Maine Center for Research in STEM Education

Graduates of the MST Program

2020

Jeremy Bernier, Mathematics

Amelia Callahan, Generalist

• Work at the Boundary: A Research-Practice Partnership to Integrate Computer Science into Middle School Science

Erin Doran

• Investigating Maine Secondary Science Teachers Conceptualization of Scientific Argumentation

Christina Siddons, Generalist

• How Students Communicate Knowledge: Written Versus Drawn Responses to Formative Assessment Questions in an Introductory Undergraduate Marine Science Course

Justin Willis

2019

Camden Bock

• Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Use of Spatial Diagrams: Investigations of Unbounded Shearing on Solid Figures

Bryn Keenhold

• Assessing Quantitative Reasoning in a Ninth Grade Science Class Using Interdisciplinary Data Story Assignments

Emma Toth

• The High School to First-Year College Instructional Transition: An Investigation of the Predictions and Perceptions of STEM Students

2018

Ethan Geheb

• Assessing Student Understanding of Reasoning using Argument-based Contrast Matrices

Grace (Gonnella) Coffee, Physical Science

• A Granular Account of Student’s Understanding Reasoning within an Everyday and Scientific Contexts
• NSF Teaching Fellow

Graham Hummel-Hall

• Echoes of the Past: The Effect of Background Experience on Far Transfer

Laura Millay

• Teachers’ Professional Knowledge and Formative Assessment Practices: An Empirical Study from Middle School Earth Science Instruction in the Context of an Educational Improvement Community
• Research and Evaluation Coordinator, The Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center), University of Maine

Molly Picillo, Life Science

• Understanding Student Development of Science Literacy Skills in an Undergraduate Environmental Science Course

2017

Kenneth Akiha

• What Types of Instructional Shifts do Students Experience? Investigating Active Learning in STEM Classes across Key Transition Points from Middle School to the University Level

William Ferm, Physical Science & Mathematics

• Examining Student Ability to Follow and Interact with Qualitative Inferential Reasoning Chains
• Teacher

Maura Foley, Earth Sciences

• Contrast Dependent Knowledge Development in Contrast Supported Scientific Observation
• Middle School Teacher, Connecticut

Derek LaBarron, Life & Physical Sciences

• Investigating the Assessment of Abstraction as a Key Component of the Nature of Models
• Special Ed Teacher’s Aide, New York

Savannah Lodge-Scharff, Physical Science & Mathematics

• Investigating Student Mental Models at the Intersection of Mathematics and Physical Reasoning in Physics
• High School Teacher, Massachusetts

William Schlager, Generalist (Earth & Life Sciences)

• Assessing Students’ Understanding of Variability and Graph Interpretation Through an Authentic Science Investigation

Betsy Trenckmann, Generalist (Earth & Life Sciences)

• Development of an Active-Learning Lesson that Targets Student Understanding of Population Growth in Ecology
• High School Teacher, Maine

Kevin Van De Bogart

• Investigating Student Learning of Analog Electronics

2016

Gregory Kranich, Physics

• Inconsistent Conceptions of Acceleration Contributing to Formative Assessment Limitations

Justin Lewin, Generalist (Life Sciences)

• A Campus-wide Investigation of University-level Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Instruction: The Status of Clicker Use and Peer Discussion

Rachel (Short) Martin, Generalist (Life Sciences)

• Discussion in Middle and High School Earth Science Classrooms and Its Impact on Students’ Abilities to Construct Evidence-Based Arguments in Their Written Work

Jen Tyne, Mathematics

• Calculus Students’ Reasoning About Slope and Derivative as Rates of Change

Marina Van der Eb, Generalist (Physical Sciences)

• Evaluation of the Collaborative Design Process and Classroom Implementation of a Place-Relevant Lesson in Ninth Grade Earth Science Classrooms
• Maine STEM Partnership Coordinator, The Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center), University of Maine

2015

Sundance Campbell, Mathematics

• College Student Difficulties with Applied Optimization Problems in Introductory Calculus

Joshua Case, Mathematics

• Calculus Students’ Understanding of Logical Implication and its Relationship to their Understanding of Calculus Theorems

Jonathan Dumont, Generalist (Life Sciences)

• Analysis of Struggling Student Performance in Response to Academic Intervention

Daniel Laverty, Generalist (Physical Sciences)

• Investigating Teachers’ Content Knowledge and Pedogogical Content Knowledge in a Middle School Physical Science Curriculum on Force and Motion

Ryan Weatherbee, Generalist (Marine Sciences)

• Cross-Sectional Assessment of Student Content Knowledge in an Undergraduate Marine Science Program

2014

Zachary Batz, Generalist (Mathematics & Biology)

• Reaching Struggling Introductory Biology Students with a Targeted Peer Tutoring Program

Dan Bragdon, Mathematics

• University Students’ Graph Interpretation and Comprehension Abilities

Shawn Firouzian (MST/MA), Mathematics

• Correlations Between Students’ Multiple Ways of Thinking About the Derivative and their Abilities to Solve Applied Derivative Problems

Kalee (Gurschick) Gwarjanski, Generalist (Physics & Mathematics)

• Paying Attention to Theory in Science Classroom Argumentation

Jon Janelle, Mathematics

• Proof Conceptions of College Calculus Students

Kendra Michaud, Generalist (Physics & Mathematics)

• Using Personal Response Devices as a Method to Study Visitor Experience at Informal Science Learning Environments

2013

Evan Chase, Generalist (Physics & Mathematics)

• Investigating physics students’ simultaneous use of gestures & speech to describe multiple quantities of a vertically-tossed ball

Adi Levy Conlogue, Mathematics

• Students’ Understanding of Recursion: When Do They Use It and Why?

Mary Jean (MJ) Jones, Generalist (Life & Physical Sciences)

• An Assessment of Ninth Graders’ Use of Graphs and Explanations to Communicate Scientific Ideas

Levi Lucy, Physics

• Correlations Between Students Performance on Assessments and Teachers’ Knowledge of Students and Energy

Nitisha Mitchell, Generalist (Life Sciences)

• Student Understanding of Cardiovascular Physiology: The Relationship Between Pressure, Flow, and Resistance

Sarah Rizzo, Mathematics

• College students’ understanding of geometric transformations

Kara Soule, Generalist (Life & Physical Sciences)

• Assessing and enhancing student understanding of carbon cycling in organisms

Ashley Young, Generalist (Life & Physical Sciences)

• Teachers’ Understandings of Inquiry and Reported Use of Scientific Practices: A Survey of NTSA Conference Attendees

2012

Rabindra Bajracharya, Physics

• Student Understanding of Definite Integrals with Relevance to Physics Using Graphical Representations

Elizabeth Burroughs, Generalist (Biology & Math)

• The Astrobiology Project: Effects on Students’ Science Aspirations and Achievement, and an Analysis of Self-Handicapping Behavior

Allison Dorko, Mathematics

• Calculus Students’ Understanding of Area and Volume in Non-calculus Contexts

Virginia Flood, Chemistry

• A Phenomenological Approach to Understanding the Role of Bodily Activity in Chemical Imagining
• Assistant Professor, Teaching and Learning, University at Buffalo – SUNY

2011

Katie Clegg, Life Science

• Assessing Middle and High School Students’ Conceptual Understanding about Photosynthesis

Erik K. DaSilva, General Science

• Procedural Skills — The Missing Link in Ninth Graders’ Comprehension of Geography’s Influence on Climate

Maggie L. Hutchinson, General Science

• College Chemistry Students Understanding and Application of the Relationship between Algebra and Stoichiometry

Casey E. Murphy, General Science

• Answer-Seeking and Idea-Constructing During Collaborative Active-Learning Activities in a Physics Laboratory

John Stahley, Mathematics

• Students’ Qualitative Understanding of the Relationship between the Graph of a Function and the Graphs of Its Derivatives

2010

William L. Hall Jr., Mathematics

• Language and Area: Influences on Student Understanding of Integration

2009

Molly Harris, General Science

• Investigation into the Effectiveness of an Inquiry-Based Curriculum in an Introductory Biology Laboratory

Mindi Kvaal Anderson, Physics

• Comparing the Effectiveness of Three Unique Research Based Tutorials for Introducing Newton’s Second Law

Kate McCann, Physics

Megan McOsker, General Science

• Student Understanding of Error and Variability in Primary Science Communication

Danielle Miniutti, General Science

• Assessing Impacts of the Aquatic Invaders in Maine (AIM) Workshop on Inquiry Pedagogy and Student Learning

Lisa Schultz, Earth Science

• Understanding the Greenhouse Effect Using a Computer Model

2008

Karen Abbey, Mathematics

• Students’ Understanding of Deriving Properties of a Function’s Graph from the Sign Chart of the First Derivative

Glen Davenport, Physics

• The Reliability of the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation

Ashley (Graves) Smith, Mathematics

• An Investigation into the Effectiveness of Web-Based College Algebra in Conceptual and Procedural Mathematics Knowledge

Bhupendra Nagpure, Physics

• The Effects of Reasoning about Vector Components on Student Understanding of Two-Dimensional Acceleration

Joel Van Deventer, Physics

• Comparing Student Performance on Isomorphic Math and Physics Vector Representations

Adam Zukowski, Mathematics

• Attitude and Learning at Upward Bound in the Field of Statistics

2007

Glenn Colby, Mathematics

• Students’ Epistemological Beliefs of Mathematics When Taught Using Traditional Versus Reform Curricula in Rural Maine High Schools

Roger Feeley, Physics

• Identifying Student Concepts of Gravity

Matthew Leland, Chemistry

• Using Analogical Models in Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory Courses to Improve Student Understanding of Beer’s Law

Danielle Martin, Earth Science

• Student Understanding of Groundwater Concepts in Two Undergraduate Geology Courses

Zachary McIntyre, Mathematics

• An Analysis of Variable Misconceptions before and after Various Collegiate Level Mathematics Courses

Jonathon Moyer, Biology

• A Comparative Study of How High School Students Understand Stem Cells

Elliot Rappaport, Earth Science

• Understanding Weather: Phase Changes of Water in the Atmosphere

Daniel Reed, Physics

• Evaluating Factors Contributing to Engineering Technology Students’ Introductory Physics Experience

Trevor I. Smith, Physics

• Comparing the Effectiveness of Research-based Curricula for Teaching Introductory Mechanics

Medea Steinman, General Science

• Using Online Data to Teach Science Skills to Middle School Students

2006

Dina Blodgett, Mathematics

• The Effects of Implementing an Interactive Student Response System in a College Algebra Classroom

Emily (Klinger) Jacesko, Earth Science

Kathleen Knight, Mathematics

• An Investigation into the Change in the Van Hiele Levels of Understanding Geometry of Pre-service Elementary and Secondary Mathematics Teachers

David Nelson, Physics

• Effect of a Concentrated In-service Elementary Teacher Force and Motion Workshop

Michael O’Brien, Physics

• An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Physics First in Maine

Jonathon Pratt, General Science

Karen Snyder, Mathematics

• Roles of Students and Instructors in a Pilot Computer-based College Algebra Course

Adrienne Traxler, Astronomy

• Assessment and Modification of an Introductory Astronomy Laboratory Lesson on Astronomical Time-keeping

2005

James Cohen, Astronomy

• Student Ideas about the Moon and its Phases and the Impact of a Real 3D Model of the Sun/Earth/Moon System in an Introductory Astronomy Laboratory Course

Katherine Menchen, Physics

• Investigations of Student Understanding of Sound Propogation and Resonance

Michael Murphy, Physics

• Measuring the Effects of Mathematics Instruction in a Physics Classroom with Mathematics and Physics Diagnostics

Jessica Odell, General Science

• Student Understanding of Conservation of Energy and Mass in Introductory University Science Courses

Eleanor Sayre, Physics

• Advanced Students’ Resource Selection in Nearly-Novel Situations

2003

Jeffrey Owen, Earth Science

• Design, Implementation and Assessment of an Earth Systems Science Course for Secondary Teachers