quickly, a modified problem was provided that forced the students toredesign their solutions. Student attitudes to the design problem solution process were assessedthough direct observations during the activity, and written reflective responses afterwards. Theresults indicate that most students were enthusiastic about developing their own in the scienceclassroom. An interesting aspect of this study is that it was conducted in four single gendereighth-grade classrooms: two classes of males and two of females. Classroom dynamics to theactivity were affected by the student demographics. Thus, this study contributes to ourunderstanding of male and female students’ creativity and approach to design processes.BackgroundMiddle school students do not
make informed decisions.The energy module, which has been taught (with several variations) for the last five years in ahigh school environmental science classroom, requires students to investigate the feasibility ofvarious propulsion/fuel system technologies for use in vehicular transportation, including forexample hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels with internal combustion engines, and electric cars. Asshown in Table 1, the specific questions posed to the students and the final deliverables havechanged throughout the years to most accurately reflect current and relevant transportation fueland vehicle issues in the news. For example, in President G.W. Bush’s 2003 State of the Unionaddress, he promoted the concept of the Hydrogen Economy, while in
made complex because there are multiple viewpoints from which one mayexamine a curriculum. Porter25, 26 (2002, 2004) makes distinctions regarding the four levels atwhich curricula analysis may occur. Table 1 reflects the focus of curricula analysis at each of thefour levels.Table 1. Primary Focus of Curricula Analysis at Each Dimension of a Curriculum Level Primary Focus of Curricula Analysis Intended Curriculum Analysis is concerned with examining the content (e.g., declarative, procedural, tactile, and situative knowledge) and the performance expectations, which is the level at which a student is expected to know and use the
cultural knowledge reflecting their specific community into mathand science curricula.The findings presented are based on surveys, phone interviews and observationsconducted with teachers and CAP members representing each elementary school. Thefindings indicate that it is critical to have fully functioning CAPs, as their input andsupport is tantamount to the success of the professional development, and in turn, haseffects class-wide and school-wide. Page 14.1314.2 1IntroductionThe American Indian population of the United States was estimated at 1.86 million in2000, with a total of about 4 million reported
research here. Stage 3 is comprised of formative research and summative research.This paper aims to report the formative research of stage 3. Future research will report on thesummative research on this curriculum.The qualitative data is reported in the form of excerpts of student classroom artifacts and teacherresponses to reflection questions. This data is being used in the formative stages of the researchto allow the project staff to revise the curriculum. The quantitative research is a paired t-test12 todetermine if the students’ pre- and post-test data differs significantly. Here, a p = 0.01 cutofflevel of significance was used to determine statistical significance.The data analysis demonstrates that the curriculum has positive impacts on
STEM Education“The educational vision reflected in the Framework is that a carefully designed, coherent, andproperly implemented set of K-12 mathematics learning experiences will enable all students to: 1. Develop a deep understanding of the key mathematical concepts, principles, and theories drawn from contextual applications 2. Apply process skills by posing questions and investigating phenomena through the language, procedures, and tools of mathematics 3. Be aware of how engineering, technology, and science are integrated into the historical and cultural advancement of mathematics 4. Think and act in away that demonstrate a positive attitude toward problem-solving and personal
AC 2009-2090: TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES:TEACHERS' BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN PERSPECTIVEMark Sanders, Virginia TechThomas Sherman, Virginia TechHyuksoo Kwon, Virginia TechJames Pembridge, Virginia Tech Page 14.1170.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Technology Education in the United States: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in PerspectiveSince changing its name in 1985, the field/school subject known as Technology Education hasworked to transform its curriculum and teaching practice from one dominated by craft andindustry-related technologies, to “a curriculum to reflect technology.”1 Over the past threedecades
3. Familiarization with the Software – Impacting Si3N4 Deposition Assignment. (185 min.) VCVD Worksheet I. (150 min.) 5. Peer Review / 6. Additional Testing / Report Revision – (One 7. Report Reflection (45 min.) week given outside of class to complete) Submittal Figure 5. Activities for the Virtual CVD project in the Chemistry classes.Within the Chemistry classes, the utilization of the Virtual CVD Laboratory was more directed,although, once again, tasks were framed within the situated context of the project. Instructorsremained owners of a company utilizing the CVD process, however this time student groupsrepresented consultants hired by
design challenge.There is a “need to know” each particular science concept built into the curriculum. Theperformance objectives are derived from the Virginia Standards of Learning8, the NationalScience Education Standards9, and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy10, and placed in orderfrom the simplest behavior to the most complex on Bloom’s taxonomy scale.11The Save the Penguins ETK curriculum is outlined in Figure 1. It begins with the teacherperforming some engaging demonstrations about heat transfer. In these demonstrations, theteacher models the experimental methods as the “more knowledgeable other,” and students areshown how to undertake these methods on their own in social groups. The teacher then elicitsdiscussions and reflections on the
Humboldt State University(HSU) had the following objectives for secondary science and math teachers as stated in theInvitation to Participate (Appendix A): • Provide opportunities to experience the engineering design process first hand; teacher teams will complete a hands-on engineering design project at the institute. • Provide opportunities for reflection and curriculum planning during the institute. Participants will leave with tangible products to use during the school year. • Develop awareness of existing engineering secondary school curriculum, K-12 engineering education research (see www.teachengineering.com). • Develop a community of teachers interested in pursuing engineering approaches to teaching
population ofBGC summer program attendees (32% female). Also reflective of this population is the ethnicdiversity in the SEAS Club: 8 members of the SEAS Club (35%) were African American; 2 (9%)were Hispanic; and 13 (56%) were white. SEAS Club participants were not asked about theirsocioeconomic (SES) status, however, according to a BGC leader, the SEAS Club and BGCsummer program participants had SES levels ranging from low- to mid-level.SEAS Club participants were not asked to divulge report cards or grades. Anecdotal evidencerevealed that there was a wide range in scholastic achievement among the participants, and manychildren described themselves as having great difficulty with reading and writing.Club ActivitiesClub activities were centered on
starting the Teacher Educator Institute, each of the twenty-two lead teachers filledout a participant survey. Tables V, VI and VII tabulate the participant survey responsesand reflect the number of years the teachers have been employed in education, theireducational backgrounds, and reasons for participation respectively. Table V: Number of Years Employed in Education Years in Education 3 3.5 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 13 16 17 20 Number of 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 Teachers Page 14.998.9 Table VI: Educational Background of the Lead Teachers Subject
a dichotomous variable reflecting being on anengineering track if all three types of courses had been or were currently being taken (1)or otherwise coded as (0) if less than all three types taken. Because a number of studentsmay reasonably enroll in community colleges rather than 4-year institutions to attain anengineering specialty or to later transfer into a 4-year college, we included algebracourses as counting toward pre-calculus.Science Identity Salience. A single item was constructed for this study; students wereasked how much they agreed or disagreed with the item: “My interest in science is animportant part of how I see myself” (1 = disagree a lot, 4 = agree a lot).Self Concept of Ability in Math. Three items are a subset of the
college application process, ACT/SAT tests, etc., can offer greatpeer-to-peer insight to younger, less-experienced students. For a sample of those insights, see,“My View From the Trenches: Reflections About Peer Mentoring in the Information Age,”attached here.Research ObjectivesIn evaluating the adaptation of the social stress model to STEM career choices with respect to theeffect of peer influence on Appalachia area high school students, we asked these questions: 1. What effect does peer influence have on learning math tips, SAT/ACT preparation, or challenging academic material when presented to high school students by peers during our EOT summer camp? 2. What effect does peer influence play when a high school
the participants blew on them. Unlike the Waves ofDestruction; the Hovercraft; and the Concrete: Mix, Pour, and Decorate activities, however,these two activities required much less physical engagement on the part of the participants. Thisreduction in physical movement is reflected in these activities’ lower mean participant ratingswith regard to fun. It is also important to note here that the Airplane Design activity, whichappeared at the bottom of the list of the top 14 highest ranking activities on the fun meter, gavethe participants even fewer chances for doing something with their bodies. Although theparticipants enjoyed using a computer design program to create an airplane, this activity failed toengage them physically: Indeed, they did
of 163 high schoolstudents participated, with 46 coming from the targeted schools. The participants included 109(67%) males and 54 (33%) females. The ethnicity breakdown included 16 (10%) AfricanAmericans, and 32 (20%) Hispanics. While not reflecting the demographics of the Texas highschool population, this breakdown is more diverse than the 2007 COE enrollment numbers.The camp agenda included tours/demonstrations with each of the engineering departments, andteam design projects. For the design projects, the participants were divided into teams of 4 or 5and assigned to 1 of 3 design projects. The projects included: design and assessment of a solarcar, a laser communication system, and industrial fabrication optimization modeling. The
involved in the XXX, partnershipsatisfaction, and perceived impact on teachers, scientists and students. The findingsbelow reflect survey data from 14 of 18 teachers and 19 of 21 volunteers whoparticipated in the XXX program during the 2007-08 academic year. Surveys including5-point Likert scale items and open-ended questions were administered in spring of 2008.The results are summarized below, incorporating both teachers’ and volunteers’perspectives. Table 3 lists Teacher and Volunteer mean ratings for key items.Partnership Data and GoalsMost volunteers visited their teacher-partner’s classroom at least 10 times (although itranged from a few to over 15 times), spending 1-3 hours in the class and 1-2 hours inpreparation for each visit. Thus
alpha of .95.Our measure of efficacy for teaching STEM was inferred from participants’ scores on theScience Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument [STEBI]. 29 This 25 item instrument uses forwardand reversed phrased items to assess teacher’s efficacy for teaching science. Participants ratetheir beliefs on a five point Likert scale ranging from “1” representing “Strongly Disagree” to“5” representing “Strongly Agree” responding to items such as, “I am continually finding betterways to teach science” or reversed phrased items such as, “I am not very effective in monitoringscience experiments.” We made modifications to some of the STEBI items to reflect a moregeneral focus on STEM, rewriting items such as, “Increased teacher effort in teaching
the school sites,influenced the amount of implementation.6 In this study a mixed-methods approach using 27 Page 14.1102.3teachers was undertaken to examine what factors affected the implementation of a particular pre-developed reformed chemistry curriculum (Living By Chemistry). The protocols used to obtainthe data for this study consisted of the Teachers’ Beliefs Interview (TBI), observations using theReformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP), reflection documents, and schoolcharacteristics. These data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.10 From the dataanalysis, three groups of teachers emerged: traditional, mechanistic
videotapes were digitized and entered into Transana (Fassnacht & Woods31; seewww.transana.org), a computer application for discourse analysis that integrates the video,transcript text and researcher codes. Classroom talk was divided into segments we called clips,and clips were coded to reflect the points of interest in the research questions listed above.Coding FrameworkThe coding framework for our qualitative/quantitative analysis delineates three differentdimensions: A. Instruction time codes subdivide each class period based on how the instructor interacts with students. B. Concepts mark engagement with “big ideas” from STEM, such as modularity in engineering, projection in mathematics, and Newton’s laws in physics. We
Introduction to the Austin Children’s MuseumThe Austin Children's Museum (ACM) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is "to createinnovative learning experiences for children and their families that equip and inspire the nextgeneration of creative problem solvers.” Through well-crafted exhibits and educationalprograms, the Museum helps lead young children towards the life-long learning modes ofquestioning, reflecting, informed decision-making, critical thinking, and multidimensional Page 14.488.3thinking. There have been significant advancements in the understanding of how young mindsdevelop and are inspired before starting grade school. For the
of theappendices. The high percentage of Hispanic mentees in the program reflects the schooldemographics. In the most recent data collected (in November 2008 at DREAM Day at RiceUniversity) 18.5% of the students spoke primarily Spanish at home, while 55.5% spoke bothSpanish and English. Only 22.2% spoke primarily English at home. Table 2. Gender and ethnicity make-up of DREAM mentees, by semester. African- Other Date Male Female Hispanic American Ethnicity September 2007 37.9% 48.3% 96.6
professional development activities for science teachers should provideopportunities for learning and various tools/techniques for both self reflection and collegialreflection 5,6. A collegial community is developed where the participants are providedopportunities for interaction and information exchange, such as interactive seminars on learningand teaching7. Led by faculty in the TAMU University’s College of Education and HumanDevelopment, the interactive seminars expose the teachers to leading edge ‘culture and learning’research discussions.Based on their engineering research experience, each teacher prepares instructional materials andhands-on learning activities/projects to integrate into their classroom8. The faculty mentorparticipation in this
team. Each team is assessed using arubric with a point scale (1-4) that reflects the team’s demonstration of the sevencomponents. This includes the team’s success with following the parts of the designprocess, including defining the problem, research, brainstorming, and iterative Page 14.554.5development of a prototype. The group interaction and adherence to safety measures isalso assessed, and then finally, the functionality of the product. This student assessmentmethod is based on the guidelines laid out by the ITEA for meeting Student AssessmentStandard A-4, which states that “Assessment of student learning will reflect practicalcontexts consistent
., design of a windmill). The teachers producedinterdisciplinary engineering units that contained language art, social studies, technology,science and math content (this is a novel approach to professional development). Throughvarious assessments, participants were encouraged to reflect on their own practice and use ofDET activities to make effective choices regarding students’ learning. The purpose of this studywas to understand teachers’ perceptions of the value and use of design, engineering, andtechnology (DET) activities in integrating science, mathematics, language arts, social studies,and technology in K-12 education.BackgroundThe integrative and inquiry-oriented nature of design and engineering creates the perfect vehiclefor application of
the program is intended to provide a fun yet inexpensive project for students todesign and test, while still allowing students to develop a mathematical understanding of thefundamental engineering principles that make their designs work. From 2004 to 2008, the YESS program has seen a steady rise in student attendance.Comments attained from both students and parents have reflected that the weekly hands-onactivities(2) which supplement guest speakers have been important in gaining student interest inthe program. In order to assess the effectiveness of the YESS program surveys are used tocapture self-reported data from the students regarding demographic information, parent/guardianoccupations, interest levels in relevant fields, level of
ideas to use inthe real-world. The multi-disciplinary and collaborative nature of engineering is stressed. Thesecond part is designed to help parents better understanding of the work involved in the differentfields of engineering, the high school preparation needed to pursue engineering education, what atypical undergraduate engineering curriculum looks like, and the role of graduate education intoday’s global world workforce. Dr. Johnson also reflected on his undergraduate experiences inthe E3 programs and the strategies for success in college. He stressed collaborative learning andthe need for the students to take ownership of their education.In the third parent workshop session, Dr. Kimya Moyo, a Mathematics instructor fromWoodward Career
knowledge in specific science topics andengineering. This paper will focus on the data collected from teachers regarding thesecond goal of this project, which is improving the teachers’ notions of scientific inquiry.Future papers will focus on findings that will address the other goals.Each year of the PISA program focuses on a different science discipline withcorresponding technology and engineering lessons. The first year was devoted to life andenvironmental sciences, earth and space sciences this year, and physical sciences nextyear.During the two-week summer institute held in 2008, teachers learned earth and spacescience content through lectures, hands-on activities, field trips, webquests, collaborativework, reflections, model-based inquiry
that the teachers planned to implement reflect the process of construct-centered design of lesson planning?These questions were addressed within the framework of previous research in lesson planningand professional development within the context of a summer professional development institute.ContextThis study was conducted based on lessons developed by teachers as the culminating project of atwo-week professional development institute in nanoengineering, science, and technology Page 14.1122.6conducted by the NCLT at Purdue University. Participants were teachers from all disciplines ofscience as well as high school engineering teachers
provide two sub-scores, which are randomly embedded in theinstrument. Thirteen of the statements yield scores for the Personal Science Teaching Efficacy(PSTE) subscale, which reflect science teachers’ confidence in their ability to teach science. Theremaining ten statements yield scores for Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE)subscale, which reflect science teachers’ beliefs that student learning can be influenced byeffective teaching. Participants used a five-point Likert-type scale to respond to each of the 23statements by selecting one of the following responses: strongly agree (5), agree (4), areuncertain (3), disagree (2), or strongly disagree (1). Negatively worded statements were scoredby reversing the numeric values. The possible