TA Workshop – Scaffolding Undergraduate Peer Facilitation
November 17th, 2011
Scaffolding Undergraduate Peer Facilitation:
The Maine Learning Assistant Program
A workshop for STEM graduate teaching assistants
Hosted by the Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center)
through the Maine Physical Sciences Partnership (PSP)
Wednesday, November 30
3:10 – 5:00 p.m.
Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium (165 Barrows Hall)
-Mitchell Bruce and Mackenzie Stetzer, facilitators
Over the next few years, many of you may find yourselves teaching alongside undergraduate peer instructors who are participating in the Maine Learning Assistant Program. In this workshop, we will provide a brief overview of our campus programs and give you some firsthand experiences with the unique kinds of professional development opportunities that the program offers.
Students participating in the RiSE Center workshops will receive a stipend of $50 for their participation.
Refreshments will be provided.
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PSP Indoor Soccer Team – 2011
November 15th, 2011
PSP Indoor Soccer Team
A few weeks ago, a call was put out to all RiSE Center members (and some of our pilot teachers for PSP) for interest in an indoor soccer team. Well, enough people were interested that Team RiSE is now a reality! They played their first game on Monday night (November 14), and not only were they injury free (for the most part), but they won their first game! Everyone has incredible team spirit, and are just having a blast!
A full schedule will be appearing soon, and will be posted here as well.
Come on out, wear your RiSE Center t-shirts, and support our team!
Team RiSE
Back Row: Jason Baker, Mandy Baker, Laura Millay, Lauree Gott, Rob Blaisdell
Front Row: Erika Allison, Levi Lucy, Michael Wittmann, Dan Laverty
Winter Team
Back Row: Dan Laverty, Michael Wittmann, Lauree Gott, Laura Millay
Front Row: Ranaan Avargil, Mandy Baker, Jason Baker (with Simon), Erika Allison
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RiSE Center Halloween Open House
November 15th, 2011
RiSE Center Halloween Open House
The RiSE Center held a Halloween Open House on Monday, October 31 to show off our newly decorated office space. Almost everyone came in costume, there was lots of food and lots of fun (thank you to Erika for your entertaining interpretation of “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”!). A big thank you to everyone who made it happen!
To see some photos, go here.
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Thesis Defense – Alison Dorko
November 11th, 2011
The Maine RiSE Center
presents an
ORAL THESIS DEFENSE
MST Candidate
Allison Dorko
Thesis Advisor: Natasha Speer
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science in Teaching
May 2012
Calculus Students’ Understanding of Area and Volume
in Non-Calculus Contexts
Researchers have documented difficulties that elementary school students have in understanding area and volume. Although area and volume show up in various ways later in the curriculum, we know very little about older students’ understanding of these concepts. The goal of this study is to develop descriptions of calculus students’ understanding of area and volume concepts in non-calculus contexts. Participants included 255 introductory calculus students and 43 multivariable calculus students. Clinical interview transcripts and students’ written responses to area and volume problems (computational and short answer) were analyzed. Findings indicate that some differential calculus students struggle with the units associated with various spatial measures. This is consistent with findings from literature about elementary school students. In addition, some differential calculus students mistakenly find surface area when directed to find volume.
Monday, December 5, 2011
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium
165 Barrows Hall
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RiSE Center Colloquium – December 5 – Deborah Trumbull, Cornell University
October 20th, 2011
The Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center)
and the University of Maine
Present
Deborah Trumbull
Cornell University
117 Donald P. Corbett Building
Monday, December 5, 2011
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Developing teacher identity and knowledge: Pre-service teacher education
As a teacher educator for many years, I have learned that becoming a teacher involves much more than adding a number of tools and techniques to each prospective teacher’s existing body of knowledge. Becoming a teacher requires a preservice teacher to develop a new identity, and cease interpreting classrooms as he did when a student.
One key aspect of a teacher’s identity requires a reformulated view of subject matter. A teacher must not only understand her subject matter in a rich and flexible way, she must also be able to evaluate how her students are comprehending, and adjust her teaching appropriately. This knowledge of practice develops only through experience and reflection on experience, but I believe that we can help preservice teacher begin this. I present examples from my studies that have examined both how I can facilitate the change in identity and how I can look at how my preservice teachers are making the change.
Bio sketch:
Deborah Trumbull, like many teacher educators, never planned to be a teacher educator. In fact, until she began her PhD in Educational Psychology and Program Evaluation, she had never taken an education course. She found that educational theory provided a powerful and productive way to make sense of her many experiences as a biology teacher. When she took a position at Cornell University, she worked with a group of energetic colleagues to develop a new program for the preparation of science and mathematics teachers. Due to a range of forces, the program has changed, and each change has served as an opportunity for Trumbull to learn about preparing excellent teachers. This learning was supported by her involvement with the international group Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices, and has benefitted tremendously from collaborations with colleagues from around the world. She has also worked as an in-service teacher educator and evaluator on projects with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
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RiSE Center Colloquium, Monday, Nov. 7
October 20th, 2011
The Maine Center for Research in STEM Education
and the University of Maine
Presents a RiSE Center Colloquium
Daniel K. Capps
Assistant Professor of Science Education
College of Education and Human Development
University of Maine
Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium
165 ESRB
November 7, 2011
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Does engaging students in an authentic investigation promote student interest in science?
Abstract:
This study examined the influence of an inquiry-based curriculum on students’ interest in learning science and in science-related careers. Fossil Finders was a teacher professional development program emphasizing inquiry-based instruction, nature of science, and evolution. As part of the project, students participated in a curriculum where they learned science content knowledge as they participated in a hands-on, authentic paleontological investigation. Initial findings suggest that merely participating in the curriculum was not enough to engender student interest. Student interest appeared to be linked primarily to the way in which teachers enacted the curriculum, whereas the authentic nature of the investigation both positively and negatively impacted student interest. On one hand, students enjoyed working with real samples, interacting with scientists, and collecting and interpreting real data. On the other hand students struggled with the variability of real scientific data. This study has implications for projects that engage students and the public in the collection of authentic data.
Bio:
Dan is an Assistant Professor of Science Education at the University of Maine. Over the past 15 years he has done a variety of things including: studied geology, Spanish, education, hiked the Appalachian Trail, judged dog shows, and taught in a variety of settings from kindergarten through college and beyond. Through these experiences Dan has become passionate about science, science teaching, and research on teaching and learning. At present, his work focuses on teacher professional development and supporting teachers and their students in understanding more about what science is and the many ways it is practiced.
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RiSE Center Colloquium, Monday, October 3, 2011
September 26th, 2011
Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center)
University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Presents
Jonathan T. Shemwell
Assistant Professor of Science Education, College of Education and Human Development
University of Maine
Monday, October 3, 2011
3:00 p.m.
165 Barrows Hall, Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium
“Learning scientific/mathematical principles with contrasting cases: Key ingredients of effective contrast-focused instruction”
The purpose of this study is to identify instructional methods that may be effective for teaching deep understanding of STEM principles. The study examines several variants of an Inventing-with-Contrasting-Cases (ICC) instructional model in science learning. In two experiments, university students who learned via ICC methods using an interactive simulation gained a better understanding of the deep structure of a physics principle than those who learned via a predict-observe-explain method using the same simulation. The contributions of two instructional components of ICC were further investigated: (1) presenting students with cases selected to highlight critical deep features of the underlying structure, and (2) prompting students for a single, general explanation applicable to all the cases. Initial findings suggest that both components are needed to produce robust learning.
Refreshments will be served in the ESRB Lobby at 2:45 pm
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RiSE Center Colloquium, Monday, February 7, 2011
February 1st, 2011
Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center)
University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Presents
Jason Zimba
Student Achievement Partners
Monday, February 7, 2011
3:00 pm
Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium
Room 165, Engineering and Science Research Building
Common Standards for K-12 Mathematics and Science:
Current and Future Developments
Forty-three states have recently adopted the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. As a physicist who served as one of the lead writers of the math standards, I will describe their development process and design principles. I will also describe some major related policy initiatives, including (1) two consortia of states that have formed in order to develop “next-generation” tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards; and (2) an ongoing project to develop common standards for K-12 science. There will be ample time for questions and discussion. Note: The website for the Common Core State Standards is www.corestandards.org and the math standards themselves are at http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Math%20Standards.pdf.
For more information about Jason, see http://www.google.com/profiles/jzimba#about.html”http://www.google.com/profiles/jzimba#about.html__
Refreshments will be served in the ESRB Lobby at 2:45 pm
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Thesis Defense – Erik daSilva, Wednesday, December 1
November 18th, 2010
ORAL THESIS DEFENSE
MST Candidate
Erik daSilva
Thesis Advisor: Christopher Gerbi
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science in Teaching
December, 2010
Procedural Skills – The Missing Link in Ninth Graders’ Comprehension
of Geography’s Influence
This study involves a measurement and analysis of 9th graders’ ability to apply procedural skills to Earth systems, specifically global wind patterns. Data were collected during a unit covering the geographical influences on climate (GIOC), in which global winds play a large role. The GIOC is a practical topic students often find interesting and can tangibly relate to, but there is a lack of research supporting effective instructional strategies. High school Earth Science teachers are not necessarily climate science experts and thus access to in-depth instruction and successful pedagogy reduce the challenges in teaching this topic.
The investigated topics of interest within the GIOC focused on students’ understanding of convergent lifting and of the rain shadow effect. Both of these concepts are heavily dependent on global wind patterns, which sample students in this study covered in the units preceding the GIOC. Students were taught the progression of steps required to draw global winds, which required identifying pressure gradients and understanding the influence of the Coriolis. Within these preceding units, students displayed better than satisfactory scores on average and thus it was believed that students were competent in drawing wind patterns when entering the unit on the GIOC.
This did not turn out to be true however. Although 80% of students displayed an understanding of convergent lifting and the rain shadow effect, only 36% of all students sampled (n=132) were able to correctly process and apply global wind patterns in this new context. These results suggest that the 9th grade mind has yet to develop the cognitive skills necessary to carry out the logical, though spatially challenging, process of drawing global surface winds.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
3:30 – 5:30 pm
307 Bryand Global Science Bldg.
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Thesis Defense – Casey Murphy, November 22
November 10th, 2010
ORAL THESIS DEFENSE
MST Student
CASEY E. MURPHY
Thesis Advisor: Michael Wittmann
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science in Teaching
December, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
3:10 – 5:00 pm
227 Neville Hall
ANSWER-SEEKING AND IDEA-CONSTRUCTING DURING COLLABORATIVE ACTIVE-LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN A PHYSICS LABORATORY
Student understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge and their sense of self-efficacy in the construction of scientific ideas impacts their approach to learning in a physics laboratory (Hammer, 1995). This research uses video analysis to explore two polar examples of group epistemological approach within the same lab. One group seemed to approach the activities with the goal of answer-seeking, often at the expense of meaningful learning, while the other group seemed to actively engage in idea-construction as they worked through the instructional sequence. Using methods of Interaction Analysis, we observe very different behavioral patterns for each group across three spheres of interaction – student interactions with group members, student interactions with space and time, and student interaction with authority. These results suggest that it is possible to assess student approach to a lab by being attentive to what students say and do as they interact with group members, with the space around them and with authority. The emergent patterns could provide the basis of a teacher toolbox for gauging, in situ, whether or not student approach is matched to the intended epistemological goals of the course.
In addition to looking at the details of behavior in the classroom, we explore shifts in epistemological approach to physics learning from the beginning of the course to the end of the course with the MPEX-II. Consistent with previous semesters, whole course results indicate no shift towards favorability in personal or epistemological independence between pre-, mid- and post- tests. We also analyze student survey responses at the beginning of the semester for the entire class, and, more importantly, for the Answer-Seeking Group and the Idea-Constructing Group. We observe a mismatch between behavior observed in class and student response on the MPEX-II questions measuring the extent students see knowledge as constructed or absorbed (independence-epistemology). On the other hand, we observed a match between group behaviors and the questions probing self-efficacy in knowledge construction. These results challenge earlier studies indicating low validity for MPEX-II use as an individual or small N diagnostic (McCaskey, 2009) and also confirm analysis of the MPEX-II Independence cluster at the sub-category level of independence–personal and independence-epistemology.
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