We investigate how the integration of visual agent-based programming and computationally augmented physical structures can support curricular integration across STEM domains for elementary grade students. We introduce ViMAP-Tangible, a socio-technically distributed computational learning environment, which integrates ultrasonic sensors with the ViMAP visual programming language using a distributed computation infrastructure. In this paper, we report a study in which 3rd and 4th grade students used ViMAP-Tangible to engage in collaborative design-based activities in order to invent 'drawing machines' for generating geometric shapes. The curricular activities integrate engineering practices such as user-centered design, mathematical reasoning about multiplication, rates and fractions, and physical science concepts central to learning Newtonian mechanics. We identify the key affordances of the learning environment and our pedagogical approach in terms of the relationship between the structural elements of students' physical constructions and computational models, and their learning outcomes, both in terms of computational thinking, and the domain-specific, mathematical and scientific knowledge that they began developing.
Efforts to promote equity and inclusion using evidence-based approaches are vital to correcting long-standing societal inequities that have disadvantaged women and discouraged them from pursuing studies, including in many STEM disciplines. We used 10 years of institutional data from a large public university to investigate the grade point average trends in different STEM disciplines for men and women who declared a major and then either completed the degree or dropped the major after declaring it. We found alarming trends, such as that women who dropped majors on average earned higher grades t…
Efforts to promote equity and inclusion using evidence-based approaches are vital to correct long-standing societal inequities that have disadvantaged women and discouraged them from pursuing studies, e.g., in many STEM disciplines. We use 10 years of institutional data at a large public university to investigate trends in the majors that men and women declare, drop after declaring, and earn degrees in as well as the GPA of the students who drop or earn a degree. We find that the majors with the lowest number of students also have the highest rates of attrition. Moreover, we find alarming GPA …
Grades provide students with their primary performance feedback: signals which affect academic choices. Variations in grading practice among courses impose grade penalties (and bonuses) on students who take them. These grade penalties are sometimes gendered. Using extensive data from the University of Michigan, we report on patterns of grade penalty and gendered performance difference across 116 large courses. We find that significant gendered performance differences are ubiquitous in large introductory STEM lecture courses. They are largely absent in both STEM labs and in lecture courses in o…
Underrepresented minority (URM) students are subjected to historically rooted inequities when pursuing an education, especially in STEM disciplines with little diversity. In order to make STEM education equitable and inclusive, evidence for how students from different racial/ethnic demographics are faring is necessary. We use 10 years of institutional data at a large public university to investigate trends in the majors that Asian, URM, and White students declare, drop after declaring, and earn degrees in as well as the GPA of the students who drop or earn a degree. We find that higher percent…
The lack of an engaging pedagogy and the highly competitive atmosphere in introductory science courses tend to discourage students from pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Once in a STEM field, academic and social integration has been long thought to be important for students' persistence. Yet, it is rarely investigated. In particular, the relative impact of in-class and out-of-class interactions remains an open issue. Here, we demonstrate that, surprisingly, for students whose grades fall in the "middle of the pack," the out-of-class network is the most s…
How can elementary grade teachers integrate programming and computational thinking with the science curriculum? To answer this question, we present results from a long-term, design-based, microgenetic study where 1) agent-based programming using ViMAP was integrated with existing elementary science curricula and 2) lessons were taught by the classroom teacher. We present an investigation of the co-development of children's computational thinking and scientific modeling and show that the integration of programming with scientific modeling can be supported by the development of sociomathematical…
Trends and Gender Disparities in Grades and Grade Penalties Among Bioscience and Health-Related Major Students Before, During, and After COVID-19 Remote Instruction
An analysis of institutional data to understand the outcome of the many obstacles faced by students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds is important in order to work towards promoting equity and inclusion for all students. We use 10 years of institutional data at a large public research university to investigate the grades earned (both overall and in STEM courses only) by students categorized on four demographic characteristics: gender, race/ethnicity, low-income status, and first-generation college student status. We find that on average across all years of study and for all clusters …
Peer Influence on Physics Self-Efficacy and Grades: A comparative study of students in an introductory calculus-based course who typically worked alone or in groups before and during the pandemic
Well-developed problem-solving skills are essential for any student enrolled in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) course as well as for graduates in the workforce. One of the most essential skills is the ability to monitor one's own progress and understanding while solving a problem. Successful monitoring during the entire solution allows a solver to identify errors within a solution and make adjustments as necessary. To highlight this aspect of problem-solving, we have developed a framework and associated classroom activities that introduce students to monitoring (M) al…
Changes to the TN Middle Grades Science Curriculum According to NGSS
国家资源委员会（NRC）制定的K-12科学教育框架（2011年7月）借鉴了当前的科学研究和学生有效学习科学的方法。这为2013年春季发布的下一代科学标准（NGSS）奠定了基础。田纳西州是26个牵头州伙伴之一，为标准编写小组提供领导，并为各州审议通过和实施NGSS提供指导。我们建议，从目前的国家科学标准过渡到NGSS展示了广泛的共识，所有学生应该知道什么，并能够在特定的K-12年级水平，什么主题可以推迟或排除在发展准备的前提下。为了促进这项工作，STEM研究员之一Larry Bowman（作者）创作了一系列18张海报，展示了当前田纳西州科学教育标准（Huffman，2009）和NGSS（Achieve，2013）之间的相关性。本文专门针对NGSS中年级学科核心思想（DCIs）相比，现有的6-8科学标准，从田纳西州科学课程框架。一些年级水平的期望（GLEs）中年级科学已搬迁到其他年级水平，和其他人已经推出。“中间年级”一词用于10至15岁的学生，这是儿童从具体操作阶段过渡到正式操作阶段的关键年龄。（Piaget and Inhelder 2013）。
"What If I Had Participated?" A Machine Learning-Based Counterfactual Analysis of Non-Participants' Success Potential in STEM Competitions: The Case of the German Physics Olympiad
Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN)（莱布尼茨科学教育研究所）
Pencasts are videos of problem solving with narration by the problem solver. Pedagogically, students can create pencasts to illustrate their own problem solving to the instructor or to their peers. Pencasts have implications for teaching at multiple levels from elementary grades through university courses. In this article, we describe the use of pencasts in a university level upperdivision Electromagnetic Fields course usually taken by junior and senior physics majors. For each homework assignment, students created and submitted pencasts of ordinary problems several days before the problem set…
Studies of scientists building models show that the development of scientific models involves a great deal of subjectivity. However, science as experienced in school settings typically emphasizes an overly objective and rationalistic view. In this paper, we argue for focusing on the development of disciplined interpretation as an epistemic and representational practice that progressively deepens students' computational modeling in science by valuing, rather than deemphasizing, the subjective nature of the experience of modeling. We report results from a study in which fourth grade children eng…
Bioscience Students in Physics Courses With Higher Test Anxiety Have Lower Grades on High-Stakes Assessments, and Women Report More Test Anxiety Than Men
