The purpose of this thesis is to explore civil engineering students’ and professional civil engineers' understanding of concepts within statics and fluid mechanics. The studies described herein begin to examine theories of situated cognition utilizing concept inventories, which are sets of multiple-choice questions where the incorrect answers are based on...
Multiple factors are known to influence student success in higher education. Barriers to postsecondary success for underrepresented STEM students are numerous and well documented. We detail an exploratory study of STEM faculty notions of successful students and the instructional practices they employ to cultivate student success. We use a conceptual...
This paper explores the affordances and constraints of STEM faculty members' instructional data-use practices and how they engage students (or not) in reflection around their own learning data. We found faculty used a wide variety of instructional data-use practices. We also found several constraints that influenced their instructional data-use practices,...
College Algebra is a prerequisite for calculus and is thus an important stepping stone in the careers of STEM-intending undergraduates. However, College Algebra has low pass rates across the United States, interrupting students’ pathways to success. To address this concern, a research-oriented university in the Northwest United States restructured its...
Problem: To compare the effectiveness of three
different methods of teaching chemistry at a community
college.
Procedure: Three classes of college chemistry
were taught using the traditional lecture-discussion
with a typical text, a lecture-discussion using a
programed text, and an individualized self-paced
method.
The self-paced course was designed to allow...
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study developed a model which identified mathematical needs
in various vocational technical programs. This model provides a
method which can be used to develop an adequate mathematics curriculum
to support occupational offerings at community college/technical
institutes, and can also help high schools and the colleges/technical...
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the use
of vocationally - oriented applications on the achievement and attitude
of community college beginning algebra students. The applications
were chosen to be representative of problems encountered in
a variety of occupations. They were in contrast to the...
Purpose of the Study:
The purpose of this study was to.investigate the achievement
effect of providing students in a college-level introductory
psychology course with behavioral objectives. The non-experimental
literature provides a rationale for student use of behavioral objectives
(Bobbitt, 1918; Tyler, 1950; Taba, 1962; Gagne and Briggs,
1974; and Popham,...
Two mathematical computer games, POE and EQUATIONS, were used to
test the effects of games as learning aids in a university entry-level
intermediate algebra course. Specifically, this study investigated
whether use of these games would significantly increase student achievement
in the course and improve student attitude toward mathematics.
EQUATIONS is...