In spite of the large overlap in the goals of CTE and STEM education, there is little evidence of the role(s) CTE delivery systems, programs, curricula, or pedagogical strategies can play in advancing STEM education. Because of their responsibilities, especially for organizational and instructional leadership, school district CTE directors could illuminate our understanding of linkages between CTE and STEM education. The purpose of this study was to analyze the experiences of school district CTE directors to better understand these linkages. The researcher used a qualitative research design to gain understanding of the local CTE directors' experiences. Data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 13 participants. The data were analyzed using a continuous process of coding, recoding, memo-writing and making comparisons across the transcripts. Among the results of the study were that definitions of STEM education were varied, but all had aspects of an integrated approach and using real world applications. The data revealed a number of contributions made by CTE to assist in STEM education implementation. They include context for learning, multiple pathways; platform for program delivery, and administrative leadership and framework. It was also found that strategies for increasing the visibility of CTE's contributions in the advancement of STEM education could include marketing CTE, demonstrating the value of CTE, enhancing curriculum and instruction, and rebranding CTE. Conclusions made in the study include, but not limited to, the fact that there are tremendous reciprocal benefits that CTE and STEM education can provide for one another, given there are strong, mutual, and intended linkage of the two; and that establishing a state-level STEM education coordinator position would result in providing much needed leadership at the local and state levels. Recommendations for practice that were made in the study include, but are not limited to, continuing to establish Virginia Governor's Academies throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia by aligning STEM education with CTE and continuing to support, at the highest level, intentional and mutual collaborative initiatives between STEM education and CTE. A recommendation for future research includes conducting a longitudinal study on the impact that Virginia Governor's Academies are having on student morale, growth, learning, and future endeavor. / Ph. D.

Advocates assert that experiential/applicational learning facilitates deep understanding but there is a dearth of empirical research testing the effectiveness of experiential learning in university geology courses. Domack (1999) and Moecher (2004) document applicational assignments within geology courses. These evaluations, however, are based solely on instructor opinion and informal student comments. To evaluate the effectiveness of experiential assignments this study utilizes empirical data from control and test groups in each of two semesters of Geology 100, a general education course on dinosaurs. Control groups completed traditional research papers which were replaced by experiential assignments in the test groups. The first semester groups exhibited no statistical difference in exam scores. Following a redesign of the experiential assignment for the second semester, the test group scored 4.8% better on average on exams than the control group. Post-exam questionnaires revealed that the test groups in both semesters of the study felt the experiential assignments provided significant exam preparation, an opinion not shared by the control groups' experience with term papers.

Traditional teaching practices in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses have failed to support student success, causing many students to leave STEM fields and disproportionately affecting women and students of color. Although much is known about effective STEM teaching practices, many faculty continue to adhere to traditional methods, such as lecture. In this study, we investigated the factors that affect STEM faculty members' instructional decisions about evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs). We performed a qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with faculty members from the Colleges of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering who took part in the STEM Faculty Institute (STEMFI) professional development program at the university. We also observed the participants' teaching behaviors using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) and investigated the relationship between faculty teaching behaviors and the individual, social, and contextual factors identified from the interview data. We found that internal factors, including attitudes and self-efficacy, were significantly correlated with student-centered teaching behaviors, while social and contextual factors were not significantly correlated with teaching behaviors. This result suggests that in addition to promoting positive teaching cultures and reducing barriers, efforts to support faculty change should emphasize changing faculty attitudes.

Robotics will be a dominant area in society throughout future generations. Nowadays its presence is increasing in the majority of contexts of daily life, with devices and mechanisms which facilitate the accomplishment of diverse daily tasks; as well as at labor level, where machines occupy more and more jobs. This increase in the presence of autonomous robotic systems in society is due to the great efficiency and security they offer compared to human capacity, thanks mainly to the enormous precision of their sensor and actuator systems. Among these, vision sensors are of utmost importance. Humans and many animals enjoy powerful perception systems in a natural way, but which in Robotics constitutes a constant line of research. The main problem lies in the correct interpretation of visual data and the extraction of relevant information from camera images. Thus, Robotics becomes something beyond an scientific are, but also a social and cultural topic. Therefore, it is essential to raise an early awareness and train younger students to acquire the skills which will be most demanded in the short and mid-term future. In doing so, we will be ensuring their integration into a labor market dominated by intelligent robotic systems. In addition to having a high capacity for reasoning and decision-making, these robots incorporate important advances in their perceptual systems, allowing them to interact effectively in the working environments of this new industrial revolution. Since a few years ago, there are different Educational Robotics kits available in the market which are designed to be used in pre-university education. To use them as a learning tool, a correct teacher training is necessary, as well as a change in the teaching-learning methodology and in the educational environment in general. In addition, taking into account that young people live immersed in a constant environment of technological learning, most of these kits usually have a short period of interest for students, who demand motivating intellectual challenges. This thesis aims to provide several solutions to some classic problems inherent to Robotics, such as navigation and localization, but using a camera as the main sensor. In addition, a learning framework for teaching of Robotics with Vision as a subject is presented. Using it the students at pre-university curricular level learn the principles of Science and Engineering and the computer programming skills demanded in today's society. The use of Python language and its exercises about robots with vision makes this learning framework unique and more powerful than other existing frameworks. This teaching framework has been successfully used in several secondary education schools during the last two academic years (2016/2017 and 2017/2018), which includes: its software infrastructure, its hardware platform, an academic curriculum with theoretical and practical content, as well as a constructivist pedagogical methodology. The performance and satisfaction of more than 2,000 students and teachers using it, in curricular subjects such as Programming, Robotics and Technology and ICTs of Secondary Education (CSO) and extracurricular activities, have been evaluated.

<p>The active learning literature lacks systematic investigations into whether the amount of active learning implemented in class and the ordering of lecture and active learning make a difference in how much students learn in STEM disciplines. Therefore, I investigated how the dosage amount and schedule of lecture and active learning affect student learning of science content. The first experiment involved 146 subjects who learned about biological taxonomies through either a lecture (100% lecture/0% active learning) or an active learning activity (0% lecture/100% active learning). Results indicated that subjects in the pure lecture condition scored 20.27 percentage points higher on the posttest as compared to the pure active learning condition; these results held across different question types. Further, the pure lecture condition did not significantly differ from the pure active learning condition on subjects’ judgements of learning and their satisfaction with the instructional mode they received. The second experiment involved 219 subjects who learned about biological taxonomies through a lecture, a lecture and active learning activity that were interspersed (alternation between lecture and the active learning activity), or a lecture and active learning activity that were blocked (all lecture done before the active learning activity). Results indicated that subjects in the interspersed condition scored significantly higher than subjects in the blocked and pure lecture conditions (by 10.96 and 13.95 percentage points, respectively); these results generally held across different question types. Further, the pure lecture condition was significantly lower than the interspersed and blocked conditions on subjects’ judgements of learning and their satisfaction with the lecture. Based on these two experiments, it may not be a question of whether to choose lecture or active learning but rather a question of how to integrate them to maximize their benefits.</p>

Little research has been conducted to understand the role that parents play in children learning to code even though coding has become a necessary skill for students to successfully study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) subjects. After identifying five factors that would influence parental perceptions, we developed a survey and administered it to parents of elementary aged children. We validated the survey using a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. To be considered valid, factors needed to meet three of the following four fit statistics: RSMEA < 0.08, SRMR < 0.08, CFI > 0.9, TLI > 0.9. Items needed to have a factor loading > 0.3 with a significance of < 0.05. The results confirmed two factors, Parent & Child Interaction with Technology and Parents' Attitudes Towards Coding and Gender. The parent's coding experience and age, child coding experience, and living in the Western United States are significant in predicting the Parent & Child Interaction with Technology factor. The child's grade level and experience coding and living in a suburban area in the Western United States are significant in predicting the Parents' Attitudes Towards Coding and Gender factor. Although these factors proved significant, difficulties with the data make the model limited and additional revisions to the survey are needed. The revised survey will need to be administered again to validate a more robust model.

Exploration of Factors Affecting Success of Undergraduate Engineering Majors at a Historically Black University. Egheosa P. Igbinoba, 2015: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler School of Education. ERIC Descriptors: STEM Education, African American Achievement, Higher Education, Black Colleges, Engineering Education. Blacks are underrepresented amongst persons who earn college degrees in the United States and Black males attend and complete college at a lower rate than Black females (Toldson, Fry Brown, & Sutton, 2009). According to Toldson et al. (2009), this quandary may be attributed to Black males’ apathy toward education in general, waning support and ideological challenges toward Pell Grants and affirmative action, cultural incompetency on the part of the 90% White, ethnic makeup of the U.S. teaching force, and the relatively high numbers of Black males who are held back in school. In spite of the dismal statistics regarding Black male academic achievement and matriculation, there are those Black males who do participate in postsecondary education. While many studies have highlighted reasons that Black males do not achieve success in attending and persisting through college, few have adopted the anti-deficit research framework suggested by Harper (2010), identifying reasons Black males do persist in higher education. Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers are identified as those most imperative to the economic competitiveness of the United States, few studies have concentrated solely on engineering majors and fewer, if any, solely on Black male engineering majors at an historically Black college and university. The aim of this study was to address an apparent gap in the literature and invoke theories for recruitment, retention, and success of Black males in engineering degree programs by employing an anti-deficit achievement framework for research of students of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Data garnered from the study included insight into participants’ definitions of success, precollege experiences, factors contributing to the persistence during undergraduate study, and perceptions of attending a historically Black college and university versus a primarily White institution.

Chinese international students’ difficulties in adjusting to the U.S. classrooms has long been overlooked. They have been stereotyped as not experiencing any problems as a result of their excellence at all levels of education, which also implies that they have been succeeding at handling cross-cultural issues. Research which focuses on Chinese international students are usually generated in the area of second language learning or pedagogical methods, Chinese international students’ cross-cultural experience has not been fully explored. The present study was hence conducted to fill the literature gap. Its results could lead to an improvement of Chinese international EFL students’ studying abroad experience, as well as provide directions for possible future studies. The study investigated the research question: how does a group of eight Chinese international EFL students studying STEM disciplines in doctoral programs at a large public research university make meaning of their cross-cultural classrooms/lab setting experiences? The study is a qualitative case study. Participants were recruited via purposeful snowball sampling. An interpersonal, semi-structured interview was used for data collection, and guidelines provided by Smith et al. (2009) were adopted for data analysis. The results show that all eight participants have been experiencing culture-shock since they arrived in the U.S., and they held many erroneous assumptions about studying in the U.S.. Their major difficulties were generated by adjusting to the U.S. classroom culture and using/understanding cultural English. Causes of their cross-cultural experience could be traced to differences between the Chinese and the U.S. curricula and pedagogical methods; and the teacher centered, textbook oriented teaching methods adopted in their Chinese schools for English teaching. Besides, since most of the participants were top students when they were in China, considering the demand for academic excellence in the Chinese culture, participants’ eagerness to maintain/obtain academic accomplishments severed the negative part of their cross-cultural experience. On the basis of my findings, I recommend re-examining (and corresponding change) of the curricula, avoiding the expert blind spot while teaching, and a change in schools in China regarding its English teaching method. However, because this is a qualitative case study, when facing a different group of students (other than my participants), these suggestions should be applied selectively.

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There were several purposes to this study using a Spearman Rho correlation mixed method design. The first aim of this study was to address notable themes about science engagement from school leaders and science writing. The second purpose was to determine how postsecondary students' description of student engagement in elementary K-6 science classrooms correlate with students' writing quality. The final purpose of this study focused on a call for guidance to determine how students’ ratings of engagement from various teaching models, strategies, and techniques during elementary K-6 science activities correlate with students’ writing quality. Data were collected in the study using two instruments consisting of a survey and writing quality samples. The participants completed the Post-Secondary Survey of Science Engagement-Elementary Version (PSSSE-EV) survey and a college writing sample assignment from an introductory biochemistry course. The results of this study demonstrated postsecondary biochemistry students' memories of their elementary science engagement and college writing quality sample had no significant correlation between students' K-6 science engagement. Results also indicate the principals and assistant principals have no direct involvement in leading the students to engage in elementary K-6 science classroom engagement. Finally, results from the themes that emerged from the participants’ writing samples indicated students' inspiration and motivation to further their education in a science related field emerged. It also revealed that students who became involved in science did so because of their own efforts and encouragement of great teachers as leaders.