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Eric.ed.gov – Road to Equality in South African Education: A Qualitative Study

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: South Africa is currently experiencing a crisis in its educational systems that if not addressed, could threaten the stability of the newly established democracy. A lack of access to quality education and severe shortage of skilled trained educators is perpetuating vestiges of the old apartheid state in the nation. Approximately 6,000 students graduate from South Africa’s teacher training programs each year to meet the demand of over 12.1 million learners (Evoh, 2007). This study examines the current crisis facing the educational system of post-apartheid South Africa and more specifically how the LEAP (Langa Educational Assistance Program) school of Science and Maths could be used as a possible model for institutional educational change that may be applied on a national scale. Interviews were conducted during four independent sessions… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Articulation between High School and CEGEP Science Post-Reform: Understanding the Gap

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Reforms in K-12 science education are global. New national science curricula were introduced in the United States (NRC, 1996), in Canada (CEMC, 1997), and in Europe (European Commission 2007). In this article, the impact of these reforms on college students in Quebec is studied. Articulation between high school and college sectors is viewed through the lens of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) high school and college faculty. Faculty of both communities experienced stress as the first education reform curricula cohorts entered college. Results of a diagnostic test developed by CEGEP faculty to assess college preparedness found no difference in math and science content knowledge when pre-reform cohorts were compared with cohorts instructed with the reform curriculum. Improvements were observed in problem solving skills, which has led to… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Out before the Game Begins: Hispanic Leaders Talk about What’s Needed to Bring More Hispanic Youngsters into Science, Technology and Math Professions

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Hispanics are one of the largest and fastest-growing minority groups in the United States. Projections indicate a need for an increase of 20% of practicing engineers by 2010. Despite the growing number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers in the American economy, education statistics suggest that too few Hispanic students are being encouraged and equipped to take advantage of opportunities in technical disciplines. American business and industry and the nation’s Hispanic communities would both benefit from addressing this mismatch. In summer 2007, the IBM International Foundation asked Public Agenda to interview Hispanic and Latino leaders in a variety of fields, asking for their views on what will be needed to bring more Hispanic students into the technical and scientific disciplines. This report is based on… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Recruitment of Early STEM Majors into Possible Secondary Science Teaching Careers: The Role of Science Education Summer Internships

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A shortage of highly qualified math and science teachers pervades the U.S. public school system. Clearly, recruitment of talented STEM educators is critical. Previous literature offers many suggestions for how STEM teacher recruitment programs and participant selection should occur. This study investigates how early STEM majors who are not already considering teaching careers experienced a summer teaching recruitment internship and how it influenced their ideas about teaching and learning and interest in teaching high school as a possible future career. Using multiple qualitative data sources including interviews and daily internship reflections, a multi-case comparative case study was developed. The findings support that some interns substantially increased their interest in teaching careers, while other interns’ interest did not change or decreased. The impact of the recruitment internship was… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Building Capacity for Continuous Improvement of Math and Science Education in Rural Schools

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Schools in 47 high-poverty school districts located mostly along the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may have a head start on new requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, thanks to a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Begun in April 2000, the five-year Coastal Rural Systemic Initiative (CRSI) is striving to stimulate sustainable systemic improvements in science and mathematics education in school districts with a long history of low student expectations, persistent poverty, low teacher pay, and high administrator turnover. The CRSI capacity-building model is designed to address issues in rural school districts that traditionally limit the capacity for creating sustainable improvements in math and science programs. A critical action step is that each school district… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Effects of Teacher Professional Development on Gains in Student Achievement: How Meta Analysis Provides Scientific Evidence Useful to Education Leaders

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This meta analysis study focused on identifying and analyzing research studies that measured effects of teacher professional development with a content focus on math or science. This meta analysis was carried out to address two primary questions: (1) What are the effects of content-focused professional development for math and science teachers on improving student achievement as demonstrated across a range of studies?; and (2) What characteristics of professional development programs (e.g., content focus, duration, coherence, active learning, and collective participation of teachers) explain the degree of effectiveness, and are the findings consistent with prior research on effective professional development? This meta analysis of studies of teacher professional development programs in mathematics and science found that 16 studies reported significant effect sizes for teacher development in relation to… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Compendium of Education Technology Research Funded by NCER and NCSER: 2002-2014. NCER 2017-0001

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Between 2002 and 2014, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) supported over 400 projects focused on education technology through the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). The majority of this work has been funded through Education Technology research topics of NCER and NCSER and the Institute’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program run by NCER. Both centers also support projects focusing on education technology through other research topic areas, including programs such as Cognition and Student Learning, Early Learning Programs and Policies, Math and Science, Reading and Writing, Social and Behavioral Context, Improving Education Systems, and Effective Teachers and Teaching. Together, researchers funded by NCER and NCSER have developed or studied more than 270 web-based tools, 85 virtual… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Middle School Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptions of the Nature of Science: A One-Year Study on the Effects of Explicit and Reflective Online Instruction

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has become one of the main priorities in the United States. Science education communities and researchers advocate for integration of STEM disciplines throughout the teaching curriculum. This requires teacher knowledge in STEM disciplines, as well as competence in scientific literacy. Since nature of science (NOS) is a critical component of scientific literacy, this study examined teachers’ conceptions NOS over a one-year period. Participants included 21 middle school science and mathematics teachers who integrated science and mathematics in their classrooms. We employed two NOS instruments to collect data on participants’ NOS conceptions “before” and “after” a one-year online graduate program. This study examined changes in NOS understanding for the group as a whole, between science and mathematics teachers, and whether beginning… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Encouraging Girls in Math and Science. IES Practice Guide. NCER 2007-2003

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This National Center for Education Research (NCER) Practice Guide is the second in a series of IES guides in education. The goal of this practice guide is to formulate specific and coherent evidence-based recommendations that educators can use to encourage girls in the fields of math and science. The target audience is teachers and other school personnel with direct contact with students, such as coaches, counselors, and principals. The practice guide includes specific recommendations for educators and the quality of evidence that supports these recommendations. This practice guide provides five recommendations for encouraging girls in math and science. These recommendations together form a coherent statement: To encourage girls in math and science, we need to begin first with their beliefs about their abilities in these areas, second… Continue Reading