Development and Evaluation of "Where Are We?" Map-Skills Software and Curriculum

The "Where are We?" software and lessons are designed to help children in grades two through four learn to "translate" between the visually-perceived world that they sense around them, and the schematic representation of that landscape on a map. Field-based tests were developed to examine students' ability to absorb information in the real world and to transfer it onto a map and, conversely, the ability to absorb information from a map and transfer it into an action in the real world. Formative evaluation of a prototype version of "Where are We?" resulted in the following improvements in the instructional materials: more and prompter feedback for students, additional assessment tools for teachers, development of lessons to model successful map-using strategies, development of lessons to overcome common misconceptions, and replacement of text-based instructions with a voiceover demo. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Collaborative Research: Linking Researchers and Graduate Students through COSEE Tools & Services

This proposal will be awarded using funds made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This award provides funds to conduct workshops aimed at improving the broader impacts efforts of scientists. Through professional development workshops, scientist-graduate student teams will produce interactive materials based on the ?Ocean Literacy? and ?Climate Literacy? principles that can be specifically designed for a variety of audiences. The primary target audiences for this project are the research scientists and graduate students who participate in the project workshops. Through team-building and COSEE-facilitated long-term contact, the project will provide sustained professional development training opportunities that result in deeper content understanding and/or confidence in teaching to lay audiences, for researchers and graduate students alike. The secondary audience is on-line users who will benefit from the project outputs: namely the interactive ocean-climate content and user-centered data tools developed as part of this effort. Learning and interaction data of target audiences will be collected and evaluated by participating COSEE Centers. These evaluation results will be used to refine the approach, workshop model, and resulting online products throughout the project

Considering context and dynamics: A classification of transit-orientated development for New York City

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a widely recognised planning strategy for encouraging the use of mass and active transport over other less sustainable modes. Typological approaches to TOD areas can be utilised to either retrospectively or prospectively assist urban planners with evidence-based information on the delivery or monitoring of TOD. However, existing studies aiming to create TOD typologies overwhelmingly concentrate input measures around three dimensions of: density, diversity and design; which might be argued as not effectively capturing a fuller picture of context. Moreover, such emphasis on static attributes overlooks the importance of human mobility patterns that are signatures of the dynamics of cities. This study proposes a framework to address this research gap by enhancing a conventional TOD typology through the addition of measures detailing the spatiotemporal dynamics of activity at transit stations; implemented for the selected case study area, New York City

Science Teachers’ Professional Growth and the Communication in Science Inquiry Project

The Communication in Science Inquiry Project (CISIP) a National Science Foundation-funded, standards-based model of a scientific classroom discourse community (SCDC) was designed to meet the need for highly-qualified teachers and science education reform. The model included: (a) inquiry; (b) oral discourse; (c) written discourse; (d) academic language development, and (e) learning principles. Research and evaluation feedback were mechanisms by which CISIP become self-regulating, promoting instructional change and incorporating more aspects of inquiry-based learning with academic language development strategies. The program underwent a philosophical shift from teachers-as-consumers to teachers-as-producers based on classroom observations using a professional development-aligned classroom observation instrument that showed teachers were not implementing the CISIP model. Research indicated that CISIP was effective in changing how teachers taught science by providing sustained, long-term professional development. Teachers who participated for greater than one year showed the most change in their teaching practices, becoming more aligned with science education standards documents. Current and future directions in science teacher professional development (PD) include: (a) studying how teacher PD affects student learning; (b) building validity arguments for research instruments to be used for generalizing findings from multiple PD contexts, and (c) the need for improving PD providers’ understanding of how to conduct effective PD and engage in research that contributes to our understanding of 21st century science education reform

Science Teachers’ Professional Growth and the Communication in Science Inquiry Project

The Communication in Science Inquiry Project (CISIP) a National Science Foundation-funded, standards-based model of a scientific classroom discourse community (SCDC) was designed to meet the need for highly-qualified teachers and science education reform. The model included: (a) inquiry; (b) oral discourse; (c) written discourse; (d) academic language development, and (e) learning principles. Research and evaluation feedback were mechanisms by which CISIP become self-regulating, promoting instructional change and incorporating more aspects of inquiry-based learning with academic language development strategies. The program underwent a philosophical shift from teachers-as-consumers to teachers-as-producers based on classroom observations using a professional development-aligned classroom observation instrument that showed teachers were not implementing the CISIP model. Research indicated that CISIP was effective in changing how teachers taught science by providing sustained, long-term professional development. Teachers who participated for greater than one year showed the most change in their teaching practices, becoming more aligned with science education standards documents. Current and future directions in science teacher professional development (PD) include: (a) studying how teacher PD affects student learning; (b) building validity arguments for research instruments to be used for generalizing findings from multiple PD contexts, and (c) the need for improving PD providers’ understanding of how to conduct effective PD and engage in research that contributes to our understanding of 21st century science education reform

Posters-at-the-Capitol 2019 Program Booklet

Posters-at-the Capitol 2019 program booklet

CAREER: Data Management for Ad-Hoc Geosensor Networks

This project explores data management methods for geosensor networks, i.e. large collections of very small, battery-driven sensor nodes deployed in the geographic environment that measure the temporal and spatial variations of physical quantities such as temperature or ozone levels. An important task of such geosensor networks is to collect, analyze and estimate information about continuous phenomena under observation such as a toxic cloud close to a chemical plant in real-time and in an energy-efficient way. The main thrust of this project is the integration of spatial data analysis techniques with in-network data query execution in sensor networks. The project investigates novel algorithms such as incremental, in-network kriging that redefines a traditional, highly computationally intensive spatial data estimation method for a distributed, collaborative and incremental processing between tiny, energy and bandwidth constrained sensor nodes. This work includes the modeling of location and sensing characteristics of sensor devices with regard to observed phenomena, the support of temporal-spatial estimation queries, and a focus on in-network data aggregation algorithms for complex spatial estimation queries. Combining high-level data query interfaces with advanced spatial analysis methods will allow domain scientists to use sensor networks effectively in environmental observation. The project has a broad impact on the community involving undergraduate and graduate students in spatial database research at the University of Maine as well as being a key component of a current IGERT program in the areas of sensor materials, sensor devices and sensor. More information about this project, publications, simulation software, and empirical studies are available on the project\u27s web site (http://www.spatial.maine.edu/~nittel/career/)

Volcano Project Design: Innovation In Geoscience Learning

The research aim was to develop the Volcano Project Design (VPD) for improving the physics student research skills about volcano. The method used is a qualitative analysis where the research sample involves 34 undergraduate of physics students. The instrument used in VPD was equipped with the assessment format and rubric that was developed by researchers. The instruments tools were validated by experts in the field of geoscience and volcanology. The VPD guide contains the theoretical basis of fieldwork, descriptions of activities, project themes and targets to be achieved, phases of activities, and assessment of activities in the field. In addition, in the guidelines is also equipped with a guide of proposal preparation, field report and research products. The important results showed that the physics students were succeeded in conducting volcano research using VPD. This result was supported by the capabilities to identifying some crucial problems about volcanoes, presenting some solution based on several issues that have been identified and providing an accurate explanation of volcanic phenomena. The interesting finding based on research is the students’ research product as new information in geoscience. Even though needs intensive guidance, the product has an opportunity to be published broadly. Based on students’ perception, the program succeeded to build students' scientific attitude, constructing a positive value to the environment around the volcano and perfectly prepare students to help the community in the face of volcanic disasters

Community Framework for Geoscience Education Research

In order to guide future investments of time and resources in geoscience education research (GER), the community has developed a framework of grand challenges across ten major themes in GER. These grand challenges can provide direction to current and future researchers about where the community thinks effort should be made to answer some fundamental questions about undergraduate geoscience teaching and learning. This Community Framework for GER is comprised of ten theme chapters, as well as chapters on the development of the framework project, a synthesis of the findings and potential synergies, and on communication strategies for the transformation of geoscience teaching practice