This paper uses a possible selves theoretical framework to examine whether and how adolescent girls' images of themselves as future scientists change during their transition from high school to college. Forty-one female high school graduates from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, who had enrolled in an intensive math and science program while in high school, participated in interviews focused on their perceptions of factors that influenced their career plans over time. Participants suggested that career-related internships and intensive academic programs, especially those that
Despite the many hours students spend studying science, only a few relate to these subjects in such a manner that it becomes a part of their essential worldview and advances their education in a larger sense - one in which they make a connection to the subject matter so that it becomes a source of inspiration and occupies a formative position in their life. Using the hermeneutic/phenomenological sense of lifeworld as our being in the world, we explore questions of identity in the teaching and learning of science. We suggest that by taking the notion of identity in science to include students'
Deals with the success of the Rural Girls in Science Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington State, which uses science to address local issues through long-term research projects. Source of funding for the program; Components of the research projects; Factors which contributed to the success of the program.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Angela GinorioJanice FournierKatie Frevert
We used meta-analysis to review 55 evaluations of the effects of mentoring programs on youth. Overall, findings provide evidence of only a modest or small benefit of program participation for the average youth. Program effects are enhanced significantly, however, when greater numbers of both theory-based and empirically based "best practices" are utilized and when strong relationships are formed between mentors and youth. Youth from backgrounds of environmental risk and disadvantage appear most likely to benefit from participation in mentoring programs. Outcomes for youth at-risk due to
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David DuBoisBruce HollowayJeffrey ValentineHarris Cooper
In this study, detailed observations and interviews from a high school student's semester-long cooperative (co-op) placement in a dental practice are used to exemplify Hung's theoretical approach to understanding situated learning. Using Hung's theory of epistemological appropriation in an analysis of the co-op supervisor's regulatory behaviors (scaffolding, modeling, and coaching) and of the novice's corresponding regulatory behaviors (submitting, mirroring, and constructing) helped to explain the developments in this student's learning, actions, and beliefs. In contrast to the progression
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Peter ChinKarin Steiner BellHugh MunbyNancy Hutchinson
The concern with a "digital divide" has been transformed from one defined by technological access to technological prowess--employing technologies for more empowered and generative uses such as learning and innovation. Participation in technological fluency-building activities among high school students in a community heavily involved in the technology industry was investigated in a study of 98 high school seniors enrolled in AP-level calculus. Findings indicated substantial variability in history of fluency-building experiences despite similar levels of access. More and less experienced
The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of science field trips as educational tools to connect students to classroom concepts. Experiential learning at formal and informal field trip venues increases student interest, knowledge, and motivation. The teacher's role in preplanning, implementation, and reflection often dictates the impact that the field trip will have on students. Science teacher education programs do not traditionally instruct preservice teachers how to plan or coordinate a field trip. Once teachers are empowered and learn how to develop and orchestrate a
The article discusses the significance of student's participation in a wireless, handheld field trip in the U.S. It is a program that comprises of a mix of podcasts, student multimedia creation, Web research and interviewing, designed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The innovation is vital to students' learning because it will allow them to interact with museum exhibits in a guided yet exploratory way and to increase both the amount of time students spend at exhibits and the depth of engagement with each exhibit. It revealed that in a museum setting, the technology can be used to
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Aliece WellerJohn BickarPaul McGuiness
The school field trip constitutes an important demographic market for museums. Field trips enlist the energies of teachers and students, schools and museums, and ought to be used to the best of their potential. There is evidence from the literature and from practitioners that museums often struggle to understand the needs of teachers, who make the key decisions in field trip planning and implementation. Museum personnel ponder how to design their programs to serve educational and pedagogical needs most effectively, and how to market the value of their institutions to teachers. This paper
The article provides information for the development of a partnership between traditional science classrooms and Informal Science Institutions (ISIs). Topics include popular forms of ISIs, such as zoos, libraries, and government agencies, guidance for choosing an ISI to partner with, and implementing ISI resources in the classroom. Suggestions for steps to take before, during, and after arranging a school field trip to an ISI are also provided.
Educational makerspaces (EM) and maker education (ME) have the potential to revolutionize the way we approach teaching and learning. The maker movement in education is built upon the foundation of constructionism, which is the philosophy of hands-on learning through building things. Constructionism, in turn, is the application of constructivist learning principles to a hands-on learning environment. Thus maker education is a branch of constructivist philosophy that views learning as a highly personal endeavor requiring the student, rather than the teacher, to initiate the learning process. In
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TEAM MEMBERS:
R. Steven KurtiDebby KurtiLaura Fleming
WaterBotics is the underwater robotics curriculum and program that is being disseminated to four regions through a National Science Foundation grant, in collaboration with national and state partners. Its goal is to provide hands-on experiences for middle and high school age youth to engineering design, information technology tools, and science concepts, and to increase awareness and interest in engineering and IT careers. The curriculum, which can be used either in traditional classroom settings or in after-school and summer-camp situations, is problem-based, requiring teams of students to work together to design, build, test, and redesign underwater robots, or “bots” made of LEGO® and other components. Students use the NXT and LEGO Mindstorms® software to program their robots to maneuver in the water, thereby gaining valuable experience with computer programming. Teams must complete a series of increasingly sophisticated challenges which culminates with a final challenge that integrates learning from the prior challenges.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stevens Institute of TechnologyMercedes McKayPatricia Holahan