ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Science Literacy: A More Fundamental Meaning
Author: Elhai, Jeff
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Scientific Literacy,Science Education,Elementary School Students,Educational Change,Mentors,Scientific Concepts

Over a century of attention to &quot;science literacy for all&quot; has not produced a public that can appreciate a common body of core science facts, concepts, and methods; nor have many acquired from their years in K-12 education the ability to apply science learning to everyday problems or to the scientific issues that concern a democracy. Some have called the endeavor impossible and moved on to lesser goals of science appreciation and heuristic guides to choosing trusted experts. However, a route to science literacy may yet be possible, if we redefine the goal as achieving literacy within a community. The tools for that end are different from what is generally offered in the classroom. What will be more helpful is a set of core values that underlie the generation of science concepts and facts, that inform the methods of science, and most importantly, that enable the social interchange that is the essence of the scientific endeavor. These values--the ethos of science--should be offered to elementary school students as a culture that forms through inquiry into questions students bring with them from their own experiences. Suggestions are offered as to how this might come about, with the central role occupied by the teacher as model and with the culture nurtured by the teacher, by a practitioner from the world of science, and eventually by the energy and contributions of the students themselves.
Experiential Instruction: Fostering Language and Literacy in English Language Learners
Author: Cumming, Holly
Date: 2022-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Experiential Learning,Teaching Methods,English Language Learners,Individualized Instruction,Second Language Instruction,Thematic Approach,Early Childhood Education,Reading Programs

This article targets a teaching dilemma found in today's schools, which is the challenge for teachers in our multicultural classrooms to provide appropriate, targeted instruction for the English Language Learner (ELL), most specifically, in the two critical areas of oral language and literacy. The concepts of experiential instruction in this essay target the early years classroom. Experiential instruction engages students orally, cognitively, and physically by drawing upon their whole sensory system within familiar contexts. Students see themselves as communicators, thinkers, and doers as their culture, language and interests are honoured and accepted as starting points to language and literacy learning.
Smart CUREs: A Professional Development Program for Advancing Teaching Assistant Preparedness to Facilitate Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences
Author: Kern, Amie M.
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Student Research,Student Experience,Science Education,Graduate Students,Teaching Assistants,Professional Development,Readiness,Asynchronous Communication,Synchronous Communication,Student Journals,Learning Activities

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as a viable platform to engage large numbers of students in real-world scientific practices. Historically, CUREs have been offered throughout science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curricula at both the introductory and advanced levels and have been facilitated by a variety of individuals, including faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This latter population, in particular, has increasingly been tasked with facilitating CUREs, yet they often receive little meaningful professional development to improve pedagogical skills vital to this type of instruction. To address this disparity, we designed and evaluated a semester-long intervention to support GTAs (N = 7) responsible for leading CUREs at our institution during the Fall 2020 semester. Intervention activities included synchronous interactive discussions, reflective journaling, and asynchronous practical exercises. Analysis of retrospective postintervention survey responses and focus group interview data revealed that participants exhibited gains in their understanding of the dimensions of CUREs, strategies for mentoring undergraduates, and use of various pedagogical techniques as well as confidence in addressing and adopting those dimensions and strategies in their courses. Furthermore, participants reported finding value in the sense of community created through the intervention, which served as a means to share ideas and struggles throughout the term.
The Changing Roles of Special Education Teachers in the 21st Century
Author: Bradley, Joanne
Date: 2022-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Inclusion,Students with Disabilities,Special Education Teachers,Regular and Special Education Relationship,Teacher Role,Teacher Responsibility,Teacher Collaboration

The introduction of inclusive education in Manitoba, Canada, 30 years ago, has changed the roles and responsibilities of special education teachers. These professionals are now teachers without a class, who co-teach with, and are a support service for, the regular education teacher. They have new administrative duties, due to increased responsibilities related to scheduling and paperwork. In addition, they are held responsible for the teaching of risk reduction behaviours in the inclusive setting. Special educational teachers have therefore had to reevaluate their purpose in the educational system to provide regular classroom teachers and their students with the opportunity to have the most success.
Educating Gifted and Talented Students: An Educational Paradigm
Author: Byrka, Kathy
Date: 2022-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academically Gifted,Gifted Education,Educational Environment,Educational Needs,Educational Quality,Educational Development,Teacher Role,Student Characteristics

Gifted and talented children share some unique characteristics that must be understood by counsellors, and teachers. These children need to be identified in order to provide challenging education that they so desperately need. When not feeling challenged, these children report being bored, which results in feelings of exhaustion and stress. Gifted and talented children are very sensitive to their surroundings, and are often bullied by jealous students. A school that provides advanced methodologies, understanding counsellors, and educated teachers can help to reduce these problems, motivating the gifted and talented students to excel above and beyond their potential.
Social Skills Training: Is it Essential for Students with Learning Disabilities?
Author: Boulanger, Lindsay
Date: 2022-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Students with Disabilities,Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,Learning Disabilities,Interpersonal Competence,Skill Development,Inclusion,Training

In our inclusive schools, teachers work with many children who have learning differences such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities. For most children with special learning needs such as these, educators focus on helping them to achieve academic skills. However, educators are finding that delays in social skills negatively affect students' abilities to reach their academic potential. Social skills training should have equal priority with academics, because without suitable social relationships, children cannot focus on the educational goals designed for them.
Examining Expressive Art Therapies
Author: Bridges, Lisa
Date: 2022-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Art Therapy,Music Therapy,Creative Writing,Self Expression,Psychological Patterns

Expressive Art Therapy is an unconventional therapeutic technique that can help individuals to heal emotionally. Music, art, and creative writing can help clients to re-align their emotions and bring forth healing within themselves. Music brings people together and may evoke different emotions in each person. Art represents the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of all people by using imagery rather than words. Finally, creative writing lets intrusive thoughts out of the mind and releases them onto paper. When clients reconnect their heads and their hearts, positive emotional changes can begin in their lives.
Effects of Nurture versus Trauma on Infant and Early Childhood Psychological and Social Development
Author: Nichols, Margaret
Date: 2022-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Infants,Young Children,Trauma,Nature Nurture Controversy,Social Development,Psychological Patterns,Brain,Early Experience,Neurological Organization,Mental Disorders

Child maltreatment is a significant problem in North America. Maltreatment comes in many forms, such as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, abandonment, and traumatic world events. The maltreatment affects children's neurobiological development, and thus, potentially their future quality of social and psychological health. This article gives a basic description of how the brain works and discusses the impact of trauma, particularly from birth to three years of age, on different aspects of the brain. It also contrasts the effects of trauma with the impact of nurture on the brain. The author demonstrates that what happens from birth to age three sets up the person's neuro-wiring for how individuals will respond to perceived traumatic events for the rest of their lives, and determines whether or not they will be prone to psychological disorders by the age of three or later on in life.
Undergraduate STEM Students&apos; Science Communication Skills, Science Identity, and Science Self-Efficacy Influence Their Motivations and Behaviors in STEM Community Engagement
Author: Murphy, Katlyn M.
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,STEM Education,Sciences,Communication Skills,Self Concept,Self Efficacy,Student Motivation,Student Behavior,Community Involvement,Opportunities,Predictor Variables

While numerous studies have examined how scientists perceive doing public communication and engagement, there is limited research on undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) student attitudes toward these meaningful activities. Undergraduate students are more diverse than STEM faculty and may serve as boundary spanners in communities, so exploring their motivations and behaviors in STEM engagement is valuable. For scientists, confidence in communication skills is one driver of public engagement behavior. In this study, we utilized a survey to examine how undergraduate STEM students' science communication skills as well as their science identity and science self-efficacy may drive motivation and behaviors in STEM community engagement. Our findings revealed that STEM students are motivated to do community engagement but lack opportunities to actually do these behaviors. Regression analyses revealed that year in academic progression did not increase STEM students' attitudes and behaviors in community engagement. However, science communication skills, science identity, and science self-efficacy were all predictors of student motivation and behaviors in STEM community engagement. These findings suggest that universities should intentionally provide training in science communication, continue providing support for students developing science identity and self-efficacy, and develop opportunities for undergraduate STEM students to do science outreach and engagement activities.
Visual Literacy of Molecular Biology Revealed through a Card-Sorting Task
Author: Newman, Dina L.
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Visual Literacy,Molecular Biology,Science Instruction,Genetics,Biology,Scientific Literacy,Visual Aids,Concept Formation,Scientific Concepts,Class Activities,Teaching Methods,Task Analysis,Instructional Materials

Visual literacy, which is the ability to effectively identify, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media, is an important aspect of science literacy. As molecular processes are not directly observable, researchers and educators rely on visual representations (e.g., drawings) to communicate ideas in biology. How learners interpret and organize those numerous diagrams is related to their underlying knowledge about biology and their skills in visual literacy. Furthermore, it is not always obvious how and why learners interpret diagrams in the way they do (especially if their interpretations are unexpected), as it is not possible to &quot;see&quot; inside the minds of learners and directly observe the inner workings of their brains. Hence, tools that allow for the investigation of visual literacy are needed. Here, we present a novel card-sorting task based on visual literacy skills to investigate how learners interpret and think about DNA-based concepts. We quantified differences in performance between groups of varying expertise and in pre- and postcourse settings using percentages of expected card pairings and edit distance to a perfect sort. Overall, we found that biology experts organized the visual representations based on deep conceptual features, while biology learners (novices) more often organized based on surface features, such as color and style. We also found that students performed better on the task after a course in which molecular biology concepts were taught, suggesting the activity is a useful and valid tool for measuring knowledge. We have provided the cards to the community for use as a classroom activity, as an assessment instrument, and/or as a useful research tool to probe student ideas about molecular biology.
Leadership Learning Design Principles: Co-Creating Dialogic and Critical Pedagogy within Cohort and Community Contexts
Author: Allen, Wendy B.
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Early Childhood Education,Leadership,Graduate Study,College Faculty,Professional Identity,Social Influences,Relevance (Education),Early Childhood Teachers,Leadership Training,Leadership Styles,Females

The purpose of this paper is to share our pedagogical evolution as graduate faculty in relationship with increasingly diverse cohort communities of early childhood professionals learning across the landscape of leadership roles engaged with young children, families, and other adults. The early childhood leadership program described in this paper offers a graduate certificate where annually, a cohort of 18-22 early childhood professionals from across Colorado in the United States learn together for 13 months. As faculty, we share a strong commitment to both learning about our teaching and to inviting student voices, the early childhood professionals, through dialogic processes in participatory study as we co-learn and grow our practices of learning and teaching. This paper introduces and explores four leadership learning design principles: (1) identity and agency, (2) socially constructed pedagogy, (3) contextually relevant learning experience, and (4) appreciative stance. As we go, the story will unfold around how we engaged cohort members of the 2019-2020 program year through initial survey reflections and then deepening our shared understanding of these leadership learning design principles through iterations of dialogue after the program was concluded. We end the paper with reflections on how this process of study has ultimately brought us to an awareness and eagerness to engage in relational forms of inquiry, placing student voices at the center with even more intention and depth.
Geometry Teaching in Transition: An Investigation on the Importance of School Geometry in Primary Education
Author: Kuzle, Ana
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Instruction,Geometry,Elementary School Mathematics,Elementary Education,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Value Judgment,Foreign Countries

Mathematics instruction in primary school has been influenced by many policy changes and empirical findings in the previous two decades. Geometry lessons, in particular, were re-evaluated due to a paradigm change and, consequently, were attributed a new meaning within the mathematics curriculum worldwide. The present paper focuses on this paradigm shift in the sense of the evaluation to what extent both the didactical potential and the practical value of geometry instruction in elementary education are currently recognised and utilised by primary grade teachers. In total, 120 primary grade teachers participated in the study. The results showed that there had been positive recognition of the didactical potential of school geometry by the teachers over the previous two decades; however, it lacked actual implementation in school practice for different reasons. The results are discussed not only with regard to the latter of these but also with regard to their theoretical and practical implications.
Project-Based Learning in Initial Teacher Education: The Practice of Three Higher Education Institutions in Portugal
Author: Tempera, Tiago
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Student Projects,Preservice Teacher Education,Active Learning,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Education Programs,Barriers,Program Implementation,Program Effectiveness

Future teachers first come into contact with diversified teaching strategies, such as Project-Based Learning, in initial teacher education programmes. Such strategies contrast with the type of methods that they experienced throughout their own schooling, which are essentially teacher centred. The present research aims to understand how ProjectBased Learning is being integrated into the curriculum of primary school teachers' initial teacher education programmes. The participants were three higher education institutions located in different regions of Portugal, all of which offer initial teacher education programmes for primary school teachers that include Project-Based Learning at some point. The data were collected through document analysis of the programmes' curricula, as well as through semi-structured interviews with the programme coordinators in each institution. The results show that the institutions value Project-Based Learning and make an effort to include it in their programmes, whether in theoretical, didactical or practical terms. However, they encounter some difficulties in promoting more significant experiences that would enable the students to feel confident to use this strategy in their Supervised Teaching Practice internships.
Immune Literacy: A Call to Action for a System-Level Change
Author: Mixter, Philip F.
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Epidemiology,Scientific Concepts,Teaching Methods,Science Instruction,Scientific Literacy,Communities of Practice,Curriculum Design,Credibility,Information Sources,Interdisciplinary Approach,Faculty Development,Decision Making,Immunization Programs,Audiences

Immune literacy--the ability to hear, learn, read, write, explain, and discuss immunological content with varied audiences--has become critically important in recent years. Yet, with its complex terminology and discipline-specific concepts, educating individuals about the immune system and its role in health and disease may seem daunting. Here, we reflect on how to demystify the discipline and increase its accessibility for a broader audience. To address this, a working group of immunology educators from diverse institutions associated with the research coordination network, ImmunoReach, convened virtually. As a result of these discussions, we request a call to action for a system-level change and present a set of practical recommendations that novice and experienced educators from diverse institutions, professional societies, and policymakers may adopt to foster immune literacy in their classrooms and communities.
Life Science Research Immersion Program Improves STEM-Specific Skills and Science Attitudes among Precollege Students
Author: Dong, Maysoon Lehmeidi
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Biological Sciences,STEM Education,Research Skills,Scientific Attitudes,Academic Achievement,Introductory Courses,Scientific Literacy,Critical Thinking,Predictor Variables,School Holding Power,Educational Experience,Science Education

A predicted rapid growth in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers demands a vast and talented workforce, but students most commonly abandon STEM majors within the first 2 years of college. Performance in introductory courses, scientific literacy, and the ability to critically reason are main predictors of retention in STEM, highlighting the importance of precollege and early college experience. The Life Science Research Immersion Program (LSRIP) is a novel science education model that focuses on the development of scientific research skills, thus preparing students for introductory college courses and beyond. To evaluate the efficacy of the LSRIP, pre- and postprogram assessments and surveys were administered to three precollege student cohorts. Scientific reasoning assessment scores improved by 4.70% in Summer 2019 (P &lt; 0.01), 9.44% in Fall 2019 (P &lt; 0.05), and 0.97% in Winter 2020 cohorts, with two of five questions showing statistically significant improvement. Surveyed attitudes toward science improved in 62.9% of questions across all cohorts. These results suggest that research immersion experiences are an effective educational instrument for improving and promoting scientific reasoning and attitudes among precollege students. To better prepare students for success in STEM higher education and careers, we recommend implementing LSRIPs to complement traditional precollege science curricula.
Student Perceptions of a Framework for Facilitating Transfer from Lessons to Exams, and the Relevance of This Framework to Published Lessons
Author: Evans, Dilan P.
Date: 2023-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Attitudes,Microbiology,Science Instruction,Science Tests,Responses,Lesson Plans,Transfer of Training,Criticism,Teaching Methods,Biology,Undergraduate Students,Test Preparation

A main goal of academic courses is to help students acquire knowledge and skills that they can transfer to multiple contexts. In this article, we (i) examine students' responses to test question templates (TQTs), a framework intended to facilitate transfer, and (ii) determine whether similar transfer-promoting strategies are commonly embedded in published biology lessons. In study 1, in surveys administered over several academic quarters, students consistently reported that TQTs helped them transfer course content to exams and the real world; that multiple (two to five) examples were generally needed to understand a given TQT, leading &gt;40% students to create their own additional examples; and that TQTs would be helpful in other science courses. In study 2, among 100 peer-reviewed lessons published by CourseSource or the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS), less than 5% of lessons gave students advice about exams or helped students create additional practice problems. The latter finding is not meant as criticism of these excellent lessons, which are a boon to the biology education community. However, with TQT-like prescriptions generally absent from peer-reviewed lessons, biology instructors may wish to supplement the lessons with TQT-like strategies to explicitly connect the material to subsequent exams.