The Ohio Higher Education Network (OHEN)

for Science and Mathematics Education

James Tomlin, Teacher Ed. & Biology, Wright State Univ.;

Michael Sandy, Geology, University of Dayton;

Todd Smith, Physics, University of Dayton;

Krishnakumar Nedunuri, Water Resources Management , Central State University;

Charles Ryan, Director of Graduate Programs,

Education and Human Services, Wright State Univ.

Purpose:

to develop and support a network of science, mathematic, and education faculty to improve science and mathematics teacher preparation and professional development.

Participating institutions include:

Cedarville University, Central State University, Cincinnati State Community College, Clark State Community College, Clermont College, College of Mount St. Joseph, Edison Community College, Raymond Walters, Southern State Community College, University of Cincinnati, and Urbana University

1. Developing science, mathematics and education faculty understanding of professional licensure requirement expectations and assessments such as PRAXIS II and/or ABCTE;

2. Developing a common understanding among higher education science, mathematics and education faculty of the mathematics and science academic content standards and ways that these standards can be used to ground a P-16 curriculum;

3. Developing higher education faculty practical and theoretical understanding of best practices in content preparation of teachers and to support faculty implementing and assessing these practices;

4. Developing a community of science, mathematics, and education faculty with a shared vision of how to improve science and mathematics education;

5. Providing a network to enable and facilitate communication among faculty and institutions, to provide access to resources, and to facilitate coordination of and collaboration in efforts to improve science and mathematics education;

6. Developing regional capacity to sustain improvements to science and mathematics teaching and learning through development of leaders;

7. Identifying and categorizing resources for higher education faculty working in the areas of teacher preparation and professional development.

Goals

Experiential Professional Development Opportunities

• half-day commitments chosen by faculty to provide concrete experiences in teacher preparation, teacher professional development, or K-12 education

• Examples have included: observing K-12 teachers teach science or mathematics in local schools, visiting science or mathematics courses specialized for pre-service teachers, visiting science or mathematics professional development offerings for in-service teachers., visiting science or mathematics educational methods courses, taking Praxis II science or mathematics exams that future teachers must pass to be licensed.

Professional Development Workshops

• half or whole day sessions designed to help provide faculty with information and resources relevant to teacher preparation and professional development.

• Topics have included K-12 math and science standards, teacher licensure requirements, recommended practices for preparation and professional development of teachers, designing curriculum for teachers, assessment of student and teacher learning, and the research base for science and mathematics education.

Extended Professional Development Opportunities

• More intensive professional development opportunities for science and mathematics faculty interested in becoming significantly involved in science and mathematics education improvement. The time commitment involved varies from two weeks to one month.

• Examples have included team teaching courses for teachers, participation in educational courses with area teachers, participation in professional development institutes for teachers, and participation in educational research

Mini-grants:

• Inter- and Intra-institutional teams of science, mathematics and/or education faculty• intended to provide incentive funding for collaborative curricular projects, both intra- and inter-

institutionally, and to coordinate initiatives in Southwestern Ohio

Examples:

Edison/Sinclair Community College: “Educating the Educators Math and Science Courses for 2 Year Colleges”

University of Cincinnati: “Creation of Inquiry-Based Chemistry For Pre-Service 4-9th Grade Science Teachers”

Willmington College : “An initiative to strengthen inquiry learning by developing courses for pre-service and field teachers based on inquiry-learning and science fair activities”

University of Dayton: “Enhancement of biology lecture and laboratory classes of the Integrated Natural Science Sequence to demonstrate best pedagogy to pre-service science teachers”

OHEN funded mini-grant in 2005

Integrated inquiry-based investigations on the Mad River, Greene County:

Chemistry, Earth Science, and a new Evaluation tool for Pre-Service Teachers

Suzanne Lunsford, Chemistry Department, WSU

Kumar Nedunuri, Water Resources Management, CSU

Michael Sandy, Geology Department, UD

GOALS - Integrated inquiry-based investigations on the Mad River, Greene County

• Develop an interdisciplinary unit that incorporates chemistry and geology into groundwater/surficial water studies

• Incorporate inquiry• Use a local easily accessible bedrock outcrop that allowed

investigation of all aspects in a fieldtrip:- Geology and fossil collecting, surface water sampling, and discussion

of water chemistry (carbonate in water, etc.)

• The sites selected allowed students to record data and then analyse results and sythesize

• Select sites for different groundwater/surface water conditions

• Incorporate assessment of unit

Huffman DamHuffman Dam

Length of Dam - 3,340 feet Height of Dam - 65 feetWidth of Dam at Base - 385 feetVolume of Earth in Embankment - 1,655,000 cubic yards

The field trip• Students visited

both the bedrock outcrop by the railroad and the river

• Studied the geology of the site: collected rock samples and fossils

• Water samples were collected from the Mad River and the bedrock outcrop by the railroad

Location of fieldtrip

Location of fieldtrip

Location of fieldtrip: USGS Gauge Station located near dam - live data

Location of fieldtrip: Huffman Dam, Greene County, Ohio

Location of fieldtrip

Why a dam here? Dayton Flood of 1913

Location of fieldtrip:Changes in drainage patterns

Air strippers downstream from Huffman Dam

Wright Brothers’ Memorial near Huffman Dam

Location of Fieldtrip: Huffman Dam Railroad Cut

Brassfield Formation

Silurian

Ordovician

Drakes Formation

Whitewater Formation

Specimen of the trilobite Isotelus from Huffman Dam Railroad Cut construction,

1919 - largest known trilobite at that time - 41 cm long

Central State and University of Dayton joint field trip

Study of Water Quality• The following parameters were measured/estimated:

– Flow (qualitative)

– Temperature

– pH

– Nitrite/Nitrate

– Phosphorus

– Dissolved oxygen

– Carbon dioxide

Assessment

• Pre-test, Post-test, and Inquiry module were prepared.

• The questions were designed to familiarize students with different problem solving steps.

• Different learning tools were used.

• The levels of difficulty in questions corresponded to different levels of Blooms’ taxonomy of higher order thinking.

Tabulated results for Geology Pretest and Posttest

Question Pretest % correct

Posttest % correct

1 83.3 94.4

2 38.8 88.8

3 22.2 66.6

4 22.2 33.3

5 88.8 100

Average 55.1% 74.4%

This activity was incorporated into a new course for preservice teachers “Geology for Teachers” offered for the first time in 2006 at the University of Dayton (had run as a pilot for several semesters).

“Traditional” lecture/lab meetings have been incorporated into a once-a-week meeting. This allows adequate time for fieldtrips and inquiry activities incorporated into the classroom.

Development of a website with resources: http://www.wright.edu/cosm/scied/ohen/

Development of a website with resources: http://www.wright.edu/cosm/scied/ohen/

Development of a website with resources: http://www.wright.edu/cosm/scied/ohen/

Problems/challenges

I have worked on a number of projects over the last decade.My “pure” geological research is definitely different from curriculum development and clearly time in the reseach lab. isimpacted. That can have professional implications …

• Institutions may not have a culture of collaboration between Schools of Education and Faculty from the Arts and Sciences

• This means that the activity may not be understood, appreciated, or considered worthwhile

• I have found a generally supportive atmosphere …

• However, I have also encountered from time-to-time a lack of appreciation that such activities are presumably benefiting science teachers in Ohio (that’s our vain hope!).

Integrated inquiry-based thingys and this and that on the Mad River, Greene County:

Chemistry, Earth Science, and a new Evaluation tool for Pre-Service Teachers

Michael Sandy, Geology Department, UD

Kumar Nedunuri, Water Resources Management, CSU

Suzanne Lunsford, Chemistry Department, WSU

PREMISE

• Certain concepts of chemistry can be taught to Pre-service Middle Childhood teachers in geological and hydrological settings.

• Such an integration of hydrogeology into chemistry would enhance their learning of basic principles of chemistry.

• This notion has been illustrated in this study through teaching a concept of chemical equilibrium.

INSTRUMENTS

• A field trip to Huffman dam by the Mad River and a nearby geologic outcrop was used.

• Certain geologic processes such as dissolution and chemical weathering of minerals were observed while on the field trip.

• Monitoring of water quality by the outcrop and on the river was performed.

• The use of the measured parameters in understanding the chemical equilibrium of natural water was appreciated.

APPROACH• Measured parameters such as

temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrite/nitrate, flow and phosphorus.

• Measurements were taken both on the river and by the outcrop using portable water kits.

• Collected samples both from the river and by the outcrop.

• Conducted experiments in the wet chemistry lab at WSU to measure total hardness and calcium.

• Estimated the measured concentrations using simple equilibrium chemistry.

Geologic outcrop near the dam

Mad river by the Huffman dam

EXPERIENCE

• Dr. Lunsford taught this course summer of 2006 to a class of 35 Middle school pre-service teachers at Wright State University.

• Teachers expressed greater understanding, association and retention of concepts of chemical equilibrium.

ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

• The chemical equilibrium was taught using conventional classroom only approach and guided inquiry using field trip.

• Pre-tests and post-tests were administered before and after instructional delivery using both methods.

• Authentic assessment was used to evaluate student learning.

ASSESSMENT RESULTS

• No improvement in scores when the unit was delivered using a traditional classroom approach.

• Normalized gain of 0.6 was observed when the same unit was delivered using guided inquiry through the investigative field trip.

A Redesign of the Conceptual Physics Course SCI190 at The University of Dayton for Pre-Service Teachers

Todd Smith, Said Elhamri,

Lynne Erdei, and Susan Ferguson

GOALMore and Better Science Teachers

• Increased conceptual knowledge (content)

• Demonstration of best practices (inquiry)

• Bring elements of teacher preparation into the science lecture

• Create an environment conducive to choosing a science concentration

The Redesign Placed 64 first year education majors in the

same sections of lecture and labsCoordinated the lecture and labs with the

teacher prep course EDT109Demonstrated best practices (inquiry)Encouraged them to teach each other in

small group discussionsIntroduced the Ohio Academic Content

Standards for Science and identified common physics misconceptions

Assessment• Pretest / posttest in 2 subject areas

– Force and motion– Heat and temperature

• Three additional sections were given the same pretest / posttest

• Attitudinal surveys towards science and science education

Normalized Gain vs. Pretest Score

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

0.90

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50

Pretest Score

No

rmalized

Gain

Squares = EDU majorsCircles = non-EDU majors

Each color represents a different instructor

Changing Attitudes• Will a science class designed for future

teachers increase the number who will go on to teach science? YES!!!

• Attitudinal Shift– Science as a subject of interest– Difficulty in learning science– Difficulty in teaching science– Science teaching as a career choice

Charles Ryan, Director of Graduate Programs,

Education and Human Services, Wright State Univ.

Evaluation requires a substantive assessment of goals, objectives and activities Evaluation of project goals and networking requires early involvement in the design of projects, e.g. writing the proposal Evaluation depends upon explicit, agreed-upon objectives and how they are to be achieved

OHEN Evaluation Guidelines

General goals, e.g. “To develop science and mathematics faculty practical and theoretical understanding of best practices in content preparation of teachers,” may be difficult to assess.

Question: How will we assess understanding of best practices? How will we assess the integration of best practices in content preparation of teachers?

Evaluation of funded projects: Did they have?

Measurable objectives Resource use aligned with program

activities and intended outcomes. Leadership to motivate and ability to

manage the program

Management of projects has a higher chance of success if objectives are well defined, not when activities are carried out and later linked back to an objective.

Essential conditions for evaluation of programs, e.g. program staff and sponsors agree on the criteria to be used in assessing whether the objectives have been met.

Example: OHEN goal: Developing higher education faculty practical and theoretical understanding of best practices in content preparation of teachers and to support faculty implementing and assessing these practices.

How might we assess this goal? What criteria must we agree on to use in

assessing whether this goal has been met? Evaluation questions:

o What are the best practices? o What content should teachers be exposed to? o What process should be used to implement these practices? o What evaluation procedures should be used to assess implementation of these practices?

What support services were provided to support faculty in implementing and assessing these practices? Evaluation methods to consider:

o Formative Studies: Consultation with Faculty Mini impact evaluations could be conducted to secure estimates of progress on all goals (objectives)

Summative Studies - Occur at conclusion

Sample small groups at one or two sites to assess awareness/knowledge of the

projects. Conduct a trial run to determine faculty

ability to identify best practices. Maintain careful records of memos, meeting minutes, workshop agenda, evaluations of workshops, and faculty concerns for later data analysis.

Summative Evaluation

Usually performed at the end of a project. Terminal assessment used to judge the

cumulative outcomes over a considerable term of instruction, treatment, or activity.

Research methods commonly use a diversity of procedures for general data collection, e.g. historical, biographical, case study, information gathering techniques, content analysis, interviews, tests, and varied ways of interpreting data, e.g. cause, comparison, prediction.

SUMMARY Formative studies vary in rigor and sophistication of data collection and analysis, but even simple studies provide insights into problems and results. Evaluators external to the project should be involved in the design of goals, objectives and program activities to increase success of the project. Planning the evaluation as a team provides both

evaluators and project staff with realistic expectations and sets the resources needed for the evaluation. Design of the evaluation plan must occur in the initial planning of the project.