Using Responsive Evaluation to Evaluate a Professional Conference

In a statewide conference on alternative methods for assessing students’ learning, we incorporated responsive evaluation methods into the structure of the conference. The application of these interactive evaluation techniques serves as a pilot study that illustrates the possible utility of these tech-niques in evaluating conferences. This paper provides a brief review of the literature surrounding responsive evaluation, a description of the responsive evaluation methods applied to this conference, and a discussion of the results and implications of this pilot study

How Do Teachers Use Comics to Promote Engagement, Equity, and Diversity in Science Classrooms?

Equitable learning opportunities are critical to the goals of science education. However, major curriculum standards are vague on how to achieve equity goals, and educators must often develop their own resources and strategies to achieve equity goals. This study examines how educators used a comic book series designed to interest youth in virology as a way to make science more broadly appealing to their diverse students. We begin with the notion of Pedagogical Design Capacity, which describes a dynamic relationship between teachers and their tools and the ability for teachers to perceive and leverage affordances of artifacts as tools in their curriculum design. In a qualitative analysis of 18 interviews with educators, survey responses, instructional artifacts, and classroom observations, we describe the potential that educators saw in the comics and the strategies they used to take advantage of that potential to promote equitable science teaching. Notably, we observed how the comics enabled educators to incorporate multiple literacies and disciplinary lenses into their lessons, thereby expanding traditional views of science literacy. We documented the range of techniques by which they used comics and fictional narratives to support specific scientific practices, such as modeling. We also observed challenges that participants encountered in using comics, which included overcoming their own and their students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the role of informal reading materials in science education

Discovery Orientation, Cognitive Schemas, and Disparities in Science Identity in Early Adolescence

Why are some youth more likely to think of themselves as a science kind of person than others? In this paper, we use a cognitive social-theoretical framework to assess disparities in science identity among middle school–age youth in the United States. We investigate how discovery orientation is associated with science interest, perceived ability, importance, and reflected appraisal, and how they are related to whether youth see themselves, and perceive that others see them, as a science kind of person. We surveyed 441 students in an ethnically diverse, low-income middle school. Gender and race/ethnicity are associated with science identity but not with discovery orientation. Structural equation model results show that the positive association between discovery orientation and science identity is mediated by science interest, importance, and reflected appraisal. These findings advance understanding of how science attitudes and recognition may contribute to the underrepresentation of girls and/or minorities in science

The relative impact of in-class closed-book versus take-home open-book examination type on academic performance, student knowledge retention and wellbeing

This study investigates the relationship between take-home (open-book) examinations (THE) and in-class (closed-book) examinations (ICE) on academic performance and student wellbeing. Two social science courses (one bachelor and one master) were included in the study. In the first cohort (2019), students from both courses performed an ICE, whereas students in the second cohort (2020) performed a THE. Four to six months following course completion, students were approached to fill out a survey pertaining to their academic performance and wellbeing during the course, and to complete a test measuring knowledge retention on the course materials. No significant differences were found between the ICE and THE cohorts in academic performance and knowledge retention for either the bachelor or the master students. Bachelor students who completed a THE in 2020 reported significantly lower wellbeing in comparison to their peers completing the ICE a year earlier. The implications of the results in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic are discussed

Informal Science Experiences among Urban and Rural Youth: Exploring Differences at the Intersections of Socioeconomic Status, Gender and Ethnicity

The current study explores patterns of informal science experiences among youth in urban and rural middle schools by gender and socioeconomic status. Data come from surveys in two Midwestern middle schools, one in a mid-sized city, and the other in a rural-remote town. We asked about participation in informal science activities (e.g. visiting zoos or museums, or watching shows about science) and if youth had participated in science-focused clubs in the last 12 months (e.g. after-school science clubs, 4-H, scouts). Rural youth reported lower rates of participation in after-school science clubs and a greater desire to participate in after-school science programming than urban youth. Latino/a youth tend to have fewer informal science experiences than non- Latino/a youth, particularly in urban areas. There were few differences in informal science experiences between boys and girls, but in urban areas, girls report more science experiences than boys. Reported science experiences are overall higher in urban areas, yet youth with fewer resources (i.e. books in the home) have fewer informal science experiences overall. This study sheds new light on how socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and geography interact with one another to shape youth science exposure and interest

Accuracy of COVID-19 Relevant Knowledge among Youth: Number of Information Sources Matters

Can comics effectively convey scientific knowledge about COVID-19 to youth? What types and how many sources of information did youth have about COVID-19 during the pandemic? How are sources of information associated with accurate COVID-19 knowledge? To answer these questions, we surveyed youth in grades 5–9 in a Midwestern United States school district in the winter of 2020–2021. The online survey used measures of COVID-19 knowledge and sources, with an embedded experiment on COVID-19 relevant comics. Guided by an integrated science capital and just-in-time health and science information acquisition model, we also measured level of science capital, science identity, and utility of science for health and society. The school district protocol required parental consent for participation; 264 of ~15,000 youth participated. Youth were randomly assigned one of four comic conditions before receiving an online survey. Results indicate that, similar to knowledge gains in comic studies on other science topics, reading the comics was associated with 7 to 29% higher accuracy about COVID-19. We found that youth reported getting information about COVID-19 from between 0–6 sources including media, family, friends, school, and experts. The bivariate positive association of news versus other sources with accuracy of knowledge did not persist in the full model, yet the positive association of a higher number of sources and accuracy did persist in the multivariate models. The degree of valuing the utility of science for their health moderated the number of sources to accuracy association. Those with less value on science for health had a stronger positive association of number of sources and accuracy in COVID-19 knowledge. We conclude that during a pandemic, even with health and science information ubiquitous in the news media, increasing youth access to a variety of accurate sources of information about science and health can increase youth knowledge

Science Possible Selves and the Desire to be a Scientist: Mindsets, Gender Bias, and Confidence during Early Adolescence

In the United States, gender gaps in science interest widen during the middle school years. Recent research on adults shows that gender gaps in some academic fields are associated with mindsets about ability and gender-science biases. In a sample of 529 students in a U.S. middle school, we assess how explicit boy-science bias, science confidence, science possible self (belief in being able to become a scientist), and desire to be a scientist vary by gender. Guided by theories and prior research, we use a series of multivariate logistic regression models to examine the relationships between mindsets about ability and these variables. We control for self-reported science grades, social capital, and race/ethnic minority status. Results show that seeing academic ability as innate (“fixed mindsets”) is associated with boy-science bias, and that younger girls have less boy-science bias than older girls. Fixed mindsets and boy-science bias are both negatively associated with a science possible self; science confidence is positively associated with a science possible self. In the final model, high science confident and having a science possible self are positively associated with a desire to be a scientist. Facilitating growth mindsets and countering boy-science bias in middle school may be fruitful interventions for widening participation in science careers

Viruses, Vaccines and the Public

Current research in virology is changing public conceptions about vaccines and infectious disease. The University of Nebraska State Museum collaborated with research virologists, science writers, artists and learning researchers to create public outreach materials about viruses and infectious disease. The project, funded by the National Institute of Health’s SEPA program, developed comics, a book with Carl Zimmer, and other materials and programs. The project launched three kinds of learning research: 1) a survey of Nebraska adults on their opinions about vaccines and infectious disease; 2) a study comparing the mental models of viruses, vaccines and infection from virologists, teachers, and students; and 3) a controlled study 873 high school students randomly assigned to read either a comic or a text-based essay with the same virus information

Hands-on Computer Use in Science Classrooms: The Skeptics Are Still Waiting

Frank Collea was a friend of Robert Fuller and David Brooks, and a mentor to Brooks. We miss him for his energy, his enthusiasm for teaching science, and his perception about how to improve science education. Frank Collea was not a big fan of using computers in instruction. Frank was neither an advocate of using computers to deliver instruction, nor an advocate of teaching their use as professional tools. Indeed, he thought that most of those of us who advocate computer use make assertions that are unwarranted. A decade ago, desktop computers were beginning to appear in colleges and universities in small numbers, and we began to explore their use (Sowell and Fuller, 1990). Since then, our thinking has changed substantially, moving away from having computers serve as patient teachers of the classical curriculum, and toward using them as professional tools—to extend, to magnify, to expand, and to enhance human reasoning. This article deals with the issues related to students learning to use computers as such professional tools. Two qualitative data sources inform this paper. The first is a recent doctoral dissertation consisting of a case study of a ‘mathematical methods in physics’ course that incorporated the use of Maple™* software (Runge, 1997). The other is an evaluation of a new undergraduate course, ‘multimedia physics,’ that sought to integrate mathematics and physics content, and involved the use of many media forms (Pytlik Z. and Spiegel, 1997)

Developing Pandemic Comics for Youth Audiences

In spring 2020 our team received funding from the Rapid Response Research program of the National Science Foundation to develop comics that would help youth understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Our project built on a decade of expertise creating comics about the biology of viruses. In collaboration with virologists and artists, we developed three comic stories about COVID-19 during the pandemic and posted them on-line during the last half of 2020. The fictional narratives address fundamental issues in biology, virology, and network science, in order to help readers understand the complexities of living through a viral pandemic. The stories focus on three themes: the biology and social context of the COVID-19 virus; the relationship of wild animals, particularly bats, to the pandemic; and the impact of the pandemic on Tribal communities. We describe the challenges of comic development during the pandemic and the feedback from youth on whether the comics were appealing, interesting, and understandable. The stories were posted on worldofviruses.unl.edu and are published by the University of Nebraska Press as the book, C’RONA Pandemic Comics, with essays for youth about the virus and the pandemic