Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Feasibility Of Modifying Existing Chemistry Demonstrations By Using Substitute Materials, Dane Mykel M. Quiambao, Armando M. Guidote Jr, Rhodora F. Nicdao

Chemistry Faculty Publications

This study aimed to reiterate the use of Chemistry demonstrations as effective teaching tools to students while addressing some of its drawbacks, which discourages teachers from doing them such as cost and safety. Four chosen existing Chemistry demonstrations (Blue Bottle Experiment, Copper Sulfate Experiment, Blown Away, Dancing Flames) were modified by using substitute reagents, which are more accessible, relatively safer, and at lower cost. These demonstrations were chosen based on how easily the substitute reagents will be obtained. Afterwards, with the permission of a private junior high school, they were presented to a group of Grade 9 students of their …

Computer Science Teacher Survey, Josh B. Mcgee, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

In April/May of 2020, the University of Arkansas’ Office for Education Policy (OEP), in partnership with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's Computer Science and Cyber Security Task Force, fielded a survey with the 400+ Arkansas educators who at that time held a computer science endorsement (528), computer science approval code (5016), or computer science technical permit (5014) on their educator’s license. The survey received 153 responses, a nearly 40 percent response rate.

Relative Impacts Of Different Grade Scales On Student Success In Introductory Physics, David J. Webb, Cassandra A. Paul, Mary A. Chessey

Faculty Publications

In deciding on a student’s grade in a class, an instructor generally needs to combine many individual grading judgments into one overall judgment. Two relatively common numerical scales used to specify individual grades are the 4-point scale (where each whole number 0–4 corresponds to a letter grade) and the percent scale (where letter grades A through D are uniformly distributed in the top 40% of the scale). This paper uses grading data from a single series of courses offered over a period of 10 years to show that the grade distributions emerging from these two grade scales differed in many …

Relativity Lite: A Pictorial Translation Of Einstein’S Theories Of Motion And Gravity, Jack C. Straton

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

Relativity Lite is designed for the General Astronomy sequence (PH 361-2U, SCI 315-6U) whose primary book glosses over Special Relativity and General Relativity while trying to explain the Cosmology that is based on those subjects. Relativity Lite translates the mathematical equations conventional relativity texts rely upon into pictures that are readily understood and contain within them the mathematical essentials. This book provides the comprehensive coverage needed to understand, in sufficient depth, these three linked areas of our reality.

Readers seeking this knowledge on their own, and those in other courses for nonscientists, may also find it helpful.

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Multicourse Comparative Study Of The Core Aspects For Flipped Learning: Investigating In-Class Structure And Student Use Of Video Resources, Nicole Naibert, Emryse Geye, Michael M. Phillips, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since 2013, the number of publications on flipped learning within chemistry have steadily increased. However, most of these studies focus on flipped course reforms within individual institutions, while the outcomes of any learning environment are dependent on how the environment is structured and the degree to which students interact with its elements. In this study, we apply a coordinated set of assessment practices to investigate similarities among flipped chemistry courses at five institutions in the United States. All courses in the study followed the two basic tenets of flipped learning: (1) foundational information was delivered through preclass materials (PCMs), and …

Social Justice Mathematical Modeling For Teacher Preparation, Patrick L. Seegmiller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Today's math teachers face significant social and political challenges for which they receive little preparation. Mathematics content courses can potentially provide additional preparation in this regard by providing future teachers with experiences to mathematically explore social justice issues. This provides them with opportunities to increase their awareness and sensitivity to social justice issues, develop greater empathy for their future students, and serve as examples for high quality instruction that they can emulate in their future careers. This dissertation recounts the development and revision of three social justice mathematical modeling projects, and shares evidence from student work samples of the ways …

The International Conference On Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication: Online Event (Cmsc'20) And Cmsc'21, Frances Rosamond

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

You are warmly invited to register now for the 5th International Conference on Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication (CMSC’21) which will be held at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, 2–6 July, 2021.

The International Conference on Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication (CMSC) is a unique gathering of computer scientists and mathematicians, teachers, musicians, dancers, dramatists, game designers, educators and communicators of all sorts.

Due to the pandemic, the in-person event scheduled for 2020 has been post- poned and a short CMSC Online Event was organized as a “teaser” or trailer in order to feel the spirit of the full 5th CMSC …

The Human Face Of Mathematics: Reuben Hersh (1927-2020) In Memoriam, Elena Anne Corie Marchisotto

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Reuben Hersh (1927-2020) celebrated mathematics as a human endeavor, historically evolved and intelligible only in a social context. It is therefore appropriate to remember him in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. There have been many tributes to Reuben, which commemorate his life and impressive mathematical and philosophical achievements. This memoriam to Reuben instead focuses on showing how his humanistic philosophy was so indicative of the person he was.

Creative Assignments In Upper Level Undergraduate Courses Inspired By Mentoring Undergraduate Research Projects, Malgorzata A. Marciniak

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This article describes methods and approaches for incorporating creative projects in undergraduate mathematics courses for students of engineering and computer science in an urban community college. The topics and the grading rubrics of the projects go way beyond standard homework questions and contain elements of finding own project, incorporating historical background, inventing own questions and exercises, or demonstrating experiments to illustrate some aspects of the project. After analyzing challenges and outcomes of these projects, I identified several skills which help students be successful, including the skills of creativity. These skills are writing, oral presentation, math skills, and collaboration skills. I …

What Would The Nautilus Say? Unleashing Creativity In Mathematics!, Megan E. Selbach-Allen, Cathy A. Williams, Jo Boaler

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

While the nautilus shell is often represented in popular culture as an example of a golden spiral, according to many mathematicians it is not. In this paper we examine multiple arguments for and against considering the nautilus as a “golden” spiral and offer a semi-structured task that is accessible to middle school students and beyond to begin their own investigation. Our hope is that asking, what would the nautilus say, can serve as a starting point for children and adults alike to push against the walls we so often draw around mathematical questions and begin to see where their creativity …

A Study Of Problem Posing As A Means To Help Mathematics Teachers Foster Creativity, Deborah Moore-Russo, Amanda A. Simmons, Michael J.D. Tulino

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Research suggests that mathematical creativity often results from extended periods of mathematical activity and reflection based on the use of deep and flexible content knowledge [14, 15]. This implies that instruction can influence creativity. However, for teaching to foster creativity in mathematics, there should be purposefully designed instructional tasks. It is doubtful that routine, mechanical exercises would foster creativity. Moreover, mathematical creativity may neither be explicitly promoted, nor fully appreciated, by students when a learning space involves only problem solving, even if the problems are challenging and engaging. For students to get an authentic sense of mathematics and to develop …

Developing Arduino Coding Curriculum, Tyler Brown, Riley Bucheitte, Timothy Kidd

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

No abstract provided.

Lectures On Mathematical Computing With Python, Jay Gopalakrishnan

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This open resource is a collection of class activities for use in undergraduate courses aimed at teaching mathematical computing, and computational thinking in general, using the python programming language. It was developed for a second-year course (MTH 271) revamped for a new undergraduate program in data science at Portland State University. The activities are designed to guide students' use of python modules effectively for scientific computation, data analysis, and visualization.

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Guided Reinvention As A Context For Investigating Students' Thinking About Mathematical Language And For Supporting Students In Gaining Fluency, Kristen Vroom

Dissertations and Theses

Fluency with mathematical language is important for students' engagement in many disciplinary practices such as defining, conjecturing, and proving; yet, there is growing evidence that mathematical language is challenging for undergraduate students. This dissertation study draws on two design experiments with pairs of students who were supported to encode their mathematical meanings with more formal language. I aimed to investigate the teaching and learning of mathematical language, and particularly the language in statements with multiple quantifiers, by engaging students in this type of activity. In the first paper, I investigated the complex ways in which the students in my study …

Exploring User Interface Improvements For Software Developers Who Are Blind, Guarionex J. Salivia, Flint D. Million, Megan E. Bening

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Software developers who are blind and interact with the computer non-visually face unique challenges with information retrieval. We explore the use of speech and Braille combined with software to provide an improved interface to aid with challenges associated with information retrieval. We motivate our design on common tasks performed by students in a software development course using a Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages (MIPS) architecture simulation tool. We test our interface via a single-subject longitudinal study, and we measure and show improvement in both the user’s performance and the user experience.

Tactviz: A Vmd Plugin For Tactile Visualization Of Protein Structures, Olivia R. Shaw, Jodi A. Hadden-Perilla

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Scientific disciplines spanning biology, biochemistry, and biophysics involve the study of proteins and their functions. Visualization of protein structures represents a barrier to education and research in these disciplines for students who are blind or visually impaired. Here, we present a software plugin for readily producing variable-height tactile graphics of proteins using the free biomolecular visualization software Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) and protein structure data that is publicly available through the Protein Data Bank. Our method also supports interactive tactile visualization of proteins with VMD on electronic refreshable tactile display devices. Employing our method in an academic laboratory has enabled …

Visualization Without Vision – How Blind And Visually Impaired Students And Researchers Engage With Molecular Structures, Croix J. Laconsay, Henry B. Wedler, Dean J. Tantillo

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This article examines the tools and techniques currently available that enable blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals to visualize three-dimensional objects used in learning chemistry concepts. How BVI individuals engage with and visualize molecular structure is discussed and recent tactile (or haptic) and auditory methods for visualization of various chemistry concepts are summarized. Remaining challenges for chemistry education researchers are described with the aim of highlighting the potential value of educational research in further enabling BVI students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Toward A Framework For The Natures Of Proportional Reasoning In Introductory Physics, Andrew Boudreaux, Stephen E. Kanim, Alexis Olsho, Suzanne W. Brahmia, Charlotte Zimmerman, Trevor I. Smith

Physics & Astronomy

We present a set of modes of reasoning about ratio and proportion as a means of operationalizing expert practice in physics. These modes, or natures of proportional reasoning, stem from consideration of how physicists reason in context and are informed by prior work in physics and mathematics education. We frame the natures as the core of an emerging framework for proportional reasoning in introductory physics, that will categorize the uses of proportional reasoning in introductory physics contexts, and provide guidance for the development of reliable assessments. We share results from preliminary assessment items indicating that university physics students have difficulty …

Variability In The Effectiveness Of Psychological Interventions Based On Machine Learning In Stem Education, Mohammad Hasan, Bilal Khan

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This manuscript presents a framework to investigate the variability in the effectiveness of psychological interventions supported by Machine Learning (ML) based early-warning systems (EWS) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. It emphasizes the importance of investigating the resulting variability and suggests that effective EWS cannot be designed without a deeper understanding of the variability. The framework uses an ML-based model to predict students’ academic performance early in the semester for a Sophomore-level Computer Science course at a public university in the United States. The students were given psychological interventions by sending their end-of-term performance forecast thrice during the semester. …

Climate Toolkit: A Resource Manual For Science And Action - Version 2.0, Frank Granshaw

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

The Climate Toolkit is a resource manual designed to help the reader navigate the complex and perplexing issue of climate change by providing tools and strategies to explore the underlying science. As such it contains a collection of activities that make use of readily available on-line resources developed by research groups and public agencies. These include web-based climate models, climate data archives, interactive atlases, policy papers, and “solution” catalogs. Unlike a standard textbook, it is designed to help readers do their own climate research and devise their own perspective rather than providing them with a script to assimilate and repeat. …

Cross-Cultural Comparisons: The Art Of Computing The Greatest Common Divisor, Mary K. Flagg

Number Theory

No abstract provided.

Playfair's Introduction Of Time Series To Represent Data, Diana White, Joshua Eastes, Negar Janani, River Bond

Statistics and Probability

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Evidence For The Internal Structure Of A Modified Science Motivation Questionnaire Ii (Msmq Ii): A Failed Attempt To Improve Instrument Functioning Across Course, Subject, And Wording Variants, Regis Komperda, Kathryn Hosbein, Michael M. Phillips, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ II) was developed to measure aspects of student motivation in college-level science courses. Items on the SMQ II are structured such that the word ‘science’ can be replaced with any discipline title (e.g., chemistry) to produce a discipline-specific measure of student motivation. Since its original development as the Science Motivation Questionnaire and subsequent refinement, the SMQ II and its discipline-specific variants have been used in a number of science education studies. However, many studies have failed to produce acceptable validity evidence for their data based on the proposed internal structure of the …

Playfair's Novel Visual Displays Of Data, Diana White, River Bond, Joshua Eastes, Negar Janani

Statistics and Probability

No abstract provided.

Teaching College Chemistry In The Time Of Covid-19 Pandemic: A Personal Account Of Teaching In The Old Normal Vs. The New Normal, Armando M. Guidote Jr

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The SARS CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2), cause of COVID-19 (CoronaVirus Disease 2019) has afflicted close to 10 million people all over the world resulting to almost half a million deaths. This disease is severely contagious and necessitates social or physical distancing between persons. As such, traditional face-to-face learning is not advised and teachers need to shift to online teaching. There are challenges to online teaching and learning for students, teachers, and the higher education institute, e.g. hardware, bandwidth, and software issues. These will be difficult but these can be overcome eventually. This work is a personal account …

Combining Transformation Of Graphs With Solutions To Absolute Value Inequalities, Ryan D. Fox

Colorado Mathematics Teacher

I present how transformations can be applied to support students’ solving linear inequalities involving absolute value. In particular, the horizontal dilations/compressions and translations of graphical representations of distances from zero along a number line are important tools to emphasize a visual representation of the solutions to absolute value inequalities.

Demonstration Of A Distributed Bragg Reflector For Polyvinylcarbazole And Cadmium Sulfide Layers: Modeling And Comparison To Experimental Results, Javier E. Hasbun, L. Ajith Desilva

Georgia Journal of Science

Light wave propagation in a periodically stratified medium has many applications in physics, mathematics, and engineering. The subject is of interest to students, teachers, and researchers, as it presents a great opportunity to focus on principles of optics and to understand the basics of mathematical modeling. A complete theory of wave propagation can be derived using Born’s optics theory. We employed that theory to determine the reflectivity of a one-dimensional distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and do simulations using MATLAB. A DBR is a photonic crystal consisting of alternating layers of materials with different refractive indices. In this study, we modeled …

Modeling And Analysis Of The Impact Of Vocational Education On The Unemployment Rate In Nigeria, Abayomi Ayoade, Opeyemi Odetunde, Bidemi Falodun

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

Unemployment is a major determinant of a weak economy and a good measure of living standard in a country. Nigeria is faced with the problem of unemployment at present. By that, a mathematical model is formulated to investigate the effect of vocational education on the unemployment challenges in Nigeria. The model is tested for the basic requirements of a good mathematical model. The equilibrium analysis of the model is conducted and both the unemployment-free and the unemployment endemic equilibria are obtained. The threshold for the implementation success of the vocational education program is also derived following the approach of epidemic …

Mechani-Kits Senior Design Project, Jake Utley, Sophie Carson, Vincent Seguin

Mechanical Engineering

Studies suggest that when designed and executed well, hands-on activities can enhance student understanding of key mechanics concepts. Current products are expensive and typically not designed to meet a variety of learning objectives. Through the Mechanics of Inclusion and Inclusivity in Mechanics grant, the Cal Poly Physics and Engineering Departments are seeking to incorporate new hands-on activities into their courses. Our team has designed three inexpensive ”MechaniKits” to be used in physics, statics and dynamics courses [1]. This Final Design Review outlines our findings, objectives, and final designs for this project. It also explains our manufacturing and design verification plans. …

Art And Science: Utilizing Steam Education To Promote Empathetic Scientific Literacy And Global Citizenship, Ali Orsi Davis

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This research expounds on the history of, hurdles facing, and future goals and possibilities for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) education, including how it can create empathetic, scientifically literate global citizens. Reasons for the cultivation of empathy, scientific literacy, and global citizenship in the classroom are numerous; escalating worldwide nationalism, accelerated climate change, and the increased need to address sustainable development and poverty have produced particular urgency for such student development. Science educators today rarely prioritize the “art” in STEAM education, despite a panoply of cognitive benefits including perspective-taking, critical thinking, and increased personal connection to scientific content. Development …