Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Research Works

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1649

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End date: 2019

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Improving Science Assessments by Situating Them in a Virtual Environment
    (MDPI, 2013-05-30) Ketelhut, Diane Jass; Nelson, Brian; Schifter, Catherine; Kim, Younsu
    Current science assessments typically present a series of isolated fact-based questions, poorly representing the complexity of how real-world science is constructed. The National Research Council asserts that this needs to change to reflect a more authentic model of science practice. We strongly concur and suggest that good science assessments need to consist of several key factors: integration of science content with scientific inquiry, contextualization of questions, efficiency of grading and statistical validity and reliability.Through our Situated Assessment using Virtual Environments for Science Content and inquiry (SAVE Science) research project, we have developed an immersive virtual environment to assess middle school children’s understanding of science content and processes that they have been taught through typical classroom instruction. In the virtual environment, participants complete a problem-based assessment by exploring a game world, interacting with computer-based characters and objects, collecting and analyzing possible clues to the assessment problem. Students can solve the problems situated in the virtual environment in multiple ways; many of these are equally correct while others uncover misconceptions regarding inference-making. In this paper, we discuss stage one in the design and assessment of our project, focusing on our design strategies for integrating content and inquiry assessment and on early implementation results. We conclude that immersive virtual environments do offer the potential for creating effective science assessments based on our framework and that we need to consider engagement as part of the framework.
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    Framing Engineering: The Role of College Website Descriptions
    (MDPI, 2017-12-31) Da Costa, Romina B.; Stromquist, Nelly P.
    This study contributes to the literature on women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by examining the framing of engineering on college websites, a major recruitment tool. We take websites to be key sources of textual data that can provide insights into the discourses surrounding the field of engineering. We ask whether women-only institutions (WOIs) frame engineering in ways that appeal more broadly to women. Our sample comprises the full range of WOIs offering engineering degrees in the US (14) and a comparison sample of 14 coeducational universities also offering engineering degrees. We employ established methods for discourse analysis, and both deductive and inductive coding processes in analyzing the textual data. Our main findings indicate that WOIs’ framing of engineering places a greater emphasis on collaboration, supports for students, interdisciplinarity, and the potential for engineering to contribute to improvements for society. In contrast, co-ed institutions tend to place a greater emphasis on the financial returns and job security that result from majoring in engineering. We conclude that co-ed engineering programs should consider a broadening of the descriptions surrounding the engineering field, since the inclusion of a wider set of values could be appealing to women students.
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    Mathematical sense-making in quantum mechanics: An initial peek
    (American Physical Society, 2017-12-28) Dreyfus, Benjamin W.; Elby, Andrew; Gupta, Ayush; Sohr, Erin Ronayne
    Mathematical sense-making—looking for coherence between the structure of the mathematical formalism and causal or functional relations in the world—is a core component of physics expertise. Some physics education research studies have explored what mathematical sense-making looks like at the introductory physics level, while some historians and “science studies” have explored how expert physicists engage in it. What is largely missing, with a few exceptions, is theoretical and empirical work at the intermediate level—upper division physics students—especially when they are learning difficult new mathematical formalism. In this paper, we present analysis of a segment of video-recorded discussion between two students grappling with a quantum mechanics question to illustrate what mathematical sense-making can look like in quantum mechanics. We claim that mathematical sense-making is possible and productive for learning and problem solving in quantum mechanics. Mathematical sense-making in quantum mechanics is continuous in many ways with mathematical sense-making in introductory physics. However, in the context of quantum mechanics, the connections between formalism, intuitive conceptual schema, and the physical world become more compound (nested) and indirect. We illustrate these similarities and differences in part by proposing a new symbolic form, eigenvector eigenvalue, which is composed of multiple primitive symbolic forms.
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    Mathematical sense-making in quantum mechanics: An initial peek
    (American Physical Society (APS), 2017-12-28) Dreyfus, Benjamin W.; Elby, Andrew; Gupta, Ayush; Sohr, Erin Ronayne
    Mathematical sense-making—looking for coherence between the structure of the mathematical formalism and causal or functional relations in the world—is a core component of physics expertise. Some physics education research studies have explored what mathematical sense-making looks like at the introductory physics level, while some historians and “science studies” have explored how expert physicists engage in it. What is largely missing, with a few exceptions, is theoretical and empirical work at the intermediate level—upper division physics students—especially when they are learning difficult new mathematical formalism. In this paper, we present analysis of a segment of video-recorded discussion between two students grappling with a quantum mechanics question to illustrate what mathematical sensemaking can look like in quantum mechanics. We claim that mathematical sense-making is possible and productive for learning and problem solving in quantum mechanics. Mathematical sense-making in quantum mechanics is continuous in many ways with mathematical sense-making in introductory physics. However, in the context of quantum mechanics, the connections between formalism, intuitive conceptual schema, and the physical world become more compound (nested) and indirect. We illustrate these similarities and differences in part by proposing a new symbolic form, eigenvector eigenvalue, which is composed of multiple primitive symbolic forms.
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    Appendix to 2015 PERC submission
    (2015) Alonzo, Alicia; Elby, Andrew
    This document is the electronic appendix for a paper submitted to the Proceedings of the 2015 Physics Education Research Conference, called How Physics Teachers Model Student Thinking and Plan Instructional Responses When Using Learning-Progression-Based Assessment Information.
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    Conceptualizing Teachers' Knowledge of Students' Mathematics Identity Formation and Development
    (2012) Clark, Lawrence
    In recent years, two research foci have garnered considerable interest in the mathematics education research community: 1) conceptualizing and measuring the unique and distinct knowledge mathematics teachers use in their practice, and 2) conceptualizing and exploring students’ mathematics identity formation and development. I seek to synthesize claims made across these two bodies of literature for the purpose of exploring the following question: In what ways is teachers’ knowledge of students’ mathematics identity formation and development a viable dimension of the knowledge mathematics teachers use in their practice? The exploration culminates in a working framework for teachers’ knowledge of students’ mathematics identity development and formation, and concludes with implications for mathematics teacher education.
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    TEACHING THE SOLVING OF LINEAR EQUATIONS – WHAT IS AT STAKE?
    (2012-02-13) Sela, Hagit; Chazan, Daniel
    To test a model which characterizes what is at stake in the situation of solving linear equations (Chazan & Lueke, 2009), we analyse talk of teachers who, stimulated by watching an animation of classroom interaction (Chazan & Herbst, in press) share with their colleagues how they teach their students how to solve linear equations. The teacher talk illustrates two key aspects of our model of the situation of solving linear equations. First, the teachers in the sample conceive of it as their responsibility to teach their students a method for solving this class of problems; applying the steps of the method successfully means knowing how to solve linear equations. Second, teaching the method of solving linear equations does not involve the presentation of mathematical arguments, but at the same time is not exactly justification-free; the teachers present students with similes that motivate the steps in the method.