Browsing by Subject "STEM Education"
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Item Active Learning in STEM & Biology Learning and Teaching in the Laboratory Context(2021-07) Gonsar, NgawangThis three-paper dissertation addresses the experience and the implementation of evidence-based learning practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)/biology education. Study 1 explored instructional strategies and student perceptions and preferences for various teaching practices in graduate and undergraduate classrooms across three STEM colleges. The study revealed that students desired more time for active learning practices and wanted fewer lectures than they currently experienced. Upon closer probing, findings suggest that educators should employ various active learning practices in their classrooms. Finally, the study provides suggestions for instructors teetering on the brink of adoption to leap into active learning.Study 2A and 2B narrowed the focus to learning in groups, which is the most utilized active learning strategy in biology courses. These studies examined how grouping strategies (self-selected vs instructor-assigned academically heterogeneous groups) impact first-year biology students' experience, performance, and cooperative learning participation in a biology laboratory course with extensive group work through a mixed-methods approach. There were similar effects on student perceptions from intervening in group strategies. However, students found substantial value in their group experiences in developing both academic and social skills. At the same time, students experienced diminishing concerns regarding their group members over time. When examining cooperative learning, there were many similarities but a greater frequency of cooperative learning elements when controlled for teacher's influence and the curriculum activity. There was also a small difference in the scores of assignments completed as a group. These findings in totality have implications on how instructors can best form groups that maximize student learning while improving students’ biology laboratory experience. The study findings suggest that once pedagogical approach and curriculum are controlled, there is evidence that academically heterogeneous groups, as opposed to self-selected groups, allow for more cooperative learning opportunities for first-year biology students.Item Creating Equitable STEM Access: Models of moving from theory to practice(2019-08) Kim, JustineMy 3-paper dissertation is an extension of my own teaching experience. I became an elementary science specialist around the time that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) were being created and a noticeable shift in science teacher literature and research occurred because of the inclusion of engineering and the push toward integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (Koehler, Binns, & Bloom, 2015; Roehrig, Johnson, Moore, &Bryan, 2015). While STEM education continues to receive funding and endorsements from government sources (Herschbach, 2011), the impact in K-12 schools remains limited. Atkinson and Mayo (2010) press that the issue around STEM education then is not “a lack of political will in Washington and state capitals, but a lack of the right approach to the problem” (p. 7). The three papers that comprise my dissertation explore approaches that are based on praxis between the existing literature surrounding STEM education and the practice of STEM. Like Atkinson and Mayo (2010), I believe that we need to reimagine our approach on integrating STEM in K-12 spaces, focusing on pressing realities that teachers work within each day. Each of the three papers that make up my dissertation address this issue in from a unique approach. Paper 1, titled Using Models of Integrated Curriculum to Describe Enacted STEM Learning when Prescribed Standardized Curricula was Present, addresses the challenge of prescribed standardized curriculum when implementing new integrated approaches to teaching and learning. Standardized curriculum is a rising trend in public education, but this study also found it to be a barrier to STEM integration. In this paper, models of integration that teachers used to integrate STEM when under the restriction of using a prescribed standardized curriculum are identified and described. Paper 2, titled A Teacher and Researcher’s Reflection on the Aspects of an Effective School-University Partnership, is based in a university-school partnership created to promote integrated STEM programming in urban middle schools. This study investigated how school-university partnerships can be an effective vehicle for STEM integration in schools. This paper details the working relationship and how an effective STEM partnership was implemented through co-created narrative inquiry from the lens of both the researcher and teacher leader. It also gives recommendations for those who are entering into partnership spaces in the future. Paper 3, titled What do Elementary Teachers need to integrate STEM? was an exploratory study to determine what factors elementary teachers in schools with STEM programming identified as being important to STEM integration. A statewide survey was sent out to self-identified schools STEM schools that asked elementary teachers to identify what factors they believed were important to integrate STEM. As elementary teachers are not well-prepared to teach STEM (Goodnough, Pelch, & Stordy, 2014), it is important to understand their experiences and needs when asked to develop and promote STEM learning experiences for students. As an exploratory study, this paper provides suggestions and questions for those interested in STEM integration in elementary grades. After looking at three studies of STEM moving from theory to practice, similarities across all three papers are identified and expanded upon. The last chapter summarized and expanded upon common themes across all three papers.Item Exploring the Relationship between Aspects of Integrated STEM Education and Student Attitudes towards STEM(2022-10) Hiwatig, Benny MartIntegrated STEM education (iSTEM) has been promoted as an effective approach not only to develop scientific and mathematical literacy among learners, but also to improve student attitude towards learning STEM. By realizing these purported benefits, iSTEM is posited to encourage students’ pursuance of STEM-related careers. While there are existing studies that investigated the relationship between certain iSTEM activities/ curricula and change in student attitudes, there is a lack of research examining the operationalization of iSTEM and its aspects in relation to change in student attitudes towards STEM and the role of demographic variables in predicting these outcomes. Thus, the current study used multilevel modeling and an exploratory approach to investigate the relationship between aspects of iSTEM and change in student attitude towards STEM.Overall, the findings suggest that the main effects of the aspects of iSTEM on changing student attitudes towards STEM are not statistically significant with respect to the data. However, some of these aspects become important when looking at their interaction with demographic variables such as gender and race in terms of predicting attitudinal change. Among other findings, the moderating effects of race, for example, necessitates the reevaluation of the implementation of iSTEM and relevant lesson content and question-prompts that may put non-White students at a disadvantage in terms of improving their attitude towards STEM. Moreover, the relationship between gender and student attitudes toward STEM is significantly varying across classrooms. This means that the predictors in the model have greater effect on male students’ overall change in student attitude towards STEM compared to that of female students. While the findings suggest that gender has no direct effect on the extent and direction of the change in STEM attitude, there are contextual effects that might be more pronounced on male students than in female students. This study leverages its exploratory approach to uncover potential areas of further investigation. More research can be done on the aspects of iSTEM that contribute to the improvement of student attitudes towards STEM and other less-explored variables that interact with the aspects of iSTEM. While there is a prevalence of research on how improving student attitudes toward STEM can address broader goals of STEM education, i.e. pursuance of STEM careers and improvement of STEM learning, studies that investigate factors that influence attitudinal change towards STEM are still lacking. Consequently, this work addresses that issue and contributes to the rather nascent and developing body of research on STEM attitudes.Item Issues of Identity and Equity in STEM Education STEM Teachers Identity and Gender Equity in STEM(2018-12) El Nagdi, MohamedAbstract This three-paper dissertation addresses issues of equity and identity in STEM education through three studies conducted with teachers in two emerging STEM schools in the Midwest United States (U.S.), graduates of a girls STEM school in Egypt, and the teachers of a STEM school in Egypt. The studies comprising this dissertation utilized case study as a research design to explore the issues of equity and identity in STEM education. Participants in each study were selected using criterion purposeful sampling. Though these studies were not intended to be comparative, the results of the three studies reveal context-based results with several global assumptions regarding nature of STEM education and the pertinent issues of equity and identity. In the three studies STEM education is viewed as having a transformative power for both teachers as providing an opportunity for change at the professional level; and for female students providing an equitable learning environment for girls aspiring to pursue STEM fields. The evolving nature of the STEM teacher identity was evident across all cases. The American teachers conceptualize STEM as providing valuable tool for better learning opportunities for students based on integrated curriculum and with emphasis on equity and inclusion. Egyptian teachers viewed STEM from two lenses: as a pedagogical tool to facilitate learning complex concepts, and a system level reform initiative to reform the existing failing education system in the country and prepare students for the labor market. Characteristics of STEM teachers were uniform across the three studies; flexibility, collaboration and open to change. The challenges for teachers’ identity development in the Egyptian experience are mostly related to lack of resources and bureaucracy while in the U.S. case they are more connected with professional development and time needed for more practice. While the studies making up this dissertation denote the centrality of the context regarding STEM design and implementation, they still have implications for STEM education as a global reform initiative.Item Teacher Conceptions of Integrated STEM Education and How They Are Reflected in Integrated STEM Curriculum Writing and Classroom Implementation(2017-05) Ring, ElizabethThere has been a nation-wide push for an increase in the use of integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States. With this shift in epistemological, pedagogical, and curricular content, there is a need to develop an understanding as to what integrated STEM education is, particularly among practitioners. In this dissertation, inservice science teacher conceptions of integrated STEM education were investigated to help understand what these conceptions are and how these conceptions influence curriculum writing and implementation of integrated STEM curricula in classrooms. Teacher conceptions and their influences were investigated through three separate but interrelated studies. First, K-12 inservice science teachers’ conceptions of integrated STEM were investigated through the analysis of their sketched models of integrated STEM education. How these models changed throughout an intensive, three-week professional development was also explored. The goal of this first study was to identify conceptual models of integrated STEM education held by inservice science teachers and to understand how these conceptions might change over the course of a professional development. Second, photo elicitation interviews (PEIs) and curricular analysis were used to provide rich descriptions of the conceptual models of integrated STEM education held by inservice science teachers, determine what components of STEM inservice science teachers found fundamental to integrating STEM in the classroom based on their conceptions, and explore how teachers’ conceptions of STEM were used in their development of integrated STEM curricula. The goal of this second study was to better understand inservice science teachers’ conceptual models of integrated STEM and explore how these models were realized in the teachers’ curriculum writing. Third, a multiple-case study was conducted with three teachers to investigate how the conceptual models held by inservice science teachers were enacted in their implementation of an integrated STEM curriculum unit in their classrooms. The goal of this third study was to determine how, if at all, teachers enact their conceptual models of integrated STEM education in the classroom when implementing a STEM curriculum. Together, these three studies helped to broaden the research related to integrated STEM education in the literature. The progressive nature of the studies in this dissertation, as well as the diverse use of methodologies and data analysis, helped to expand STEM education research.Item Teachers as Designers: The Iterative Process of Curriculum Design Focused on STEM Integration(2015-05) McFadden, JustinCurricular resources play an important role when educational reform efforts are introduced (Powell & Anderson, 2002). Taking Science to School (NRC, 2007) and more recently the Next Generation Science Standards [NGSS] (NGSS Lead States, 2013) have advocated for changes related to standards, curriculum, and teacher learning. Previous science standards (NRC, 1996) have been set aside as two transformational documents have taken the forefront in U.S. science education. The Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012) and the succeeding NGSS are aimed at providing a new structural organization for science education that now includes engineering practices. The integration of science and engineering practices presents new opportunities and challenges for teachers as they must now design learning experiences that integrate science, mathematics, and engineering concepts. Teachers are not typically asked to be curriculum designers (Penuel, Roschelle, & Shechtman, 2007; Reiser et al., 2000) and when they are asked to be designers face unique challenges. There are limited studies (e.g. Boschman, McKenney, & Voogt, 2014) that directly investigate teachers during the curriculum design process and multiple calls to further explore teachers during the curriculum design process (Huizinga, 2014; Penuel & Gallagher, 2012; Voogt, et al., 2011). This study explores the actions and conversations of nine elementary science teachers during the curriculum design process while they design and develop a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] integrated curricular unit. Teachers in the study worked in small teams and were paired with a coach during the design process. The study was framed around the participatory relationship that exists between teachers and curriculum (Remillard, 2005; Brown, 2002) and the view that curriculum design is a design problem that requires uniquely human interpersonal responses (Jonassen, 2000; 2011). This applied case study (Merriam, 2009) employed an inductive analysis and creative synthesis that followed the analysis strategies of constructed grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser & Straus, 1967). Data collected from a 12-day professional development opportunity included audio-recorded curriculum design conversations of three unique teams (~3000 minutes), 12 individual interviews, daily participant reflections, and curriculum design artifacts. The study's major theoretical assertion is that teachers need encouragement to be innovative during the curriculum design process due in part to their tendency to design and develop curriculum resources similar to those they have used in the past. Teachers strongly considered their own classroom contexts during the design process and therefore primarily designed resources they could use in their own classroom. Secondly, curriculum design needs to be considered a design problem with no concrete solution that therefore warrants all participants be made aware of and prepared to discuss the complexities and propositions required of each designer (Remillard, 2005) during the curriculum design process.Item Understanding Middle School Students' Perceptions of Physics Using Girl-Friendly and Integrated STEM Strategies: A Gender Study(2015-05) Dare, EmilyAccording to the American Physical Society, women accounted for only 20% of bachelor's degrees in the fields of physics and engineering in 2010. This low percentage is likely related to young girls' K-12 education experiences, particularly their experiences prior to high school, during which time young women's perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and STEM careers are formed (Catsambis, 1995; Maltese & Tai, 2011; National Research Council, 2012; Sadler, Sonnert, Hazari, & Tai, 2012; Tai, Liu, Maltese, & Fan, 2006; Scantlebury, 2014; Sikora & Pokropek, 2012). There are no significant gender differences in academic achievement in middle school, yet young women have less positive attitudes towards careers in science than their male peers (Catsambis, 1995; Scantlebury, 2014). This suggests that the low female representation in certain STEM fields is a result of not their abilities, but their perceptions; for fields like physics where negative perceptions persist (Häussler & Hoffman, 2002; Labudde, Herzog, Neuenschander, Violi, & Gerber, 2000), it is clear that middle school is a critical time to intervene. This study examines the perceptions of 6th grade middle school students regarding physics and physics-related careers. A theoretical framework based on the literature of girl-friendly and integrated STEM strategies (Baker & Leary, 1995; Halpern et al., 2007; Häussler & Hoffman, 2000, 2002; Labudde et al., 2000; Moore et al., 2014b; Newbill & Cennamo, 2008; Rosser, 2000; Yanowitz, 2004) guided this work to understand how these instructional strategies may influence student's perceptions of physics for both girls and boys. The overarching goal of this work was to understand similarities and differences between girls' and boys' perceptions about physics and physics-related careers. This convergent parallel mixed-methods study uses a series of student surveys and focus group interviews to identify and understand these similarities and differences. Classroom observations also helped to identify what instructional strategies teachers used that influence student perceptions. Findings from this study indicate very few differences between the perceptions of physics and physics-related careers for 6th grade girls and boys. However, the differences that exist, though subtle, may indicate how K-12 science instruction could more positively influence girls' perceptions. For instance, while girls are just as interested in science class as their male counterparts, they are more motivated when a social context is included; this has implications for how they view physics-related careers. The findings of this study shed light on not only why fewer females pursue careers in physics, but also how K-12 science reform efforts might help to increase these numbers.Item Understanding the Ways in Which Teacher Leadership Teams Influence STEM Integration in Emerging STEM Schools(2018-06) Crotty, ElizabethRecent national reports (e.g., Carnegie Corporation 2009; National Research Council 2012a) call for increased attention to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education to better prepare students for the demands of a scientific, technical, creative and critical thinking workforce (Honey, Pearson, & Schweingruber, 2014; Vilorio, 2014). One mechanism to promote quality STEM Education is the development of inclusive STEM schools. The President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (2010) recommended, “The Federal Government should promote the creation of at least 200 new highly-STEM-focused high schools and 800 STEM-focused elementary and middle schools over the next decade, including many serving minority and high-poverty communities” (p. 10) to make STEM accessible to a broader student population in the United States. Most existing STEM schools were opened specifically with this purpose, however, in order for quality STEM to be broadly available to all students it is critical that the process of developing STEM programming within traditional public schools is explored. Thus, this project examined the ways in which STEM programming was developed by teacher leadership STEM teams within three existing public schools to inform future directions for this approach. Teachers have the potential to shape school culture and drive reforms (Lieberman & Freidrich, 2010). Thus, exploring how teacher leadership drives STEM programming is critical to ensuring all students have access to STEM opportunities within public school spaces. Teacher leadership was examined in this study through the conceptual frame of Lieberman and Friedrich’s (2010) four key dimensions that inform teacher leadership development: identity (Berry, Byrd, & Weider, 2013; Day & Gu, 2007), community (Feiman-Nemser, 2001;Grossman, Wineburg, & Woolworth, 2001), productive use of conflict (Martin, Kragler, Quatroche, & Bauserman, 2014; Mezirow 1991; Van Es et al. 2014), and practice (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Putnam & Borko, 2000). These four dimensions were further developed through a comprehensive review of the research literature to create a framework for examining teacher leadership and learning in the STEM teams. This multiple case study research design (Yin, 2014) explored the ways in which teacher leaders, through STEM communities of practice (STEM teams), developed STEM programming across three varied public school contexts. The three cases were the STEM teacher teams within three different school contexts. Data were collected during the 2016-2017 school year as the STEM teacher teams initiated programming that would support their schools becoming STEM schools. Data collection measures included (a) pre/post teacher and administrator interviews, (b) audio recorded team meetings throughout the year, (c) STEM Inventory survey responses evaluating 14 critical components for effective inclusive STEM schools (Behrend et al., 2016), (d) STEM team focus group reflection on survey responses, and (e) researcher field notes. Data were analyzed using qualitative methods through several phases to understand how the teams’ STEM integration efforts mapped onto components of effective STEM schools and how leadership influenced development towards inclusive STEM programming. Six themes emerged from this research that inform recommendations for driving inclusive STEM programs in the future through teacher leadership approaches. The themes were (a) teachers needed leadership skills and STEM understandings to support STEM program development through teacher leadership teams; (b) certain approaches to building STEM curriculum were more productive than others; (c) instructional leadership for driving reform-based practices was important to STEM curriculum work; (d) teachers need school-level systems that support this work to sustain STEM program efforts; (e) misalignments of STEM with other programs need to be accommodated, and (f) authentic STEM came from valuing the culture of the community and was centered on students.Item Unpacking Oppressions Related to Integrated STEM Lesson Implementations: Perspectives From In-Service Secondary Science Teachers From Thailand(2023-07) Keratithamkul, KhomsonIn the collectivistic Thai society, oppressions are considered societal taboos that teachers rarely talk about in schools despite many oppressive events that happened in the past few decades (e.g., the 1976 student massacre and other political unrests). Science education in Thailand heavily emphasizes technical knowledge and rote memorization – often ignoring cultural, political, and social issues. Thus, this study aimed to provide a better understanding of how in-service secondary science teachers in Thailand could simultaneously address these aforementioned issues through integrated STEM lessons from the lens of anti-oppressive education. Through a qualitative multiple case study design, this study explores the experiences of three in-service secondary science teachers from government schools in Thailand pertaining to integrated STEM education, oppressions, and oppressions related to integrated STEM lesson implementations. Findings demonstrated that all three teachers conceptualized integrated STEM education as an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach to help and motivate their students to learn science all while addressing the required basic science curriculum. Contextualized by authentic and relevant real-world problems, this approach was seen as a means for students to develop essential 21st century skills and their STEM identities. Moreover, findings also illustrated how these teachers’ perceptions of oppressions were tied to the Thai cultural norms pertaining to age- and SES-based hierarchy, all of which involved unequal distribution of power and occurred as interpersonal and institutional oppressions. Their conceptions and treatment of oppressions related to integrated STEM lesson implementations were also examined and shared along with the study’s associated implications. This study provides a foundation for anti-oppressive integrated STEM education and advocates for its adoption in secondary science classrooms.