Computer Programming Effects in Elementary: Perceptions and Career Aspirations in STEM

The development of elementary-aged students’ STEM and computer science (CS) literacy is critical in this evolving technological landscape, thus, promoting success for college, career, and STEM/CS professional paths. Research has suggested that elementary- aged students need developmentally appropriate STEM integrated opportunities in the classroom; however, little is known about the potential impact of CS programming and how these opportunities engender positive perceptions, foster confidence, and promote perseverance to nurture students’ early career aspirations related to STEM/CS. The main purpose of this mixed-method study was to examine elementary-aged students’ (N = 132) perceptions of STEM, career choices, and effects from pre- to post-test intervention of CS lessons (N = 183) over a three-month period. Findings included positive and significant changes from students’ pre- to post-tests as well as augmented themes from 52 student interviews to represent increased enjoyment of CS lessons, early exposure, and its benefits for learning to future careers

Reinventing learning: a design-research odyssey

Design research is a broad, practice-based approach to investigating problems of education. This approach can catalyze the development of learning theory by fostering opportunities for transformational change in scholars’ interpretation of instructional interactions. Surveying a succession of design-research projects, I explain how challenges in understanding students’ behaviors promoted my own recapitulation of a historical evolution in educators’ conceptualizations of learning—Romantic, Progressivist, and Synthetic (Schön, Intuitive thinking? A metaphor underlying some ideas of educational reform (working paper 8). Division for Study and Research in Education, MIT, Cambridge, 1981)—and beyond to a proposed Systemic view. In reflection, I consider methodological adaptations to design-research practice that may enhance its contributions in accord with its objectives

Expectations eclipsed in foreign language education: learners and educators on an ongoing journey / edited by Hülya Görür-Atabaş, Sharon Turner.

Between June 2-4, 2011 Sabancı University School of Languages welcomed colleagues from 21 different countries to a collaborative exploration of the challenging and inspiring journey of learners and educators in the field of language education.\ud \ud The conference provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to share their views on language education. Colleagues met with world-renowned experts and authors in the fields of education and psychology, faculty and administrators from various universities and institutions, teachers from secondary educational backgrounds and higher education, as well as learners whose voices are often not directly shared but usually reported.\ud \ud The conference name, Eclipsing Expectations, was inspired by two natural phenomena, a solar eclipse directly before the conference, and a lunar eclipse, immediately after. Learners and educators were hereby invited to join a journey to observe, learn and exchange ideas in orde

Deserts of Development: How God Shapes Leaders in the Wilderness

A wilderness experience in the life of a believer is often a tool used by God to shape him for some leadership position or specific calling. While the desert one is thrust into may be physical in nature or purely psychological, wilderness experiences share common characteristics and yet yield an array of differentiating results for those who travel through them. In order to examine how God shapes leaders in the wilderness, three case studies reveal how the individuals in each case grew in the leadership skills necessary for them to carry out their calling

Culturally Responsive Teaching For Significant Relationships

This article expands discussions of culturally responsive teaching to include the framework of what it is, why it matters and how it can be accomplished in the classroom. The four principles of interaction, accommodation, ownership, and opportunity outline culturally responsive strategies teachers use to create significant relationships with all students in the classroom

Involving users in the development of a modeling language for customer journeys

Although numerous methods for handling the technical aspects of developing domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) have been formalized, user needs and usability aspects are often addressed late in the development process and in an ad hoc manner. To this concern, this paper presents the development of the customer journey modeling language (CJML), a DSML for modeling service processes from the end-user’s perspective. Because CJML targets a wide and heterogeneous group of users, its usability can be challenging to plan and assess. This paper describes how an industry-relevant DSML was systematically improved by using a variety of user-centered design techniques in close collaboration with the target group, whose feedback was used to refine and evolve the syntax and semantics of CJML. We also suggest how a service-providing organization may benefit from adopting CJML as a unifying language for documentation purposes, compliance analysis, and service innovation. Finally, we distill what we learned into general lessons and methodological guidelines.publishedVersio

My Journey as an Elementary Science Teacher: From Linear to Authentic

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a personalized narrative of one science teacher’s use of reflexive teaching as an agent of change. This dissertation is about a journey of change in instruction fostered by a change of identity as a science teacher, using the butterfly cycle as a metaphor. This dissertation narrates the identity evolution of the teacher. This study has relevance because the process utilized by the teacher provides a method of self-examination and identity construction for other elementary science classroom teachers who want to improve their science practices. This study also has relevance because it describes the process of how a classroom teacher takes ownership of self-improvement that leads to science teacher agency. Science teacher identity and agency research has been mostly unexplored in science education, especially at the elementary level. A greater understanding of science teacher identity and agency development learned from this dissertation will provide the knowledge needed to better support novice and pre-service teachers, ultimately leading to better science educators. The nature of reflexive practice in science teaching and the development of science teacher identity and agency is the focus of this research. This paper is grounded in three main ideas: (a) self-reflexivity, drawing from the initial understanding of reflexivity (Archer, 2007; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Mora, 2011, 2012) as reflection with social and scientific foundations that leads to social change (Mora, 2014), (b) self-study of teacher practices (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001; Loughran, 2007; Pinnegar & Hamilton, 2009), as a rigorous way to understand the evolution of personal practice over time; and ( c ) metaphors to examine phenomena from a unique and creative perspective, provide structure to the data, to understand a familiar process in a new light, and to evoke emotion (Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M., 1980). In my findings I discovered that my teaching identity is not fixed and that the journey in transforming my teaching identity from linear to authentic is endless, and the findings could be used as a starting point to introduce changes into the curricula of elementary teacher education programs for novice and pre-service teachers. This doctoral research was an empowering journey that enriched my professional life as an elementary science teacher by enabling me to examine my practices that formed my teaching identity. I hope that my newly transformed teaching identity enables me to further develop my professional practice as an assistant professor of practice, to empower the agency of my student teachers and empower readers to reflect on their own teaching identities

Integrating tasks, technology, and the Common Core Standards in the Algebra II classroom

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics were released in June of 2010. The standards were developed by a team of over 75 teachers and specialist in response to improve math education in the United States through more focused, coherent, rigorous standards to help our students be competitive in the 21st century. As of June 2012, 45 states had adopted the new standards which better coordinate what students at individual grade level should know and be able to do to in order to be college and career ready by grade twelve. With new computer based assessments being developed and set to be given to students as early as 2014 to assess understanding of these standards, it is necessary for teachers to begin implementing instructional shifts in the classroom that prepare students for both the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice. The concept of dual intensity emphasizes that both procedural and conceptual skills are of equal importance in the classroom and changes should be made to provide opportunities for students to experience both in an atmosphere that is both rigorous and intense. Providing students opportunities to demonstrate The Standards for Mathematical Practice will involve the most change in the classroom. It will involve a change in the classroom environment involving the roles of both the teacher and the student. This thesis discusses how the use of tasks and technology were used in the Algebra II classroom to implement the Common Core Standards and describes student misconceptions and lesson revisions for future use that include connections to calculus. The process of formative assessment was used to provide information to both the teacher and the student intended to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. Information gained from the formative assessment reinforced the need to provide more opportunities for students to connect the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice using tasks and technology

Review of Neighborhood Revitalization Initiatives

This document presents introductory information gathered on a wide range of neighborhood revitalization initiatives

When Artists Break Ground: Lessons from a Cleveland Neighborhood Partnership

This report is a review and lessons from the Artists in Residence program, a collaboration between CPAC and Northeast Shores. The organizations invested $2.2 million in a 3-year period into artist-neighborhood relationships in the Waterloo area in North Shore Collinwood. The report shares how the process worked: its strengths, its shortcomings and third-party recommendations and reflections. A wealth of data supplements the report to illustrate changes in neighborhood residents' perceptions, traction among audiences and changes to the neighborhood's landscape