Bioinformatics Education in High School: Implications for Promoting Science,Technology, Engineering,and Mathematics Careers

We investigated the effects of our Bio-ITEST teacher professional development model and bioinformatics curricula on cognitive traits (awareness, engagement, self-efficacy, and relevance) in high school teachers and students that are known to accompany a developing interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. The program included best practices in adult education and diverse resources to empower teachers to integrate STEM career information into their classrooms. The introductory unit, Using Bioinformatics: Genetic Testing, uses bioinformatics to teach basic concepts in genetics and molecular biology, and the advanced unit, Using Bioinformatics: Genetic Research, utilizes bioinformatics to study evolution and support student research with DNA barcoding. Pre–post surveys demonstrated significant growth (n = 24) among teachers in their preparation to teach the curricula and infuse career awareness into their classes, and these gains were sustained through the end of the academic year. Introductory unit students (n = 289) showed significant gains in awareness, relevance, and self-efficacy. While these students did not show significant gains in engagement, advanced unit students (n = 41) showed gains in all four cognitive areas. Lessons learned during Bio-ITEST are explored in the context of recommendations for other programs that wish to increase student interest in STEM careers.     

Children's agency beliefs, cognitive performance, and conceptions of effort and ability: individual and developmental differences

In order to understand how children's beliefs and cognitive performance vary according to development in their conceptions of effort and ability, 120 fourth and sixth graders were given the following assessments: (a) a measure of agency beliefs, defined as the extent to which persons believe they have access to certain classes of potential means, including effort, ability, powerful others, and luck; (b) a battery of intelligence test scales, including figural patterns, letter series, arithmetic, and spelling; (c) an interview designed to assess developmental levels in conceptions of effort and ability. Correlations between intelligence scores and agency beliefs for effort decreased with increasing levels of reasoning about effort and ability, but correlations between intelligence scores and agency beliefs for ability increased with increasing levels of reasoning. No such trends were found in correlations between performance and agency beliefs for luck or for unknown causes. The results are discussed in terms of the interaction between individual differences and developmental change.     

A Career on the Margins? The Position of Careers Teachers in Schools

Careers teachers have at no time in their history enjoyed a high status in schools. This is surprising given the current demands for schools to equip youngsters with the social and work skills required for their future lives. The data drawn on derive from an in‐depth study of 43 careers teachers from 12 comprehensive schools in one Midlands local authority. The paper shows that the careers teachers studied are not a homogeneous group; they come from different subject backgrounds and include teachers, both male and female, from predominantly the bottom and middle rungs of the hierarchy. A common characteristic of those studied is that most are non‐graduate and have no significant specialist training in careers education. They became involved in ‘careers’ by chance, as a way of advancing their own career or because they had been delegated the responsibility, rather than for more ‘altruistic’ reasons. Their routes into careers work were largely unplanned. Most careers teachers worked on their own and were not part of a department in the traditional sense. Careers teachers were unable to establish a position of influence and stability in school because of the constant variable recognition and status given to both careers education and careers teachers, resulting in their ‘marginalisation’.     

Teachers' responses to noncompliant students: The realities and consequences of a negotiated curriculum

This research examined the context in urban high school physical education classes that influenced 10 teachers' conceptualizations of realistic educational goals for their students. Ethnographic data in the form of field notes and interviews were analyzed using constant comparison. Teachers reported that many students were unwilling to participate and were becoming progressively more difficult to teach. Teachers actively sought explanations for this behavior both in the students' backgrounds and their lack of interest in school. They identified inconsistencies between the school's educational mission and the students' aspirations for the future. Teachers reported substantial changes in their programs over their careers. Although they had begun their careers teaching skills and other knowledge-based curricula, the diversity and difficulties associated with teaching urban students had forced them to move from a curriculum of skills to a “curriculum” of motivation and order. Many of these programs exhibited characteristics of an elitist, discriminatory, and decontextual approach to curriculum.     

Old childbirth educators never die ... They just labor away

Teaching childbirth education classes year after year can become monotonous or stale for some educators. Consequently, their students may also become bored. Rejuvinating one's professional self takes effort; however, the results are a renewed sense of purpose and a more exhilarating atmosphere in class.     

Student Performance in a Multimedia Case-Study Environment

Does an online, multimedia case study influence students’ performance, motivation, and perceptions of science in collegiate level biology classes, and if so, how? One hundred and eight students in 5 classes from 4 campuses in the United States and Puerto Rico participated in data collection (performance tests, surveys and focus group interviews). Pre- and post-test results increased after students participated in the learning environment (F(1, 80) = 17.256, p ≤ 0.01, η² = 0.177). Student confidence in their knowledge also increased. During focus group interviews students reported that the project was a good learning experience (95 %), would help with future classes or careers (87 %), and stimulated student curiosity by demonstrating the application of theoretical knowledge in real-world situations (64 %). The learning environment motivated students by making material relevant, which resulted in better performance. This pedagogical tool is not instructor dependent, and is adaptable.     

Is Science Me? Exploring Middle School Students’ STE-M Career Aspirations

This study explores middle school students’ aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and medical (STE-M) careers by analyzing survey data during their eighth and ninth grade years from an ethnically and economically diverse sample of Southern California urban and suburban public school students (n = 493). Students were classified based on their responses to questions about their science ability beliefs and subjective task values using latent class analysis (LCA). Four distinct groups of students were identified: Science is Me; I Value Science But Don’t Do It Well; I Can Do Science but I Don’t Value It Highly; and Science is Not Me. Few students (22 %) were classified as having strong science ability beliefs, and only a third as strongly valuing learning/doing science; a majority (57 %) were in the Science is Not Me category, underscoring the scope of the challenge to invite more young people to want to learn science. As predicted, students who believed they could do science and valued science were more likely than others to indicate interest in STE-M careers. This relationship between perceptions and aspirations was true regardless of gender, ethnicity, and type of STE-M field, but varied depending on socioeconomic status. Using LCA to organize information about students’ science self-perceptions may help target specific interventions to student interests and aspirations and better support and encourage their persistence in STE-M careers.     

Impact of a play‐based curriculum in the first two years of primary school: literacy and numeracy outcomes over seven years

In 2000–2002 an innovative early years curriculum, the Enriched Curriculum (EC), was introduced into 120 volunteer schools across Northern Ireland, replacing a traditional curriculum similar to others across the UK at that time. It was intended by the designers to be developmentally appropriate and play‐based with the primary goal of preventing the experience of persistent early failure in children. The EC was not intended to be a literacy and numeracy intervention, yet it did considerably alter pedagogy in these domains, particularly the age at which formal reading and mathematics instruction began. As part of a multi‐method evaluation running from 2000–2008, the research team followed the primary school careers of the first two successive cohorts of EC children, comparing them with year‐ahead controls attending the same 24 schools. Compared to the year‐ahead control group, the findings show that the EC children's reading and mathematics scores fell behind in the first two years but the majority of EC children caught up by the end of their fourth year. Thereafter, the performance of the first EC cohort fell away slightly, while that of the second continued to match that of controls. Overall, the play‐based curriculum had no statistically significant positive effects on reading and mathematics in the medium term. At best, the EC children's scores matched those of controls.     

An Integrated Analysis of School Students’ Aspirations for STEM Careers: Which Student and School Factors Are Most Predictive?

Declining enrolments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and a lack of interest in STEM careers are concerning at a time when society is becoming more reliant on complex technologies. We examine student aspirations for STEM careers by drawing on surveys conducted annually from 2012 to 2015. School students in years 3 to 12 (n?=?6492) were asked to indicate their occupational choices. A logistic regression analysis showed that being in the older cohorts, possessing high cultural capital, being male, having a parent in a STEM occupation and high prior achievement in reading and numeracy, were significant. This analysis provides a strong empirical basis for school-based initiatives to improve STEM participation. In particular, strategies should target the following: the persistent lack of interest by females in some careers, improving student academic achievement in both literacy and numeracy and expanding knowledge of STEM careers, especially for students without familial STEM connections.     

What a difference mentoring makes: service learning and engagement for college students

Colleges are increasingly interested in ways to better engage students in their academic careers. This article reports 20 college students' experiences as mentors for at‐risk fourth‐graders through a mentoring program called The Learning Connection (TLC), run by the Community Services Office at Moravian College. The study describes students' voluntary participation in service learning activities as a source of student engagement, the characteristics of the TLC mentoring program, the process by which student mentors reported their experiences over the course of the academic year, and the benefits of the mentoring program through the eyes of the college student mentors. At the beginning of the mentoring experience, mentors reported that the primary reasons for mentoring were to make a difference in a child's life and supplement classroom learning. At the end of the academic year, mentors reported that mentoring taught them important lessons about children, themselves, community work and the value of mentoring. Mentor feedback supports mentoring, specifically, and service learning, generally, as a source of student engagement for college students.     

Among Those Present

Abstract

The theory of expectancy which provides a clear path to a desired goal was applied through the delivery system of contract grading in order to determine if business student motivation and effort could be increased. Experiments were conducted during the 1974-75 school year using nine classes of college students with 280 total participants. Seven classes experienced contract grading and two experienced traditional grading methods. Results showed that student effort increased significantly using the contract grading method.     

Chemistry degree curricula — undergraduate feelings

The end-of-first year attitudes towards chemistry, the degree to which course expectations matched realisations, and examination scores were available for 110 Belgian freshman chemistry majors. Four years later, data of subsequent “careers” enabled the students (Ss) to be classified in four groups: those who continued as chemistry majors throughout their university studies; those who changed their major study but stayed at university; those who left university for non-university higher education; and those who ceased their studies. Using discriminant analysis it was possible to predict approximately 70% of those destined to form Group 1. The prediction of those in the other groups became progressively weaker. The difference between groups is discussed in terms of the discriminating variables. Measures of the attitudes of the students towards chemistry four years later revealed that these later feelings could not be predicted on the basis of their feelings at the end of their first year of studies.     

Writing retreat as structured intervention: margin or mainstream?

Academics across the world face increasing pressure to publish. Research shows that writing retreats have helped by creating dedicated writing time and building collegiality. A new form of ‘structured’ writing retreat was created to increase its impact by taking a community of practice approach. This paper reports on an evaluation, funded by the British Academy, in which participants were interviewed one year after structured retreat. They reported many changes in their approaches to writing and in their sense of themselves as writers and some of these changes were sustained on return to campus. This paper argues that structured retreat increases learning through participation and helps academics to mainstream writing in their lives and careers. We conclude by suggesting that, since publishing is a mainstream academic activity, it makes sense to mainstream this intervention in academic careers.     

Ecological contexts and early learning: Contributions of child,family, and classroom factors during Head Start,to literacy and mathematics growth through first grade

The current study investigated the extent to which child, family, and classroom factors during Head Start are related to children's literacy and mathematics skills at the beginning of preschool and through first grade. Children and families (n = 945) were participating in the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a large-scale data collection effort that assessed children's developing skills as well as their family and classroom environments. Longitudinal growth models revealed that Head Start children began their academic careers well below their more advantaged peers in literacy and mathematics, although by the end of first grade, their scores were nearly on par with national averages. Demographic characteristics of children, as well as their early language and social skills, were the strongest predictors of children's initial status and growth in both early academic domains. Results highlight key foundations and specific promotive factors of early school success for the nation's most disadvantaged children.     

Expounding on physics: a phenomenographic study of physicists talking of their physics

Physicists and physics students have been studied with respect to the variation in the ways they expound on their topic of research and a physics problem, respectively. A phenomenographic approach has been employed; six fourth‐year physics students and 10 teacher‐researcher physicists at various stages of their careers have been interviewed. Four qualitatively distinct ways of expounding on physics have been identified, constituting an outcome space where there is a successive shift towards coherent structure and multiple referent domains. The interviewed person is characterized as expressing an ‘object of knowledge’, and the interviewer is characterized as a willing and active listener who is trying to make sense of it, constituting a ‘knowledge object’ out of the ideas expressed and personal experience. Pedagogical situations of analogous character to the interviewer–interviewee discussions are considered in the light of the analysis, focusing on the affordances for learning offered by the different forms of exposition.     

The influence of role-specific self-concept and sex-role identity on career choices in science

Despite much effort on the part of educators the number of females who choose science careers remains low. This research focuses on two factors which may be influencing females in their choice of careers. These factors are role-specific self-concept in science and self perception in terms of stereotypical masculine and feminine characteristics. In addition logical ability and mathematics and science courses were also examined as factors in career choice. Females preferring science related careers and females preferring nontraditional careers such as police, military and trades were found to have a positive role-specific self-concept and a masculine perception of themselves. Females preferring traditional careers such as teacher or hairdresser had a poor role-specific self-concept and a more feminine perception of themselves. Males as a group were found to have a more positive role-specific self-concept than females. Logical ability was also related to a science career preference for both males and females. Males expected to take more higher level math courses than females, while females preferring science careers expected to take the most higher level science courses.     

Experiences of Mentors Training Underrepresented Undergraduates in the Research Laboratory

Successfully recruiting students from underrepresented groups to pursue biomedical science research careers continues to be a challenge. Early exposure to scientific research is often cited as a powerful means to attract research scholars with the research mentor being critical in facilitating the development of an individual''s science identity and career; however, most mentors in the biological sciences have had little formal training in working with research mentees. To better understand mentors’ experiences working with undergraduates in the laboratory, we conducted semistructured interviews with 15 research mentors at a public university in the Midwest. The interviewed mentors were part of a program designed to increase the number of American Indians pursuing biomedical/biobehavioral research careers and represented a broad array of perspectives, including equal representation of male and female mentors, mentors from underrepresented groups, mentors at different levels of their careers, and mentors from undergraduate and professional school departments. The mentors identified benefits and challenges in being an effective mentor. We also explored what the term underrepresented means to the mentors and discovered that most of the mentors had an incomplete understanding about how differences in culture could contribute to underrepresented students’ experience in the laboratory. Our interviews identify issues relevant to designing programs and courses focused on undergraduate student research.     

Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS): The Effectiveness of an Afterschool Environmental Science Program for Increasing Female Students’ Interest in Science Careers

Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) was an afterschool program for 4th and 5th grade girls that provided authentic learning experiences in environmental science as well as valuable female mentoring opportunities in an effort to increase participants’ academic achievement in science. BUGS participants demonstrated significantly greater amounts of gain in science knowledge as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in Science (ITBS-S). The original BUGS participants and contrasts have now completed high school and entered college, allowing researchers to assess the long-term impact of the BUGS program. Fourteen former BUGS participants completed two instruments to assess their perceptions of science and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Their results were compared to four contrast groups composed entirely of females: 12 former BUGS contrasts, 10 college science majors, 10 non-science majors, and 9 current STEM professionals. Results indicate that BUGS participants have higher perceptions of science careers than BUGS contrasts. There were no significant differences between BUGS participants, Science Majors, and STEM professionals in their perceptions of science and STEM careers, whereas the BUGS contrast group was significantly lower than BUGS participants, Science Majors, and STEM Professionals. Additional results and implications are discussed within.     

Beginning early childhood education teachers’ classroom management concerns

This paper reports an analysis of the classroom management concerns of pre-service early childhood education (ECE) teachers prior to beginning their career and further examines the difficulties they experienced in classroom management in their first year of teaching and their coping strategies. Sixteen pre-service ECE teachers enrolled in the same teacher education programme were interviewed immediately before graduation, and were again interviewed at the end of the first and second semesters after they started to work in public schools. Phenomenological analysis was utilized for the data analysis. The findings revealed that all of the participants had a fear of being unable to manage their classes before starting their careers because they felt unprepared. However, they experienced fewer problems than expected after they started to teach. The teachers first tried to build trusting and close relationships with the children to create a peaceful classroom climate, while also attempting to empower the children by involving them in decision-making processes. In this way, the children became aware of the class rules and felt free in their actions within the limits of the rules.