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Eric.ed.gov – Developing Effective STEM Professional Development Programs

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: To help the United States stay globally competitive in terms of innovation and invention, the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become a priority in P-12 education today. As the need for students to become stronger in STEM grows, so does the need for well-qualified STEM teachers who understand what is needed to develop relevant and high-quality STEM programs. Professional development (PD) can offer opportunities for those involved in the teaching of STEM to learn how to effectively integrate various instructional approaches, including “engineering design” into their teaching and learning environments. Professional development is important to STEM education, especially in the areas of technology and engineering. If engineering is to be recognized as an integral part of science, technology, and math education, stakeholders, organizations… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Keeping It Real: A Toledo Public School Prepares Students for College and Career

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In this article, author Jennifer Dubin offers a look into the innovations taking place in the Toledo Technology Academy (TTA), a career-tech school within the public school system in Toledo, Ohio. TTA teaches students in grades 7 through 12 using a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum, in addition to the traditional academic subjects of English, history, science, and math. When graduates from TTA leave, they have a career portfolio, which can include certifications attesting to technical expertise as well as letters of recommendation from teachers and companies that had hired them for school-sponsored internships. The student’s portfolio showcases knowledge and skills to a prospective employer, or can be submitted to a college admissions office along with the standard application. Dubin notes that the school’s emphasis… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Mathematics Texts: Worksheets and Genre-Bending

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper reports an in-depth study that explores the nature and use of mathematics worksheets using a genre analysis approach. Nine secondary level teachers with collective experience from five different countries participated. Through individual online and focus group interviews teachers shared their own worksheets and their understandings and use of worksheets for teaching and learning math. Results indicate that mathematics worksheets have culturally recognizable features and characteristics, they are used to emphasize procedural over conceptual aspects of mathematics learning, and can structure the way mathematics is taught. This study highlights the potential of genre-bending as an approach to extend and re-imagine the structure and use of mathematical texts such as worksheets. [For the complete proceedings, see ED597799.] Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Exploring the Technical Expression of Academic Knowledge: The Science-in-CTE Pilot Study

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The Science-in-CTE pilot study tested a curriculum integration model that enhanced the science that oc-curs in CTE curricula. The study replicated the National Research Center for Career and Technical Ed-ucation’s (NRCCTE) Math-in-CTE experimental research design (Stone, Alfeld, & Pearson, 2008) with applied science in secondary agricultural education. The semester-length study was conducted in North Dakota with secondary agricultural educators who were randomly selected to participate in the experi-mental and control groups. The experimental treatment mirrored the Math-in-CTE model of extended professional development, partnering experimental CTE group teachers with science educators, and use of a 7-element pedagogic framework. Standardized measures of science achievement were administered to students to determine the impact of the treatment on their science knowledge and skills. The results of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A Cross-Cultural Study of Teachers’ Instructional Practices in Singapore and the United States

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This cross-cultural study, utilizing a structured instructional behavior rating form, examined distinguishing and comparable teaching practices in secondary gifted classrooms in Singapore and the United States. Teachers from Singapore (n = 67) and teachers from the United States (n = 33) in 5 subject domains including math, science, English, social studies, and second language were observed. The study showed that Singapore teachers demonstrated a higher level of effectiveness than American teachers in both general teacher behaviors and differentiation strategies. The level of instructional effectiveness appeared to be positively related to the number of years of teaching experience and training in differentiation practices for the gifted. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 2 end notes.) Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Instrumental Appropriation of a Collaborative, Dynamic-Geometry Environment and Geometrical Understanding

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: To understand learners’ appropriation of technological tools and geometrical understanding, we draw on the theory of instrumental genesis (Lonchamp, 2012; Rabardel & Beguin, 2005), which seeks to explain how learners accomplish tasks interacting with tools. To appropriate a tool, learners develop their own knowledge of how to use it, which turns the tool into an instrument that mediates an activity between learners and a task. The tool used in our study is the Virtual Math Teams with GeoGebra (VMTwG) environment. It contains a chat panel and multiuser version of GeoGebra. The learners are seven middle and high school mathematics teachers who participated in a professional development course in which they collaborated synchronously in VMTwG to solve geometrical tasks. We use conventional content analysis to analyze the work… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Environmental Systems Simulations for Carbon, Energy, Nitrogen, Water, and Watersheds: Design Principles and Pilot Testing

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Guided by the Next Generation Science Standards and elements of problem-based learning, four human-environment systems simulations are described in brief–carbon, energy, water, and watershed–and a fifth simulation on nitrogen is described in more depth. These science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education simulations illustrate design principles that make them engaging to students, such as dynamic visual environments that are controlled by the user and immediate visual feedback to user actions taken. The simulations are contextualized in real-world natural resources management challenges involving biogeochemical cycles, such as Gulf of Mexico hypoxia, which provide an opportunity to “win the game,” while the introduction of complexity in steps provides scaffolding. Pretest versus posttest results indicate a substantial and statistically significant improvement in learning outcomes resulting from using the nitrogen simulation,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Quantitizing Affective Data as Project Evaluation on the Use of a Mathematics Mobile Game and Intelligent Tutoring System

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Technology-enhanced learning generally focuses on the cognitive rather than the affective domain of learning. This multi-method evaluation of the INBECOM project (Integrating Behaviourism and Constructivism in Mathematics) was conducted from the point of view of affective learning levels of Krathwohl “et al.” (1964). The research questions of the study were: (i) to explore the affective learning experiences of the three groups of participants (researchers, teachers and students) during the use of a mobile game “UFractions” and an intelligent tutoring system “ActiveMath” to enhance the learning of fractions in mathematics; and (ii) to determine the significance of the relationships among the affective learning experiences of the three groups of participants (researchers, teachers and students) in the INBECOM project. This research followed a sequential, equal status, multi-mode research design… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining High Quality Secondary Mathematics and Science Teachers for Urban Schools: The Cal Teach Experimental Program

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality secondary mathematics and science teachers are three of the most critical problems in the nation’s urban schools that serve a vast majority of children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Although the factors contributing to these problems are complex, one area that has caught the attention of leaders of the teacher education community centers are the alternative pathways (or routes) through which teachers are trained and allowed into the profession. Many of these alternative pathways, teacher educators argue, aim to move teachers into teaching on a fast track and thereby short-change the necessary training that candidates need to have to become adequately prepared as classroom teachers. This article looks at the arguments on both sides: proponents and critics of traditional and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Prosodic and Lexical Cues for Understanding Synthesized Speech of Mathematics. Research Report No. RR-16-33

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The work described in this report is the second phase of a project to provide easy-to-use tools for authoring and rendering secondaryschool algebra-levelmath expressions insynthesized speech that is useful for studentswithblindnessor lowvision.This report describes the development and results of the second feedback study performed for our project, Expanding Audio Access toMathematics Expressions by StudentsWith Visual Impairments viaMathML. That study focused on the use of certain prosodic and lexical elements in the ClearSpeak speech style and served as a basis for further refinements in that style’s definition and implementation in the MathPlayer software. The primary parameters evaluated are students’ success in drawing conclusions about the content and structure of certain math expressions and their perceptions regarding the helpfulness of the pace and wording of different text-to-speech renditions of… Continue Reading