The Center presents two upcoming talks in March
The Center for Science and Mathematics Education Research will be sponsoring two upcoming talks over the next few weeks. All are invited to come listen and learn!
Center Seminar
Erik DaSilva, Master of Science in Teaching candidate
University of Maine
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Hill Auditorium
Limits that Hinder Ninth Graders from Understanding the Effects of Geography and Wind On Climate
The geographical influences on climate (GIOC) is a practical topic students find interesting and can tangibly relate to but it is challenging to teach due to a lack of research supporting the recently popular subject of earth science. In depth instruction and successful pedagogy are not yet available due to this, leaving Earth Science teachers with few tools when developing effective lessons on this topic. This lack of research led me to an investigation concerning student understanding of the GIOC and I examined the techniques and styles used during instruction in a ninth grade classroom.
The basic building blocks of a student’s “spatial intelligence” involve spatial ability and spatial cognition, which a child needs in order to develop higher level thinking skills. The most critical discovery concerning this research suggested that a student’s ability to correctly process and reiterate the GIOC, namely the effects of wind on climate, may not be developed enough at the ninth grade academic level to allow for this. Results from my research show that the 9th grade mind is challenged to describe the dynamic environment between a three-dimensional system of global winds and their climatic effects.
Center Colloquium
Ralph Putnam, Senior Program Officer
Knowles Science Teaching Foundation
Monday, March 22, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
137 Bennett Hall
Content Needs of Beginning Science and Mathematics Teachers
Beginning high-school mathematics and science teachers are usually assumed to have solid subject-matter content knowledge as they enter teaching. They typically have, after all, degrees in mathematics or science. Most efforts to support beginning teachers—through mentoring, induction programs, and the like—thus focus primarily on classroom management and other issues that are not content specific. I will report on an NSF-funded study of beginning mathematics and science teachers that suggests they do have a range of content-specific needs. For example, teachers may find themselves teaching about domains and topics to which they themselves have had little exposure, or teaching topics that they last studied themselves in middle school or high school. We have also found that beginning teachers often turn to the Internet for support—for brushing up on mathematics or science content and for getting ideas and resources for teaching. There has been little research, however, on how teachers locate and evaluate content-specific resources or how they draw on those resources for their own learning and to support their teaching. I will present a framework developed from our research for beginning teachers’ use of the Web to support their own learning and their teaching of mathematics and science.