2018 CSTE Presentation Schedule 

CSTE.NARST_.2018.Printable.Schedule.pdf

Sunday March 11, 2018 Strand 1: Science Learning, Understanding and Conceptual Change Poster Session A 3:15pm – 4:15pm Augusta Conference Center	An Empirically-Based Conditional Learning Progression for Climate Change Wayne Breslyn, University of Maryland Andrea Drewes, University of Delaware J. Randy McGinnis, University of Maryland Emily Hestness, University of Maryland Chrystalla Mouza, University of Delaware
Sunday March 11, 2018 Strand 5: College Science Teaching and Learning (Grades 13-20) Poster Session A 3:15pm – 4:15pm Augusta Conference Center	A Qualitative Exploration of Graduating Seniors’ Perceptions of Their Undergraduate Studies Carly Hunt, University of Maryland Gili Marbach-Ad, University of Maryland Michelle Bertke, University of Maryland Katerina Thompson, University of Maryland
Sunday March 11, 2018 Strand 5: College Science Teaching and Learning (Grades 13-20) Poster Session A 3:15pm – 4:15pm Augusta Conference Center	Enhancing Graduate Students’ Ability to Conduct and Communicate Research Through an Interdisciplinary Lens Hailey V. Marr, University of Maryland Gili Marbach-Ad, University of Maryland
Sunday March 11, 2018 Strand 7: Pre-service Science Teacher Education Poster Session B 4:15pm – 5:15pm Augusta Conference Center	Programmatic Model Building in Undergraduate Elementary Science Teacher Education for Computational Thinking J. Randy McGinnis, University of Maryland Diane Jass Ketelhut, University of Maryland Emily Hestness, University of Maryland Hannoori Jeong, University of Maryland
Sunday March 11, 2018 Strand 12: Educational Technology Poster Session B 4:15pm – 5:15pm Augusta Conference Center	The Impacts of a Computer Simulation on Student Learning Experience in Science Classrooms Xiaoyang Gong, University of Maryland Diane Jass Ketelhut, University of Maryland Ebony Terrell Shockley, University of Maryland Monday March 12, 2018 Strand 8: In-service Science Teacher Education Socio-Scientific Issues & Science Teacher Education 8:45am – 10:15am, Augusta G Presider: Stephen B. Witzig, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Monday March 12, 2018 Strand 8: In-service Science Teacher Education Socio-Scientific Issues & Science Teacher Education 8:45am – 10:15am, Augusta G Presider: Stephen B. Witzig, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth	“They Said Oh, Just Talk About Climate!” Tensions Teachers Face Implementing Climate Change Lessons Asli Sezen-Barrie, University of Maine Gili Marbach-Ad, University of Maryland
Tuesday March 13, 2018 Strand 5: College Science Teaching and Learning (Grades 13-20) TA Development 2:45pm – 4:15pm, Augusta F Presider: Jaime L. Sabel, University of Memphis	Undergraduate Teaching Assistants as a Source of Feedback to Improve Teaching and Learning in Biology Hannah Jardine, University of Maryland
Tuesday March 13, 2018 Strand 5: College Science Teaching and Learning (Grades 13-20) TA Development 2:45pm – 4:15pm, Augusta F Presider: Jaime L. Sabel, University of Memphis	A Network Initiative to Develop Research Skills in Professional Developers Working with Biology Teaching Assistants Gili Marbach-Ad, University of Maryland Grant E. Gardner, Middle Tennessee State University Kristen R. Miller, University of Georgia Judy S. Ridgway, The Ohio State University Elisabeth Schussler, University of Tennessee

 

Center for Science and Technology in Education 

2018 Spring Lecture Series

 

  Lunch & Discussion with Bianca Bennett

Held on Wednesday May 16, 2018

   11:30 - 1:00pm         Main Event & Lunch (Benjamin Bldg, Room 2226)

      Bianca Bennett, Specialist, Computer Science, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)

Talk Abstract: Equity in education has been a passion for Bianca Bennett since her earliest teaching experiences. Bianca’s career in education began at Georgia State University in 2004. She participated in an accelerated teacher certification and master of education program, focused on training teachers to be advocates for equity in Atlanta’s urban schools. Bianca continued to grow academically in her career by obtaining endorsements to teach English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and gifted students.

As a teacher, Bianca had the opportunity to teach students from diverse backgrounds and serve as a leader in her schools. Wanting to have a greater impact, Bianca stepped away from the classroom in 2013. She was accepted into National Urban Fellows, a public service leadership development program, obtaining her Master of Public Administration. At the conclusion of the program in 2014, Bianca returned to Atlanta Public Schools as a district wide gifted specialist with a renewed sense of ensuring equity within the school system’s gifted program. Additionally, she worked with the district’s STEM schools to develop a differentiated gifted, STEM environment within each school.

In February of this year, Bianca’s passion for integrative STEM education in urban schools brought her to District of Columbia Public Schools as a Computer Science Specialist. In her current role, she is responsible for developing a comprehensive K-12 computer science program. Of course, as she builds the program, she will continue her commitment to ensuring equitable access for D.C.’s diverse student population.

CSTEflyer.Bennett.pdf

 

2017 Fall Distinguished Lecture Series

Scientific Modeling for K-16 Earth Systems Education:Theoretical Perspectives and

Empirical Insights

Held on Thursday November 16, 2017 

Cory Forbes is an Associate Professor of Science Education, Director, Nebraska Collaborative for Food, Energy, & Water Education (NC-FEW), and Coordinator, IANR Science Literacy Initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His work focuses on supporting and studying teaching and learning about Earth systems across the K-16 continuum through innovative curricular and instructional interventions, including teacher education and professional development, curriculum development, and assessment.  Forbes was awarded the 2014 Early Career Research Award by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST).

Talk Abstract: Today’s most pressing global challenges span Earth systems at local, regional, and global scales. The problem-solvers and innovators who will be faced with addressing these challenges are today’s students and tomorrow’s consumers, employees, teachers, voters, and policymakers, each of whom must develop scientific literacy.  Models are critical tools with which scientists study and seek to solve these challenges and scientific modeling is a scientific practice prioritized in the Next Generation Science Standards.  However, there remains a great deal to learn about how to engage students in scientific modeling in meaningful ways and support them to use models productively to support their reasoning about Earth systems.

For the past 5 years, our research team has been engaged in research and development to support and understand elementary students’ use of models to reason about Earth systems in the United States and Germany (see references below).  In this presentation, I share empirical results and theoretical insights from this work, as well as its more recent progression spanning multiple new externally-funded projects to focus on scientific modeling across K-16 settings.  In particular, I will discuss evolution of a 3-dimensional learning performances framework reflecting scientific modeling practices, epistemic dimensions of scientific modeling, and core disciplinary concepts.   The presentation also focuses on early-stage elements of this research program focused specifically with the use of computer-based modeling tools to support students’ systems thinking about water systems and climatic phenomena. 

    

CSTE.Speaker.Flyer.Forbes.pdf

 

 

 

Promoting Scientific Literacy through Model-Oriented Issue-Based Teaching and Learning

Held on Tuesday October 17, 2017 

Troy D. Sadler studies science teaching and learning and, in particular, how students make sense of and learn through complex societal issues. He holds appointments as a Professor of Education at the University of Missouri and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he will assume the role of Associate Dean for Research in 2018. 

Talk Abstract: A long-standing goal of science education is promoting scientific literacy among all learners, and numerous scholars and educators have compellingly argued that scientific literacy for all demands moving beyond a focus on science ideas alone (Roberts & Bybee 2014). I take the view that scientific literacy corresponds to engaging in scientific practices for solving problems and negotiating complex societal issues (i.e., socio-scientific issues) and invoke scientific practices in a manner consistent with the Framework for K-12 Science Education. The practices most critical for the form of scientific literacy espoused here are those that are epistemic in nature, that is, those practices which engage students in sense-making, such as scientific modeling. In the NGSS era, many efforts are devoted to development of strategies for supporting student engagement in modeling, and the most promising approaches involve learning experiences focused on scientific phenomena. Phenomena-based approaches can be productive in terms of science learning (Reiser et al.2017), but organizing instruction around phenomena alone does not go far enough toward achieving the ultimate goal of promoting scientific literacy for all (Dillon, 2017). If we want students to use scientific modeling beyond school settings, they need opportunities to see and practice scientific modeling in the negotiation of issues that matter beyond their science classrooms. Students, who engage in modeling to better understand scientific phenomena central to issues that they perceive as important, are far more likely to build usable and lasting scientific understandings and modeling competencies (Louca & Zacharia 2012), precisely what is needed for scientific literacy for all.

In this presentation, I present a new science teaching approach for promoting scientific literacy through the development of modeling competencies. The approach, Model-Oriented Issue-Based (MOIB) teaching, highlights student engagement in modeling as they make sense of the science underlying critical societal issues (such as climate change and genetically modified organisms). Our work on MOIB teaching reveals that the approach can support student learning of science concepts and modeling practices. Other aspects of the research reveal ways in which teachers engage in the process of designing and enacting MOIB learning experiences as well as the barriers and challenges that must be addressed to support teachers as they engage in this work.

                                                                                                                             

CSTE Speaker Flyer.Sadler.pdf (1.78 MB)

In the News

During the Fall 2015 semester, J. Randy McGinnis conducted an IRB approved study of pedagogical transformation in the elementary teacher education science methods courses. The study was partially funded by an Elevate Fellowship (awarded by the Center for Teaching & Learning Transformation Center at UM) and an NSF Grant (MADE CLEAR, ClimateEdResearch.org). McGinnis' research team for this study included his doctoral students, Emily Hestness and Natalie Harr Ylizarde.

They conducted a design-based research study that investigated future elementary teachers’' understanding and views of citizen science to enact the Next Generation Science Standards (specifically, how to effectively teach the climate change Disciplinary Core Idea and the computational thinking Core Practice). They expected the findings from the study would inform future directions for the professional development (preservice and inservice) of science educators nationwide --and beyond. Collaborating in the transformation of the pedagogy examined in our study were Dr. Jan Plane, Director of the UM Center for Women in Computing and one of her graduate students, Angel Plane. For the study, Dr. Plane and Angel designed and conducted a lesson on programming educational robots (LEGO Mindstorms) with the interns in the study sample (i.e., interns in my elementary teacher education science methods courses).

 

Diane Jass Ketelhut (along with colleague Brian Nelson of Arizona State University) received an award for Best App-Based Game for the SAVE Science module, Weather Trouble, at the 9th European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL) 2015, held in Steinkjer, Norway this October.

 

 

 

J. Randy McGinnis, Director of CSTE and Professor of Science Education in the Department of TLPL in the College of Education, University of Maryland, was recognized at the annual meeting of NARST held in Rio Mar, Puerto Rico for his service (2011-2013) as President of NARST.

NARST is a worldwide organization for improving science teaching and learning through research. Since its inception in 1928, NARST has promoted research in science education and the communication of knowledge generated by the research. The ultimate goal of NARST is to help all learners achieve science literacy. NARST promotes this goal by: 1) encouraging and supporting the application of diverse research methods and theoretical perspectives from multiple disciplines to the investigation of teaching and learning in science; 2) communicating science education research findings to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers; and 3) cooperating with other educational and scientific societies to influence educational policies.”

 

J. Randy McGinnis was awarded an Elevate Fellowship (January-December, 2015) in the new Edward St. John’s Teaching and Learning and Transformation Center, University of Maryland. Ms. Emily Hestness, a past doctoral student in the Department of TLPL,  assisted him in the fellowship. 

 

Dr. McGinnis’s Elevate Fellowship Project
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) places new emphasis on preparing teachers to model scientific practices in their teaching so that their learners will gain such skills. The Science Practices in the NGSS include: asking questions and posing problems, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Also, the Maryland Technology Teaching Standards (MDTTS) requires teachers to infuse educational technology throughout their teaching of subject matter. As an Elevate Fellow in the Teaching and Learning and Transformation Center at the University of Maryland, Dr. McGinnis proposed to solve this new problem of preparing new teachers of science to meet the standards detailed in the NGSS and the MDTTS by redesigning education experiences in his elementary science methods courses (EDCI 372) so that it includes an active learning Citizen Science experience as a way to model 21st Century pedagogy. Dr. McGinnis conceptualized citizen science as: approaches to scientific inquiry that engage members of the public, together with the scientific community, in scientific investigation and learning around unanswered questions or problems.