This research explores the effects of frequent quizzing versus no quizzing in a high school Physical Science class. The study population included two freshman level Physical Science Honors classes. The content in this study included Classifying Matter, States of Matter, Atomic Bonding, Motion and Forces and Motion. For each chapter covered one class served as a control group, getting no quizzes, and the other class served as an experimental group, getting frequent quizzes. Prior to being taught information on the 5 chapters covered in this study, a 15-question pre-test was administered to the students. The information was delivered in the same manner, by lecture and PowerPoints, to both the control and the experimental groups. Upon completion of each section of the chapter, the experimental group took a 10-question quiz. The control group was allowed to review their notes. A post-test was given after covering all of the material for each chapter. The pre-tests and post-tests were generated using software and a question database for choosing questions based on state standards and learning objectives. Raw gains of the study population from pre-test to post-test were analyzed and compared to determine if the quizzes had increased student knowledge for the chapter. No statistical significance was found between the non-quizzed and the quizzed groups.

The Common Core State Standards encourage the use of writing in mathematics classrooms. This study was designed to create a template for high school teachers to use in a geometry class to improve students proof writing ability. The students enrolled in the class were asked to complete journal and expository writing assignments throughout the course. The assignments were scored with a rubric. To assess if growth was made in proof writing, the students were all given a test four times throughout the school year. All four tests were assessed using the same rubric. We provide evidence that the template was successful in increasing the students ability to write geometric proofs by increasing their use of mathematical vocabulary, increasing their ability to use the information in a problem, and increasing their ability to justify their steps with correct mathematical facts or theorems.

ABSTRACT Many high school Geometry students lack the perseverance required to complete complex and time-consuming problems. This project tests the hypothesis that if students were provided with a means of organizing their problem solving work they will be less apt to quit when faced with complex and time-consuming mathematical problems. This study involved students enrolled in 10th grade Geometry and 10th grade Honors Geometry in two similar high schools. After trying unsuccessfully to implement methods adapted from an engineering workshop, I designed a graphic organizer that was simple to use and acceptable to the students. Ultimately, I did not detect a direct effect on perseverance, but the graphic organizer appeared to increase student communications about problem solving and aided the teacher in quickly diagnosing student problem-solving progress. Thus, it did help to create classroom conditions conducive to student engagement.

This study was undertaken to test if the use of self-explanation to a peer would affect learning outcomes in the classroom. The outcomes of classes taught using the self-explanation technique were compared to outcomes from traditional lecture courses in lessons of comparable content. Great Scholars and traditional students in a sixth grade physical science classroom setting were given pre-and post-tests in two units of study, matter and waves. In the matter unit, students participated in a lesson on density using traditional lecture and a lesson on changes in matter using self-explanation. In the waves unit, students utilized lecture instruction for a lesson on electromagnetic waves and self-explanation instruction for a lesson on sound waves. Pre-test scores, post-test scores, and learning gains were analyzed for each lesson across instructional treatments and class types. After the unit on waves students were given an opinion survey to determine which instructional method they preferred using. Self-explanation had a significantly positive impact on learning gains for the Great Scholars students in the first unit of study. No detectible differences in gains for the second unit of study were found in either group of students. However, the opinion survey given after the second unit of study suggests that students experience greater enjoyment when using the self-explanation instructional technique. Larger sample sizes and experiments in other science disciplines may lead to a better understanding of how self-explanation to a peer impacts student learning.

The following paper discusses the effect of metacognitive training sessions on students calculus retention. Students in two high school classes participated. The students in both classes were then given lessons on a chapter without metacognitive training and lessons on a subsequent chapter with training in a set of metacognitive skills. After the latter chapter students scored higher on a post-test and expressed desire to incorporate the skills they learned into their other classes.

The Common Core State Standards place special emphasis on developing fraction proficiency and the use of the number line, especially in grades three through five, whereas the previously mandated Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum put lower priority on fractions and gave little attention to the number line as a model for fractions. The present study was performed in several 6th-grade math classrooms in rural Louisiana. We piloted fraction proficiency tests that were intended to check basic vocabulary and student access to various fraction models, as expected in the Common Core. Some strong error patterns were observed. They might be related to difference between the curricula. Recent work independent of this thesis discovered remarkably similar error patterns in California 6th-graders. The net outcome of this work is a step toward the design of better tests of fraction proficiency

Think-Pair-Share is an active learning strategy which involves pairs of students discussing answers to questions or problems. The purpose of this study was to determine if the peer instruction technique Think-Pair-Share improved students performance in high-school chemistry. The teacher used one class of students as a control group. This group did not use Think-Pair-Share for the chapter investigated, Chemical Reactions. The teacher used two other classes of students, who did use Think-Pair-Share for this chapter, as the experimental group. There was no difference in the learning gains between the control and experimental groups. Think-Pair-Share and normal classroom instruction methods were equally effective. Factors such as small class size, absenteeism, quality of pre- and post-test questions, and the reluctance of the control group to stop using Think-Pair-Share may have contributed to these results. These issues are addressed, and a new, improved study design is suggested.

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics were released in June of 2010 and full implementation into our schools is being required in the fall of 2013. The standards require teachers and students to be more focused and rigorous in what they teach and learn. This shift in learning towards focus, coherence, fluency, deep understanding, and applications was to improve math education in the United States so that our students become more competitive in the global economy of the 21st century and to help more students to be college and career ready by grade twelve. It is now necessary for teachers and students to be more prepared for both the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice. With teachers giving students more opportunities to experience the usefulness of the mathematical language as outlined in the Standards for Mathematical Practice, students will be entering post-secondary education with a stronger mathematical background. Introducing students to more rigorous, more challenging, and more interesting mathematics in earlier grades will allow students to be more prepared to take on the challenges of a college-preparatory fourth math class in high school, whether it be honors, dual enrollment or advanced placement. This thesis shows how integrating basic calculus concepts into a middle school classroom through linear functions will allow students to be more aware of what a higher math class involves without having to be afraid of the unknown. Implementation of the Common Core Standards is requiring a big chunk of Advanced Mathematics, Geometry, and Algebra II to be moved down into lower grades, and eighth grade math is no exception. The thesis shows that eighth grade students are able to understand and apply elementary calculus concepts as long as they are taught with grade-appropriate language using what they already know. In fact, students in middle school, especially in eighth grade, do have the mental capability and mathematical maturity to do higher level mathematics and comprehend more advanced mathematical concepts and ideas if presented in the language of linear functions and basic triangle geometry.

In this study, an automatic semantic segmentation and object recognition methodology is implemented which bridges the semantic gap between low level features of image content and high level conceptual meaning. Semantically understanding an image is essential in modeling autonomous robots, targeting customers in marketing or reverse engineering of building information modeling in the construction industry. To achieve an understanding of a room from a single image we proposed a new object recognition framework which has four major components: segmentation, scene detection, conceptual cueing and object recognition. The new segmentation methodology developed in this research extends Felzenswalb's cost function to include new surface index and depth features as well as color, texture and normal features to overcome issues of occlusion and shadowing commonly found in images. Adding depth allows capturing new features for object recognition stage to achieve high accuracy compared to the current state of the art. The goal was to develop an approach to capture and label perceptually important regions which often reflect global representation and understanding of the image. We developed a system by using contextual and common sense information for improving object recognition and scene detection, and fused the information from scene and objects to reduce the level of uncertainty. This study in addition to improving segmentation, scene detection and object recognition, can be used in applications that require physical parsing of the image into objects, surfaces and their relations. The applications include robotics, social networking, intelligence and anti-terrorism efforts, criminal investigations and security, marketing, and building information modeling in the construction industry. In this dissertation a structural framework (ontology) is developed that generates text descriptions based on understanding of objects, structures and the attributes of an image.

Photocatalytic concrete pavements are a promising technology for mobile source air pollution remediation, however before widespread application of this technology is realized many unanswered questions remain regarding its overall environmental impact. In response to these questions, the goal of this study was to increase the understanding of the environmental impact of photocatalytic concrete pavement highways. To achieve this goal, the objectives of this study were to (A) construct a model that evaluates the nitrogen oxides (NOx) reduction from photocatalytic pavements, (B) quantify the nitrates released from the photocatalytic degradation of NOx, and (C) identify and characterize pathways for TiO2 nanoparticle exposure. To achieve objective A, a field study was conducted to evaluate the NOx reduction. Results showed evidence of minimal photocatalytic reductions with large variability due to many unknown and known parameters. As a result, this study also investigated the use of laboratory results to better understand the significance of the NOx reduction through the creation of a theoretical mass balance Lavoisier box model. Laboratory results indicated that the nitrogen monoxide (NO) oxidation rate is reaction rate mass transfer controlled following the Langmuir- Hinshelwood (L-H) model. A parametric study was completed to evaluate the L-H constants under different environmental conditions and statistical model was created to describe the NO oxidation rate. Incorporating the resulting NO oxidation rate into a Lavoisier box model the mass transfer mechanisms were compared and objective A was achieved. Objectives B and C of the project deal with evaluating potential unintended consequences resulting from implementation of photocatalytic concretes. To complete objective B, nitrates and TiO2 nanoparticles released to water were quantified. Lastly, TiO2 nanoparticles released to the air during construction activities were quantified and characterized to achieve objective C.