writing and discussed how science writing is similar in some ways (argument, sentence structure, etc.), but also different in many aspects (concise, forthright, repetitive, etc) from writing tactics taught in high school and some college composition courses. Colloquium students attended the weekly scientific talks, but did not write in the class; however, some students were enrolled in freshman-level composition courses and Technical Writing. End-of-semester surveys showed Geowriting students had a more positive change in attitude and expectations towards writing than their colloquium peers. However, one significant difference in attitude towards writing was indicated by negative feelings towards in-class writing, which may be a result of 'writing fatigue' within the Geowriting group. This writing fatigue could be explained by student end-of -semester cognitive overload. Through other measures, colloquium students showed a greater improvement in writing skills (concise, clear, organized, etc) compared to Geowriting students; however, Geowriting students maintained higher skill levels than the Colloquium group at the end of the semester. Geowriting students reported in self-assessments that they had 're-learned' how to write as geoscientists in the class and had developed new writing tactics that they could apply to writing projects in other science courses. Based on these reports, we assessed abstract samples to determine if students were employing commonly taught prose style techniques (catchy intro, final summary statement, etc.), which are not usually appropriate in abstracts. Results show that Geowriting students used fewer prose style techniques at the end of the semester, resulting in more professional abstracts, while Colloquium students used more prose style techniques compared to the initial sample, resulting in less appropriate writing for the genre. In other words, Colloquium students may have lacked an explicit introduction to the genre conventions of abstracts and thus relied on a familiar genre and its stylistic devices. These results highlight the effectiveness of science-specific writing instruction within the major to guide students into the norms of the geoscience discourse community and help students learn how to 'write like a geoscientist.' However, as an elective course, only students already interested and skilled in writing were affected.

Investigating Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Science in Courses Taught Using the CREATE Strategy †

PubMed Central

Hoskins, Sally G.; Gottesman, Alan J.

2018-01-01

Many science educators agree that 21st century students need to develop mature scientific thinking skills. Unsurprisingly, students’ and experts’ perceptions about the nature of scientific knowledge differ. Moreover, students’ naïve and entrenched epistemologies can preclude their development toward “thinking like scientists.” Novel teaching approaches that guide students toward more mature perceptions may be needed to support their development of scientific thinking skills. To address such issues, physics educators developed the Colorado Learning Attitudes About Science Survey (CLASS), subsequently adapted for chemistry and biology. These surveys are “designed to compare novice and expert perceptions about the content and structure of a specific discipline; the source of knowledge about that discipline, including connection of the discipline to the real world; and problem-solving approaches” (Semsar et al., CBE Life Sci. Educ. 10:268–278; p 269). We used CLASS-Bio to track students’ perceptions of science in separate first-year and upper-level CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret the data, Think of the next Experiment) electives, hypothesizing that perceptions would become significantly more expert-like across a semester. Both first-year and upper-level cohorts made significant expert-like shifts. Students also made significant critical thinking gains in CREATE courses. Our findings of more mature, expert-like perceptions of science post-course contrast with those of previous studies, where students’ thinking became significantly less expert-like across a term of introductory instruction and changed little in upper-level biology electives. Augmenting traditional biology curricula with CREATE courses could be an economical way to help undergraduates develop more mature views of science. PMID:29904553

The Privilege of Grit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schreiner, Laurie A.

2017-01-01

The author met Jerome when he was a senior in a psychology class taught by the author. He stood out from the rest of the class not only in his academic performance, but also in the ways he approached class--always prepared, asking good questions, going above and beyond in his assignments. He was the dream student--hard working, curious, passionate…

Group Work and Whole-Class Teaching with 11- to 14-Year-Olds Compared

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galton, Maurice; Hargreaves, Linda; Pell, Tony

2009-01-01

This article compares the academic performance and classroom behaviour of pupils when taught new concepts or engaged in problem solving in sessions organised either as cooperative group work or whole class, teacher directed instruction. Comparisons of attainment were made in classes of pupils aged 11 to 14 years (Key Stage 3) in English,…

Implementing Communication Strategy Instruction in the ESL Oral Classroom: What Do Low-Proficiency Learners Tell Us?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Wendy Y. K.

2010-01-01

This article reports findings from a strategy intervention study involving a treatment class (N=20) and a comparison class (N=20) in an ESL oral setting. Oral communication strategies were taught to the treatment class. A data-collection method comprising stimulated recall interviews that aimed to investigate respectively the learning process…

Actively Engaging Middle School Readers: One Teacher's Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammon, Amber; Hess, Carol

2004-01-01

This article discusses the story of a middle school teacher and her reading class frustrations. She faces the reality that her class of 23 students hates reading, despite her enthusiasm and attempts to motivate them. However, she discovered that the literacy program she was using was not the way she had been taught in her preservice classes or the…

Bridging Methodological Gaps: Instructional and Institutional Effects of Tracking in Two English Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caughlan, Samantha; Kelly, Sean

2004-01-01

Quantitative analyses using CLASS 3.0 software and qualitative discourse analyses were conducted of the instructional and institutional effects of tracking in high-and low-track American literature classes taught by the same teacher, a participant in a national study of the effects of dialogic classroom discourse patterns on student achievement.…

Teacher Guidance of Algebraic Formula Building: Functional Grammatical Analysis of a Whole-Class Conversation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zolkower, Betina; Shreyar, Sam; Pérez, Silvia

2015-01-01

How does teacher-guided whole-class interaction contribute to expanding students' potential for making and exchanging mathematical meanings? We address this question through an interpretative analysis of a whole-group conversation in a sixth grade class taught by an experienced teacher in a school in Southern Argentina. The extended interaction…

Learning the Control of Variables Strategy in Higher and Lower Achieving Classrooms: Contributions of Explicit Instruction and Experimentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lorch, Robert F., Jr.; Lorch, Elizabeth P.; Calderhead, William J.; Dunlap, Emily E.; Hodell, Emily C.; Freer, Benjamin Dunham

2010-01-01

Students (n = 797) from 36 4th-grade classrooms were taught the control of variables strategy for designing experiments. In the instruct condition, classes were taught in an interactive lecture format. In the manipulate condition, students worked in groups to design and run experiments to determine the effects of four variables. In the both…

Teaching Archimedes' Principle to Sixth Graders without Teaching Mass, Density, Pressure, Volume or Buoyancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raghavan, Neeraja

2017-01-01

Flotation is usually taught in Indian schools after students have been introduced to the concepts of mass, density, pressure, volume and buoyancy. This paper describes an attempt to teach the principle of flotation to a class of sixth graders--who had not yet been taught these concepts--so they could understand (and perhaps, arrive at) Archimedes'…

Comparison of Effectiveness of Collaborative Learning Methods and Traditional Methods in Physics Classes at Northern Maine Technical College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overlock, Terrence H., Sr.

To determine the effect of collaborative learning methods on the success rate of physics students at Northern Maine Technical College (NMTC), a study was undertaken to compare the mean final exam scores of a students in a physics course taught by traditional lecture/lab methods to those in a group taught by collaborative techniques. The…

The Effectiveness of Using Vocal Music as the Content Area of English Immersion Classes for Japanese Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Steven Gene

2012-01-01

This study set out to determine if English can be taught effectively to Japanese children through a content-based instruction program that uses vocal music as the content area. A total of 240 children participated in the study. The treatment group at a private elementary school in Tokyo received weekly vocal music lessons taught in English for one…

That Which Is Taught, That Which Is Learned

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ratner, Andrew R.

2008-01-01

There is a transcendent force at work in the world, and its design for learning and life is far too complex to be executed through lesson plans and textbooks. In this article, the author describes a phone call from a student he taught in a high school English class 16 years earlier and has not seen since. After the student reveals how his life was…

An Experience of the Czechoslovakian Experimental Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vysin, J.

1975-01-01

The Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences is sponsoring an experimental approach to the modernization of the geometry curriculum. Geometry is viewed as ancillary to other parts of the curriculum and is taught as appropriate to other subjects (e.g., algebra). Combinatorial geometry is taught formally. (SD)

The learning continuum of ecology based on teachers' opinion about student's level of competence and specific pedagogical learning material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pramesti, Indah Cahaya; Subali, Bambang

2017-08-01

This study aims at designing learning continuum for developing a curriculum based on teachers' opinion about student's level of competence and specific pedagogical learning material on ecological aspect targeted for students of Primary and Secondary Education. This research is a descriptive research using survey methods. The researchers conducted a census by distributing questionnaires that had been validated from the aspects of construct validity and experts judgements to 147 natural science teachers at junior high school and 134 Biology teachers at senior high school as a population throughout 4 regencies and 1 city in Yogyakarta Special Region.. Data analysis techniques used descriptive analysis. In conclusion, teacher's opinion is influenced by curriculum that exist today. According to the opinions of Natural Science teachers at Junior High School, most of the ecological aspects such as characteristics of biomes, characteristics of ecosystems, characteristics of communities, characteristics of populations, etc. should be taught in grade VII with the level of competence: to understand (C2), while Biology teachers at Senior High School state that the ecological aspect should be taught in class X with the level of competence: to understand (C2), apply (C3) and analyze (C4). Teachers should be a privy in the formulation of the curriculum, so they're not only accept and apply the existing curriculum but also give opinions to improve the curriculum, especially in terms of ecology.

Recontextualization of Science from Lab to School: Implications for Science Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Ajay; Anderson, Charles W.

2009-01-01

Scientists' science differs remarkably from school science. In order to be taught to students, science is recontextualized from scientific research communities to science classrooms. This paper examines scientific discourse in scientific research communities, and discusses its transformation from an internally-persuasive and authoritative…

Developing Mobile Based Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Florence; Pastore, Raymond; Snider, Jean

2012-01-01

This paper describes an instructional design class's experience developing instruction for the mobile web. The class was taught at a southeastern university in the United States in a master's level computer based instruction course. Two example projects are showcased and student reflections on design issues are highlighted. Additionally,…

Concepts first: A course with improved educational outcomes and parity for underrepresented minority groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webb, D. J.

2017-08-01

Two active learning physics courses were taught and compared. The "concepts first" course was organized to teach only concepts in the first part of the class, the ultimate goal being to increase students' problem-solving abilities much later in the class. The other course was taught in the same quarter by the same instructor using the same curricular materials, but covered material in the standard (chapter-by-chapter) order. After accounting for incoming student characteristics, students from the concepts-first course scored significantly better in two outcome measures: their grade on the final exam and the grade received in their subsequent physics course. Moreover, in the concepts-first class course, students from groups underrepresented in physics had final exam scores and class grades that were indistinguishable from other students. Finally, students who took at least one concepts-first course in introductory physics were found to have significantly higher rates of graduation with a STEM major than students from this cohort who did not.

Effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of students' science inquiry skills in grades 5 and 6 of primary education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kruit, P. M.; Oostdam, R. J.; van den Berg, E.; Schuitema, J. A.

2018-03-01

In most primary science classes, students are taught science inquiry skills by way of learning by doing. Research shows that explicit instruction may be more effective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of inquiry skills. Participants included 705 Dutch fifth and sixth graders. Students in an explicit instruction condition received an eight-week intervention of explicit instruction on inquiry skills. In the lessons of the implicit condition, all aspects of explicit instruction were absent. Students in the baseline condition followed their regular science curriculum. In a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design, two paper-and-pencil tests and three performance assessments were used to examine the acquisition and transfer of inquiry skills. Additionally, questionnaires were used to measure metacognitive skills. The results of a multilevel analysis controlling for pre-tests, general cognitive ability, age, gender and grade level indicated that explicit instruction facilitates the acquisition of science inquiry skills. Specifically on the performance assessment with an unfamiliar topic, students in the explicit condition outperformed students of both the implicit and baseline condition. Therefore, this study provides a strong argument for including an explicit teaching method for developing inquiry skills in primary science education.

Teaching with Spiritual Impact: An Analysis of Student Comments Regarding High- and Low-Rated Spiritually Inspiring Religion Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilton, John, III; Sweat, Anthony; Griffin, Tyler; Griffiths, Casey Paul

2016-01-01

We analyzed 2,621 written student comments to better understand themes which most contribute to religion classes being rated high or low in terms of the spiritual benefit students received from the class. From 2,448 religion classes taught from September of 2010 through April of 2014, comments from the top 61 (2.5 percent) and bottom 51 (2.1…

A Quasi Experiment to Determine the Effectiveness of a "Partially Flipped" versus "Fully Flipped" Undergraduate Class in Genetics and Evolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Alison E. M.; Garcia, Jocelyn; Traustadóttir, Tinna

2016-01-01

Two sections of Genetics and Evolution were taught by one instructor. One group (the fully flipped section) had the entire class period devoted to active learning (with background material that had to be watched before class), and the other group (the partially flipped section) had just a portion of class time spent on active learning (with the…

Impact of SCALE-UP on science teaching self-efficacy of students in general education science courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassani, Mary Kay Kuhr

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of two pedagogical models used in general education science on non-majors' science teaching self-efficacy. Science teaching self-efficacy can be influenced by inquiry and cooperative learning, through cognitive mechanisms described by Bandura (1997). The Student Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) model of inquiry and cooperative learning incorporates cooperative learning and inquiry-guided learning in large enrollment combined lecture-laboratory classes (Oliver-Hoyo & Beichner, 2004). SCALE-UP was adopted by a small but rapidly growing public university in the southeastern United States in three undergraduate, general education science courses for non-science majors in the Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 semesters. Students in these courses were compared with students in three other general education science courses for non-science majors taught with the standard teaching model at the host university. The standard model combines lecture and laboratory in the same course, with smaller enrollments and utilizes cooperative learning. Science teaching self-efficacy was measured using the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument - B (STEBI-B; Bleicher, 2004). A science teaching self-efficacy score was computed from the Personal Science Teaching Efficacy (PTSE) factor of the instrument. Using non-parametric statistics, no significant difference was found between teaching models, between genders, within models, among instructors, or among courses. The number of previous science courses was significantly correlated with PTSE score. Student responses to open-ended questions indicated that students felt the larger enrollment in the SCALE-UP room reduced individual teacher attention but that the large round SCALE-UP tables promoted group interaction. Students responded positively to cooperative and hands-on activities, and would encourage inclusion of more such activities in all of the courses. The large enrollment SCALE-UP model as implemented at the host university did not increase science teaching self-efficacy of non-science majors, as hypothesized. This was likely due to limited modification of standard cooperative activities according to the inquiry-guided SCALE-UP model. It was also found that larger SCALE-UP enrollments did not decrease science teaching self-efficacy when standard cooperative activities were used in the larger class.

`Learning Experience' Provided by Science Teaching Practice in a Classroom and the Development of Students' Competences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes, J. Bernardino; Branco, Julia; Jimenez-Aleixandre, Maria Pilar

2011-11-01

According to the literature, there is a very important corpus of knowledge that allows for the investigation of some dimensions of `learning experience' provided to students, in relation to epistemic, pedagogical and meta-cognitive practices. However, in the literature, there is little investigation into the invariance (or not) of the characteristics of students' learning experience while being taught a scientific subject by the same teacher. This paper suggests that the relationship between the learning experience provided and the competences developed is not properly highlighted. This paper analyses the learning experience provided to students in epistemic, pedagogical and meta-cognitive terms. The students were taught the proprieties and applications of light by one teacher, in three classes, over 7 weeks. We analysed the data in each referred learning experience, using a pre-defined category system. The students' competences were evaluated by a competence test. The epistemic demand of each item and the students' performances were also analysed. Our findings point to the non invariance of learning experiences provided to students and the influence of some dimensions of learning experiences provided in the development of certain competences. These findings and their implications are contextualized and discussed.

Teaching brain-behavior relations economically with stimulus equivalence technology.

PubMed

Fienup, Daniel M; Covey, Daniel P; Critchfield, Thomas S

2010-03-01

Instructional interventions based on stimulus equivalence provide learners with the opportunity to acquire skills that are not directly taught, thereby improving the efficiency of instructional efforts. The present report describes a study in which equivalence-based instruction was used to teach college students facts regarding brain anatomy and function. The instruction involved creating two classes of stimuli that students understood as being related. Because the two classes shared a common member, they spontaneously merged, thereby increasing the yield of emergent relations. Overall, students mastered more than twice as many facts as were explicitly taught, thus demonstrating the potential of equivalence-based instruction to reduce the amount of student investment that is required to master advanced academic topics.

Peer Assessment of Elementary Science Teaching Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilic, Gulsen Bagci; Cakan, Mehtap

2007-01-01

In this study, peer assessment was applied in assessing elementary science teaching skills. Preservice teachers taught a science topic as a team to their peers in an elementary science methods course. The peers participating in the science lesson assessed teacher-groups' elementary science teaching skills on an assessment form provided by the…

Promoting Innovative Thinking

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Innovation is the engine of scientific progress, yet we do not train public health students to think creatively. I present the key concepts within an evidence-based method currently taught at the University of Texas. Habitual thought patterns involve deeply held framed expectations. Finding alternatives generates originality. Because frame breaking is difficult, a series of innovation heuristics and tools are offered including enhancing observation, using analogies, changing point of view, juggling opposites, broadening perspective, reversal, reorganization and combination, and getting the most from groups. Gaining cognitive attributes such as nonjudgment, willingness to question, mindfulness, and plasticity is also emphasized. Students completing the class demonstrate substantial increases on a standardized test of idea fluency and originality, more joyful attitudes toward science, and more pluralistic approaches. PMID:25706005

Paraprofessional-Delivered Video Prompting to Teach Academics to Students with Severe Disabilities in Inclusive Settings.

PubMed

Knight, Victoria F; Kuntz, Emily M; Brown, Melissa

2018-06-01

Video prompting is effective for teaching a variety of skills (e.g., daily living, communication) to students with autism and intellectual disability; yet, little research exists on the efficacy of these strategies on academic skills, in inclusive settings, and with typical intervention agents. Authors collaborated with paraprofessionals to select socially important academic skills (i.e., literacy, social studies, science, and math) aligned with students' IEPs and content taught in their inclusive classes. Results from the multiple probe across participants and skills design indicated a functional relation between the paraprofessional-delivered video prompting and correct responding to academic tasks for all three elementary students with autism and intellectual disability. Implications for practitioners, study limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Consortium for Verification Technology Fellowship Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sadler, Lorraine E.

2017-06-01

As one recipient of the Consortium for Verification Technology (CVT) Fellowship, I spent eight days as a visiting scientist at the University of Michigan, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (NERS). During this time, I participated in multiple department and research group meetings and presentations, met with individual faculty and students, toured multiple laboratories, and taught one-half of a one-unit class on Risk Analysis in Nuclear Arms control (six 1.5 hour lectures). The following report describes some of the interactions that I had during my time as well as a brief discussion of the impact of this fellowship onmore » members of the consortium and on me/my laboratory’s technical knowledge and network.« less

Physics in ``Polymers, Composites, and Sports Materials" an Interdisciplinary Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagedorn, Eric; Suskavcevic, Milijana

2007-10-01

The undergraduate science course described uses the themes of polymers and composites, as used in sports materials, to teach some key concepts in introductory chemistry and physics. The course is geared towards students who are interested in science, but are still completing prerequisite mathematics courses required for science majors. Each class is built around a laboratory activity. Atoms, molecules and chemical reactions are taught in reference to making polyvinyl acetate (white glue) and polyvinyl alcohol (gel glue). These materials, combined with borax, form balls which are subsequently used in physics activities centered on free-fall and the coefficient of restitution. These activities allow the introduction of kinematics and dynamics. A free fall activity involving ice pellets, with and without embedded tissue paper, illustrates the properties of composites. The final series of activities uses balls, shoes, racquets and bats to further illustrate dynamics concepts (including friction, momentum and energy). The physical properties of these sports objects are discussed in terms of the materials of which they are made. The evaluation plan to determine the effectiveness of these activities and preliminary results are also presented.

Primary pre-service teachers' skills in planning a guided scientific inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Carmona, Antonio; Criado, Ana M.; Cruz-Guzmán, Marta

2017-10-01

A study is presented of the skills that primary pre-service teachers (PPTs) have in completing the planning of a scientific inquiry on the basis of a guiding script. The sample comprised 66 PPTs who constituted a group-class of the subject Science Teaching, taught in the second year of an undergraduate degree in primary education at a Spanish university. The data was acquired from the responses of the PPTs (working in teams) to open-ended questions posed to them in the script concerning the various tasks involved in a scientific inquiry (formulation of hypotheses, design of the experiment, data collection, interpretation of results, drawing conclusions). Data were analyzed within the framework of a descriptive-interpretive qualitative research study with a combination of inter- and intra-rater methods, and the use of low-inference descriptors. The results showed that the PPTs have major shortcomings in planning the complete development of a guided scientific inquiry. The discussion of the results includes a number of implications for rethinking the Science Teaching course so that PPTs can attain a basic level of training in inquiry-based science education.

An Empirical Study on the Application of Cooperative Learning to Comprehensive English Classes in a Chinese Independent College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meng, Ji

2017-01-01

This research investigated a comparison between the effect of cooperative learning and lecture teaching on Comprehensive English classes in a Chinese Independent College. An empirical study for two semesters was carried out in the forms of pretest, posttest, questionnaire and interviews. While control class was taught in the conventional way,…

Cheap and Effective: The Impact of Student-Led Recitation Classes on Learning Outcomes in Introductory Economics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stock, Wendy A.; Ward, Kevin; Folsom, Justin; Borrenpohl, Teresa; Mumford, Sophie; Pershin, Zach; Carriere, Danielle; Smart, Heather

2013-01-01

The authors examine the impacts of enrollment in a voluntary one-credit recitation class for ECON 101 students, focusing on course grades, course retention, and outcomes in later economics courses. The recitation classes were taught by undergraduate peer leaders with experience in upper-level microeconomics. Instead of being paid, the peer leaders…

The Impact of a Flipped Classroom Model of Learning on a Large Undergraduate Statistics Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielson, Perpetua Lynne; Bean, Nathan William Bean; Larsen, Ross Allen Andrew

2018-01-01

We examine the impact of a flipped classroom model of learning on student performance and satisfaction in a large undergraduate introductory statistics class. Two professors each taught a lecture-section and a flipped-class section. Using MANCOVA, a linear combination of final exam scores, average quiz scores, and course ratings was compared for…

Aliens are us. An innovative course in astrobiology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliveira, Carlos F.; Barufaldi, James P.

2009-01-01

We live in a scientific world; paradoxically, the scientific literacy of the population is minimal at best. Science is an ongoing process, a human endeavour; paradoxically, students tend to believe that science is a finished enterprise. Many non-science major students are not motivated in science classes; paradoxically, there is a public fascination with the possibility of life in the Universe, which is nowadays a scientific endeavour. An astrobiology course was developed at the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at The University of Texas at Austin to address these paradoxes and includes the following objectives: (a) to improve scientific literacy; (b) to demonstrate that science is a work in progress; (c) to enhance the inherent interdisciplinary aspect of science; (d) to demonstrate that science is embedded in society and relates with several social sciences; (e) to improve the content knowledge about the nature of science; (f) to illustrate how engaging learning science can be; and (g) to draw from the intrinsic motivation already incorporated in the general population. The course has been offered, taught and revised for the past three years. The informal course student feedback has been very positive and encouraging. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general overview of the course. In addition, the course's background, content, themes and mode of delivery are outlined, discussed and analysed in this paper. This paper subscribes to an educational philosophy that focuses on the multidisciplinary nature of science and includes critical thinking-based teaching strategies using the dynamic discipline of astrobiology.

Effects of gender and role selection in cooperative learning groups on science inquiry achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Affhalter, Maria Geralyn

An action research project using science inquiry labs and cooperative learning groups examined the effects of same-gender and co-educational classrooms on science achievement and teacher-assigned or self-selected group roles on students' role preferences. Fifty-nine seventh grade students from a small rural school district participated in two inquiry labs in co-educational classrooms or in an all-female classroom, as determined by parents at the beginning of the academic year. Students were assigned to the same cooperative groups for the duration of the study. Pretests and posttests were administered for each inquiry-based science lab. Posttest assessments included questions for student reflection on role assignment and role preference. Instruction did not vary and a female science teacher taught all class sections. The same-gender classroom and co-ed classrooms produced similar science achievement scores on posttests. Students' cooperative group roles, whether teacher-assigned or self-selected, produced similar science achievement scores on posttests. Male and female students shared equally in favorable and unfavorable reactions to their group roles during the science inquiry labs. Reflections on the selection of the leader role revealed a need for females in co-ed groups to be "in charge". When reflecting on her favorite role of leader, one female student in a co-ed group stated, "I like to have people actually listen to me".

"CLASS Professional Standards" for K-12 Chinese Language Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Lucy C.; Lin, Yu-Lan; Su, Chih-Wen

2007-01-01

"CLASS Professional Standards" is a resource for Chinese teachers, foreign language specialists, school administrators, parents, and policy makers who recognize the importance of Chinese cultures taught by professional teachers of Chinese. The release of the book also marks the celebration of the Chinese Language Association of…

Mall Classrooms: Where Students Get a Piece of the Action.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burgess, Elinor F.; Rees, Doris J.

1984-01-01

Describes a program in Fairfax County, Virginia, in which marketing and distributive education classes are taught at two shopping malls. The merchants provide students with realistic, hands-on experiences during class time that provide the basis for instruction in many marketing skills and techniques. (JOW)

Research in the FCS Secondary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCord, Olivia Love; Brown, Lora Beth

2009-01-01

Much of what is taught in the family and consumer sciences (FCS) classroom is based on scientific research. The existing knowledge base is so broad that overlooking research as a teaching resource and tool happens often. Research enhances what is taught, thereby improving the effectiveness of teachers. Whether it be applying or translating…

Taking a Scientific Approach to Science Teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollock, S.

2011-09-01

It is now well-documented that traditionally taught, large-scale introductory science courses often fail to teach our students the basics. In fact, these same courses have been found to teach students things we don't intend. Building on a tradition of research, the physics and astronomy education research communities have been investigating the effects of educational reforms at the undergraduate level for decades. Both within these scientific communities and in the fields of education, cognitive science, psychology, and other social sciences, we have learned a great deal about student learning and environments that support learning for an increasingly diverse population of students. This presentation will discuss a variety of effective classroom practices, (with an emphasis on peer instruction, "clickers," and small group activities), the surrounding educational structures, and examine assessments which indicate when and why these do (and sometimes do not) work. After a broad survey of education research, we will look at some of the exciting theoretical and experimental developments within this field that are being conducted at the University of Colorado. Throughout, we will consider research and practices that can be of value in both physics and astronomy classes, as well as applications to teaching in a variety of environments.

Aligning the Cultures of Teaching and Learning Science in Urban High Schools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tobin, Kenneth

2006-09-01

This paper analyzes teaching and learning in urban science classrooms in which most of the students are African American and from low-income homes. Their teachers are also racial minorities and yet they struggle to teach successfully across cultural boundaries. The first set of case studies involves a male teacher who taught in a high-energy way that produced structures for students to get involved in the doing of science. His verbal fluency and expressive individualism, involving emphatic gestures, rhythmic use of his body, and voice intonation maintained student participation. A second case study examines successful interactions among the students, involving an argument over competing models for chemical valence. Whereas the students interacted successfully, the teacher was frequently out of synchrony in terms of amplitude, pitch, and non-verbal actions. The key implication is the necessity for teachers and students to learn how to interact successfully in ways that produce positive emotional energy, a sense of belonging to the class, and a commitment to shared responsibility for one another's participation. Aligning the cultures of teaching and learning offers a possibility that fluent interactions will occur, afford success, and facilitate the learning of science.

Science in and out of the classroom: A look at Water Resource at Gammams Water Care Works, Namibia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iileka-Shinavene, Leena

2016-04-01

Primary school pupils in Van Rhyn School in Namibia are taught Natural Sciences from grade 4 at the age of 9. The curriculum is mainly theory/classroom based and natural science is taught through theory and various practical activities. However occasionally teachers have opportunities to supplement the pupils' learning experience through outdoor activities such as excursions to museums, municipal works and science fairs. Apart from enhancing the learning experience and improving understanding, such activities make the Natural science subject more interesting subject to learners. Water, a scarce/limited resource in Namibia, is one of the topics we cover in Natural sciences. Sustainable management of water is one of the top priorities of the government, which through various initiatives including the National Development Plan supports innovative ideas and technologies to reclaim water from sewage, recycling of industry and mining water and use semi-purified water for public recreational places. Most of the water used in Windhoek is reclaimed by City of Windhoek. To better illustrate this to the pupils, a school trip with 40 pupils of seventh grade was taken to the City of Windhoek's Gammams Water Care works. The aim of the trip was to show how the sewage purification process works and how the water is reclaimed from sewage. A guided tour of the water works was given by the resident scientists and the pupils were provided with the worksheet to complete after the tour around the Centre. They were encouraged to ask questions in all stages of water purification process and write down short notes. Most learners completed their worksheet during the tour session as they are getting information from the tour guide. The rest had to retrieve information and do further research as they got back to class so they could complete their worksheets. After the tour to Gammams, learners were asked to share what they had learned with the lower grades, 5 and 6, in a classroom presentation campaigned as " Water management resources Awareness" Apart from enjoying the trip, the learners also gained knowledge of how the City manages the water resources and how to manage water on personal basis.

Teachers' understandings and enactments of social and environmental justice issues in the classroom: What's "critical" in the manufacturing of road-smart squirrels?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sammel, Alison J.

How do five new teachers understand and enact counter-hegemonic pedagogies in their own classes? This study developed from this question. The question arose as I taught critical environmental education, a counter-hegemonic pedagogy, to preservice science teachers. I encouraged the exploration of social and environmental injustices and how they function to reproduce dominant economic agendas. To understand how five teachers, in the second year of their practice and my former students, made sense of the critical environmental education I taught them, I used Gadamer's hermeneutic phenomenology as my research frame. Gadamer argues that meaning develops through dialogue, so data collection occurred mainly through lively research conversations over leisurely dinners. As practicing teachers, the six of us jointly explored taken-for-granted meanings and actions in our everyday pedagogical experiences. In these conversations we made meaning (the hermeneutic aspect) of the lived experiences (phenomenological aspect) of incorporating critical environmental education into our practices. This led me to a deeper understanding and increased awareness of how science education reform agendas have influenced and shaped our individual science pedagogies. The analytic lens of critical education showed that these teachers were strongly influenced by the dominant science reform agenda. Regardless of the science curriculum, or the strong social and environmental beliefs some of these teachers held, they did not perceive the teaching of the social and environmental justice issues to be 'critical' or 'their job.' They demonstrated a belief that it was 'critical' to teach well-defined, "hard science" facts. Student success, hence teacher success, involved playing the academic game well and gaining long-term financial security. Re/viewing the data stories through the additional analytic lens of feminist poststructuralism, I saw how dominant discourse constructs the identity of teachers, their desires, and enforces self-discipline. Dominant educational discourse constricted and regulated their understandings of what it means to be a 'good' teacher. They were not able to see that being a 'good' teacher could include enacting counter-hegemonic pedagogies.

Promoting Students' Problem Solving Skills and Knowledge of STEM Concepts in a Data-Rich Learning Environment: Using Online Data as a Tool for Teaching about Renewable Energy Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thurmond, Brandi

This study sought to compare a data-rich learning (DRL) environment that utilized online data as a tool for teaching about renewable energy technologies (RET) to a lecture-based learning environment to determine the impact of the learning environment on students' knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) concepts related to renewable energy technologies and students' problem solving skills. Two purposefully selected Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science teachers were included in the study. Each teacher taught one class about RET in a lecture-based environment (control) and another class in a DRL environment (treatment), for a total of four classes of students (n=128). This study utilized a quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest, control-group design. The initial hypothesis that the treatment group would have a significant gain in knowledge of STEM concepts related to RET and be better able to solve problems when compared to the control group was not supported by the data. Although students in the DRL environment had a significant gain in knowledge after instruction, posttest score comparisons of the control and treatment groups revealed no significant differences between the groups. Further, no significant differences were noted in students' problem solving abilities as measured by scores on a problem-based activity and self-reported abilities on a reflective questionnaire. This suggests that the DRL environment is at least as effective as the lecture-based learning environment in teaching AP Environmental Science students about RET and fostering the development of problem solving skills. As this was a small scale study, further research is needed to provide information about effectiveness of DRL environments in promoting students' knowledge of STEM concepts and problem-solving skills.

Geography, Resources, and Environment of Latin America: An Undergraduate Science Course focused on Attracting Hispanic students to Science and on Educating Non-Hispanics about Latin America.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pujana, I.; Stern, R. J.; Ledbetter, C. E.

2004-12-01

With NSF-CCLI funding, we have developed, taught, and evaluated a new lower-division science course for non-majors, entitled "Geography, Resources, and Environment of Hispanic America" (GRELA). This is an adaptation of a similar course, "Geology and Development of Modern Africa" developed by Barbara Tewksbury (Hamilton College), to attract African American students to science by highlighting cultural ties with their ancestral lands. We think that a similar approach focusing on Latin America may attract Hispanic undergraduates, at the same time that it increases awareness among non-Hispanic students about challenges facing our neighbors to the south. GRELA is an interdisciplinary exploration of how the physical and biological environment of Mexico, Central America, and South America have influenced the people who live there. The course consists of 20 lectures and requires the student to present a report partnering with correspondents in Latin American universities. GRELA begins with an overview of Latin American physical and cultural geography and geologic evolution followed by a series of modules that relate the natural resources and environment of Latin America to the history, economy, and culture of the region. This is followed by an exploration of pre-Columbian cultures. The use of metals by pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern cultures is presented next. We then discuss hydrocarbon resources, geothermal energy, and natural hazards of volcanoes and earthquakes. The last half of the course focuses on Earth System Science themes, including El Nino, glaciers, the Amazon river and rainforest, and coral reefs. The final presentation concerns population growth and water resources along the US-Mexico border. Grades are based on two midterms, one final, and a project which requires that groups of students communicate with scientists in Latin America to explore some aspect of geography, natural resources, or the environment of a Latin American region of common interest. The course was taught in 2003 to 8 students and is being taught this Fall to 10. Lecture materials are distributed to the class as a series of PowerPoint presentations. Assessment of the course has been favorable, but the lack of a suitable text is a problem. Development of a GRELA textbook, perhaps in Spanish as well as in English, is essential for broad dissemination of a course like this, which is designed to introduce modern scientific observations to an undergraduate audience that is often not comfortable with science. We believe that the general approach and topics covered have great potential to stimulate the scientific interest of Hispanic undergraduates and that developing a GRELA text is essential for widespread adoption of this course.

Design, validation, and use of an evaluation instrument for monitoring systemic reform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scantlebury, Kathryn; Boone, William; Butler Kahle, Jane; Fraser, Barry J.

2001-08-01

Over the past decade, state and national policymakers have promoted systemic reform as a way to achieve high-quality science education for all students. However, few instruments are available to measure changes in key dimensions relevant to systemic reform such as teaching practices, student attitudes, or home and peer support. Furthermore, Rasch methods of analysis are needed to permit valid comparison of different cohorts of students during different years of a reform effort. This article describes the design, development, validation, and use of an instrument that measures student attitudes and several environment dimensions (standards-based teaching, home support, and peer support) using a three-step process that incorporated expert opinion, factor analysis, and item response theory. The instrument was validated with over 8,000 science and mathematics students, taught by more than 1,000 teachers in over 200 schools as part of a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of Ohio's systemic reform initiative. When the new four-factor, 20-item questionnaire was used to explore the relative influence of the class, home, and peer environment on student achievement and attitudes, findings were remarkably consistent across 3 years and different units and methods of analysis. All three environments accounted for unique variance in student attitudes, but only the environment of the class accounted for unique variance in student achievement. However, the class environment (standards-based teaching practices) was the strongest independent predictor of both achievement and attitude, and appreciable amounts of the total variance in attitudes were common to the three environments.

The effects of a professional development program for physics teachers on their teaching and the learning of their students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Mee-Kyeong

The purposes of the study were (1) to investigate the effects of the 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program on classroom teaching and student learning and (2) to examine the effectiveness of Constructivist/STS approaches in terms of student perceptions regarding their science classrooms, student attitudes toward science, and student creativity. The 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program which focused on Constructivist/STS approaches was carried out at the University of Iowa for visiting Korean physics teachers. Several methods of data collection were used, including observations by means of classroom videotapes, teacher perception surveys, teacher interviews, and student surveys. The data collected was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Major findings include: (1) The 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program did not significantly influence teacher perceptions concerning their teaching in terms of Constructivist/STS approaches in their classrooms. (2) The 2000 Iowa Professional Development Program significantly influenced improvement in teaching practices regarding Constructivist/STS approaches. (3) Students taught with Constructivist/STS approaches perceived their learning environments as more constructivist than did those taught with traditional methods. (4) Students taught with Constructivist/STS approaches improved significantly in the development of more positive attitudes toward science, while such positive attitudes decreased among students taught with traditional methods. (5) Students taught with Constructivist/STS approaches improved significantly in their use of creativity skills over those taught in traditional classrooms. (6) Most teachers favored the implementation of Constructivist/STS approaches. They perceived that students became more interested in lessons utilizing such approaches over time. The major difficulties which the teachers experienced with regard to the implementation of Constructivist/STS teaching include: inability to cover required curriculum content; getting away from textbooks; acceptance by parents, community, and supervisors; motivating students to be involved in classroom activities; and lack of materials for Constructivist/STS teaching. The results imply that efforts to improve educational conditions, in tandem with more consistent and ongoing professional development programs, are necessary to encourage teachers to use what they learned, to keep their initial interest and ideas alive, and to contribute specifically to the reform of science education.

Teaching lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health in a South African health sciences faculty: addressing the gap.

PubMed

Müller, Alexandra

2013-12-27

People who identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) have specific health needs. Sexual orientation and gender identity are social determinants of health, as homophobia and heteronormativity persist as prejudices in society. LGBT patients often experience discrimination and prejudice in health care settings. While recent South African policies recognise the need for providing LGBT specific health care, no curricula for teaching about LGBT health related issues exist in South African health sciences faculties. This study aimed to determine the extent to which LGBT health related content is taught in the University of Cape Town's medical curriculum. A curriculum mapping exercise was conducted through an online survey of all academic staff at the UCT health sciences faculty, determining LGBT health related content, pedagogical methodology and assessment. 127 academics, across 31 divisions and research units in the Faculty of Health Sciences, responded to the survey, of which 93 completed the questionnaire. Ten taught some content related to LGBT health in the MBChB curriculum. No LGBT health related content was taught in the allied health sciences curricula. The MBChB curriculum provided no opportunity for students to challenge their own attitudes towards LGBT patients, and key LGBT health topics such as safer sex, mental health, substance abuse and adolescent health were not addressed. At present, UCTs health sciences curricula do not adequately address LGBT specific health issues. Where LGBT health related content is taught in the MBChB curriculum, it is largely discretionary, unsystematic and not incorporated into the overarching structure. Coordinated initiatives to integrate LGBT health related content into all health sciences curricula should be supported, and follow an approach that challenges students to develop professional attitudes and behaviour concerning care for patients from LGBT backgrounds, as well as providing them with specific LGBT health knowledge. Educating health professions students on the health needs of LGBT people is essential to improving this population's health by providing competent and non-judgmental care.

Learner-centered teaching in the college science classroom: a practical guide for teaching assistants, instructors, and professors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dominguez, Margaret Z.; Vorndran, Shelby

2014-09-01

The Office of Instruction and Assessment at the University of Arizona currently offers a Certificate in College Teaching Program. The objective of this program is to develop the competencies necessary to teach effectively in higher education today, with an emphasis on learner-centered teaching. This type of teaching methodology has repeatedly shown to have superior effects compared to traditional teacher-centered approaches. The success of this approach has been proven in both short term and long term teaching scenarios. Students must actively participate in class, which allows for the development of depth of understanding, acquisition of critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. As optical science graduate students completing the teaching program certificate, we taught a recitation class for OPTI 370: Photonics and Lasers for two consecutive years. The recitation was an optional 1-hour long session to supplement the course lectures. This recitation received positive feedback and learner-centered teaching was shown to be a successful method for engaging students in science, specifically in optical sciences following an inquiry driven format. This paper is intended as a guide for interactive, multifaceted teaching, due to the fact that there are a variety of learning styles found in every classroom. The techniques outlined can be implemented in many formats: a full course, recitation session, office hours and tutoring. This guide is practical and includes only the most effective and efficient strategies learned while also addressing the challenges faced, such as formulating engaging questions, using wait time and encouraging shy students.

Effects of Jigsaw Cooperative Learning and Animation Techniques on Students' Understanding of Chemical Bonding and Their Conceptions of the Particulate Nature of Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karacop, Ataman; Doymus, Kemal

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of jigsaw cooperative learning and computer animation techniques on academic achievements of first year university students attending classes in which the unit of chemical bonding is taught within the general chemistry course and these students' learning of the particulate nature of matter of this unit. The sample of this study consisted of 115 first-year science education students who attended the classes in which the unit of chemical bonding was taught in a university faculty of education during the 2009-2010 academic year. The data collection instruments used were the Test of Scientific Reasoning, the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations, the Chemical Bonding Academic Achievement Test, and the Particulate Nature of Matter Test in Chemical Bonding (CbPNMT). The study was carried out in three different groups. One of the groups was randomly assigned to the jigsaw group, the second was assigned to the animation group (AG), and the third was assigned to the control group, in which the traditional teaching method was applied. The data obtained with the instruments were evaluated using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and MANCOVA. The results indicate that the teaching of chemical bonding via the animation and jigsaw techniques was more effective than the traditional teaching method in increasing academic achievement. In addition, according to findings from the CbPNMT, the students from the AG were more successful in terms of correct understanding of the particulate nature of matter.

Design for learning – a case study of blended learning in a science unit

PubMed Central

Gleadow, Roslyn; Macfarlan, Barbara; Honeydew, Melissa

2015-01-01

Making material available through learning management systems is standard practice in most universities, but this is generally seen as an adjunct to the ‘real’ teaching, that takes place in face-to-face classes. Lecture attendance is poor, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage students, both in the material being taught and campus life. This paper describes the redevelopment of a large course in scientific practice and communication that is compulsory for all science students studying at our Melbourne and Malaysian campuses, or by distance education. Working with an educational designer, a blended learning methodology was developed, converting the environment provided by the learning management system into a teaching space, rather than a filing system. To ensure focus, topics are clustered into themes with a ‘question of the week’, a pre-class stimulus and follow up activities. The content of the course did not change, but by restructuring the delivery using educationally relevant design techniques, the content was contextualised resulting in an integrated learning experience. Students are more engaged intellectually, and lecture attendance has improved. The approach we describe here is a simple and effective approach to bringing this university’s teaching and learning into the 21 st century. PMID:26594348

Teaching Scales in the Climate System: An example of interdisciplinary teaching and learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baehr, Johanna; Behrens, Jörn; Brüggemann, Michael; Frisius, Thomas; Glessmer, Mirjam S.; Hartmann, Jens; Hense, Inga; Kaleschke, Lars; Kutzbach, Lars; Rödder, Simone; Scheffran, Jürgen

2016-04-01

Climate change is commonly regarded as one of 21st century's grand challenges that needs to be addressed by conducting integrated research combining natural and social sciences. To meet this need, how to best train future climate researchers should be reconsidered. Here, we present our experience from a team-taught semester-long course with students of the international master program "Integrated Climate System Sciences" (ICSS) at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Ten lecturers with different backgrounds in physical, mathematical, biogeochemical and social sciences accompanied by a researcher trained in didactics prepared and regularly participated in a course which consisted of weekly classes. The foundation of the course was the use of the concept of 'scales' - climate varying on different temporal and spatial scales - by developing a joint definition of 'scales in the climate system' that is applicable in the natural sciences and in the social sciences. By applying this interdisciplinary definition of 'scales' to phenomena from all components of the climate system and the socio-economic dimensions, we aimed for an integrated description of the climate system. Following the concept of research-driven teaching and learning and using a variety of teaching techniques, the students designed their own scale diagram to illustrate climate-related phenomena in different disciplines. The highlight of the course was the presentation of individually developed scale diagrams by every student with all lecturers present. Based on the already conducted course, we currently re-design the course concept to be teachable by a similarly large group of lecturers but with alternating presence in class. With further refinement and also a currently ongoing documentation of the teaching material, we will continue to use the concept of 'scales' as a vehicle for teaching an integrated view of the climate system.

Bridging the Gap: Embedding Communication Courses in the Science Undergraduate Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jandciu, Eric; Stewart, Jaclyn J.; Stoodley, Robin; Birol, Gülnur; Han, Andrea; Fox, Joanne A.

2015-01-01

The authors describe a model for embedding science communication into the science curriculum without displacing science content. They describe the rationale, development, design, and implementation of two courses taught by science faculty addressing these criteria. They also outline the evaluation plan for these courses, which emphasize broad…

Application of Cognitive Science Principles: Instructional Heuristics and Mechanisms for Use.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montague, William E.

Cognitive science is briefly reviewed, and its implications for instructional design are discussed. The application of cognitive science to instruction requires knowledge of cognitive science, the subject content taught, and the system in which the instruction is imbedded. The central concept of cognitive science is mental representation--the…

Democracy and Higher Education: The Nature of the Relationship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holland, Lauren

2009-01-01

This study examines the pedagogical conditions that contribute to political learning in American National Government courses, using data from classes taught at universities and colleges in Utah. The purpose of this research is to assess the relative effect of course content, classroom climate, textbook, institutional ranking and class size on…

Teaching English Stress: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadat-Tehrani, Nima

2017-01-01

This article addresses the issue of teaching pronunciation in English as a second language (ESL) classes by specifically looking at the impact of teaching lexical stress rules and tendencies on learners' stress placement performance. Sixteen rules in the form of interactive worksheets were taught in three ESL classes at pre-intermediate,…

Integrating Single-System Design Research into the Clinical Practice Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Marlene G.

2006-01-01

Clinical practice and research are generally taught separately in Master of Social Work programs by faculty with distinct areas of expertise. This paper discusses the teaching of single-subject design research methodology by clinical faculty, in the clinical practice class. Examples from student papers demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating…

Multimedia Interactive eBooks in Laboratory Bioscience Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Neil P.; Lambe, James

2017-01-01

Bioscience students in the UK higher education system are making increasing use of technology to support their learning within taught classes and during private study. This experimental study was designed to assess the role for multimedia interactive eBooks in bioscience laboratory classes, delivered using a blended learning approach. Thirty-nine…

Factors Shaping Students' Opportunities to Engage in Argumentative Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayalon, Michal; Even, Ruhama

2016-01-01

This study examines how students' opportunities to engage in argumentative activity are shaped by the teacher, the class, and the mathematical topic. It compares the argumentative activity between two classes taught by the same teacher using the same textbook and across two beginning algebra topics--investigating algebraic expressions and…

Bicultural Team Teaching: Experiences from an Emerging Business School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Napier, Nancy K.; Hang, Ngo Minh; Mai, Nyugen Thi Tuyet; Thang, Nyugen Van; Tuan, Vu Van

2002-01-01

A new graduate business course in Vietnam team taught by American and Vietnamese instructors illustrates issues in bicultural team teaching, including team formation, sharing workloads in and out of class, and evaluation/grading. The process made the class more relevant, exposed students to multiple perspectives, and helped participants appreciate…

Jump Start the Heart: Teaching Children Cardiovascular Fitness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCollum, Starla; Maina, Michael P.; Maina, Julie Schlegel; Griffin, Mike

2004-01-01

Quality physical education classes are an important avenue for teaching children about lifetime fitness participation. Specific fitness information and habits can be taught as part of physical education classes. Physical education, however, should not be the only source of physical activity for children. Children need opportunities to participate…

The Origins of the "Fanga" Dance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damm, Robert J.

2015-01-01

The "fanga" is a dance taught throughout the United States to children in elementary music classes, students in African dance classes, teachers in multicultural workshops, and professional dancers in touring ensembles. Although the history of the fanga is a path overgrown with myth, this article offers information about the dance's…

Social Deviance--A Student Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diem, Richard A.

The paper describes a study of deviant behavior among students attending a high school in Texas. All students in the study attended a sociology class taught by a very strict teacher whose rules of behavior conflicted with students' peer group behavior expectations. Participant observation of student behavior in class and interviews with individual…

Ethnographies of "A Lesson in Racism": Class, Ethnicity, and the Supremacy of the Psychological Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shoshana, Avihu

2017-01-01

Through the ethnographies of two schools serving different socioeconomic communities, this article offers an examination of students' and teachers' interpretations of the anti-racism text "Brown Morning" taught in civics classes. Findings present the dramatic differences between the interpretations of students from dissimilar…

The Smell of Sweat and Rum: Teacher Authority in "Capoeira" Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delamont, Sara

2006-01-01

The Brazilian martial art, "capoeira", is popular in many countries outside Brazil, including the UK. "Capoeira" is generally taught by Brazilians whose livelihood depends on recruiting and retaining enough paying customers to keep their classes economically viable and socially pleasurable for the students. The teachers also…

Stimulate Students' Interest by Genetics Exordium Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yan

2009-01-01

Genetics is the important specialized course of bioscience and whether exordium is taught wonderfully or not plays the important and pivotal role. Well teaching exordium class may stimulate students, deep interest and intense desire for knowledge in this class. This text, according to teaching experience and taste, puts forward several teaching…

Integrating Study Skills and Problem Solving into Remedial Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornick, Jonathan; Guy, G. Michael; Beckford, Ian

2015-01-01

Students at a large urban community college enrolled in seven classes of an experimental remedial algebra programme, which integrated study skills instruction and collaborative problem solving. A control group of seven classes was taught in a traditional lecture format without study skills instruction. Student performance in the course was…

Aiding Participation and Engagement in a Blended Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alrushiedat, Nimer; Olfman, Lorne

2013-01-01

This research was conducted as a field experiment that explored the potential benefits of anchoring in asynchronous online discussions for business statistics classes required for information systems majors. These classes are usually taught using traditional methods with emphasis on lecturing, knowledge reproduction, and treatment of students as…

Identification of Emerging Science Competencies in Agriculture. Vocational Education Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge. School of Vocational Education.

A research project identified new and emerging science concepts that should be taught in high school vocational agriculture. Agricultural scientists on an advisory panel identified the emerging science concepts. The majority were in the areas of plant science and animal science. Animal science was completely reorganized with greater emphasis on…

A Course in Earth System Science: Developed for Teachers by Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, K.; Read, K.; Charlevoix, D.; Tomkin, J.; Hug, B.; Williams, M.; Pianfetti, E.

2008-12-01

ESES 202 is a new general education course in physical science at the University of Illinois's School of Earth, Society and Environment, designed for pre-service K-8 teachers. The goal of the course is to help future classroom teachers become confident with teaching earth science content. The designers of this course include a faculty expert in earth system science, a pre-service teacher and a former middle school science teacher. The goal of the in the curriculum design was to utilize the unique perspectives and experiences of our team. Our poster will highlight the unique nature of the curriculum development outlining the challenges and successes of designing the course. The general format of the class will be a combination of discussions, hands on experiences, and opportunities for students to design their own lessons. Class meetings will be once per week in a three-hour block, allowing students to immediately transfer new content knowledge into classroom activities. The end goal is that they can use these same activities with their students once they are practicing teachers. The content of the course shall be taught using an earth systems approach by showing the relationships among the four spheres: biosphere, hydrosphere, atmospheric, and anthrosphere. There are five units in the course: Introduction to Earth Systems, Carbon Cycle, Water Quality, El Niño and Climate Change. In addition to the science portion of the course, students will spend time reflecting on the classroom activities from the perspective of future educators. Activities will be presented at a late elementary school level; however, time will be devoted to discussing methods to adapt the lesson to different grade levels and differentiation needs within a classroom. Additionally, students in this course will be instructed on how to utilize a multitude of resources from stream tables to science education databases to prepare them for the dynamic nature of the classroom. By the end of the class preservice teachers will have an organized resource binder with science content and classroom activities for each unit. This will serve as an invaluable tool for them when they enter a classroom. Most of the University students who take this course will not yet have had an opportunity to teach in their practicum. By the conclusion of the semester they will have a plethora of experience and resources with increased confidence in teaching earth science.

The nature of science and the preservice elementary teacher: Changes in understanding and practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivas, Michael Gerald

This action research project studies preservice elementary teachers in a science methods course. The purpose of this research project was to enhance preservice teachers' understanding of specific nature of science (NOS) tenets so as to promote equity and access within the elementary science classroom. In particular, I chose five NOS tenets that were listed in the first chapter of the AAAS (1989) document titled, "The Nature of Science," and connected them to equitable educational goals and practices. The theoretical framework guiding this study came from bodies of scholarship relating to the NOS, social constructivism, and action research. This study addressed the following three questions: (1) What opportunities were provided the preservice teachers so that they could enhance their understandings of the NOS? (2) What were the changes in preservice teachers' understanding of the NOS as a result? (3) How did the prospective teachers' understandings of the NOS translate into their classroom practice? The analysis revealed that the science methods course's operational curriculum consisted of implicit and explicit teaching of the NOS, as well as intended and untended NOS tenets. The prospective teachers initially held a limited view of the NOS, but by the end of the course their view had been enhanced. In addition, the participants made direct connections between their new understandings of the NOS and equity and access in the science classroom. In their teaching, the preservice teachers as a group implicitly taught all five of the NOS tenets. In fact, a majority taught three of the five intended tenets. Explicitly, only one tenet was taught, but it was taught with a direct connection to making the science classroom more inclusive. The findings of this study indicate that preservice teachers can have their views of the NOS enhanced even though they may have experienced years of deficient science instruction. They pointed out that this enhanced view of the NOS can be translated into classroom practice. The findings also showed that a direct connection can be made between understandings of the NOS and issues of equity and access at the elementary level.

The Effect of Process Intervention on the Attitudes and Learning in a College Freshman Composition Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wahlberg, William Auman

This study was designed to explore one method of intervening in the process of a conventional academic classroom to affect student attitude and improve the learning climate. Two college freshman composition classes of 22 students each provided the subjects for the study. Each class was taught by the same instructor for three hours a week; one…

A Comparison of the Development and Delivery of Two Short-Term Study-Abroad Thermal Sciences Courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobitz, Frank

2014-11-01

Short-term study-abroad engineering courses provide an opportunity to increase the international awareness and global competency of engineering students. Two different approaches have been taken in the past years in the development and delivery of two three-week long thermal sciences courses. A senior-level elective Topics in Fluid Mechanics course was taught twice in Marseille (France) in January 2010 and 2013. A sophomore-level Introduction to Thermal Sciences course was offered in London (United Kingdom) in July 2014. Both courses were developed due to a strong student desire for engineering study-abroad courses and an effort by the home institution to internationalize its curriculum. The common goals of the two courses are an effective teaching of their respective technical content combined with a meaningful international experience. The two courses differed in their respective settings: Topics in Fluid Mechanics was taught at Aix-Marseille University and included strong interactions with local faculty and students. Introduction to Thermal Sciences, however, was taught in a cluster of seven courses offered by the home institution in London. The courses were assessed using surveys, student reflection papers, course evaluations, and instructor observations.

People

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2001-03-01

How and why we teach An interview with Mick Nott conducted by David Sang Mick Nott teaches at Sheffield Hallam University. He is editor of School Science Review, and over the last three years he has been organizing a website, book and display for the ASE's Science Teacher Festival. Mick Nott You studied Logic with Physics as your undergraduate degree course, at Sussex, at the end of the 1960s. Wasn't this a rather unusual choice? At school, I loved chemistry, particularly physical chemistry. However, physical chemistry didn't love me when I studied it at university. I grew resentful of the demands made on me with the overcrowded morning lecture programme that was mainly a board-copying exercise and the afternoon hours of labs. I felt stifled; there didn't seem to be any space to express oneself. I wanted a course that allowed me some freedom of thought. So in the summer of 1969 I transferred to the Logic with Physics course. Alongside our 'straight' physics we studied the history of topics like atomic and quantum theory, thermodynamics, mechanics from the Greeks to the Newtonian synthesis and we also had a couple of units in the sociology of science. Amongst the set texts of our first class in the summer of 1969 was Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Now well worn with its cover repaired by sticky tape, it still rests on my bookshelves. Reading Kuhn, I understood why I had been dissatisfied with my chemistry course. If I wanted to make it in chemistry I was going to have to conform to thinking exactly like all the other chemists. That wasn't for me. What attracted you into teaching? And where did you teach? I think it was a vocation in that, from the age of 15, I could imagine myself in the role and it was a job I could 'see' myself doing. Now thinking back I suppose it was an obvious way in which a working class child could transcend class barriers. I did my postgraduate teacher training at Sussex because it was assessed by coursework and classroom competence (in the early 1970s most such courses still had written examinations). I thought it was fantastic. We spent three days a week from October to May in one school. I had one regular third-year class every week and the rest of my teaching timetable varied from term to term. It was like being a 0.3/0.4 member of staff and for that one third-year class I had to do parents' evenings, reports etc. The teachers were paid to act as tutors for the preparation of schemes of work, lessons and tutorial work and they assessed my teaching. Teachers, tutors and trainees attended seminars together. My first teaching job was at Holland Park School in London, at a time when it was famous, perhaps even infamous! It was a real baptism of fire - over 2000 pupils, tens of different first languages, a real mix of class and ethnicity, and newly introduced mixed ability teaching for the first three years. We worked very hard writing schemes of work and developing worksheets and audiovisual materials but, on reflection, I am not sure that we were that effective in developing the science curriculum. I remember using Nuffield Combined Science with the first two years and that was in danger of becoming death by a thousand worksheets. After three years I went to teach in a small private school in Madrid for a year. I was the physics department and my title of Head of Physics meant I was in charge of myself. This was highly formative as a teacher - I had nobody to ask if I didn't understand some physics. As the school was poorly equipped I learned to make apparatus and be very resourceful. There was no pupils' practical work in school science in Spain at that time and I spent a lot of time in hardware stores and medical suppliers! After Spain all of my teaching career was in 11-18 mixed comprehensives, in Cheshire and then Peterborough, and I rose to the dizzy heights of Head of Science. By the time I left the school in Peterborough in 1986 we had established the curriculum framework for broad and balanced science for all to age 16. Did your undergraduate studies influence the way you taught science? I think they made me think critically about my teaching right from the start. Although there was much that I admired in the Nuffield approach, I felt that it was unrealistic to expect pupils to discover the whole of Physics for themselves in the time available! In 1973, 'Learning by discovery' was the slogan. My first lesson on my own was with a class of 32 children and 16 brightly illuminated ripple tanks in a dim laboratory. The pupils' task was to 'discover' that v = fλ. The familiar cry, 'What's supposed to happen, Sir?' arose around the room. At the end, as I removed the crocodile clips the pupils had stuck on my jacket, I had to tell them what the result should have been. Nowadays I am convinced that science has to be taught as well as it has to be learned. I don't go along with the teacher as solely a 'facilitator' of learning and the learning environment. Schooling is an enculturation into ways of thinking and important things to know. Teachers have a responsibility to set an agenda for their pupils, e.g. what is important for pupils to learn, why is it important and how does it contribute pupils' personal and social development as well as their potential development as a scientist. You played a big role in the Secondary Science Curriculum Review (SSCR) in the 1980s. What impact did that experience have on you? The SSCR started off as a democratic experiment, trying to 'hand' science curriculum development to class teachers. I worked for the project as an advisory teacher for a year developing problem-solving as a teaching strategy in lower secondary school science. I think the SSCR was crucial to the successful launching of broad and balanced science and the political battle to establish science as a core subject. Can you still discern the influence of the SSCR in today's National Curriculum? I don't think the present science curriculum is what the SSCR envisaged. However, many projects which were partly products of SSCR have had a profound impact (for example the CLIS project Suffolk Coordinated Science and NEAB Modular Science). I welcomed the inclusion of an attainment target on the nature of science (AT17) in the first version of the National Curriculum but it soon became weakened when the Science National Curriculum was revised. However, I think that some aspects have resurfaced in the new emphasis on ideas and evidence. I was involved in the writing of the Nuffield report, Beyond 2000: Science education for the future, and I think this has had an impact at the policy level, but its suggested strategies were not 'periphery to centre' which was the slogan of the SSCR. At Sheffield Hallam University, you have been involved in initial teacher training and you have also taught on undergraduate physics courses. What are your areas of interest in teaching and research today? I am interested in the history and culture of science education: Why do we teach science in the way we do? What are the roots of today's science curriculum? Knowing what we know about the past, how can we develop things in the future? You are now organizing the Science Teacher Festival, celebrating 100 years of the ASE and its forerunners. What made you think this was worth doing? There is an old saying that if we forget our history, we will be condemned to relive it, and I think it was Marx who said that there is no point in studying your past if you are not going to use it to change the future. Looking back through past decades of School Science Review, Physics Education and other journals, you can see the same arguments arising time and again - for example, can pupils learn their science through discovery/problem-solving/investigations? what methods of assessment match our science teaching objectives? should science be taught as general/integrated/separate sciences? These arguments have been with us throughout the past century and the 'winners' and 'losers' rise and fall! I think that to be a profession, we need to recognize our heritage and tradition. At the moment I get the impression that every year is Year Zero as some 'new' initiative starts. We can learn from the past, and next time we try an idea we should take it further, research it deeper and disseminate it wider than we did before.

Using an Inquiry Approach to Teach Science to Secondary School Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McBride, John W.; Bhatti, Muhammad I.; Hannan, Mohammad A.; Feinberg, Martin

2004-01-01

Leaders in science education have actively promoted inquiry science since the 1960s and continue to do so today. The US National Science Education Standards recommend that science instruction and learning should be well grounded in inquiry. In spite of these efforts, however, little has changed in the way science is taught. Teacher-talk and…

How do Japanese escape from TSUNAMI? - Disaster Prevention Education through using Hazard Maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakaue, Hiroaki

2013-04-01

After the disaster of the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, Japan in 2011, it is necessary to teach more "Disaster Prevention" in school. The government guideline for education of high school geography students emphasizes improving students' awareness of disaster prevention through acquiring geographical skills, for example reading hazard and thematic maps. The working group of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) says that the purpose of Disaster Prevention Education is to develop the following competencies: 1. To acquire knowledge about disasters in the local area and the science of disaster prevention. 2. To teach individuals to protect themselves from natural hazards. 3. To safely support other people in the local area. 4. To build a safe society during rebuilding from the disasters. "Disaster Prevention Education" is part of the "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD) curriculum. That is, teaching disaster prevention can contribute to developing abilities for sustainable development and building a sustainable society. I have tried to develop a high school geography class about "tsunami". The aim of this class is to develop the students' competencies to acquire the knowledge about tsunami and protect themselves from it through reading a hazard map. I especially think that in geography class, students can protect themselves from disasters through learning the risks of disasters and how to escape when disasters occur. In the first part of class, I have taught the mechanism of tsunami formation and where tsunamis occur in Japan. In the second part of class, I have shown students pictures that I had taken in Tohoku, for instance Ishinomaki-City, Minamisanriku-Town, Kesen'numa-City, and taught how to read hazard maps that show where safe and dangerous places are when natural hazards occur. I think that students can understand the features of the local area and how to escape from disasters that may occur in local area by learning a hazard map. I have used a comment paper to evaluate the following competencies: 1. Students can understand the mechanism of tsunami formation and its potential for damage. 2. Students can read the hazard map. 3. Students can explain or describe a detailed plan for disaster prevention. In conclusion, many students could read hazard maps and describe a detailed plan for disaster prevention. In other words, through developing mapping skills, geography students can contribute to developing abilities for Disaster Prevention Education and building a sustainable society. Disaster Prevention Education has many requirements. For example, the MEXT working group says that Disaster Prevention Education teaching should not only deliver knowledge but also develop students' problem solving competency, and that it is important to incorporate this education within each subject area in the school.

Teaching cell and molecular biology for gender equity.

PubMed

Sible, Jill C; Wilhelm, Dayna E; Lederman, Muriel

2006-01-01

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, including cell biology, are characterized by the "leaky pipeline" syndrome in which, over time, women leave the discipline. The pipeline itself and the pond into which it empties may not be neutral. Explicating invisible norms, attitudes, and practices by integrating social studies of science into science education may be the necessary first step in helping female students persist in STEM disciplines. In 2003 and 2004, a sophomore Cell and Molecular Biology course at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA) was taught integrating social studies of science with standard material. The course was successfully implemented, teaching students factual content while increasing awareness of the cultures of science and their self-confidence in engaging with the subject. Course evaluation data indicated that females in particular perceived greater gains in logical thinking and problem-solving abilities than females in a traditional cell biology course. Consistent with K-12 studies, males in this class were likely to view scientists as male only, whereas females viewed scientists as male and female. This pilot project demonstrates that social studies can be integrated successfully in a cell biology course. Longitudinal studies of this cohort of students will indicate whether this approach contributes to the retention of women in the field.

Bioregenerative system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The design course is an eight semester credit multi-disciplinary engineering design course taught primarily to Engineering Science, Aerospace, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering seniors. This year the course project involved the design of the three interrelated loops: atmospheric, liquid nutrient and solid waste management, associated with growing higher plants to support man during long-term space missions. The project is complementary to the NASA Kennedy Space Center Controlled Environmental Life Support System (CELSS) project. The first semester the class worked on a preliminary design for a complete system. This effort included means for monitoring and control of composition, temperature, flow rate, etc., for the atmosphere and liquid nutrient solution; disease and contaminant monitoring and control; plant mechanical support, propagation and harvesting; solid and liquid waste recycling; and system maintenance and refurbishing. The project has significant biological, mechanical, electrical and Al/Robotics aspects. The second semester a small number of subsystems or components, identified as important and interesting during the first semester, were selected for detail design, fabrication, and testing. The class was supported by close cooperation with The Kennedy Space Center and by two teaching assistants. The availability of a dedicated, well equipped project room greatly enhanced the communication and team spirit of the class.

Linguistics as a Cognitive Science and Its Role in an Undergraduate Curriculum. Linguistics in the Undergraduate Curriculum, Appendix 4-F.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lakoff, George

In most colleges and universities, linguistics is taught very little, while disciplines intellectually dependent on results in linguistics are taught almost universally. An understanding of the central issues in philosophy, psychology, anthropology, literature, and artificial intelligence requires an understanding of linguistics, but most…

Fairness in Teaching Evolution in Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warnick, Bryan

2014-01-01

In this article, Bryan Warnick discusses not so much whether creationism should be taught in schools, but how evolution should be taught. He contends that if we are going to prohibit the teaching of something like Intelligent Design (ID) in science classrooms because it is unscientific, what implications does that then have for how we teach…

Space Rocks Tell Their Secrets: Space Science Applications of Physics and Chemistry for High School and College Classes. Update.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindstrom, M. M.; Tobola, K. W.; Allen, J. S.; Stocco, K.; Henry, M.; Allen, J. S.; McReynolds, Julie; Porter, T. Todd; Veile, Jeri

2005-01-01

As the scientific community studies Mars remotely for signs of life and uses Martian meteorites as its only available samples, teachers, students, and the general public continue to ask, "How do we know these meteorites are from Mars?" This question sets the stage for a six-lesson instructional package Space Rocks Tell Their Secrets. Expanding on the short answer "It's the chemistry of the rock", students are introduced to the research that reveals the true identities of the rocks. Since few high school or beginning college students have the opportunity to participate in this level of research, a slide presentation introduces them to the labs, samples, and people involved with the research. As they work through the lessons and interpret authentic data, students realize that the research is an application of two basic science concepts taught in the classroom, the electromagnetic spectrum and isotopes. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Strategy Enhances Students’ Higher Level Thinking Skills in a Pharmaceutical Sciences Course

PubMed Central

Verlinden, Nathan; Kruger, Nicholas; Carroll, Ailey; Trumbo, Tiffany

2015-01-01

Objective. To determine if the process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) teaching strategy improves student performance and engages higher-level thinking skills of first-year pharmacy students in an Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences course. Design. Overall examination scores and scores on questions categorized as requiring either higher-level or lower-level thinking skills were compared in the same course taught over 3 years using traditional lecture methods vs the POGIL strategy. Student perceptions of the latter teaching strategy were also evaluated. Assessment. Overall mean examination scores increased significantly when POGIL was implemented. Performance on questions requiring higher-level thinking skills was significantly higher, whereas performance on questions requiring lower-level thinking skills was unchanged when the POGIL strategy was used. Student feedback on use of this teaching strategy was positive. Conclusion. The use of the POGIL strategy increased student overall performance on examinations, improved higher-level thinking skills, and provided an interactive class setting. PMID:25741027

Case Studies of Secondary School Teachers Designing Socioscientific Issues-Based Instruction and Their Students' Socioscientific Reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karahan, Engin

Addressing socioscientific issues (SSI) has been one of the main focuses in science education since the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) movement in the 1970s (Levinson, 2006); however, teaching controversial socioscientific issues has always been challenging for teachers (Dillon, 1994; Osborne, Duschl, & Fairbrother, 2002). Although teachers exhibit positive attitudes for using controversial socioscientific issues in their science classrooms, only a small percentage of them actually incorporate SSI content into their science curricula on a regular basis (Sadler, Amirshokoohi, Kazempour, & Allspaw, 2006; Lee & Witz, 2009). The literature in science education has highlighted the signi?cant relationships among teacher beliefs, teaching practices, and student learning (Bryan & Atwater, 2002; King, Shumow, & Lietz, 2001; Lederman, 1992). Despite the fact that the case studies present a relatively detailed picture of teachers' values and motivations for teaching SSI (e.g. Lee, 2006; Lee & Witz, 2009; Reis & Galvao, 2004), these studies still miss the practices of these teachers and potential outcomes for their students. Therefore, there is a great need for in-depth case studies that would focus on teachers' practices of designing and teaching SSI-based learning environments, their deeper beliefs and motivations for teaching SSI, and their students' response to these practices (Lee, 2006). This dissertation is structured as three separate, but related, studies about secondary school teachers' experiences of designing and teaching SSI-based classes and their students' understanding of science and SSI reasoning. The case studies in this dissertation seek answers for (1) teachers' practices of designing and teaching SSI-based instruction, as well as its relation to their deeper personal beliefs and motivations to teach SSI, and (2) how their students respond to their approaches of teaching SSI in terms of their science understanding and SSI reasoning. The first paper presents case studies of three secondary science teachers within three high schools located along the Minnesota River Basin. The findings of this study documented the experiences of the participant teachers, as well as the contextual influences on those experiences. The second paper presents a case study of a science teacher and a social studies teacher which describes how these two teachers collaboratively designed and taught an environmental ethics class. The results of this study documented teachers' ways of sharing responsibilities, bringing their content and pedagogical expertise, and promoting the agency of their students in the environmental ethics class. The final paper in this dissertation presents case studies of secondary school students who were the participants in the SSI-based science classes described in the first two studies. The results of this study provided evidence for participant students' understanding of science and their socioscientific reasoning, as well as how they were influenced by the instructional decisions their teachers made.

Linking Proportionality across the Science and Mathematics Curricula through Science Literacy Maps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Kerri; Matthews, Catherine; Thompson, Catherine

2008-01-01

Proportionality should be a central focus of the middle-grades science and mathematics curricula and concepts such as density can be introduced and taught in both disciplines, highlighting for students the connections between science and mathematics. This month's column describes how teachers can utilize the "The Atlas of Science Literacy" and…

Fostering a positive attitude towards science through college courses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flohic, Helene

2015-01-01

For non-science majors, a general education course in college is often the last science course they will ever take. General education courses are often regarded by students as a right of passage in which they have no interest. Thus strict coursework might aggravate students against the matter taught, and decrease their general interest in the subject. To test whether general education courses killed the students' interest in science, we administered a science attitude inventory at the beginning and at the end of an introductory astronomy course. We compared the gain/loss in science attitude with that experienced by students of a writing course as a baseline. Finally, we evaluated the gain/loss in science attitude for students enrolled in a general education course on science and society, where no formal science knowledge was taught, but where the students discussed the different aspects of the relation between science and society.This study (once tested on a larger scale) could serve as a guideline for educational policies aiming to foster a positive attitude in the population of college graduates.

The Virtual Learning Commons: Supporting Science Education with Emerging Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pennington, D. D.; Gandara, A.; Gris, I.

2012-12-01

The Virtual Learning Commons (VLC), funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure CI-Team Program, is a combination of Semantic Web, mash up, and social networking tools that supports knowledge sharing and innovation across scientific disciplines in research and education communities and networks. The explosion of scientific resources (data, models, algorithms, tools, and cyberinfrastructure) challenges the ability of educators to be aware of resources that might be relevant to their classes. Even when aware, it can be difficult to understand enough about those resources to develop classroom materials. Often emerging data and technologies have little documentation, especially about their application. The VLC tackles this challenge by providing mechanisms for individuals and groups of educators to organize Web resources into virtual collections, and engage each other around those collections in order to a) learn about potentially relevant resources that are available; b) design classes that leverage those resources; and c) develop course syllabi. The VLC integrates Semantic Web functionality for structuring distributed information, mash up functionality for retrieving and displaying information, and social media for discussing/rating information. We are working to provide three views of information that support educators in different ways: 1. Innovation Marketplace: supports users as they find others teaching similar courses, where they are located, and who they collaborate with; 2. Conceptual Mapper: supports educators as they organize their thinking about the content of their class and related classes taught by others; 3. Curriculum Designer: supports educators as they generate a syllabus and find Web resources that are relevant. This presentation will discuss the innovation and learning theories that have informed design of the VLC, hypotheses about the use of emerging technologies to support innovation in classrooms, and will include a brief demonstration of these capabilities.

NASA Kennedy Space Center Educator Workshops: Exploring Their Impact on Teacher Attitudes and Concerns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dreschel, Thomas W.

1996-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration holds summer teacher workshops to motivate teachers to use space science in their lessons. In evaluating these workshops, the areas of interest were participant beliefs about science and science teaching and concerns about educational change and innovation. The teachers attending workshops in 1995, past participants, teachers that received materials but had not attended a workshop, and science researchers were surveyed using the Beliefs about Science and Science Education Survey and/or the Stages of Concern Questionnaire. Comparisons were made by workshop length, time since workshop, and highest grade taught. Reductions in concerns were most evident in the four week workshop. Changes in beliefs were also observed relative to teaching approach and ability. Differences in beliefs were observed between teachers and science researchers. Differences were also observed relative to time since attendance and by grade level taught. It is recommended that the workshops be at least four weeks in length and in length and target specific grade levels, that refresher workshops be offered.

The Integration of Creative Drama in an Inquiry-Based Elementary Program: The Effect on Student Attitude and Conceptual Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendrix, Rebecca; Eick, Charles; Shannon, David

2012-11-01

Creative drama activities designed to help children learn difficult science concepts were integrated into an inquiry-based elementary science program. Children (n = 38) in an upper elementary enrichment program at one primary school were the participants in this action research. The teacher-researcher taught students the Full Option Science System™ (FOSS) modules of sound (fourth grade) and solar energy (fifth grade) with the integration of creative drama activities in treatment classes. A 2 × 2 × (2) Mixed ANOVA was used to examine differences in the learning outcomes and attitudes toward science between groups (drama and non-drama) and grade levels (4th and 5th grades) over time (pre/post). Learning was measured using the tests included with the FOSS modules. A shortened version of the Three Dimension Elementary Science Attitude Survey measured attitudes toward science. Students in the drama treatment group had significantly higher learning gains ( F = 160.2, p < 0.001) than students in the non-drama control group with students in grade four reporting significantly greater learning outcomes ( F = 14.3, p < 0.001) than grade five. There was a significantly statistical decrease in student attitudes toward science ( F = 7.5, p < 0.01), though a small change. Creative drama was an effective strategy to increase science conceptual learning in this group of diverse elementary enrichment students when used as an active extension to the pre-existing inquiry-based science curriculum.

Using a Project to Add Practicality to Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yates, Don; Smith, Brian

2007-01-01

In the marketing research class taught at University of South Carolina, Upstate School of Business and Economics, pedagogical emphasis is placed on the marketing research process as it relates to the policies and functions of the business enterprise. Historically, the marketing research project has been used in this undergraduate class to convey…

A Chinese Tongue Twister

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilton, John

2014-01-01

When John Hilton was pursuing a master's in education, he took a very influential class from Eleanor Duckworth. She frequently taught and reinforced a concept to the class: "It is very important for teachers to have a chance to watch themselves learn." So when Hilton was hired to teach literature as a college professor, he thought…

Changing Beliefs about Teaching in Large Undergraduate Mathematics Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kensington-Miller, Barbara; Sneddon, Jamie; Yoon, Caroline; Stewart, Sepideh

2013-01-01

Many lecturers use teacher-centred styles of teaching in large undergraduate mathematics classes, often believing in the effectiveness of such pedagogy. Changing these beliefs about how mathematics should be taught is not a simple process and many academic staff are reluctant to change their ways of lecturing due to tradition and ease. This study…

Film Study: "Nothing But a Man."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manchel, Frank

1967-01-01

To examine new approaches to film study, "Nothing But a Man," which portrays the difficulties encountered by a young Negro in the South, was taught experimentally in three 11th-grade English classes at Cheshire High School, Connecticut. A different method of approaching the movie was used in each class to determine effective teaching methods for…

Teaching Stimulus Classes to Encourage Independent Purchasing by Students with Severe Behavior Disorders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardill, M. Cathleen; Browder, Diane M.

1995-01-01

Three students (ages 12 and 13) with developmental disabilities and severe behavior disorders were taught independent purchasing skills. To bypass the need for money computation skills, discrimination between three stimulus classes of frequent purchases (vending machine snack, convenience store snack, lunch) were trained. Two students mastered the…

Reunion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Circle, David

2005-01-01

This article describes an experience the author had in July. He was the guest of honor at the fortieth class reunion of the 1965 graduating class of Shawnee Mission West High in Overland Park, Kansas, where he taught. These "kids," many of whom were in the band or orchestra, are now fifty-eight years old! Some had already retired but…

Dogs, Cats, and Kids: Integrating Yoga into Elementary Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toscano, Lisa; Clemente, Fran

2008-01-01

This article describes the benefits of integrating yoga into elementary physical education classes. Taught as warm-up exercises or as an entire class, yoga offers children of any age and physical ability the opportunity to experience success in physical activity. Children need to experience joy while participating in physical activity in order to…

A Game Plan for Teaching Logic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woloshin, Phyllis Lerman

An experiment using game-theory to teach a unit on "fallacies" in logic was conducted at Oakton Community College. One experimental and two control group lecture-style classes were taught by three teachers using the same text and final test. The experimental class, after an introductory segment presented in lecture style, were involved in a…

A Web-Based Tutor for Java™: Evidence of Meaningful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emurian, Henry H.

2006-01-01

Students in a graduate class and an undergraduate class in Information Systems completed a Web-based programmed instruction tutor that taught a simple Java applet as the first technical training exercise in a computer programming course. The tutor is a competency-based instructional system for individualized distance learning. When a student…

The Work of Ideology: Examining Class, Language Use, and Attitudes among Moroccan University Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chakrani, Brahim; Huang, Jason L.

2014-01-01

This article investigates overt language attitudes and linguistic practices among French-taught university students in Morocco, showing the relationship between language behavior and attitudes. The results reveal a class-based divide in respondents' patterns of language use, in their support of the French monolingual sanitized classroom, and in…

Metric Education in Mathematics Methods Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trent, John H.

A pre-test on knowledge of the metric system was administered to elementary mathematics methods classes at the University of Nevada at the beginning of the 1975 Spring Semester. A one-hour lesson was prepared and taught regarding metric length, weight, volume, and temperature. At the end of the semester the original test was given as the…

Inclusion Professional Development Model and Regular Middle School Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Royster, Otelia; Reglin, Gary L.; Losike-Sedimo, Nonofo

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a professional development model on regular education middle school teachers' knowledge of best practices for teaching inclusive classes and attitudes toward teaching these classes. There were 19 regular education teachers who taught the core subjects. Findings for Research Question 1…

Middle School Choreography Class: Two Parallel but Different Worlds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minton, Sandra

2007-01-01

This research explored how middle school students construct meaning from their dance-making experiences in comparison to the meaning attached to these experiences by an outside observer, the researcher. An interpretive methodology was used to study two nine-week-long dance classes taught at a private K-12 school. Eleven students enrolled in the…

My Very Own Contract About the Energy Crisis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, LaVora

This collection of lessons and class activities is designed for presentation during a sequence of five class days. The lessons are intended to emphasize the need for energy conservation by everyone. Seventh grade students will be taught methods for acquainting others of the nature of the energy situation and methods of making their homes more…

Two Project-Based Strategies in an Interdisciplinary Mathematical Modeling in Biology Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ludwig, Patrice; Tongen, Anthony; Walton, Brian

2018-01-01

James Madison University faculty team-teach an interdisciplinary mathematical modeling course for mathematics and biology students. We have used two different project-based approaches to emphasize the mathematical concepts taught in class, while also exposing students to new areas of mathematics not formally covered in class. The first method…

Integrating Climate Change Science and Sustainability in Environmental Science, Sociology, Philosophy and Business Courses.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudrias, M. A.; Cantzler, J.; Croom, S.; Huston, C.; Woods, M.

2015-12-01

Courses on sustainability can be taught from multiple perspectives with some focused on specific areas (environmental, socio-cultural, economic, ethics) and others taking a more integrated approach across areas of sustainability and academic disciplines. In conjunction with the Climate Change Education Program efforts to enhance climate change literacy with innovative approaches, resources and communication strategies developed by Climate Education Partners were used in two distinct ways to integrate climate change science and impacts into undergraduate and graduate level courses. At the graduate level, the first lecture in the MBA program in Sustainable Supply Chain Management is entirely dedicated to climate change science, local and global impacts and discussions about key messages to communicate to the business community. Basic science concepts are integrated with discussions about mitigation and adaptation focused on business leaders. The concepts learned are then applied to the semester-long business plan project for the students. At the undergraduate level, a new model of comprehensive integration across disciplines was implemented in Spring 2015 across three courses on Sustainability each with a specific lens: Natural Science, Sociology and Philosophy. All three courses used climate change as the 'big picture' framing concept and had similar learning objectives creating a framework where lens-specific topics, focusing on depth in a discipline, were balanced with integrated exercises across disciplines providing breadth and possibilities for integration. The comprehensive integration project was the creation of the climate action plan for the university with each team focused on key areas of action (water, energy, transportation, etc.) and each team built with at least one member from each class ensuring a natural science, sociological and philosophical perspective. The final project was presented orally to all three classes and an integrated paper included all three perspectives. The best projects are being compiled so they can be shared with the University of San Diego's planning committee.

Environmental Change Science Literacy Through Writing: Successes in an Undergraduate Writing and Composition Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Small, J. D.

2007-12-01

Basic science literacy, especially with regards to environmental change science, is often lacking in traditional K- 12 and undergraduate education. This generally leads to broad misconceptions based on distorted presentations of science in the media. Current educational research suggests that the teaching and learning of science can happen in many ways, whether it is through lectures, labs, research, inquiry or informal learning activities. This study was motivated by the desire to investigate the ability to teach environmental change science content in the non-traditional mode of an undergraduate composition and writing course. This technique offers educators another option for the integration of climate and environmental change material into their curriculum. The study incorporates the assessment and evaluation of student writing, in-class participation and student self- evaluations from "Writing about Change: Global Environmental Change and Society" a writing course that fulfils a requirement to graduate from the University of California - Santa Cruz. The course was taught Winter Quarter 2007 with a total of 28 days of instruction and the participation of 20 undergraduate students. The overarching goals of this study can be broadly classified as attitudinal, skills development and content retention. This study was designed to address three broad questions related to the above broad goals: i) Did students leave the class more comfortable and confident with environmental change issues and content? ii) Did students develop skills that are useful for reading and writing about scientific material? iii) What did students learn (retain): more general concepts or specific facts regarding climate and environmental change? Preliminary analysis and coding of student work clearly show that students were successful in developing skills for understanding and utilizing scientific information via writing and making thoughtful judgments regarding the reliability of environmental change science in various media. More detailed analysis of student work and responses are necessary in order to fully evaluate the depth and breadth of student understanding and retention of scientific content and concepts.

Effectiveness of different tutorial recitation teaching methods and its implications for TA training

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koenig, Kathleen M.; Endorf, Robert J.; Braun, Gregory A.

2007-06-01

We present results from a comparative study of student understanding for students who attended recitation classes that used different teaching methods. Student volunteers from our introductory calculus-based physics course attended a special recitation class that was taught using one of four different teaching methods. A total of 272 students were divided into approximately equal groups for each method. Students in each class were taught the same topic, “Changes in Energy and Momentum,” from Tutorials in Introductory Physics. The different teaching methods varied in the amount of student and teacher engagement. Student understanding was evaluated through pre- and post-tests. Our results demonstrate the importance of the instructor’s role in teaching recitation classes. The most effective teaching method was for students working in cooperative learning groups with the instructors questioning the groups using Socratic dialogue. In addition, we investigated student preferences for modes of instruction through an open-ended survey. Our results provide guidance and evidence for the teaching methods that should be emphasized in training course instructors.

Integrating independent research into science curricula to foster STEM leadership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Queenan, Craig; Calabro, Alyssa; Becker, David

2013-05-01

Preparing students for college and future careers is one of the main goals of K-12 education, but current STEM teaching methods do not do enough to interest students and leave them prepared to enter into and succeed in STEM careers. While measures to implement unifying standards for science education across the country are aimed at ensuring that all students are taught the same material at each grade level, a shift in the way science is taught to is needed to complete the redesign of science education. The independent research model described here aligns with the new content standards and focuses on developing the principles of perspective, purpose, resources, collaboration, analysis, and presentation. These principles not only engage students in the classroom, but also leave students prepared to enter into science programs in college and succeed in leadership roles in the STEM workforce.

Fort Benton Science Curriculum Outline.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fort Benton Public Schools, MT.

The science curriculum for the Fort Benton school system was developed with funds under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to give students the background of a modern and forward-looking program in science taught in an imaginative, investigative, and inquiry-oriented fashion. The science curriculum guide outlines a planned…

Improving Reading in Science. Reading Aids Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thelen, Judith

The material in this monograph is based on the idea that science content and the reading and reasoning processes for learning may be taught simultaneously in the science classroom. Topics of the six chapters are: distinguishing between content and process, developmental and functional reading; diagnosis in teaching science; preparatory activities…

Eighth Grade Marine Science; Resource Units.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Edwin B.

A resource unit on the marine sciences is described. Designed for eighth-grade students with some basic science background, the unit can be taught in a minimum of four weeks. Content includes emphasis on the biological, chemical, and physical sciences. Each lesson contains objectives, goals, materials, and follow-up activities (often an…

Provocative Opinion: Fads in Science Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parry, R. W.

1975-01-01

Criticizes the post-Sputnik wave of multi-disciplinary science curricula aimed at teaching the students about social problems and how science can help solve these problems. Suggests that science teaching should concentrate more on the basics of a given discipline and should be taught be specialists rather than generalists. (MLH)

Pedagogical Preparation of the Science Graduate Teaching Assistant: Challenges and Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Grant E.; Jones, M. Gail

2011-01-01

Graduate teaching assistants are often left out of the science teacher education reform agenda, but these science educators are responsible for significant amounts of undergraduate instruction especially at large research universities. Within science departments specifically, a number of courses and laboratories are taught by graduate teaching…

Impact of Texas High School Science Teacher Credentials on Student Performance in High School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, Anna Ray Bayless

2012-01-01

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between the credentials held by science teachers who taught at a school that administered the Science Texas Assessment on Knowledge and Skills (Science TAKS), the state standardized exam in science, at grade 11 and student performance on a state standardized exam in science administered in grade…

Reconceptualizing the Nature of Science for Science Education: Why Does it Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dagher, Zoubeida R.; Erduran, Sibel

2016-01-01

Two fundamental questions about science are relevant for science educators: (a) What is the nature of science? and (b) what aspects of nature of science should be taught and learned? They are fundamental because they pertain to how science gets to be framed as a school subject and determines what aspects of it are worthy of inclusion in school…

Young Astronomers and Astronomy teaching in Moldavia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaina, Alex

1998-09-01

Curricular Astronomy is taught in Moldavia , except Transnistria and Gagauzia, in the final (11th class) of the secondary schools and gymnasiums, and in the 12th class of the lyceums. The program takes 35 academic hours. The basic book is by Vorontsov-Veliaminov, used in the former USSR, but the Romanian one is also used, in spite of many criticisms addressed to both by our astronomy teachers. In Transinstria (on the left of the Dniester river)astronomy is taught 17 hours. Extracurricular activities develop at the Real Lyceum, where students and amateur astronomers carry out regular observations. Particularly, photographs of the comet Hale-Bopp have been realized using a Cassegrain 450 mm telescope by young astronomers under supervision of S. Luca and D. Gorodetzky (Gorodetchi). Except the telescope from the Real Lyceum other few telescopes are in construction. Unfortunately, no planetarium exists now in Chisinau, since the old one was returned to church. Astronomy courses are taught at the physical and mathematical departments of the Pedagogical University, Transnistrian Moldavian University in Tiraspol and the State University of |Moldavia. Many efforts were made by the State University lecturers and scientists to popularize Astronomy and Astrophysics in the books and in the press, at the radio and TV. No astronomy is taught at the Gagauzian National University in Comrat. No astronomiucal departments exist in Universities of |Moldavia.

Out of Class--Out of Mind? The Use of a Virtual Learning Environment to Encourage Student Engagement in Out of Class Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leese, Maggie

2009-01-01

With increasing student numbers and a diverse student body, it is crucial to consider a range of methods to engage students in learning and teaching activities. This project was used to encourage 1st-year undergraduate students to engage in out of class activities between taught sessions. The project used a virtual learning environment (VLE) known…

Teaching planetary sciences to elementary school teachers: Programs that work

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lebofsky, Larry A.; Lebofsky, Nancy R.

1993-01-01

Planetary sciences can be used to introduce students to the natural world which is a part of their lives. Even children in an urban environment are aware of such phenomena as day and night, shadows, and the seasons. It is a science that transcends cultures, has been prominent in the news in recent years, and can generate excitement in young minds as no other science can. Planetary sciences also provides a useful tool for understanding other sciences and mathematics, and for developing problem solving skills which are important in our technological world. However, only 15 percent of elementary school teachers feel very well qualified to teach earth/space science, while better than 80 percent feel well qualified to teach reading; many teachers avoid teaching science; very little time is actually spent teaching science in the elementary school: 19 minutes per day in K-3 and 38 minutes per day in 4-6. While very little science is taught in elementary and middle school, earth/space science is taught at the elementary level in less than half of the states. It was pointed out that science is not generally given high priority by either teachers or school districts, and is certainly not considered on a par with language arts and mathematics. Therefore, in order to teach science to our youth, we must empower our teachers, making them familiar and comfortable with existing materials. In our earlier workshops, several of our teachers taught in classrooms where the majority of the students were Hispanic (over 90 percent). However, few space sciences materials existed in Spanish. Therefore, most of our materials could not be used effectively in the classroom. To address this issue, NASA materials were translated into Spanish and a series of workshops for bilingual classroom teachers from Tucson and surrounding cities was conducted. Our space sciences workshops and our bilingual classroom workshops and how they address the needs of elementary school teachers in Arizona are addressed in detail.

The Tragedy of the Unexamined Cat: Why K-12 and University Education Are Still in the Dark Ages and How Citizen Science Allows for a Renaissance.

PubMed

Dunn, Robert R; Urban, Julie; Cavelier, Darlene; Cooper, Caren B

2016-03-01

At the end of the dark ages, anatomy was taught as though everything that could be known was known. Scholars learned about what had been discovered rather than how to make discoveries. This was true even though the body (and the rest of biology) was very poorly understood. The renaissance eventually brought a revolution in how scholars (and graduate students) were trained and worked. This revolution never occurred in K-12 or university education such that we now teach young students in much the way that scholars were taught in the dark ages, we teach them what is already known rather than the process of knowing. Citizen science offers a way to change K-12 and university education and, in doing so, complete the renaissance. Here we offer an example of such an approach and call for change in the way students are taught science, change that is more possible than it has ever been and is, nonetheless, five hundred years delayed.

Student Engagement in a Computer Rich Science Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunter, Jeffrey C.

The purpose of this study was to examine the student lived experience when using computers in a rural science classroom. The overarching question the project sought to examine was: How do rural students relate to computers as a learning tool in comparison to a traditional science classroom? Participant data were collected using a pre-study survey, Experience Sampling during class and post-study interviews. Students want to use computers in their classrooms. Students shared that they overwhelmingly (75%) preferred a computer rich classroom to a traditional classroom (25%). Students reported a higher level of engagement in classes that use technology/computers (83%) versus those that do not use computers (17%). A computer rich classroom increased student control and motivation as reflected by a participant who shared; "by using computers I was more motivated to get the work done" (Maggie, April 25, 2014, survey). The researcher explored a rural school environment. Rural populations represent a large number of students and appear to be underrepresented in current research. The participants, tenth grade Biology students, were sampled in a traditional teacher led class without computers for one week followed by a week using computers daily. Data supported that there is a new gap that separates students, a device divide. This divide separates those who have access to devices that are robust enough to do high level class work from those who do not. Although cellular phones have reduced the number of students who cannot access the Internet, they may have created a false feeling that access to a computer is no longer necessary at home. As this study shows, although most students have Internet access, fewer have access to a device that enables them to complete rigorous class work at home. Participants received little or no training at school in proper, safe use of a computer and the Internet. It is clear that the majorities of students are self-taught or receive guidance from peers resulting in lower self-confidence or the development of misconceptions of their skill or ability.

Exploring the Planets: A Mathematical Journey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, M. B.; Johnson, C. L.

2002-12-01

We have developed a series of lessons, designed to teach and reinforce mathematics through lessons about Earth and the bodies that most resemble it in the solar system: Mars, Venus, and the Moon. All lessons are based on California mathematics standards and also cover some Earth science content standards. The overall goal is to achieve cross-curricular learning objectives by showing how math and science work together. While the lessons are designed for a 7th grade math class, they could easily be adapted for a science class, or even modified for different grade levels. The lessons are designed to make recent discoveries in planetary science accessible to students in under-resourced schools. The set of five lessons makes up one unit to be taught consecutively. All the lessons are designed for the alternate day 1 hr and 50 min block scheduling, however the activities could be divided up over two days to accommodate a traditional schedule. There are a total of five lessons, plus a unit test and alternative assessment activities to be given on the sixth day of the unit. In a normal block schedule, the unit should take three weeks. The lessons are available on the web at http://mahi.ucsd.edu/johnson/mathjourney. Each lesson plan comprises the lesson objectives (along with the relevant California 7th grade mathematics standards), a warm-up activity, a vocabulary list (containing words that may be unfamiliar to students, especially those who are learning English), materials required for the class, the lesson structure plus sample dialogue, and in-class and homework activities and worksheets. The in-class activities and worksheets give students the opportunity to master concepts, and can also be useful as a formative assessment tool for the teacher. The mid-unit quiz, final test, and final project can be used as summative assessments. The lessons will be tested this fall by the first author at Davis Middle School, Compton, CA. They will also be disseminated among Teach For America corps members to enable a broader impact in a range of urban and rural under-resourced schools. We have also been using the capabilities of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Visualization Center to produce fly-throughs of large planetary data sets. These are exported as QuickTime movies, making them available as educational tools.

Teaching Sustainable Water Resources and Low Impact Development: A Project Centered Course for First-Year Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cianfrani, C. M.

2009-12-01

Teaching Sustainable Water Resources and Low Impact Development: A Project Centered Course for First-Year Undergraduates Christina M. Cianfrani Assistant Professor, School of Natural Science, Hampshire College, 893 West Avenue, Amherst, MA 01002 Sustainable water resources and low impact development principles are taught to first-year undergraduate students using an applied design project sited on campus. All students at Hampshire College are required to take at least one natural science course during their first year as part of their liberal arts education. This requirement is often met with resistance from non-science students. However, ‘sustainability’ has shown to be a popular topic on campus and ‘Sustainable Water Resources’ typically attracts ~25 students (a large class size for Hampshire College). Five second- or third-year students are accepted in the class as advanced students and serve as project leaders. The first-year students often enter the class with only basic high school science background. The class begins with an introduction to global water resources issues to provide a broad perspective. The students then analyze water budgets, both on a watershed basis and a personal daily-use basis. The students form groups of 4 to complete their semester project. Lectures on low impact design principles are combined with group work sessions for the second half of the semester. Students tour the physical site located across the street from campus and begin their project with a site analysis including soils, landcover and topography. They then develop a building plan and identify preventative and mitigative measures for dealing with stormwater. Each group completes TR-55 stormwater calculations for their design (pre- and post-development) to show the state regulations for quantity will be met with their design. Finally, they present their projects to the class and prepare a formal written report. The students have produced a wide variety of creative, mostly practical designs. Student feedback about the course has included high praise for the applied nature of the project as well as the use of advanced students to lead the groups and help provide guidance throughout the project. Example of low impact development using clustered housing, rain gardens (small dots), green roofs (circles on house sites), vegetated swales along roadways, infiltration area, and a reforested buffer (along right edge).

The Effectiveness of Educational Games on Scientific Concepts Acquisition in First Grade Students in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Tarawneh, Mohammad Hasan

2016-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of educational games on scientific concepts acquisition by the first grade students. The sample of the study consisted of (53) male and female students distributed into two groups: experimental group (n = 26) which taught by educational games, and control group (n = 27) which taught by…

You and the Ocean.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ocean Education Project, Washington, DC.

This multidisciplinary unit of study introduces the law of the sea to students in grades one through six. The unit, which takes three weeks to complete can be taught in science and social studies courses. Concepts taught include the following: there are many things in the sea that are of value to humankind; people need products from the sea;…

The Disposable Blog: Using the Weblog to Facilitate Classroom Learning and Communications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pimpare, Stephen; Fast, Jonathan

2008-01-01

This article describes two case studies: one is from a graduate course in social work practice evaluation taught by the second author; the other is from an undergraduate political science course in media and politics taught by the first author. These cases describe the way blogs, created by students and the professors, facilitate communications…

A pragmatic conception of science: Implications for science teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sessoms, Deidre Bates

In this dissertation, I examine various philosophical conceptions of the nature of science---its goals, methods and products---and link those views to how science is taught. While the review begins in the 1600s, the focus is primarily on logical positivism. The logical positivist view of science prevailed for much of the twentieth century and has greatly influenced how science is taught. The review section culminates with current conceptions of science from the fields of philosophy, sociology, feminist studies and radical studies of science. These various conceptions of the nature of science are linked to how science is currently taught, at the K--12 level and at the university. In particular, the logical positivist conception has influenced the teaching of science by emphasizing the products of science (factual knowledge and theories) over the processes of science (the social methods of knowledge production). As a result of viewing science as the logical positivists did, teachers primarily focus on science as unchanging factual knowledge, at the expense of examining the social and cultural aspects of scientific practices. I develop a pragmatic conception of the method of science as reflective thinking that we effectively use in our everyday lives. Linking that conception with the aims that John Dewey outlined for schools in a democratic society points the way towards certain goals and methods for teaching science. Therefore, I explore the type of science teaching that might result when viewing science as a pragmatic activity conducted in a democracy. Teaching of this sort would involve students in working together on shared problems that arise in the context of daily life. For science students at the university, this would include participating in and critiquing scientific research in active research laboratories. Implementing this view of science teaching might result in modifications in the practices and goals of science. Lastly, the experiences of a group of under-represented minority students who studied the sciences at the university are used to illustrate both the promises and the pitfalls of attempting to incorporate a pragmatic view of science into science teaching.

Papercraft temporal bone in the first step of anatomy education.

PubMed

Hiraumi, Harukazu; Sato, Hiroaki; Ito, Juichi

2017-06-01

(1) To compare temporal bone anatomy comprehension taught to speech therapy students with or without a papercraft model. (2) To explore the effect of papercraft simulation on the understanding of surgical approaches in first-year residents. (1) One-hundred and ten speech therapy students were divided into three classes. The first class was taught with a lecture only. The students in the second class were given a lecture and a papercraft modeling task without instruction. The third class modeled a papercraft with instruction after the lecture. The students were tested on their understanding of temporal bone anatomy. (2) A questionnaire on the understanding of surgical approaches was completed by 10 residents before and after the papercraft modeling. The papercraft models were cut with scissors to simulate surgical approaches. (1) The average scores were 4.4/8 for the first class, 4.3/8 for the second class, and 6.3/8 for the third class. The third class had significantly better results than the other classes (p<0.01, Kruskal-Wallis test). (2) The average scores before and after the papercraft modeling and cutting were 2.6/7 and 4.9/7, respectively. The numerical rating scale score significantly improved (p<0.01, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). The instruction of the anatomy using a papercraft temporal bone model is effective in the first step of learning temporal bone anatomy and surgical approaches. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring Changes in Interest in Science and Technology at the College Level in Response to Two Instructional Interventions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romine, William L.; Sadler, Troy D.

2016-06-01

Improving interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is crucial to widening participation and success in STEM studies at the college level. To understand how classroom and extracurricular interventions affect interest, it is necessary to have appropriate measurement tools. We describe the adaptation and revalidation of a previously existing multidimensional instrument to the end of measuring interest in environmental science and technology in college nonscience majors. We demonstrate the revised instrument's ability to detect change in this group over an 8-week time period. While collection of demographic information was not part of the study design, participating students were similar in that they hailed from three environmental science nonmajor classes sharing a common syllabus and instructional delivery method. Change in interest was measured in response to two types of scientific literature-based learning approaches: a scientific practice approach and a traditional, quiz-driven approach. We found that both approaches led to moderate gains in interest in learning environmental science and careers in environmental science across an 8-week time period. Interest in using technology for learning increased among students using the scientific practice approach; in contrast, the same measure decreased among students using the reading/quiz approach. This result invites the possibility that interest in using technology as a learning tool may relate to technological literacy, which must be taught explicitly in the context of authentic inquiry experiences.

When Nature of Science Meets Marxism: Aspects of Nature of Science Taught by Chinese Science Teacher Educators to Prospective Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wan, Zhi Hong; Wong, Siu Ling; Zhan, Ying

2013-01-01

Nature of science (NOS) is beginning to find its place in the science education in China. In a study which investigated Chinese science teacher educators' conceptions of teaching NOS to prospective science teachers through semi-structured interviews, five key dimensions emerged from the data. This paper focuses on the dimension, "NOS content…

Striving for Scientific Integrity and Ethical Practices in Higher Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geissman, J. W.

2017-12-01

The need for the highest levels of scientific integrity and ethical principles in higher education, globally, is obvious. This is the setting where faculty scientists practice and future scientists, as entering science majors, those who change course and switch to science, and graduate students, are nurtured and mentored. Institutions of higher education across the globe are devoting increasing attention to scientific integrity and ethical practices, often as mandated by specific (funding) agencies, and this certainly is a step in the right direction. One approach has involved graduate students, particularly PhD students, in formal classes/seminars on the subjects. Another, more institution-specific, is to require freshman science majors to take one or more classes designed to assist students, in many ways, to succeed in whatever science path they choose. For the past five years I have "taught" such a class, which I like to refer to as "Science is the Rest of Your Life 101". My section is very heavy on scientific integrity and ethical practices; most students have never been exposed to nor have considered such subjects. Their interest level is exceedingly keen. So, steps are being taken, but rectifying existing concerns will take time. Here are some (potential/real) problems. One facing all of higher education is the ever decreasing number, certainly in the United States, of tenured/tenure track faculty in all disciplines together with the generational "gap" or "double gap" (some colleagues of mine are in their 80s) between those who never for all intents and purposes received any "formal" exposure to scientific integrity and ethical practices issues and those fresh in the academy for which these subjects are recently and better engrained. At most institutions, those faculty never involved in such formal training because of, well, their age, are required to pass some form of on-line "certification" class in research ethics among other subjects on an annual or bi-annual basis. Although of noble intent, I seriously doubt if passing such a test changes human behavior. What drives faculty to be lacking in scientific integrity and/or ethical practices is hard to finger, but I can offer some answers. I think that it is easier to explain why too many get away with improper practices, and the answer should not be in print in an AGU abstract!

Effects of traditional and discovery instructional approaches on learning outcomes for learners of different intellectual development: A study of chemistry students in Zambia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mulopo, Moses M.; Seymour Fowler, H.

This study examined the differential effectiveness of traditional and discovery methods of instruction for the teaching of science concepts, understandings about science, and scientific attitudes, to learners at the concrete and formal level of cognitive development. The dependent variables were achievement, understanding science, and scientific attitude; assessed through the use of the ACS Achievement Test (high school chemistry, Form 1979), the Test on Understanding Science (Form W), and the Test on Scientific Attitude, respectively. Mode of instruction and cognitive development were the independent variables. Subjects were 120 Form IV (11th grade) males enrolled in chemistry classes in Lusaka, Zambia. Sixty of these were concrete reasoners (mean age = 18.23) randomly selected from one of the two schools. The remaining 60 subjects were formal reasoners (mean age 18.06) randomly selected from a second boys' school. Each of these two groups was randomly split into two subgroups with 30 subjects. Traditional and discovery approaches were randomly assigned to the two subgroups of concrete reasoners and to the two subgroups of formal reasoners. Prior to instruction, the subjects were pretested using the ACS Achievement Test, the Test on Understanding Science, and the Test on Scientific Attitude. Subjects received instruction covering eight chemistry topics during approximately 10 weeks. Posttests followed using the same standard tests. Two-way analysis of covariance, with pretest scores serving as covariates was used and 0.05 level of significant was accepted. Tukey WSD technique was used as a follow-up test where applicable. It was found that (1) for the formal reasoners, the discovery group earned significantly higher understanding science scores than the traditional group. For the concrete reasoners mode of instruction did not make a difference; (2) overall, formal reasoners earned significantly higher achievement scores than concrete reasoners; (3) in general, subjects taught by the discovery approach earned significantly higher scientific attitude scores than those taught by the traditional approach. The traditional group outperformed the discovery group in achievement scores. It was concluded that the traditional approach might be an efficient instructional mode for the teaching of scientific facts and principles to high school students, while the discovery approach seemed to be more suitable for teaching scientific attitudes and for promoting understanding about science and scientists among formal operational learners.

Dialectical Dividends: Fostering Hybridity of New Pedagogical Practices and Partnerships in Science Education and Outreach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martins Gomes, Diogo; McCauley, Veronica

2016-01-01

Science literacy has become socially and economically very important. European countries stress that science graduates are fundamental for economic growth. Nevertheless, there is a declining student participation in science. In response, there has been a call to change the way science is taught in schools, which focuses on inquiry methods rooted…

Seeing Students Learn Science: Integrating Assessment and Instruction in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beatty, Alexandra; Schweingruber, Heidi

2017-01-01

Science educators in the United States are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science. Children are natural explorers and their observations and intuitions about the world around them are the foundation for science learning. Unfortunately, the way science has been taught in the United States has not always taken advantage of those…

Effectiveness of Science-Technology-Society (STS) Instruction on Student Understanding of the Nature of Science and Attitudes toward Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akcay, Behiye; Akcay, Hakan

2015-01-01

The study reports on an investigation about the impact of science-technology-society (STS) instruction on middle school student understanding of the nature of science (NOS) and attitudes toward science compared to students taught by the same teacher using traditional textbook-oriented instruction. Eight lead teachers used STS instruction an…

Girls Doing Science: A Case Study of Science Literacy in All-Female Middle Grade Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faller, Susan Elisabeth

In the face of low adolescent literacy rates (NCES, 2012), concerns about the nation's prospects of remaining competitive in science and technology (Hill, Corbett, & St. Rose, 2010), a persistent gender gap in science (NCES, 2012; Reilly, 2012), and the continued rollout of college- and career-ready standards, there is a need to focus on adolescent girls' science literacy. Such science literacy involves not only general knowledge about science, but also the ability to engage in the advanced reading and writing practices fundamental to doing science (Norris & Phillips, 2003). In this thesis, I present three articles with findings that respond to this need. They are the results of a multiple-case embedded (Yin, 2009) study that I conducted over the course of 7 months in four science classrooms (grades 5 through 8; 50 students) taught by a single teacher in a small all-female middle school. I collected in-depth data focused on science literacy from multiple sources, including (a) fieldnotes (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 2011), (b) videorecorded classroom observations (102 classes, 113 hours, recorded on 29 days), (c) a survey of all students, (d) semi-structured interviews with the subsample of 12 focal students (ranging from 18 to 37 minutes) and (e) photographs of classroom artifacts and student work. In the first article, I provide a window into standard literacy practices in science classrooms by examining the reading and writing genres to which students are exposed. In the second article, I examine how a teacher's language and instructional practices within her classrooms, and popular images of science from the world beyond their classrooms might shape adolescent girls' science identities. Finally, in the third article, I explore different aspects of science identity using the words of three case study students. Taken together, these studies fill gaps in the literature by investigating science literacy in an understudied context, all-female classrooms. In addition, they give voice to a group often underrepresented in studies of science (i.e., primarily nonwhite girls from working class families, many of whom speak English as a second language.) Thus this thesis provides new insights for researchers as well as teachers interested in science literacy and persistent gaps in science achievement.

History as an Introduction to Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patterson, Elizabeth C.

1980-01-01

Discusses the controversy regarding the role of history of science in a liberal education, presenting two issues: What properly constitutes the subject and whether history of science has a place in the undergraduate curriculum. Describes a college course taught at Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT. (CS)

A Cool Controversy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biddy, Quentin

2015-01-01

As society becomes more technological, the need for scientific literacy grows . Part of scientific literacy is understanding the nature of science, which can be revealed, in part, by learning the historical context of current science concepts. History of science can be taught using scientific inquiry, scientific argumentation, and authentic…

Assessing the Effectiveness of Inquiry-based Learning Techniques Implemented in Large Classroom Settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steer, D. N.; McConnell, D. A.; Owens, K.

2001-12-01

Geoscience and education faculty at The University of Akron jointly developed a series of inquiry-based learning modules aimed at both non-major and major student populations enrolled in introductory geology courses. These courses typically serve 2500 students per year in four to six classes of 40-160 students each per section. Twelve modules were developed that contained common topics and assessments appropriate to Earth Science, Environmental Geology and Physical Geology classes. All modules were designed to meet four primary learning objectives agreed upon by Department of Geology faculty. These major objectives include: 1) Improvement of student understanding of the scientific method; 2) Incorporation of problem solving strategies involving analysis, synthesis, and interpretation; 3) Development of the ability to distinguish between inferences, data and observations; and 4) Obtaining an understanding of basic processes that operate on Earth. Additional objectives that may be addressed by selected modules include: 1) The societal relevance of science; 2) Use and interpretation of quantitative data to better understand the Earth; 3) Development of the students' ability to communicate scientific results; 4) Distinguishing differences between science, religion and pseudo-science; 5) Evaluation of scientific information found in the mass media; and 6) Building interpersonal relationships through in-class group work. Student pre- and post-instruction progress was evaluated by administering a test of logical thinking, an attitude toward science survey, and formative evaluations. Scores from the logical thinking instrument were used to form balanced four-person working groups based on the students' incoming cognitive level. Groups were required to complete a series of activities and/or exercises that targeted different cognitive domains based upon Bloom's taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information). Daily assessments of knowledge-level learning included evaluations of student responses to pre- and post-instruction conceptual test questions, short group exercises and content-oriented exam questions. Higher level thinking skills were assessed when students completed exercises that required the completion of Venn diagrams, concept maps and/or evaluation rubrics both during class periods and on exams. Initial results indicate that these techniques improved student attendance significantly and improved overall retention in the course by 8-14% over traditional lecture formats. Student scores on multiple choice exam questions were slightly higher (1-3%) for students taught in the active learning environment and short answer questions showed larger gains (7%) over students' scores in a more traditional class structure.

Field classes: key to involve and attract students to soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muggler, Cristine Carole; Cardoso, Irene Maria; da Silva Lopes, Angelica

2015-04-01

Soil genesis is a subject taught to students of Agrarian Sciences and Geography at the Federal University of Viçosa in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Each semester 200 to 250 students inscribe for it. It is organized as the first 60 hours course on soils for 1st and 2nd year's students. The course has a distinct pedagogical approach, which is based on Paulo Freire's education principles, known as socio constructivism. In such approach, learning environments and materials are prepared to stimulate dialogues and exchange of knowledge between students themselves, strengthening that their role is crucial to their own learning. During the course, students have different types of practical classes: indoors, in a class room or at the Earth Sciences museum and outdoors, in the field. In the class room they have the opportunity to handle materials -minerals, rocks, soils and maps-, follow demonstrations and perform small experiments. The classes given in the museum intend a broadening of the subjects approached in theoretical and practical classes. In the field classes the students are organized in small groups with the task to investigate soil formation by observation and description of geology, landscape, land use, soil expositions and some of the soil properties. Attracting students to soils involves looking at meanings and perceptions related to soils they bring with themselves and follow this up to sensitize and create awareness about their importance. With this aim, it is also included, as part of the evaluation, a final voluntary presentation that many of the students do. The presentation can be a song, a poem, a sketch or whatever they propose and create. Many of the presentations bring topics related to the new perception about soils they get during the semester and to ideas or questions raised in the field classes. A survey with the students showed that field classes are by far the preferred classes and they are considered more dynamic. Since students have less and less contact with soils and rural livelihoods before they enter the university, field classes are best to make the connections between their (mostly urban) life and the soils. They also play an important role in developing an integrated observation and understanding of the environment and land use.

Gender-based performance differences in an introductory physics course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinnon, Mark Lee

Cognitive research has indicated that the difference between males and females is negligible. Paradoxically, in traditionally-taught college level introductory physics courses, males have outperformed females. UC Davis' Physics 7A (the first class of a three-quarter Introduction to Physics sequence for Life-Science students), however, counters this trend since females perform similarly to males. The gender-based performance difference within the other two quarters (Physics 7B & 7C) of the radically restructured, active-learning physics sequence still echo the traditionally-taught courses. In one experiment, I modified the laboratory activity instructions of the Physics 7C course to encourage further group interaction. These modifications did not affect the gender-based performance difference. In a later experiment, I compared students' performance on different forms of assessment for certain physics concepts during the Physics 7C course. Over 500 students took weekly quizzes at different times. The students were given different quiz questions on the same topics. Several quiz questions seemed to favor males while others were more gender equitable. I highlighted comparisons between a few pairs of questions that assessed students' understanding of the same physical concept. Males tended to perform better in responding to questions that seemed to require spatial visualization. Questions that required greater understanding of the physical concept or scientific model were more gender neutral.

The impact of rigorous mathematical thinking as learning method toward geometry understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nugraheni, Z.; Budiyono, B.; Slamet, I.

2018-05-01

To reach higher order thinking skill, needed to be mastered the conceptual understanding. RMT is a unique realization of the cognitive conceptual construction approach based on Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) theory by Feurstein and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. This was quasi experimental research which was comparing the experimental class that was given Rigorous Mathematical Thinking (RMT) as learning method and control class that was given Direct Learning (DL) as the conventional learning activity. This study examined whether there was different effect of two learning method toward conceptual understanding of Junior High School students. The data was analyzed by using Independent t-test and obtained a significant difference of mean value between experimental and control class on geometry conceptual understanding. Further, by semi-structure interview known that students taught by RMT had deeper conceptual understanding than students who were taught by conventional way. By these result known that Rigorous Mathematical Thinking (RMT) as learning method have positive impact toward Geometry conceptual understanding.

Core Skills for Effective Science Communication: A Teaching Resource for Undergraduate Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy; Kuchel, Louise

2017-01-01

Science communication is a diverse and transdisciplinary field and is taught most effectively when the skills involved are tailored to specific educational contexts. Few academic resources exist to guide the teaching of communication with non-scientific audiences for an undergraduate science context. This mixed methods study aimed to explore what…

Identifying Mathematics Content and Integrating It into Science Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwols, Amitra; Miller, Kirsten Brush

2012-01-01

Science teachers know that the mathematics concepts taught in the Common Core are critical for students' understanding of science. But what can a teacher do when his/her students lack the necessary mathematics skills to master science content? There may be other reasons besides students not paying attention in their math courses. Maybe the…

Improving the Science and Mathematic Achievement of Mexican American Students Through Culturally Relevant Science. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marinez, Diana I.; Ortiz de Montellano, Bernardo R.

There are many ways in which science can be made culturally relevant: archeoastronomy, mathematics, geology, ethnobotany, chemistry, and art can all be taught from a perspective celebrating the accomplishments of Mexican American and American Indian science and encouraging exploration. A culturally relevant curriculum provides teachers with…

The Importance of Biology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nurse, Paul

2016-01-01

Understanding how science is done increases trust in science as it can be seen to be built on reliable data, rational argument and repeated testing. If science is taught as just an assemblage of facts without dealing with the process which gave rise to those facts, then why should pupils trust science more than fables or pseudoscience? Everyone…

Science Fiction and the Community College: A Symbiosis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steelman, Nell Vale

This paper discusses science fiction in general, and argues that science fiction is a method for exploring present and future potentialities, for educating people about the possibilities of the future, for helping people condition themselves to change. A science fiction course taught at the community college level as a humanities elective is…

Comfort and Content: Considerations for Informal Science Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holliday, Gary M.; Lederman, Norman G.; Lederman, Judith S.

2014-01-01

This study looked at a life science course that was offered at and taught by education staff of a large informal science institution (ISI) located in the Midwest. The curriculum, materials, and agendas for the course were developed by education staff and complemented a permanent life science exhibition. The researcher developed a content test…

Conducting Original, Hands-On Astronomical Research in the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corneau, M. J.

2009-12-01

Since 2007 I have been a Team Leader for the Tzec Maun Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to providing free, research grade, Internet telescopes to students, teachers and researchers around the world. The name Tzec Maun (pronounced “Teh-Zeck-Moan”) comes from Mayan culture. Tzec Maun was the jovial messenger, laughed at adversity. Based on the challenges students, researchers and professional astronomers face with finances, equipment, and telescope access, the jovial mascot seems to fit. Hundreds of hours performing astronomical outreach as a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador and Astronomical League Master of outreach taught me that the best way to inspirationally teach astronomy and space science (and most subjects) is actually being at the eyepiece. I’m NOT a fan of the traditional planetarium experience as a teaching tool because it inhibits inspiration and the learning experience to a 2-D mat on a faux horizon with artificial representations. Once, a student at my dark sky observatory excitedly commented that the night sky was like a 3-D planetarium. I have hosted several classes at my own personal dark sky observatory, but this resource is impractical for all but a few lucky students. Experience has taught me that the next best thing to being at the eyepiece is to control a remote telescope via the Internet. Tzec Maun’s arsenal of telescopes is all research capable, linked to the Internet and positioned for round-the-clock dark skies. The final conditions described above, mean that I can enter an 8:30am science class, log onto the Tzec Maun telescope Portal and turn over control of an Australian system (where it is night) to a student or teacher. Working as a group, the class can either begin their investigations. My Tzec Maun science team (TARP) is engaged in searching for potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). PHA work excites student and teacher alike. Teaching from telescopes can unleash powerful attention-getting tools that enable teachers to convey moderately complex computer science, optical, geographic, mathematical, informational and physical principles through hands-on telescope operations. In addition to the general studies aspects of classroom internet-based astronomy, Tzec Maun supports real science by enabling operators precisely point telescopes and acquire extremely faint, magnitude 19+ CCD images. Thanks to the creative Team of Photometrica (photometrica.org), my teams now have the ability to process and analyze images online and produce results in short order. Normally, astronomical data analysis packages cost greater than thousands of dollars for single license operations. Free to my team members, Photometrica allows students to upload their data to a cloud computing server and read precise photometric and/or astrometric results. I’m indebted to Michael and Geir for their support. The efficacy of student-based research is well documented. The Council on Undergraduate Research defines student research as, "an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline." (http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/studentresearch/What. Teaching from Tzec Maun in the classroom is the most original teaching research I can imagine. I very much look forward to presenting this program to the convened body.

Feminist Pedagogy, Body Image, and the Dance Technique Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barr, Sherrie; Oliver, Wendy

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the evolution of feminist consciousness in dance technique class as related to body image, the myth of the perfect body, and the development of feminist pedagogy. Western concert dance forms have often been taught in a manner where imitating the teacher is primary in the learning process. In this traditional scenario,…

Rethinking Education--Emerging Roles for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dar, Fatima Rehan

2015-01-01

The purpose of the study was to find out how teachers role modeled and taught empathetic and pro-social skills at the primary level. The study was qualitative in nature and followed a case study approach. Observations of regular English language classes were done from Grades 1-5 to see if class lessons incorporated the said themes and whether…

To Fly or Not to Fly: Teaching Advanced Secondary School Students about Principles of Flight in Biological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pietsch, Renée B.; Bohland, Cynthia L.; Schmale, David G., III.

2015-01-01

Biological flight mechanics is typically taught in graduate level college classes rather than in secondary school classes. We developed an interdisciplinary unit for advanced upper-level secondary school students (ages 15-18) to teach the principles of flight and applications to biological systems. This unit capitalised on the tremendous…

PHONICS WITH CONTEXT CLUES, PRIMARY LEVEL.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GUFFEY, MARY DEMAREE

A SIMPLIFIED METHOD OF PHONICS UTILIZING THE GESTALT METHOD OF LEARNING IS PRESENTED. THE WORDS IN THIS COURSE IN PHONICS ARE TO BE TAUGHT AT A TIME DIFFERENT FROM THE READING CLASSES, BUT THE PRINCIPLES DEVELOPED ARE TO BE APPLIED DURING THE READING CLASSES. THE COURSE CAN BE USED WITH ANY BASIC TEXT AND STRESSES THE ABILITY OF CHILDREN TO…

Enhancing Proof Writing via Cross-Institutional Peer Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ernst, Dana C.; Hodge, Angie; Schultz, Andrew

2015-01-01

In the Spring of 2011, two of the authors of this paper taught number theory courses at their respective institutions. Twice during the semester, students in each class submitted proofs of two to three theorems to be peer reviewed by students in the other class. Each student wrote anonymous and formal referee reports of the submitted theorems,…

The Effectiveness of Peer Collaboration on the Writing of Female Freshman Composition Students: A Preliminary Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hasley, Linda

A study investigated the effect or lack of effect of peer collaboration on the writing of female freshman composition students. Four freshman composition classes conducted by two experienced instructors participated in a 3-week study. One instructor taught two classes by teacher-lecture and teacher-led discussions exclusively. Another instructor…

Problem Solving vs. Troubleshooting Tasks: The Case of Sixth-Grade Students Studying Simple Electric Circuits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Safadi, Rafi'; Yerushalmi, Edit

2014-01-01

We compared the materialization of knowledge integration processes in class discussions that followed troubleshooting (TS) and problem-solving (PS) tasks and examined the impact of these tasks on students' conceptual understanding. The study was conducted in two sixth-grade classes taught by the same teacher, in six lessons that constituted a…

Score Study Practices of Texas High School Choir Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rohwer, Debbie; Herring, Michelle; Moore, Jordan

2014-01-01

Score study combines the task of what music educators do to prepare for class everyday with many of the components that are taught in collegiate theory classes. While non-research articles have cited the practical application of score study techniques, there is a need for research on score study to describe the ways choral educators pragmatically…

Incorporating Meaningful Gamification in a Blended Learning Research Methods Class: Examining Student Learning, Engagement, and Affective Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Meng; Hew, Khe Foon

2016-01-01

In this study, we investigated how the use of meaningful gamification affects student learning, engagement, and affective outcomes in a short, 3-day blended learning research methods class using a combination of experimental and qualitative research methods. Twenty-two postgraduates were randomly split into two groups taught by the same…

The Popularity of P&P

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruffins, Paul

2006-01-01

"Principles and Practices" (P&P), a real estate pre-licensing class, is one of the most popular courses in adult education, because it can literally be the key to the dual American dreams: striking it rich and owning a home. One of the things that makes the P&P class unique is that it is taught in so many different venues. The…

The Positive Effects of Cognitive Learning Styles in ELT Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yagcioglu, Ozlem

2016-01-01

In the EFL, ESL, ESP and in the ELT classes, students are taught their courses with different kinds of methods and approaches. Cognitive learning styles are the most essential styles in foreign language education. In this paper, the positive effects of cognitive learning styles will be handled. The benefits of these styles will be highlighted.…

Linear Algebra and the Experiences of a "Flipper"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Sarah E.

2015-01-01

This paper describes the linear algebra class I taught during Spring 2014 semester at Adelphi University. I discuss the details of how I flipped the class and incorporated elements of inquiry-based learning as well as the reasoning behind specific decisions I made. I give feedback from the students on the success of the course and provide my own…