Articles

Using social network analysis to develop relational expertise for an instructional change initiative

Change leaders (faculty, administrators, and/or external stakeholders) need to develop relational expertise, recognizing the perspectives of others, to enable emergent, systemic change. We describe how change lea...

Authors: Kathleen Quardokus Fisher, Ann Sitomer, Jana Bouwma-Gearhart and Milo Koretsky

Multiple-true-false questions reveal more thoroughly the complexity of student thinking than multiple-choice questions: a Bayesian item response model comparison

Within undergraduate science courses, instructors often assess student thinking using closed-ended question formats, such as multiple-choice (MC) and multiple-true-false (MTF), where students provide answers w...

Authors: Chad E. Brassil and Brian A. Couch

Taking the next step: supporting postdocs to develop an independent path in academia

In the USA, 28.5% of the population is considered underrepresented minority (URM) population; however, fewer than 8 % of US’ research faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipl...

Authors: Aman Yadav and Christopher Seals

How teacher talk guidance during Invention activities shapes students’ cognitive engagement and transfer

A key question in K-12 STEM education is how best to guide students as they engage in exploratory learning activities so that students develop transferable knowledge. We investigated this question in a study o...

Authors: Catherine C. Chase, Jenna Marks, Laura J. Malkiewich and Helena Connolly

“It’s not my dream, actually”: students’ identity work across figured worlds of construction engineering in Sweden

Research in engineering education has pointed to the need for new engineers to develop a broader skill-set with an emphasis on “softer” social skills. However, there remains strong tensions in the identity wor...

Authors: Allison J. Gonsalves, Eva Silfver, Anna Danielsson and Maria Berge

A method for analyzing instructors’ purposeful modifications to research-based instructional strategies

Numerous studies in the literature describe the effectiveness of research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) in the postsecondary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) context. Many of th...

Authors: Erin Scanlon, Brian Zamarripa Roman, Elijah Ibadlit and Jacquelyn J. Chini

Perceived supports and evidence-based teaching in college STEM

Evidence-based teaching, such as active learning, is associated with increases in student learning and engagement. Although many faculty are beginning to adopt innovative practices, traditional lecture-based t...

Authors: Meghan E. Bathgate, Oriana R. Aragón, Andrew J. Cavanagh, Jonathan K. Waterhouse, Jennifer Frederick and Mark J. Graham

Building future primary teachers' capacity in STEM: based on a platform of beliefs, understandings and intentions

STEM education needs to begin in primary schools and should aim to prepare young people for active participation in their future. To produce a generation interested and skilled in STEM, the key foci within sch...

Authors: Premnadh M. Kurup, Xia Li, Greg Powell and Michael Brown

Recognizing and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, leadership, and impact: award for interdisciplinary excellence in mathematics education (IEME award)

Authors: Yeping Li and W. James Lewis

Universal Design for Learning in postsecondary STEM education for students with disabilities: a systematic literature review

Universal Design for Learning is not widely used in postsecondary STEM education. The purpose of this literature review is to synthesize the empirical literature using Universal Design for Learning in postseco...

Authors: Jillian Schreffler, Eleazar Vasquez III, Jacquelyn Chini and Westley James

An investigation of verbal episodes that relate to individual and team performance in engineering student teams

Being an effective team member is one of the key twenty-first century skills and a fundamental proficiency required for jobs and work settings in an increasingly global economy. Collaborative problem-solving i...

Authors: Muhsin Menekse, Senay Purzer and Damji Heo

A descriptive study of race and gender differences in how instructional style and perceived professor care influence decisions to major in STEM

Women and students of color are widely underrepresented in the majority of STEM fields. In order to investigate this underrepresentation, we interviewed over 200 male and female college seniors, primarily wome...

Authors: Katherine Rainey, Melissa Dancy, Roslyn Mickelson, Elizabeth Stearns and Stephanie Moller

Facilitating the use of video with teachers of mathematics: learning from staying with the detail

This article is focused on the role of the facilitator in the professional development of mathematics teachers. It is a feature of several frameworks for using video that teachers are invited to comment on the...

Authors: Alf Coles

Exploring student understanding of the engineering design process using distractor analysis

Typical approaches to assessing students’ understanding of the engineering design process (EDP) include performance assessments that are time-consuming to score. It is also possible to use multiple-choice (MC)...

Authors: Stefanie A. Wind, Meltem Alemdar, Jeremy A. Lingle, Roxanne Moore and Abdullah Asilkalkan

Assessing epistemological beliefs of experts and novices via practices in authentic science inquiry

Achieving science literacy requires learning disciplinary knowledge, science practices, and development of sophisticated epistemological beliefs about the nature of science and science knowledge. Although soph...

Authors: Melanie E. Peffer and Niloofar Ramezani

Teachers’ perception of STEM integration and education: a systematic literature review

For schools to include quality STEM education, it is important to understand teachers’ beliefs and perceptions related to STEM talent development. Teachers, as important persons within a student’s talent devel...

Authors: Kelly C. Margot and Todd Kettler

Evidence that communities of practice are associated with active learning in large STEM lectures

With the increased attention on the need to retain students within STEM majors, it is important for STEM instructors to adopt evidence-based instructional practices that are student-centric and employ active l...

Authors: Jonathan H. Tomkin, Shereen O. Beilstein, Jason W. Morphew and Geoffrey L. Herman

A logistic regression investigation of the relationship between the Learning Assistant model and failure rates in introductory STEM courses

Large introductory STEM courses historically have high failure rates, and failing such courses often leads students to change majors or even drop out of college. Instructional innovations such as the Learning ...

Authors: Jessica L. Alzen, Laurie S. Langdon and Valerie K. Otero

An outlook on self-assessment of homework assignments in higher mathematics education

We discuss first experiences with a new variant of self-assessment in higher mathematics education. In our setting, the students of the course have to mark a part of their homework assignments themselves and t...

Authors: Sarah Beumann and Sven-Ake Wegner

Four years of development as a gathering place for international researchers and readers in STEM education

Authors: Yeping Li

Examining ways to meaningfully support students in STEM

A strong, positive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) identity is a predictor of future career choice in a STEM field. In this commentary, major concepts are explored within and among fou...

Authors: Lisa Martin-Hansen

Perception and adoption of competency-based training by academics in Ghana

With the rise in graduate unemployment and the poor linkage between university education and industry, competency-based training (CBT) is gaining popularity in Ghana’s universities as a way of producing busine...

Authors: Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa and Williams Kwasi Boachie

Science identity development: an interactionist approach

In this introduction for this Special Issue we discuss the need for the investigation of science identity with an emphasis on the environment. As such, we propose taking an interactionist approach; one that ex...

Authors: Ann Y. Kim and Gale M. Sinatra

The nature of science identity and its role as the driver of student choices

A major concern in science education involves the under-representation of many groups in science and technology fields, especially by gender (Brotman and Moore, J Res Sci Teach 45:971–1002, 2008; Clark Blicken...

Authors: Paulette Vincent-Ruz and Christian D. Schunn

Motivational factors in makerspaces: a mixed methods study of elementary school students’ situational interest, self-efficacy, and achievement emotions

Design-based learning and makerspace programs have been shown to be effective in increasing student motivation for STEM learning. Since these programs have largely been implemented for middle school and older ...

Authors: Vanessa W. Vongkulluksn, Ananya M. Matewos, Gale M. Sinatra and Julie A. Marsh

Research mentoring and scientist identity: insights from undergraduates and their mentors

Mentored research apprenticeships are a common feature of academic outreach programs that aim to promote diversity in science fields. The current study tests for links between three forms of mentoring (instrum...

Authors: Rachael D Robnett, Paul A Nelson, Eileen L Zurbriggen, Faye J Crosby and Martin M Chemers

The longitudinal effects of STEM identity and gender on flourishing and achievement in college physics

Drawing on social identity theory and positive psychology, this study investigated women’s responses to the social environment of physics classrooms. It also investigated STEM identity and gender disparities o...

Authors: Viviane Seyranian, Alex Madva, Nicole Duong, Nina Abramzon, Yoi Tibbetts and Judith M Harackiewicz

Compiling video cases to support PD facilitators in noticing productive teacher learning

Research studies on facilitating professional development describe the knowledge and skills facilitators need to effectively attend to teachers’ learning processes. In this context, some studies gave rise to t...

Authors: Sven Schueler and Bettina Roesken-Winter

Correction to: Is the undergraduate microbiology curriculum preparing students for careers in their field?: an assessment of biology majors’ conceptions of growth and control of microorganisms

Following publication of the original article (Sawant et al., 2018), a typesetting mistake was reported.

Authors: Aakanksha Purushottam Sawant, Swapnaja Arvind Patil, Jyotsna Vijapurkar, Needa Nasir Bagban and Deepti Bhushan Gupta

STEM education centers: catalyzing the improvement of undergraduate STEM education

With the remarkable attention being paid to STEM education nationally, with the growing engagement of universities and colleges in STEM education reform, and with the rise of STEM education centers, SECs, assi...

Authors: Deborah L. Carlisle and Gabriela C. Weaver

The influences of group dialog on individual student understanding of science concepts

Cooperative and inquiry-based pedagogies provide a context for classroom discourse in which students develop joint understanding of subject matter knowledge. Using the symbolic interactionist perspective that ...

Authors: Abdi-Rizak M. Warfa, James Nyachwaya and Gillian Roehrig

The influence of STEM definitions for research on women’s college attainment

Prior research has inconsistently operationalized Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, presenting an interpretation challenge. A content analysis of 51 quantitative, gender-focused, higher...

Authors: Catherine A. Manly, Ryan S. Wells and Suzan Kommers

The effects of different versions of a gateway STEM course on student attitudes and beliefs

Substantial research has been conducted focusing on student outcomes in mathematics courses in order to better understand the ways in which these outcomes depend on the underlying instructional methodologies f...

Authors: Xiangming Wu, Jessica Deshler and Edgar Fuller

Is the undergraduate microbiology curriculum preparing students for careers in their field?: an assessment of biology majors’ conceptions of growth and control of microorganisms

We present an analysis of students’ responses to application-based questions on the topic of growth and control of microorganisms, from a questionnaire administered to 348 second and third year students of an ...

Authors: Aakanksha Purushottam Sawant, Swapnaja Arvind Patil, Jyotsna Vijapurkar, Needa Nasir Bagban and Deepti Bhushan Gupta

Developing numeracy skills using interactive technology in a play-based learning environment

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of interactive technology in the form of mathematical applications (apps) delivered using iPads on kindergarten children’s learning of number sense in a play...

Authors: Tess Miller

Socioeconomic gaps in science achievement

In contrast to the extensive research on socioeconomic gaps in reading and math achievement, little attention has been given to socioeconomic disparities in science skills, particularly during the early years ...

Authors: Laura Betancur, Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal and Christian Schunn

Seeding long-term, sustainable change in teacher preparation programs: the case of PhysTEC

The continuation of teacher preparation activities after a 3-year Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) grant is used as a case study to examine multi-faceted aspects of sustainable change in higher ed...

Authors: Kathleen T. Foote and Alexis V. Knaub

Developing identities of STEM teachers at emerging STEM schools

With the expansion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools all over the United States and the world, new roles for teachers are being created, and with these roles, identities are e...

Authors: Mohamed El Nagdi, Felicia Leammukda and Gillian Roehrig

Students’ perceptions of STEM learning after participating in a summer informal learning experience

Informal learning environments increase students’ interest in STEM (e.g., Mohr‐Schroeder et al. School Sci Math 114: 291–301, 2014) and increase the chances a student will pursue a STEM career (Kitchen et al. ...

Authors: Thomas Roberts, Christa Jackson, Margaret J. Mohr-Schroeder, Sarah B. Bush, Cathrine Maiorca, Maureen Cavalcanti, D. Craig Schroeder, Ashley Delaney, Lydia Putnam and Chaise Cremeans

Teachers’ roles and identities in student-centered classrooms

Students and teachers in twenty-first century STEM classrooms face significant challenges in preparing for post-secondary education, career, and citizenship. Educators have advocated for student-centered instr...

Authors: Leslie S. Keiler

Gendered differences in academic emotions and their implications for student success in STEM

Understanding student anxiety is an important factor for broadening the gender diversity of STEM majors due to its disproportionate and negative influence on women. To investigate how student anxiety is relate...

Authors: Michael Pelch

Making sense of “STEM education” in K-12 contexts

Despite increasing attention to STEM education worldwide, there is considerable uncertainty as to what constitutes STEM education and what it means in terms of curriculum and student outcomes. The purpose of t...

Authors: Tamara D. Holmlund, Kristin Lesseig and David Slavit

Student, instructor, and observer agreement regarding frequencies of scientific teaching practices using the Measurement Instrument for Scientific Teaching-Observable (MISTO)

The Scientific Teaching (ST) pedagogical framework encompasses many of the best practices recommended in the literature and highlighted in national reports. Understanding the growth and impact of ST requires i...

Authors: Mary F. Durham, Jennifer K. Knight, Emily K. Bremers, Jameson D. DeFreece, Alex R. Paine and Brian A. Couch

Improving science teachers’ nature of science views through an innovative continuing professional development program

This study describes how teachers’ nature of science (NOS) views changed throughout an innovative Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program that provided sustained support throughout the process in a c...

Authors: Eda Erdas Kartal, William W. Cobern, Nihal Dogan, Serhat Irez, Gultekin Cakmakci and Yalcin Yalaki

Incorporating industrial design pedagogy into a mechanical engineering graphics course: a discipline-based education research (DBER) approach

A redesigned curriculum for teaching engineering graphics was adopted in an introductory mechanical engineering course. The rollout of this curriculum was staggered, allowing for comparisons of student percept...

Authors: Sunni Newton, Meltem Alemdar, Ethan Hilton, Julie Linsey and Katherine Fu

Supporting instructional change in mathematics: using social network analysis to understand online support processes following professional development workshops

Studies continually show benefits of active learning in college classrooms, yet it is difficult to get faculty to adopt these methods. Particularly challenging is the final step of the instructional change pro...

Authors: Charles N. Hayward and Sandra L. Laursen

Learning progression toward a measurement concept of fractions

Fractions continue to pose a critical challenge for students and their teachers alike. Mathematics education research indicates that the challenge with fractions may stem from the limitations of part-whole con...

Authors: Jesse L. M. Wilkins and Anderson Norton

Finding the leaders: an examination of social network analysis and leadership identification in STEM education change

Social network analysis (SNA) literature suggests that leaders should be well connected and can be identified through network measurements. Other literature suggests that identifying leaders ideally involves m...

Authors: Alexis V. Knaub, Charles Henderson and Kathleen Quardokus Fisher

Connection between academic emotions in situ and retention in the physics track: applying experience sampling method

There is a lack of students enrolling in upper secondary school physics courses. In addition, many students discontinue the physics track, causing a lack of applicants for university-level science, technology,...

Authors: Sanna Lehtamo, Kalle Juuti, Janna Inkinen and Jari Lavonen

Development and validation of the Value-Expectancy STEM Assessment Scale for students in higher education

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs are expected to make up a significant portion of the U.S. workforce. Unfortunately, the trend in retaining students in STEM majors has been going down. If...

Authors: Joseph Appianing and Richard N. Van Eck