The development of grading procedures for students with educational disabilities attending regular education classes

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act states that children with disabilities must be educated, to the maximum extent possible and appropriate, in the regular education setting with non-handicapped children. The purpose of this study was to develop grading procedures for students with educational disabilities who attend regular education classes. Current district policies, the teachers\u27 procedures for grading students, and the best practices presented in literature were investigated. Is grading students with educational disabilities in the regular education setting a concern for teachers? Should this school district develop a grading policy for students with educational disabilities? A teacher questionnaire was developed to focus on these issues. The percentages of the teachers\u27 responses were recorded, The majority of the teachers surveyed believe that students with educational disabilities should not be graded using the same methods which are used for their non-disabled peers. Various grading procedures were rated by teachers using a Likert-type scale. Although teachers wanted to modify their grading procedures for special education students in their class, there was not a strong consensus indicating favored techniques. Some methods were clearly not favorable among the teachers surveyed. During this investigation, it was also discovered that there was no strong uniformity in grading regular education students. This discovery makes the use of a modified grading system for special education students even more problematic. Finally, teachers were interviewed in an attempt to discover the preferred method of grading students with educational disabilities. Districtwide grading procedures for students with educational disabilities were proposed

Formative assessments using text messages to develop students’ ability to provide causal reasoning in general chemistry

Formative assessment is critical in providing students the opportunity to self-assess their content knowledge and providing data to inform instructional decisions. It also provides students with information about course expectations. If, as called for in numerous science instruction reform efforts, we expect students to be able to apply their chemistry knowledge to analyze data and construct coherent explanations, then not only must summative assessments include items that require this of students, but students must also be provided with frequent and ongoing opportunities to individually practice this difficult task and receive feedback. Although online homework systems can be quite effective at providing students with feedback regarding their mastery of basic skills, it is typically less useful in providing meaningful feedback on constructed student explanations. This study examined the impact of providing students with frequent out-of-class formative assessment activities initiated by text messages. Student responses were then used to facilitate in-class instruction. Increased student participation in these formative assessment tasks correlated positively with success on exams even after accounting for student prior knowledge. There was also evidence that students increased their ability to construct complete explanation over the course of the semester. All results were consistent across two different institutions and three instructors

Students’ Independent Use of Screencasts and Simulations to Construct Understanding of Solubility Concepts

As students increasingly use online chemistry animations and simulations, it is becoming more important to understand how students independently engage with such materials and to develop a set of best practices for students’ use of these resources outside of the classroom. Most of the literature examining students’ use of animations and simulations has focused on classroom use with some studies suggesting that better outcomes are obtained when students use simulations with minimal guidance while others indicate the need for appropriate scaffolding. This study examined differences with respect to (1) student understanding of the concept of dissolution of ionic and covalent compounds in water and (2) student use of electronic resources when students were asked to complete an assignment either by manipulating a simulation on their own or by watching a screencast in which an expert manipulated the same simulation. Comparison of students’ pre- and posttest scores, answers to assignment questions, near-transfer follow-up questions, and eye-tracking analysis suggested that students who viewed the screencast gained a better understanding of the dissolving process, including interactions with water at the particulate level, particularly for covalent compounds. Additionally, the eye tracking indicated that there were significant differences in the ways that the different treatment groups (screencast or simulation) used the electronic resources

Improving conceptual understanding of gas behavior through the use of screencasts and simulations

Engagement with particle-level simulations can help students visualize the motion and interactions of gas particles, thus helping them develop a more scientifically accurate mental model. Such engagement outside of class prior to formal instruction can help meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds and provide instructors with a common experience upon which to build with further instruction. Yet, even with well-designed scaffolds, students may not attend to the most salient aspects of the simulation. In this case, a screencast where an instructor provides narrated use of the simulation and points students towards the important observations may provide additional benefits. This study, which is part of the larger ChemSims project, investigates the use of simulations and screencasts to support students’ developing understanding of gas properties by examining student learning gains

Understanding the Impact of Learning Community Support for STEM students with Low Mathematics Placement

As a residential college within Michigan State University that focuses on STEM fields, Lyman Briggs College developed a STEM learning community to support students with low mathematics placement test scores, the Instilling Quantitative and Integrative Reasoning program (INQUIRE). INQUIRE serves some of those students considered historically at-risk based on STEM retention and graduation rates. INQUIRE was developed as learning community using curricular design, cohort-building activities, and academic resources to assist students’ transition to college. Participating students were surveyed to understand the student experience of INQUIRE. Students’ responses indicated that the program helped them adjust to college, prepare for introductory STEM courses, collaborate with other students and faculty, and experience academic and personal growth. A few students (4%) stated that the program put them behind their peers. Quantitatively, four-year STEM retention showed an increase from 43 to 56% for students starting in college-level algebra but remained statistically unchanged for those beginning in pre-college algebra (moving from 31 to 37%). The six-year graduation rates for both groups remained unchanged. These results indicate the difficulty in improving the graduation rates of students with low mathematics placement but indicate that INQUIRE made a positive and meaningful impact on students’ experience

Design and Implementation of a Studio-Based General Chemistry Course

Most students taking general chemistry courses do not intend to pursue careers in chemistry; in fact, they are more likely to end up in positions where they fund, write, or vote for chemical research and policies. Our profession continues to ask how we can teach students scientific reasoning skills and chemical understanding in general chemistry that they are able to take beyond the classroom into their everyday lives. The emerging answer at this university is the studio teaching method, which incorporates the “best teaching and learning practices†recommended by chemical education research within an integrated lecture–lab technology-intensive environment. The design, implementation, and pedagogical rationale of studio general chemistry are described

Within-Person Associations Among Self-Perceptions of Memory, Depressive Symptoms, and Activity Participation in Older Adults

Background and Objectives Self-perceptions of memory problems may impact older adults’ mood as well as their activity participation, thereby negatively affecting health and well-being. We examined within-person associations among self-reported memory, depressive symptoms, as well as physical, social, and cognitive activity participation in older adults without cognitive impairment. Research Design and Methods Samples were drawn from the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP), and Minority Aging Research Study (MARS), with over 8,000 participants (65+ years) included across data sets. In a series of coordinated analyses, multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine within-person relationships over periods of up to 20 years. Results Across EAS, NHATS, and MAP/MARS samples, we found that older adults’ self-perceptions of memory did not directly covary with activity participation over time. However, we did find an indirect association in NHATS such that within-person changes in depressive symptoms were associated with changes in self-reported memory, and these contributed to lower physical as well as social activity participation. Discussion and Implications Older adults’ activity participation is important for health, but maximizing engagement requires understanding potentially impeding factors. We found some evidence that as self-perceptions of memory change over time, associated depressive symptoms may contribute to lower activity participation. Inconsistent findings across data sets, however, suggest future research is needed to understand individual characteristics that may influence these relationships

Characterizing college science instruction: The Three-Dimensional Learning Observation Protocol

The importance of improving STEM education is of perennial interest, and to this end, the education community needs ways to characterize transformation efforts. Three-dimensional learning (3DL) is one such approach to transformation, in which core ideas of the discipline, scientific practices, and crosscutting concepts are combined to support student development of disciplinary expertise. We have previously reported on an approach to the characterization of assessments, the Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol (3D-LAP), that can be used to identify whether assessments have the potential to engage students in 3DL. Here we present the development of a companion, the Three-Dimensional Learning Observation Protocol (3D-LOP), an observation protocol that can reliably distinguish between instruction that has potential for engagement with 3DL and instruction that does not. The 3D-LOP goes beyond other observation protocols, because it is intended not only to characterize the pedagogical approaches being used in the instructional environment, but also to identify whether students are being asked to engage with scientific practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. We demonstrate herein that the 3D-LOP can be used reliably to code for the presence of 3DL; further, we present data that show the utility of the 3D-LOP in differentiating between instruction that has the potential to promote 3DL from instruction that does not. Our team plans to continue using this protocol to evaluate outcomes of instructional transformation projects. We also propose that the 3D-LOP can be used to support practitioners in developing curricular materials and selecting instructional strategies to promote engagement in three-dimensional instruction

New reactions of germylenes with ketones and assessment of studio general chemistry.

New reaction modes of germylenes with ketones are presented. The germylene, Ge[CH(SiMe3)2]2 (1), will undergo reversible [4+2] addition with alkyl or aryl phenones to form a conjugated triene. Anthraquinone or 1,4-naphthylquinone will undergo a similar triene formation, but an insertion by a second molecule of 1 yields a product stable to reversion. In these cases, the second equivalent of germylene acts as a trap for the initially formed conjugated triene. A similar germylene, Ge[N(SiMe3)2]2 ( 2), reacts in analogous fashion with anthraquinone or 1,4-naphthylquinone indicating that it too engages in an equilibrium with phenones. The equilibrium for 2 with phenones lies heavily toward free 2 and phenone as no triene is detected via UV/Vis or NMR spectroscopies. Successful catalytic hydrogenation of the conjugate triene formed from the reaction of 1 with benzophenone is also presented. Other non-phenone ketones react with 1 via either CH or OH insertion. Three acetyl-containing ketones (acetone, butanone and cyclopropyl methyl ketone) have been observed to undergo CH insertion with 1 in the presence of one equivalent of MgCl2. The absence of MgCl 2 yields apparent OH insertion into the enol tautomer of the ketone. All secondary ketones examined undergo OH insertion even in the presence of MgCl2. The development, assessment and a description of a studio version of general chemistry are presented. This new course was implemented in the Fall 2002 semester at the University of Michigan. Content-based interviews focusing on equilibrium indicated that the students from the studio course had a better understanding of the underlying principles of equilibrium than their non-studio counterparts. The students enrolled in the studio course also gave more non-prompted explanations for a chemical reaction demonstrated during the interview, suggesting that they were more capable of transferring their chemical knowledge to new systems. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire indicated that the students from the studio course were significantly more likely to rely on their peers when seeking help for the class than their counterparts. This result, coupled with student comments from two different group interviews, indicates the course successfully accomplished its goal of building a learning community.Ph.D.EducationInorganic chemistryPure SciencesScience educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123718/2/3096214.pd

Using Simulations and Screencasts in Online Preclass Activities to Support Student Building of Mental Models

As online learning and flipped classes become more important in chemistry instruction, the development of learning materials that can be used to support students’ independent learning of conceptual chemistry content is critical. This paper summarizes the key findings from an eight-year investigation of effective practices for using simulations in preclass introductions to core chemistry concepts with a focus on supporting students’ development of particulate-level models. Student learning gains for six core chemistry concepts were compared for students’ independent use of a simulation using scaffolded instructions versus students’ viewing a screencast of instructors modeling the use of the simulation to answer a series of questions. Though both approaches resulted in student learning gains and provided a solid foundation for subsequent instruction, the screencast approach provided additional benefits. These included avoiding potential simulation limitations and the ability to add instructional content to support student learning. Additionally, studying many iterations of assignments for several different topics yielded an assignment design framework that provides guidelines for instructors looking to create or use simulation-based preclass activities in the classroom to support student learning