Project description: This experiential estuary science field trip program was initially created as a master's capstone project by Anna Caputo in partnership with Machicomoco State Park, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), and the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR). The ultimate goal of the project is to strengthen community estuarine literacy in the local area by teaching students who will be future marine scientists, community leaders, watermen, and environmentally conscious citizens. The program is designed to highlight the coastal habitats at the state park, the issues those habitats are facing, and how science and monitoring efforts done by VIMS and CBNERR lead to solutions. The curriculum aligns with Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) and highlights the marine science that is being done in and around the park by VIMS and CBNERR. It was designed as a program that could be offered by Machicomoco to local schools as a regular field trip option. There are three foci for different age groups (i.e., elementary, middle, and high school students). The elementary unit focuses on habitats and ecosystems and covers topics such as estuarine food webs. The middle school unit focuses on relationships humans have with these habitats. These can be beneficial relationships or the negative impacts humans can have on the environment. Topics for this group may include climate change, sea level rise, water quality, and ecosystem services. Lastly, the high school unit focuses on solutions, science, and monitoring by surveying a salt marsh habitat and exploring living shorelines as an ecological engineering technique for shoreline restoration. In addition, optional classroom extension activities can be offered for advanced high school classes that want to apply what they have learned during their time at the park beyond the field trip. The curriculum is designed to scaffold concepts, meaning that each field trip builds off of the information from the previous one. Therefore it will be most effective if students visit Machicomoco three times during their school experience (once per elementary, middle, and high school). However, the program can accommodate one-time visits. A note on the audience for this product: This field trip curriculum was built for Machicomoco State Park. All the lesson plans were written for the park’s interpretive staff and volunteer docents.

In this study, a group of students were presented with two mathematically isomorphic problems but in radically different contexts. Analysis of their thinking and reasoning as they worked to solve and explain each problem demonstrates that the thinking and reasoning that emerged in each problem responded to clear purposes that the problems elicited in these students. The first problem was posed in a context that relied on experience and intuition rather than a formal mathematical description. The second problem was posed in a formal, set-theoretic context. While the analysis offered here reveals similarities in the students' final reasoning in the two contexts, it brings to light major differences between the purposes, choices, and reasoning in both contexts.

Many studies have been done on the impact of online mathematics courses. Most studies concluded that there is no significant difference in student success between online and face-to-face courses. However, most studies compared "traditional" online and face-to-face courses. Mathematics educators are advocating a shift from traditional courses to student-centered courses where students argue and defend the mathematics under the guidance of the teacher. Now, the differences in online and face-to-face student-centered mathematical courses merit a more in-depth investigation. This study characterized student mathematical discourse in online and face-to-face Calculus lab sections based off of a framework derived from an NCTM standard for the students' role in discourse. Results showed that the discourse in both the face-to-face and online environments can be rich and productive. Thus, both environments can be viable arenas for effective mathematical discourse. However, this effectiveness is contingent on whether or not the teacher as the facilitator can help the students avoid the ways in which online discourse can be impeded. The characteristics of discourse, how they compare, and the resulting recommendations for teachers are discussed.

Students with disabilities perform below their non-disabled peers in science (National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2011; National Educational Longitudinal Study [NELS], 1998; National Science Foundation [NSF], 2013). The achievement gap is a problem because the nation's competitiveness depends on individuals with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge, skills, and abilities to drive innovation that will lead to new products and economic growth (Business-Higher Education Forum [BHEF]/Act Policy Brief, 2014; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016; National Science Board, 2015). If Florida is to continue to grow and prosper, all students, including students with disabilities must be prepared for the economy they will inherit. The purpose of the current study was to determine if informal science learning activities offered in Florida school districts impact students with disabilities (SWD) performance on the 8th Grade Florida science assessment. The researcher posed four research questions. The first research question determined whether a statistically significant difference existed between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers on the 8th Grade Florida Science Assessment. The researcher found a statistically significant difference of students without disabilities outperforming their peers with disabilities. The second and third research questions were analyzed using survey responses from STEM personnel in each Florida district. The questions evaluated the percentage of SWD who participate in STEM activities. Findings indicated most districts do not track the number of SWD who participate in STEM activities. The third research question determined the type of SWD who participated in STEM activities. The largest category represented in STEM activities was students with learning disabilities. The last research question asked if there was a correlation between the number of STEM activities offered in a district and the results of the 8th Grade Statewide Science Assessment for SWD. Results indicated a small positive correlation. The researcher identified areas for future research, as well as recommendations and implications of the results from the study.

Students who receive additional educational supports in afterschool programs were the focus of the investigation. This study was conducted to measure what effects a TeachLivE avatar, a mixed-reality virtual environment, used in combination with a video game, had on the activation of prior knowledge in science for students in rural middle school. The delivery of the biology science lessons on cell structures and processes were delivered using the video game, Cell Command. The TeachLivE adult avatar was customized as a biologist who spoke to students in the treatment group about science concepts prior to playing the science video game. Unexpected attrition rates and low numbers of participants in the targeted area of research providing consent affected the original research design to conduct the research study. Therefore, a pivot was made from the original research design. The initial target population was students with a learning disability who were culturally and linguistically diverse from low socioeconomic backgrounds in rural communities. By the end of the study, only one student with a learning disability consented and completed the study, with attrition rates in the original school approaching 90% due to various factors, which are discussed. Descriptive statistics were used to measure the effects between students in the control group who only played the Cell Command video game, compared to students in the treatment condition who played the Cell Command science video game, and had four, five minute conversations with a TeachLivE avatar. The analysis indicated varied differences between the treatment and control conditions. The analysis of a STEM-CIS survey, that measures career interests, sum means were included in the descriptive analysis along with the unique challenges presented in conducting research in a rural Title I school.

Education and work in Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM) are of utmost importance in a post-modern society. Yet American performance in the STEM disciplines has waned over recent years. In order to recapture a global advantage in STEM, efforts are being made by educators and policy makers to compile and implement instructional supports. Of particular interest to this study are post-secondary students with disabilities (SWDs) who persist and learn in STEM degree paths. This population is an "untapped resource" with limitless potential for contribution to the collective fields of STEM (Leddy, 2010, p. 3; Alston, Hampton, Bell, & Strauss, 1998, p. 5). The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded Project Interdisciplinary Coaching as a Nexus for Transforming How Institutions Support Undergraduates in STEM (Project iCAN) at Landmark College as a model to develop a successful STEM support model. Post hoc interview data from students and staff at Landmark revealed themes pertaining to educational and vocational-training supports that may generalize to larger, urban institutions of higher education for further development of STEM persistence and learning models.

Enhancing achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is a long-standing national concern. The current national agenda, to instill an "all hands on deck" approach to creating a STEM literate citizenry, calls for broadening the scope of inclusion in STEM efforts. A critical population, higher education administrators, faculty, and staff are a valuable resource to advancing this agenda. Under the proposed Agenda Setting Communication Theory (ASCT) model developed for this study, their level of exposure to needed information is an important indicator of their potential participation in this agenda. As the leading news medium for the higher education community, the Chronicle of Higher Education was examined, through Content Analysis, to identify the frequency of reporting on STEM education from January 2001 to December 2015, to discern the themes in STEM education which appear in the Chronicle of Higher Education from January 2001 to December 2015, and to determine the frequency of reporting on the need for collaboration in STEM education in the Chronicle of Higher Education during that same period. The results of the Content Analysis indicate that there has been a significant increase in the Chronicle's reporting on STEM education in the past five years. Also, matters relating to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations were reported on most frequently. Further, reporting on the need for collaboration did not emerge as a primary theme. These results indicate that while the Chronicle is somewhat participating in reflecting aspects of the national STEM education agenda, it is not yet functioning to advance the breadth of that agenda within the higher education community.

The focus of this research project was to extend existing research literature by providing insight to how prospective teachers with differing levels of mathematical knowledge developed their conceptual understanding of whole number concepts and operations. Prospective teachers of interest were enrolled in an Elementary School Mathematics Course for Teachers (in the College of Education) with a whole number concepts and operations unit set entirely in base 8. In this mixed-mode study, participants were given the MKT, a measure designed to measure teacher mathematical knowledge for teaching, before and after taking the base 8 unit. The researcher focused on two specific constructs: Common Content Knowledge (CCK) and Specialized Content Knowledge (SCK). The qualitative portion of the study involved carefully constructed student interviews which allowed the researcher to deeply explore how prospective teacher conceptual understanding changed as a result of taking the unit in base 8. Four participants with varying levels of knowledge were selected to be interviewed based upon initial scores on the MKT: 1) low CCK and low SCK, 2) low CCK and high SCK, 3) high CCK and low SCK, 4) high CCK and high SCK. Results of the interviews were used to help explain results from the MKT. Quantitative and qualitative results showed that participants did not significantly increase their CCK, but did experience an increase in their conceptual understanding (SCK) as a result of taking the unit in base 8. Most prospective teachers entering the Elementary School Mathematics Course already had high procedural knowledge of the algorithms associated with elementary mathematics, which could account for the non-significant increase in CCK. Prospective teachers all showed deeper conceptual understanding of whole number concepts and operations at varying levels by the end of the base 8 unit. Prospective teachers showed their increased understanding by way of explanations, justifications, and alternate solution strategies.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a summer intervention program for middle school Algebra 1 Honors students. The intervention program, Pre-Algebra 1 Mini-Camp, was offered for rising seventh grade students at a middle school prior to them entering Algebra 1 in the Fall semester. The literature review and analysis of data from school districts in Central Florida showed that the increase in middle grade students enrollment in Algebra 1 has coincided with a decrease in the passing rate among those students on the Florida Algebra 1 End of Course exam and the course. The intervention program and this study were premised on the assumption that the decreased pass rate was the result of these students missing critical mathematics skills and concepts from the seventh grade curriculum. This study describes a design framework and other details of the intervention program. The evaluation study used a quasi-experimental design, comparing the 18 students who took part in the intervention with a comparison group composed of 21 other seventh grade students taking Algebra 1 Honors from the same school district. The matching sample was created using case-control matching based on student demographic data and sixth grade standardized test scores. Dependent variables were school district-administered, standardized test scores and grades collected during the first and second quarters of the school year. The main effect was tested using a within-between repeated measures MANOVA. Data analysis revealed that participants in the intervention group had slightly better performance on both standardized tests and grades versus the comparison sample (partial η2 = .06). The intervention groups also showed marginally better performance over time (partial η2 = .02). However, neither the between-group difference (F(2,32) = 1.04, p = .06) nor the greater improvement of the intervention group over time (F(2, 32) = 80.28, p = .83) were statistically significant. These findings of statistically non-significant differences must be interpreted cautiously due to the low power of the research design (Power = .22, between groups; Power = .10, between groups x time). A larger sample would be needed to achieve sufficient power in the research design. This study added to a small pool of research on seventh grade students enrolled in algebra courses. It briefly described some of the gaps in mathematical concepts and skills that likely led to students struggling for success in algebra. Implications of this study include revisiting policies supporting the enrollment of middle grade students in Algebra 1 Honors. This study also presents the design of a summer intervention program that may support student success in an algebra course and suggestions for creating a longer program which would provide more opportunity to support to the students' pre-algebra concepts, skills and practices.

The purpose of this single case study was to determine if a preservice elementary teacher's instruction would be influenced by feedback on mathematics lessons. The focus of the research was on the use of the Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) (Boston 2012) toolkit as an integral part in the feedback process. The IQA toolkit provides number ratings as well as qualitative descriptive ratings of various aspects of the mathematics lesson, defined under two constructs, or groups, labeled Academic Rigor and Accountable Talk. The researcher evaluated a preservice teacher's instruction on three occasions and facilitated feedback sessions following those observation sessions, integrating the number ratings of the IQA toolkit with the qualitative descriptions of expectations. It was found that there was an increase in ratings for both constructs of Academic Rigor and Accountable Talk over the period of three feedback cycles. There was a difference in how the students were facilitated in instruction over the three observations. The teacher became more aware of some of her behaviors in the classroom that contributed to the type of instruction given to students. In reviewing the literature, there was limited evidence of the use of the IQA toolkit for the iterative process of teaching, feedback, and teaching informed by feedback. This research is therefore useful in expanding the use of the IQA toolkit for feedback purposes. Preservice teachers as well as in-service teachers can benefit from feedback focused on mathematics teaching that makes them more aware of their strengths and weaknesses so they are able to adjust instruction based on the feedback received.