There exists a need to promote better Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) education at the high school level. To satisfy this need a series of hands-on laboratory assignments were created to be accompanied by 2 educational trainers that contain various electronic components. This project provides an interdisciplinary, hands-on approach to teaching C programming that meets several standards defined by the Tennessee Board of Education. Together the trainers and lab assignments also introduce key concepts in math and science while allowing students hands-on experience with various electronic components. This will allow students to mimic real world applications of using the C programming language while exposing them to technology not currently introduced in many high school classrooms. The developed project is targeted at high school students performing at or above the junior level and uses the Arduino Mega open-source Microprocessor and software as the primary control unit.

The science education system currently in place in the United States does not adequately prepare students to compete well with international students. The development of new teaching methods is essential to ensure improvement of the system and provide its students with better scholastic achievements and employment opportunities. Various methods have been studied, with one implemented in a high school classroom to compare the results of the new method with the traditional method of instruction. Rather than the traditional lecture-based approach, Honors Chemistry students learned the theory of the gas laws using inquiry-based methods and hands-on activities. The students were then evaluated using the same assessment as in previous years where instruction was more direct. Preliminary results indicate a 3% increase in the final assessment score using the inquiry method rather than the straight lecture approach.

This study examines the benefits of using stories to teach history to 4th and 5th grade students. In order to determine student attitude toward history, students completed a History Affinity scale prior to and after being exposed to one of 2 teaching methods. Students in the experimental group listened to and participated in oral narratives during their history lesson while students in the control group received conventional lecture and note-taking instruction. After collecting and analyzing the data, results indicate a significant increase in history affinity in the positive direction for the experimental group with no change in history affinity for the control group. Conducted amongst 228 students, all attending the same elementary school in Southern Indiana, this study speaks to the potential of improving teaching methods throughout the history curriculum through increased use of storytelling methods.

Today, many introductory computer science courses rely heavily on a specific programming language to convey fundamental programming concepts. For beginning students, the cognitive capacity required to operate with the syntactic forms of this language may overwhelm their ability to formulate a solution to a program. We recognize that the introductory computer science courses can be more effective if they convey fundamental concepts without requiring the students to focus on the syntax of a programming language. To achieve this, we propose a new teaching method based on the Design Recipe and Code Outlining (DRaCO) processes. Our new pedagogy capitalizes on the algorithmic intuitions of novice students and provides a tool for students to externalize their intuitions using techniques they are already familiar with, rather than with the syntax of a specific programming language. We validate the effectiveness of our new pedagogy by integrating it into an existing CS1 course at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. We find that the our newly proposed pedagogy shows strong potential to improve students’ ability to program.

The purpose of this review is to determine if particular instructional strategies, from a sufficient number of studies, are qualified as an evidence-based practice (EBP) for teaching text-based comprehension skills across content areas for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). This focused review will be added on to the previous review conducted by Mims et al. (in submission) where the search ended in 2018. Due to the time gap in the searched literature, the studies included within the Mims et al. study is no longer comprehensive. Therefore, this focused review of the literature will fill the gap of literature that was missing between 2018 to the present (i.e., April 2023). By combining these two literature reviews together, a much more thorough comprehensive review of the literature will be formed to demonstrate instructional strategies that qualify as an evidence-based practice for teaching text-based comprehension skills across core content areas to students with ID. The concentration within both reviews will ultimately provide guidance to educators on EBPs for instruction on text-based comprehension across content areas for students with ID, illustrate potential research gaps, and identify methods to strengthen research in the future.

The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand the experience of selecting grading practices for a high school math or English classroom. There is no existing research related to understanding this phenomenon. This phenomenological study included three participants who were purposefully selected based on specific criteria: They must teach math or English in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 and have at least three years of teaching experience. The participants were interviewed using videoconferencing software, and the interviews were recorded and transcribed. Open and axial coding was used to analyze the data. The theoretical framework applied for the interpretation of the findings was Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Theory. The participants shared thick, rich data from which eight themes emerged: Communication among stakeholders, student effort, value of learning, minimal education in grades and grading practices, external pressures, grades as motivators, teacher expectations, and reliability and validity in grading practices. Through this research, it became understood that there are many facets of this experience that are all inter-related. Based on the research recommendations were made for professional practice and future research to ignite positive change around this phenomenon.

This study compared two levels of inquiry in high school physics classrooms over a year-long course. One class fit well the definition of guided-inquiry and the other matched common descriptions of open-inquiry. Four sections of introductory physics at Lone Peak High School in Highland, Utah were randomly divided into two sections for each treatment. The majority of students in all classes were sophomores with relatively few juniors and seniors. The guided-inquiry classes followed the Modeling Instruction Program developed at Arizona State University, while the open-inquiry classes were be based on an approach used by Wolff-Michael Roth, at the University of Victoria, British Colombia. The independent variable in this study was the level of inquiry of the high school physics class. The dependent variables of interest were the students' short-term and long-term understanding of introductory physics concepts as well as the student's attitudes towards physics. The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Utah State Criterion Referenced Physics Test (CRT) were used to judge learning of physics concepts and the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) was used to analyze changes in views towards physics. FCI results showed no statistically significant differences in short-term or long-term mean scores between the two treatments. Small practical significance was found in the greater short-term mean gain scores of the guided-inquiry class with an effect size of .34. The CRT showed the open-inquiry class to have a higher mean score that was slightly statistically significant (p-value of .049) and at a medium level of practical significance with an effect size of .43. A curious result arose when comparing the scores on each of the FCI posttests. The open-inquiry treatment had a higher increase in average gain score that was found to have statistical significance with a p-value of .010 as well as practical significance in the medium range with an effect size of .57. Both treatments were found to have somewhat unfavorable effects on students' opinions towards physics. Additionally, the open-inquiry treatment had a more polarizing effect on the attitudes of students towards physics. Open-inquiry students responded particularly positively on questions addressing "Problem Solving." For the open-inquiry students, positive shifts were strongest in questions addressing "Real World Connections" and "Personal Interest."

The purpose of this study is to collect information documenting Utah technology education teachers' acceptance of an emphasis on engineering content in technology education. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) was used to determine the level of acceptance of this change. It was found that a majority of technology and education teachers are more concerned about other unidentified tasks, activities or initiatives than they are about the addition of engineering content to their classes. They were also shown to be concerned with being able to organize, manage, and schedule the change effectively and were found to be least concerned about evaluating student outcomes including performance and competencies. Utah teachers were polarized with respect to collaborating and coordinating with others with regards to engineering.

Bootstrap is a computer-programming curriculum that teaches students to program video games using Racket, a functional programming language based on algebraic syntax. This study investigated the relationship between learning to program video games from a Bootstrap course and the resulting effect on students' understanding of algebra. Courses in three different schools, lasting about six weeks each, were studied. Control and treatment groups were given a pre and post algebra assessment. A qualitative component consisting of observations and interviews was also used to further triangulate findings. Statistical analysis revealed that students who completed the Bootstrap course gained a significantly better understanding of variables and a suggestive improvement in understanding functions. In the assessments, students failed to demonstrate a transfer of the advanced concepts of function composition and piecewise functions from programming to algebraic notation. Interviews with students demonstrated that with coaching, students were able to relate functions written in Racket to functions written in algebraic notation, but were not yet able to transfer their experience of function composition from programming to algebra.

Cyber security education has evolved over the last decade to include new methods of teaching and technology to prepare students. Instructors in this field of study often deal with a subject matter that has rigid principles, but changing ways of applying those principles. This makes maintaining courses difficult. This case study explored the kind of teaching methods, technology, and means used to explain these concepts. This study shows that generally, cyber security courses require more time to keep up to date. It also evaluates one effort, the NxSecLab, on how it attempted to relieve the administrative issues in teaching these concepts. The proposed framework in this model looks at ways on how to ease the administrative burden in cyber security education by using a central engine to coordinate learning management with infrastructure-as-a-service resources.