Poster Abstracts
This page includes abstracts for all of the posters that were featured at the Symposium for STEM Education. To return to the Posters and Presenters list, click on the link in the left navigation column.
Poster Session A, 3:15 - 4:00 PM
1A: Assessing the impact of gamification on student motivation and learning for computer science principles
"The gamification of education, or using game design elements in educational contexts, offers potential to make learning more enjoyable and motivating to students. However, conclusive claims on the impact of gamification in the classroom have not moved beyond descriptive findings. Furthermore, developing effective assessment tools for measuring student engagement and motivation in “gamified” classroom environments remains limited. This paper discusses the design and evaluation of gamification used in an introductory computer science course for undergraduate students during the fall 2014 semester. The comparative case-study seeks to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the impact of gamification tools on student-motivation in an introductory computer science course. Two sections of an undergraduate course, grounded in the pilot Computer Science Principles curricula, serve as the control and variable group of the experiment. This paper presents the design research of gamifying Computer Science Principles for an undergraduate course, discusses the evaluation methods and assessment tools of this design, and anticipates that the findings of this comparative case-study may formulate recommendations towards the design of creating meaningful gamification in introductory computer science classrooms."
2A: Using reflection to improve understanding in APPM 1350 and 1360, Calculus for Engineers
We present on our preliminary efforts using reflection to improve student learning in the introductory calculus sequence in the CU Applied Math Department. Our project builds on prior work using Peer-Assisted Reflection (PAR), a technique through which students participate in scaffolded peer conferences. This technique helps students develop aptitude in the important activities of analysis, explanation, and reflection upon their own work and the work of their peers. Prior studies have shown positive outcomes for student success rates (As, Bs, and Cs in calculus), student explanation abilities, and persistence in solving difficult problems. To build on prior efforts, we are engaged in a randomized study with four graduate teaching assistants in calculus 1 and three learning assistants in calculus 2. These efforts should replicate previous findings and also to extend them by developing insights into the TA and LA professional development process.
pdf coming soon
3A: Graduate level research in high school STEM science classrooms
High School Students are having an impact on authentic scientific research. In Northglenn High School Geology classes, students are taking science to new and higher levels. In the fall of 2011, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science agreed to lend material from the “Snowmastodon” project (featured in National Geographic and Nova) to have students assist in the sorting and cataloging of 50,000 to 115,000 year old micro fossils. During the process of screening, sorting, identifying and cataloging, students determined that the flora greatly outnumbered the fauna. Looking at the problem of so many seeds, it became evident that most of the cataloged seeds would be disposed of. This problem encouraged students to generate solutions, and in the fall 2012 a proposal was written to the DMNS asking permission to attempt to germinate them. The museum agreed, and in March of 2013 the first attempts by students were made to grow the seeds. In February of 2014, a grant was successfully written by students to purchase materials used by other scientists that have successfully germinated ancient seeds. Presently none of the seeds have germinated, however if they do, they could possibly be some of the oldest seeds ever to germinate. High levels of scientific research come with disappointment, but it also comes with invaluable lessons that will profoundly impact the scientific futures of these students, and the hope that someday they might just do it.
4A: Screencasts and simulations for engineering courses
Screencasts can introduce a topic, solve an example problem, explain a concept, explain a diagram and process, demonstrate software use, review for an exam, or present a mini-lecture. This personalized method of learning empowers students by giving them control over the rate of information delivery and when they receive information. Over the last 12 months, these videos have been watched over 2.5 million times and have an overwhelmingly positive response viewers. One of the drawbacks of the screencasts is that they are unidirectional in their information delivery. Without student comments, we are unable to determine student misconceptions and issues with the materials. This became the motivation to create interactive screencasts which start by posing a conceptual question that is followed by embedded video links to video responses based on the answers chosen. If a student clicks on a wrong answer, they are led to a video explaining why their answer is wrong and then asked to choose another answer until the solution is revealed. Another effort to improve student interaction involves hands on computer simulations. We are using Mathematica based simulations to enhance student learning and better connect conceptual mastery with physical modeling of systems. These simulations allows users to manually control variables and instantly visualize the effects on the system behavior. This provides a useful resource for promoting student interaction during assignments and supporting in class questioning where students are asked to predict system outcomes.
5A: Teacher research teams: Epistemic activity and agency in a model of teacher preparation, induction, and development
Research suggests that STEM teachers who collaboratively inquire into their practice develop instructional skills that benefit student learning. It also empowers teachers as valued epistemic agents capable of inducing and sharing useful principles of sound teaching practice. We designed the Teacher Research Team (TRT) model to cultivate teachers’ shared epistemic agency by having teams of K-12 teachers work together to conduct classroom-based research. Over the 2013-2014 academic year we had seven TRTs, each with 4–7 members (including at least one pre-service, new, and veteran teacher). Teams established their own meeting schedules and agendas. We wanted to know how the TRTs pursued their research—e.g., the questions asked, the methods developed, and how activity was coordinated within the model parameters. To these ends we observed and video recorded the TRT meetings. Drawing on the tenets of activity theory, we analyzed video content logs to code the teams’ research activity. We then mapped this activity, which showed that all teams progressed through a similar process of developing questions and methods, data collection and analysis, and poster creation. A closer look at individual team meetings, however, revealed a texture to the activity that has yielded clues about the epistemic agency of the pre-service teachers and the teams’ conceptual and methodological work during meetings. In our poster we will present our recent findings and how we have revised the model for the current academic year. We will also present participant feedback from participant surveys.
6A: Shifting teacher practice to the Next Generation Science Standards through professional development
"This ongoing study examines how a large urban school district helps teachers to understand the significant instructional shifts called for in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) through their participation in a highly structured professional development (PD) course, the Next Generation Science Exemplar (NGSX). Specifically, this study seeks to understand how a cohort of 21 teachers from the elementary and secondary level make sense of the district-led implementation of the NGSX, as well as whether, and how, the structure of the PD supports them to change their instructional practice, particularly in regards to the scientific and engineering practice of developing and using models (NRC Framework, 2012). Borrowing from sociology, this study employs analytical frames used in sensemaking theory to understand how participants, when confronted with uncertainty, develop new understandings that can result in changes to their future practice (Weick, 1995). Analysis of teacher survey data, PD artifacts, and field notes of the first three of eight three-hour NGSX PD sessions held thus far indicate teachers have begun to meaningfully connect various components of the NGSX PD to their current instructional practice and other PD experiences as well as leverage the PD to meet their specific district and school site demands. This study provides potential insights for states and districts adopting the NGSS on how to systematically support science teachers in shifting their instruction to enact the NGSS and on how to use highly structured PDs to do so at scale."
pdf coming soon
7A: CU Teach Engineering - Putting the "E" in secondary school STEM education
"There is a national need for more qualified secondary science and math teachers who possess deep science and math content knowledge and an understanding of the real-world applications of these topics. With the new release of national science and engineering standards, engineering is spotlighted at the K-12 level as never before. The new General Engineering+ degree program at CU-Boulder has created a unique teaching licensure pathway through engineering, allowing engineering students the flexibility to explore teaching and engineering. CU Teach Engineering, in partnership with the CU Teach math and science licensure program, is an innovative solution to the demand for well-prepared secondary STEM teachers. The GE+ CU Teach Engineering concentration is designed to prepare engineering graduates to simultaneously earn secondary science or math teacher licensure—through physics, math, chemistry or biology tracks. This CU Teach Engineering program integrates design-focused engineering curriculum, extensive science or math content, education pedagogy courses and student teaching to create STEM educators who understand the teaching and learning of scientific, mathematical, engineering and technological literacy. The primary goal of the GE+ CU Teach Engineering initiative is to create a flexible and multi-faceted engineering practice and teaching career pathway that prepares future secondary teachers in multiple subjects. This approach puts the “E” in STEM, with teachers able to infuse engineering habits of mind and applications throughout the science and math subjects they teach. "
8A: CU's new digital visualization theater
Fiske Planetarium has transformed itself into the highest resolution digital video screen in the US: 8,000 x 8,000 pixel video on a 20m diameter dome. We invite faculty members from ALL departments to work with us to create visualizations for teaching, as well as to do research on how effective these are. Of course we can show astronomy content and fly you through the solar system, Milky Way, and galaxies, but we could fly through the Grand Canyon, show proteins or other molecules, and manipulate all in 3-D.
9A: Student-centered active learning curriculum in evolutionary biology
Evolutionary biology is often taught in a large-enrollment, lecture-style format. We have developed student-centered active learning lessons for teaching evolutionary biology. We highlight various features of the curriculum, including the learning goals, tools for measuring learning gains, and various tools for advancing student's science process skills. The purpose of the poster is to stimulate conversation on how to best accomplish educating students to become effective citizen science with a good understanding of the principles of evolution and the ability to apply the principles across diverse contexts. All materials and assessment tools are availble for download using QR codes.
pdf coming soon
10A: Bringing CU-faculty research to teachers: The Biological Sciences Initiative makes it easy!
By collaborating with CU-Boulder faculty, the Biological Sciences Initiative (BSI) has enhanced K-12 education through Professional Development Workshops that highlight CU-faculty research. Over the last 25 years, BSI has offered Professional Development Workshops for K-12 teachers that featured research from many labs representing most STEM departments (as well as other CU system researchers). These topics include stem cells, cancer, neuroscience, sound and hearing, the fossil record, protein evolution, genomics, forensics, evolution and climate change. Curriculum co-developed by BSI Outreach Scientists, CU-faculty and graduate students are hands-on, inquiry-based, and tied to the state and national science standards. Several CU-Boulder faculty members’ NSF grants have been strengthened by collaborating with BSI on the Broader Impacts component. Last year seven BSI workshops reached 121 teachers and 11, 457 students. Evaluated by Ethnography and Evaluation Research, BSI workshops have been shown to be effective in providing a connection to the university, comfort with teaching cutting-edge research content, classroom activities related to this content as well as necessary background activities. Some activities include working with real CU-researcher datasets that allow teachers to incorporate data analysis as required by the Next Generation Science Standards. BSI’s Professional Development Workshops for teachers offer a way to transform K-12 STEM education while meeting broader impacts and outreach goals of communicating CU-faculty research to the community.
11A: Student opportunities through STEM partnerships
Although the idea of Stem is not new, the concept of STEM partnerships is. Many companies and institutions of higher education are now partnering up with K-12 schools offering students opportunities in researching cutting edge ideas and also in job assistance. Sometimes locating and exploiting these “partnerships” can be frustrating and eluding. However many partnerships can be found that have developed programs that cater to STEM needs. Addressing the need of school students, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science offers the “Teen Science Scholars” program to juniors and seniors in high school. This program offers students of varied backgrounds the opportunity to work with and perform research with scientist at the museum. This partnership has allowed students to be involved with cutting edge ideas and groundbreaking research. The outcome of this particular project was to allow the student to examine a fossil assemblage from Madagascar, and then develop a possible paleoenvironment. When the assemblage arrived at the DMNS, it allowed this student to be one of the first researchers to see and catalog any of the specimens. The requirements placed on the students/scholars was to develop a scientific presentation and present out findings in a scientific setting. Opportunities abound in both the private and public sector with all of them offering different opportunities for the student, the school and the institution. These partnerships can have profound impacts on the students, with many of these like the Teen Science Scholar program being a life changing events.
pdf coming soon
12A: North Fork Valley Air Monitoring Project
This project explores the application of next-generation air quality monitoring systems in a citizen science context. This collaboration includes researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, the Western Slope Conservation Center (Paonia CO), and several local high schools in Delta County, CO. The North Fork Valley is a small community in rural Colorado with a history of engagement in citizen science water quality monitoring, but currently the community lacks air quality data. Project activities include collecting baseline data through the deployment of stationary monitors throughout the valley (from October 2013 through present and continuing), and using mobile monitors to engage local students in project-based learning. During the pilot year of the project, we worked with 3 high school classes and assisted students in conducting their own research projects utilizing the monitors. The monitors, which can detect multiple constituents (CO2, O3, NOx), are low-cost (< $1,000 ea.) and versatile. Technology such as this has the potential to increase the spatial resolution of measurements and the accessibility of monitoring for interested communities. We intend to leave the community with a picture of their current air quality, and hope to develop a model for air quality monitoring, education, and outreach that will be made available to other communities.
pdf coming soon
13A: Enhancing the pedagogy of STEM through music and the arts
"OUR LABORATORY Boulder Laptop Orchestra [BLORK] The emergence of the laptop orchestra in the last several years has given composers and improvisers innovative tools for creating novel musical experiences. BLOrk integrates technology with performers in an ensemble setting providing live interaction between the two. The ensemble builds on the research of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) and the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk). BLOrk is the ensemble-in-residence at Colorado University’s Center for Music, Art, and Performance. Using software such as Supercollider, Max MSP, Processing, and others, the idea of a musical performance or composition is extended to include concepts in math and science. BLOrk is the “ensemble-in-residence” in the Atlas Center for Media, Arts, and Performance. Researchers: John Gunther, PhD. Associate Professor College of Music John Drumheller, DMA, Instructor and Director of Music Technology RESEARCH INITIATIVES 1. Visual and sonic representation of scientific data We will be inviting anyone in the science community to share their research with us for possible collaboration…. “WE WANT YOUR DATA” 3. The Science of Creativity and the commonalties that the creative process shares across both the arts and the sciences. How can scientists and artists learn from eachother?"
14A: Statewide STEM outreach - Fossils in the Classroom
"Since its inception in 2011, the CU Museum's Fossils in the Classroom project has grown from 25 kits in 6 school districts to over 165 kits in more than 20 school districts. Directly addressing the state-wide need for elementary level teaching resources on fossils (Colorado Academic Standards: Science Standard 2. Life Science 2 for fourth grade) and developed by faculty and staff from the museum, the Fossils in the Classroom kits are in use district-wide and in individual schools, both public and private. The Fossil project model with its network of elementary school educators was leveraged to expand to another discipline – archaeology – with the development of a museum exhibition featuring Dr. Stephen Lekson’s research in the Southwest. Currently, 19 Colorado Archaeology in the Classroom kits are in use in five school districts around the state. This past year, the museum partnered with the Norlin Library and the Colorado Public Library system on a Library Services and Technology Act grant: “Educational Outreach in 3D: Bringing Natural History Collections to Colorado’s Schools and Libraries.” Both the fossil and archaeology kits are featured as programmatic materials, along with a 3D digital collection of fossils/artifacts and 3D printed replicas, to circulate through the Colorado State Library system. With support from the CU-Boulder Office of Outreach and Engagement, the Outreach Committee, and the museum, the Fossils in the Classroom project and the Colorado Archaeology project have brought needed STEM resources to schools and libraries across the state."
15A: Learning progressions as tools for classroom assessment practice
Research on learning progressions in science has influenced much of the work in science education over the last decade, including curriculum development and assessment design. In addition, some researchers have argued that as representations of how student understanding develops in a domain, learning progressions may be useful tools for teachers to support classroom assessment practices. These representations could help teachers understand how core ideas and practices in science are related, as well as the common everyday ideas students bring to the classroom, and better prepare them to elicit and respond to student ideas during instruction. This poster shares preliminary findings of a four-year, NSF-funded project in which we have engaged three departments of high school biology teachers in long-term, on-site professional development intended to support their design of classroom assessments linked to a learning progression for natural selection, as well as their enactment of these assessments in 10th grade biology courses. We articulate our findings in three categories: classroom assessment design, teacher classroom assessment practice, and student learning. We have found that teachers have used the learning progression to re-sequence their instructional units and to coordinate classroom assessment design. We have also observed changes in the amount of time teachers have given to classroom assessment and variation in the strategies teachers use to enact them. Finally, we have found that within-year effect sizes have increased in all three schools.
pdf coming soon
16A: STEM Careers Infograph project: An overview
STEM education has been a primary focus in the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD), in Longmont Colorado; however, it can become a challenge for teachers to explore different STEM career opportunities with their students because of their non-expertise or the student’s wide range of interests. As a solution, we created the “Infographs: STEM Careers” project. This project allowed for students to explore their own STEM interests, while simultaneously learning data visualization, digital literacy, and research skills. We piloted the project in the spring of 2014, with six 8th grade science classes, which estimated about 180 students. The project was incredibly successful, we received positive reactions from a majority of the students and in most cases, an extreme level of interest in doing similar projects in the future. We will be repeating this project in the spring of 2015, with a few adaptations and an formal evaluation scheme.
17A: Communicating Water Science: A Multifaceted approach to reach underserved audience in Colorado
"The CU Museum of Natural History brought hands-on science opportunities to a large and diverse audience around Boulder Valley, and across the State of Colorado (especially in rural communities) regarding the topic of water, one of the most critical environmental issues of our time. We introduced family audiences to the diversity of organisms that inhabit water, a topic that initial evaluation indicated the general public is not informed about. Our focus was on fresh waters of Colorado. The information in a diverse set of programs discussed issues of water quality and availability in Colorado. The project started with several established, local outreach events such as the Boulder Farmers’ Market and Festivals along the Front Range, and built to a statewide rural outreach program, starting in the summer of 2013 and running through summer 2014. Collaborative community Family Days at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History dedicated to water-themed programs were presented in the fall and spring. In addition to engaging with hands-on art and science activities developed to communicate scientific research, visitors had the opportunity to listen to and speak with scientists. Finally, the project culminated in the summer of 2014, with the most successful activities and exhibit components from the first three phases of our work going out into rural communities. We focused our efforts on communities with greater than 20% Latino residents and more than 15% of children in poverty. "
pdf coming soon
18A: Space science teacher training at LASP
The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics conducts week-long teacher trainings for middle and high school science teachers on specific space science topics. This intensive approach helps teachers gain confidence teaching space science, teases out misconceptions, builds teacher networks, and creates a community of learners. This poster will focus on the Space Science Teachers' Summit and MAVEN Educator Ambassadors program.
pdf coming soon
19A: Placement is key!
"We have known for many years that proper math placement is critical for student success in a STEM major. Students who take a math class for which they are not prepared, regardless of the teaching method and enhancements, rarely do well. This poster will present data that clearly indicates the importance of a good placement strategy. Performance of students in precalculus who move to calculus 1 in the subsequent semester will be analyzed in terms of their assessment scores and other placement measures. Similar analyses will be done for students who start in calculus 1 or in calculus 2. While these results are not particularly new, they serve as a clear reminder of the importance of placement in student success and of the evolution of the math placement process on the Boulder campus. "
pdf coming soon
20A: Expanding perception through flow visualization
The goal of most students is to gain knowledge that they can use outside of an academic setting, and yet there are few ways to measure progress toward this goal. One concept developed by education researchers (Pugh, 2011) is expansion of perception, when a student starts noticing concepts from class spontaneously outside of required coursework. Students in Flow Visualization (MCEN 4151) have reported this expansion of perception in exit surveys and interviews. Here, we report progress in our investigation of how this particular course encourages expansion of perception, our development of new methods for measuring the expansion of perception in individuals as related to fluid dynamics concepts, and how these methods might be adapted for other topic domains.
21A: Peer coaches change the way students interact in clicker discussions
We have been investigating how students interact during discussions of clicker questions by transcribing and coding audio recordings of these interactions (see also Wise et al. abstract). Here we describe the behavior of peer coaches (undergraduate learning assistants, LAs) when interacting with students, and investigate their potential impact on students’ use of reasoning and questioning behavior. Student volunteers were from one section of an introductory molecular biology class. Volunteers were representative of the rest of the class and not different from each other in demographic measures (gender and year in school), although their GPAs were higher than the class average. Thirty-five transcripts of discussions among three groups of students included LA participation; an additional 30 transcripts from the same groups did not include an LA. We found no significant difference in the distribution of exchange of quality reasoning achieved by students in discussions with and without LA participation. However, students used significantly more questions requesting feedback when an LA was present. LAs used four behaviors in interacting with students: they prompted simple sharing of votes, asked questions to elicit reasoning, provided background, and provided reasoning. When LAs provided their own reasoning to students, students rarely made additional reasoning statements. We will discuss the implications of these findings for training peer coaches, and for improving student discussion and learning in the classroom.
pdf coming soon
22A: The pre-class-learning experience: How does it influence the student perception of flipped learning?
Even through there is evidence that student engagement in class is beneficial, students are not necessarily embracing flipped learning. In fact, a lot of students are accustomed to the traditional in-class lecture format followed by weekly homework assignments and see any deviation from this scheme as a potential threat to their grades. Our work is trying to answer the question: Is there any correlation between the format of the pre-class-learning experience and the student perception of flipped learning. We look at three formats: Textbook reading, screencasts by the class instructor and videos from the web recorded by another instructor.
pdf coming soon
23A: Validation studies of a conceptual assessment tool in E&M II (CURrENT)
As part of an ongoing project to investigate student learning in upper-division electrodynamics (E&M II), the PER research group at CU Boulder has developed a tool to assess student conceptual understanding (the CURrENT: Colorado UppeR-division ElectrodyNamics Test). This instrument is motivated in part by our faculty-consensus learning goals and can serve to measure the effectiveness of transformed pedagogy. In this poster, we present measures of the validity and reliability of the instrument and scoring rubric. These include expert validation and student interviews, inter-rater reliability measures, and classical test statistics. This work is supported by the University of Colorado and NSF-CCLI grant #1023208.
pdf coming soon
24A: Actor-networks of engineering sophomore year
Sophomore year for engineering undergraduates is competitive, high-stakes, and where many students choose to leave engineering for alternate majors. Through the lens of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this poster illustrates the existence and significance of student actor-networks in engineering sophomore year as observed ethnographically. Actor-networks are heterogeneous assemblages of human and non-human elements connected through interactions and struggles. A novel social theory from Science and Technology Studies, ANT conceptualizes learning as changes in the organization of (student) actors and their networks as they move through time and space. These actor-networks shift dynamically during a semester, with some network connections becoming strong and persistent while others diminish or disappear. By following the journeys of three exemplary sophomore students as they develop various network connections with peers, instructors, advisors, textbooks, solutions manuals, lectures, exams, and more, the implications and consequences arising from different network arrangements become evident. The network metaphor offered by ANT provides a compelling visualization for the myriad interactions that affect student learning and socialization during the sophomore year, particularly in contrast with the ‘pipeline’ imagery that has typified past scholarship in engineering education. This poster provides background on ANT studies in education, illustrates student actor-networks, and describes the implications of our ANT analysis of engineering sophomore year.
pdf coming soon
25A: Student-student questioning in biology clicker discussions
"We characterized student-student questioning during clicker discussions, and investigated whether instructional guidance to use reasoning influenced such questioning. A total of 103 discussions of 11 clicker questions were transcribed. We chose to track four types of questions: requests for information, direct and indirect requests for reasoning, and requests for feedback. We placed discussions in one of four categories: those lacking questions, those only featuring requests for information, those featuring one request for reasoning or feedback, and those featuring more than one kind of request for reasoning or feedback. Overall, students most frequently made requests for information, followed by requests for feedback. In the treatment section (where instructors guided students to articulate reasoning), students were more likely to request feedback and indirectly request reasoning. These discussions were also more likely to feature multiple kinds of reasoning and feedback questions, compared to the baseline section (no reasoning guidance). In addition, we found that when students asked more than one type of reasoning or feedback question in their discussion, they spent more time overall in discussion. These findings suggest that both student-student questioning and instructional guidance to articulate reasoning impact features of discussion. We will suggest additional ways to encourage student-student questioning in order to stimulate meaningful discussion of active learning exercises. "
Poster Session B, 4:15 - 5:00 PM
1B: Is it possible to improve student performance in identifying the appropriate study design and statistical test in a physiology lab?
IPHY 3435 is an upper division, physiology lab designed to help students apply lecture knowledge in performing and designing experiments in guided and inquiry labs. In transitioning from an expository (cookbook) lab style, in 2014 we began having students identify the appropriate study design and statistical test for experiments. After surveying students at the end of the spring semester, we observed there was a disconnect. While students recognized the overall purpose of the teaching approach, they failed to appreciate why statistics was included. We wanted to determine whether this disconnect was because of inadequate background statistics knowledge, or too much repetition of statistical concepts that students knew well. In summer 2014, we redesigned our pre/post-test to include questions on study design and statistics to determine students’ background knowledge and entering competency. In addition, we began providing students with two dichotomous keys we developed, one for identifying study designs and another for statistical tests, to act as a scaffolding tool to facilitate learning of these concepts. We found that student pretest performance on basic statistic and study design questions was quite low despite students’ having already taken a college-level statistics course. By the end of the course, though, we observed significant learning gains. In addition, 72% of students (n=135) reported the dichotomous keys to be greatly helpful. This semester, we plan to extend our study by assessing students’ confidence levels in applying these concepts to their own experiments.
3B: Sustainable diffusion of research-based instructional strategies: a rich case study of SCALE-UP
We report on a project to better understand educational transformation by studying the influence of SCALE-UP. SCALE-UP is a pedagogy characterized by integrated lab/lecture, redesigned classrooms and a focus on student centered and interactive instruction that has been adopted across many fields and institution types. Data collected to date includes a survey to create a census of adopters, a social network analysis and interviews with adopters.
pdf coming soon
4B: Challenges, rewards, and improved learning outcomes associated with interdisciplinary collaboration on course design: CLUE & Biofundamentals
"Given the evolving goals of, and constraints on, a University education we face serious challenges in designing and delivering effective and engaging courses and coherent curricula for students. This is a particularly critical issue in the life sciences, based as they are on physicochemical foundations, evolutionary mechanisms, and the complex behaviors of interacting systems. In designing an effective curriculum, we need to make realistic decisions as to which materials (facts and concepts) and skills (analytic and synthetic) students’ need to master and how to help them master them. For example, biology degree programs often require students to take non-biology courses (math, physics, chemistry). This generates a client-provider dynamic that is rarely explicitly addressed. If such courses are perceived to be irrelevant or to serve primarily as “weed-out” courses [1], they can pose unnecessary obstacles to student success. We describe one approach, involving a close collaboration between a chemists and a molecular biologist, together with a design cycle strategy that has proven useful in developing CLUE (Chemistry, Life, the Universe, and Everything), a demonstrably more effective approach to general chemistry [2] and our on-going efforts to produce and evaluate the effectiveness of a revised introductory molecular biology course (Biofundamentals) using a similar model. We also describe the integral role of beSocratic, an interactive graphical input-based formative assessments system [3] in both courses. This work was in part by grants from the NSF. "
pdf coming soon
5B: CU Engineering and Imagine!: Designing assistive technology collaboration where it counts
"CU Engineering and Imagine!: Designing Assistive Technology Collaboration Where It Counts For the last 20 years University of Colorado students in Professor Piket-May’s General First-Year Engineering Design class have worked on adaptive equipment projects for individuals in the community with special needs. For the past 4 years we have worked with Imagine! Technology Architect Alex Andrews designing projects for clients served by Imagine!. This collaboration has been beneficial for everyone involved: the students, Imagine!, and the individuals on the receiving end of the projects. Professor Piket-May will discuss the how and the why of this collaboration, share some success stories, and talk about what’s next. Students will be present to show some of the projects and talk about their experience with the class."
6B: Evaluating synchronized video feedback in preservice teacher education: A pilot study
"The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate a novel technology-based approach to mentoring preservice teachers. This approach, referred to as Synchronized Video Feedback (SVF), consists of a video recording of a lesson taught by a pre-service teacher overlaid with assessment feedback from a course instructor in the form of an audio track and graphical annotations. The study used a quasi-experimental design to test the effect of the SVF procedure on preservice teacher effectiveness. Using an undergraduate teaching methods course, 10 participants were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Following each of three peer-teaching episodes over the course of one semester, the treatment group received feedback using SVF while the control group received only written feedback. The teaching episodes were scored using a validated scale by trained external evaluators who were blind to the experimental group assignment. The treatment group scored lower than the control group on the first peer-teaching episode, but outperformed the control group on episodes 2 and 3 following the treatment period. These differences, however, were not statistically significant when examined using a Kruskal-Wallis test to examine mean ranks of gain scores between groups, χ2 (1) = 2.455, p = .117. These results can be interpreted to indicate that the SVF approach can perform at least equivalently with traditional written feedback at the pilot stage, and follow-up study with a larger sample is needed. "
7B: Learning Assistant Alliance: Transforming education at home and abroad
The Colorado Learning Assistant (LA) program has now been emulated by over 60 universities world wide. Evidence of student and LA learning gains, teacher recruitment, and sustainability of the program at CU-Boulder may be driving emulation of the model by other universities. In response, we have launched a new organization, the Learning Assistant Alliance, which is working to coordinate, facilitate, and research the growth of LA programs around the world. This poster will provide a current snapshot of the Alliance’s current resources for faculty, current projects, and future plans. We will also share new CU-Boulder data from recent studies of retention and graduation rates, which is of particular interest here at CU-Boulder and beyond.
9B: Capacity for customization: Algebra teachers, curriculum design, and the Common Core
"Adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) has created a need for teachers and school districts to realign their curricula to the new standards. While some districts may purchase new, better-aligned materials, many districts will make adaptations to current materials. These adaptations should be seen as both necessary and expected, and attention should shift away from the fidelity of implementation and towards supporting productive adaptations to curricula. This project is an example of design-based implementation research, where researchers from CU-Boulder and UCAR partnered with algebra teachers and district curriculum leaders to support teachers’ selection and use of high-quality mathematical tasks. Over two years, 15 teachers and 5 leaders were directly involved from the district. Our participatory design process yielded tools for task analysis that considered qualities of CCSSM alignment, cognitive demand, language, and technology. We identified a set of high-quality tasks that filled gaps in the existing curriculum, both with respect to content and opportunities to engage in mathematical practices. Data from year one of the project indicate two noteworthy results. Reliability data suggest improved rubrics may be needed. On average, raters agreed on rubric levels or categories 50 to 70 percent of the time. Classroom observations using the Instructional Quality Assessment suggested that teachers maintained the cognitive demand associated with highly-rated tasks. Prior research indicated this was not to be expected and demands further analysis."
10B: ASSETT's Teaching and Learning Consultants support model
"Arts & Sciences Support of Education Through Technology (ASSETT) is driven by teaching and learning needs and activities in the College of Arts & Sciences (the college). Guided by a pedagogy-centered perspective, ASSETT works to develop and maintain reliable, dedicated technology resources to support and advance the quality of teaching and learning in the college. Within ASSETT, the Teaching and Learning Consultants (TLCs) are experienced educators who apply current research and their experience in areas of teaching, instructional design, learning theories and educational technologies to improve teaching practices and strengthen student learning. They play a key role in building and supporting activities that cultivate an engaged teaching and learning community within the college. The TLCs mission strives to support current teaching and learning activities, while thinking creatively to match innovative pedagogical approaches with the affordances of emerging technologies. This poster will detail the TLCs faculty support and development model by highlighting initiatives and projects that facilitate new uses of technology to advance teaching and learning in the college. These initiatives include instructional design, development awards, an academic website to facilitate faculty and student communication, seminars and workshops developed to support students and faculty. In this exhibit, the TLCs hope to engage in meaningful discussions about how these programs can support STEM disciplines’ teaching and learning goals as well as learn about additional types of support needed."
11B: Making computer science fun and accessible for the visually impaired: An outreach partnership with the Colorado Center for the Blind to develop STEM curriculum
"STEM education is often inaccessible for students with visual impairment due to the visual nature of the curricular materials and tools, especially in computer science. Emerging “maker” technologies, such 3D printers and microcontrollers, provide an opportunity to increase hands-on accessibility in technology education for the visually impaired. To explore this area, we have developed an outreach partnership with the Colorado Center for the Blind (CCB) to create STEM curriculum. This summer, we developed a pilot circuits workshop for the CCB’s summer youth program. We ran 3 workshops, each with 8-15 visually impaired 6th-12th grade students. We used MakeyMakeys, an educational circuit board that uses easy-to-feel connections that students could manipulate with confidence. The MakeyMakey also allows a circuit to be completed through a variety of fun tangible objects (e.g. playdough, bananas, other people). Through guided and open exploration, we used the MakeyMakey to scaffold activities and discussions on circuit basics, conductive/insulating materials, and the relationship between circuits and programs. After the workshops, we received positive feedback that participants left with more confidence in interacting with computers. By student request, we created a list of accessible computer science and math tutorials. Due to the popularity of our workshop, we were invited back to give a further series of STEM workshops. We will be expanding our partnership with the CCB throughout the year to develop further curriculum oriented towards visually impaired students."
pdf coming soon
12B: ECSITE- Engaging Computer Science in Traditional Education
"Computing, computational thinking, and computer science have become essential to many fields, but this fact has not been communicated clearly to the public. In particular, K-12 students and teachers are largely unaware of the current ubiquity of computing and the revolution it has on the different areas of science. There are two ways this is apparent - the dramatic decline in the number of students directly entering computing related majors, and the only limited integration of computing into existing curricula. The ECSITE, Engaging Computer Science in Traditional Education, is a National Science Foundation GK12 program at the University of Colorado, Boulder designed to bring greater understanding of Computer Science and Computational Thinking to students in K-12 schools. Through direct contact between graduate students and GK-12 students and teachers, the ECSITE project aims to accomplish its short and long term goals: to train future researchers to communicate effectively with the public; to inform and excite K-12 students about the value of computing in fields of research; to prepare teachers to communicate connections in computing and their fields; to teach computational thinking to K-12 students, to develop materials that can be used to replicate our program in other settings; to increase enrollment in Computer Science, particularly amount women and minorities; and to break the stereotypical view of the computational profession. "
pdf coming soon
13B: Impacts of informal STEM teaching experiences on CU Boulder undergraduate and graduate STEM students
CU Science Discovery heightens K-12 students’ interests in STEM through extensive informal STEM programming, including after-school classes and summer camps. At the heart of these programs are CU STEM graduate and undergraduate students who develop hands-on experiences based on their field of study, lead or assist in classes and camps for K-12 students, and serve as STEM role models. In summer 2014, 33 Instructors (representing 20 departments) and 23 undergraduate Teaching Assistants (representing 16 departments) taught in Science Discovery’s summer camps. While university students enrich the program with their STEM expertise, they also self-report benefits from their experience, including improved teaching and communication skills, increased interest in teaching K-12 students, and a heightened appreciation for K-12 educators. In 2014, the most common goals among CU students for working in Science Discovery’s summer camp program were to gain experience working with K-12 students, explore science education/outreach as a career, and improve science communication skills. Post-summer, the most frequently cited benefits included improved communication skills and increased awareness of the needs of different ages of learners. 93% of Instructors and TA’s reported that they were more effective in communicating about science and more comfortable guiding K-12 students in inquiry-based activities after their summer experience; 90% of participants reported that they are interested in doing additional work in K-12 STEM education/outreach in the future.
pdf coming soon
14B: Modular-Muse: Abstracted, accessible musical building blocks
"Modular-Muse is a set of hardware and software abstractions for building musical interactions. It is a learning tool for exploring interaction design, electronics and programming. Modular-Muse is designed to abstract complexities without hiding them enabling anyone to build interfaces and explore different sensors. The Modular-Muse hardware uses a single cable interface on exposed printed circuit boards that encourage exploring the low level components. Similarly the software library makes it easy to create custom sound designs in an intuitive graphical programming environment. The library is built from lower level blocks which can be readily explored or modified. In a recent workshop, children ages 12 and 13 with no previous programming or hardware experience were able to create personalized instruments they built and programmed. Future studies are planned in a local middle school to understand how these tools can be used to enable computational thinking, and empower children to become creators of technology rather than just consumers. Robotic kits and programs have proven successful for engaging children. Modular-Muse offers a similar approach but in the context of music which we conjecture will appeal to a new demographic of students than other available toolkits. "
pdf coming soon
15B: Connective massive open online courses for K-12 teacher professional development in New Mexico Native American Pueblo schools
In Native American communities, storytelling, imagery, art, dancing, and chanting are key learning elements used to preserve culture and educate Native American children. Currently practiced K-16 curricular methods employ a procedural learning style, which does not readily accommodate Native American collaborative learning styles. This discontinuity between the way teachers teach and the way students learn misses the opportunity to employ communication methods and pedagogies that are culturally relevant. To help mediate this gap, we are developing a teacher training project that is intended to increase mathematics mastery and effective instruction among elementary and high school teachers in Pueblo schools in New Mexico. This project builds upon prior work that trained K-12 teachers to use investigative teaching, which in turn had a significant positive impact on the math and science proficiency of Native American and Hispanic students. The current project seeks to use Connectivist Massive Open Online Course (cMOOC) technology to capture and scale this professional development mathematics content, collaborative pedagogy, and community building among teachers in order to integrate Native American learning processes. The overall objective is to enable Pueblo teachers to more effectively teach STEM subject matter to increase Native American representation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and careers.
pdf coming soon
16B: New directions for PhET Interactive Simulations in STEM education
The PhET Interactive Simulations Project (http://phet.colorado.edu/) has developed 130 free online interactive simulations for teaching and learning in science and mathematics from elementary school through college. The simulations are interactive, game-like environments in which students learn through exploration and experimentation. Using extensive research and student interviews, the PhET team of scientists, developers and educators design simulations to emphasize the connections between real life phenomena and the underlying science and mathematics, make the invisible visible (e.g., electrons, atoms, field vectors), and utilize the visual models and representations that experts use to aid their thinking. Here we present the scope and breadth of PhET simulation use in various educational environments, emphasizing the key design elements that foster student engagement and learning. We additionally highlight the newest directions for the PhET project, including next-generation cross-platform simulations and alignment of our simulations with next generation science standards and common core state standards in math.
17B: Facilitating productive consensus discussion: Analyzing classroom structures and teacher moves
This study investigates the nature of student participation in whole-class discussions with a focus on productive dialogue and equity of voice. The Physics and Everyday Thinking – High School (PET-HS) curriculum was developed to model scientific induction and relies heavily on collaborative discussions to facilitate student sense-making and consensus on the learning targets of the course. Videos of three sections of a high school physics class using the PET-HS curriculum were analyzed to determine the curricular structures, norms, and teacher and student moves that mediated productive dialogue, including maximizing the number of students that engage in these discussions. A novel methodology for analyzing discussions is presented along with claims about what classroom structures, norms, and teacher facilitation led to increased student engagement and equity of voice.
18B: Putting the "E" in STEM through formal and informal K-12 engineering education
"CU-Boulder’s College of Engineering’s TEAMS Program provides K-12 students with hands-on exposure and experiences aimed at helping them begin to imagine an engineering future. By gaining an understanding of the pervasiveness of engineering in their everyday world, youngsters develop an awareness and appreciation that engineering is about creating things for the benefit of humanity. The TEAMS Program expands the number of Colorado students—especially those who are first-generation college bound or from low-income families—who pursue STEM studies, with a focus on engineering. St. Vrain’s close partnership with CU-Boulder’s engineering college was pivotal in its receipt of a Department of Education Race to the Top grant—with only16 awarded nationally, theirs the only one in Colorado. The RTTT grant supports STEM education in Skyline High School’s feeder elementary and middle schools to better prepare students for college. With CU-Boulder’s NSF-funded TEAMS Program, we collectively provide hands-on STEM education to hundreds of Longmont youth daily. Supplementing the TEAM Program is the TeachEngineering digital library, a free online resource supporting teachers to bring engineering into their K-12 classrooms through engineering lessons and hands-on activities aligned to science, mathematics and technological educational standards. Accessed by over 1.6M unique users in the past year, TeachEngineering has become a key resource to the broad national STEM movement and particularly the growing K-12 engineering community."
pdf coming soon
19B: Investigating the Impact of Spatial Reasoning Training on Skill Development, Retention, and the Gender Gap in Geology
"Spatial reasoning is a key skill for student success in STEM disciplines in general and for students in geosciences in particular. Reading a topographic map, recognizing crystal lattices in minerals, and understanding faulting in rock outcrops are just a few examples of spatially demanding geoscience tasks. However, spatial reasoning is neither explicitly trained, nor evenly distributed, among students. This uneven playing field allows some students to perform geoscience tasks easily while others struggle despite their efforts and poses a challenge to instructors. A lack of spatial reasoning skills has been shown to be a barrier to success in the geosciences, and for STEM disciplines in general. Addressing spatial abilities early in the college experience might therefore be effective in retaining students in STEM disciplines. Our work will result in a toolkit for testing and training undergraduate student spatial reasoning skills and will provide insight into successful interventions for improving students’ spatial skills. In the Fall 2014 semester we are studying the distribution of spatial abilities in undergraduate Geology students from 1 introductory and 1 upper level course. A treatment group is receiving weekly training in spatial thinking while a control group only participates in a pre- and a posttest. In this presentation we will share initial data of the distribution of spatial abilities in undergraduate students enrolled in geology courses, present the study design and outline the schedule of trainings modules for the treatment groups. "
pdf coming soon
20B: Changing student attitudes in science through Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)
Science education research has shown a correlation between guided inquiry learning approaches and improved content understanding and critical thinking. Students’ sense of control in the learning process appears to be a substantial factor affecting student engagement in guided inquiry. This study investigates the effects of model and evidence-based inquiry learning on student understanding of essential chemistry and biology concepts. A traditional instructional approach was applied for 2-3 weeks to 4 biology classes and 6 chemistry classrooms during the spring semester of 2014 in which inquiry based learning is the norm. The instructional methodology was changed by each of the three teachers for their associated classes’ treatment to a more traditional based method of teaching (for 1 class section only) in which the teacher is the expert. The analysis of content assessments indicated that there were no statistically significant differences regarding student performance on content assessments when comparing the POGIL (process oriented guided inquiry learning) vs. the traditional treatment. Results of a student attitudes survey, given both in the fall and the spring, revealed that students preferred learning science in an environment which promotes cooperative learning and a constructivist model. The survey also revealed that chemistry and biology students hold the belief that everyone is capable of learning science. Moreover, the survey showed that chemistry students in particular believe discussions with peers promote greater conceptual understanding.
pdf coming soon
21B: Studying expert practices to create learning goals for upper- division electronics labs
Electronic laboratory courses are a common component of many upper-division lab curricula, but are often not given adequate attention compared to the Advanced Lab. We began a project to develop goals, curricular materials and structure, and assessments to transform the junior-level course at the University of Colorado to prepare students to more easily transition into a research lab. A unique component of this work was to use interviews with a large population of graduate students working in experimental research labs to help develop content and skill goals for our electronics course.
22B: Understanding how industry values learning through service: Conversations with engineering employers
"Learning Through Service (LTS), with hands-on projects designed to benefit less fortunate communities, is an effective way to achieve ABET outcomes such as the development of an ethical code and an understanding of the societal impacts of engineering. An increasing number of engineering graduates have LTS experiences through service-learning (S-L) or extracurricular activities such as Engineers Without Borders (EWB) or outreach to elementary schools. Most of these graduates continue into engineering industry, and the ways in which employers value LTS experiences is not well understood along with many other subjects contributing to the education-industry knowledge gap. To explore the ways engineering employers value LTS activities, eight (8) hour-long semi-structured interviews were conducted with engineers who make hiring decisions within multinational companies in the civil, environmental, mechanical, and aerospace fields. In addition, the executive directors of two engineering-centered nonprofit organizations were interviewed for their perspective about what employers value most in potential employees with LTS experience. The employers interviewed described important professional skills these graduates exemplified in their hiring interviews. Beyond job skills, though, many also discussed LTS experience as a powerful way to demonstrate personal character."
23B: Characterizing student engagement in a Learning Assistant supported biology course: The classroom as a social network
Large enrollment undergraduate science courses often suffer from little opportunity for student engagement. Efforts to transform these courses can target this problem by encouraging student discourse through the use of active learning strategies. In the context of such and effort, we pose the question: How can conceptualizing the classroom as a social network help in characterizing student engagement? We developed a theoretically grounded data collection and analysis effort to investigate this question in a Learning Assistant (LA) supported General Biology II course of 165 students. Underlying our approach are the claims that learning occurs through participation, and that interaction between individuals is the central element of this participation in a classroom community. These interactions involve the exchange of information, ideas, and dialog about that which binds the classroom community (e.g., Biology). Engaging in these specific interactions is put forth as an operational definition of one aspect of “interactive engagement” (IE). Our hypotheses are that students who play a more active role in the classroom network will also exhibit higher achievement, and that Learning Assistants will be central figures in the network. Using social network analysis, we test these hypotheses and in doing so rely on both cognitive and socio-cognitive measures.
24B: Coupled multiple-response vs. free-response formats in upper- division conceptual assessment
Free-response conceptual assessments, like the Colorado Upper-division Electrostatics Diagnostic (CUE), provide rich, fine-grained information about students' reasoning. However, because of the difficulties inherent in scoring these assessments, the majority of the large-scale conceptual assessments in physics are multiple-choice. To increase the scalability and usability of the CUE, we set out to create a new version of the assessment that preserves the insights afforded by a free-response format while exploiting the logistical advantages of a multiple-choice assessment. We used our extensive database of responses to the free-response CUE to construct distractors for a new version where students can select multiple responses and receive partial credit based on the accuracy and consistency of their selections. Here, we offer examples of the questions and scoring of this new coupled multiple-response CUE. We also present a direct comparison of test statistics for both versions and potential insights into student reasoning from the new version.
pdf coming soon