Strategies for Broadening Participation in Advanced Technological Education Programs: Practice and Perceptions

Expanding and diversifying the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workforce is a national priority. The National Science Foundation is investing efforts at post secondary education institutions to engage individuals who have been historically underrepresented in STEM. This paper investigated the use of strategies to broaden participation in STEM by grantees of NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE), who are primarily located at 2-year colleges. The ATE program focuses on developing and improving technician training programs to prepare students for employment in fields that rely on advanced technologiessuch as nanotechnology, photonics, and mechatronics. A survey, conducted annually by the authors of this study, was used to collect data from ATE grantees on their use and perceptions of strategies to broaden participation in STEM. The findings showed that strategies related to motivation and access to enhance recruitment are more widely used then strategies that improve retention. Respondents identified strategies related to providing financial assistance, mentoring, and conducting outreach activities as the most effective for reaching and engaging underrepresented minority students in academic programs. Despite these perceptions, these strategies seem to be underutilized among this group.     

Reproduction and transformation of students’ technology practice: The tale of two distinctive secondary student cases

Disparities in the technology practices, skills and knowledge of school students still exist, despite widespread investment, and use in schools. In order to understand why inequalities remain, we first need a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology practice, including understanding how their backgrounds, circumstances and experiences shape their perceptions of and engagement with technology. This paper proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing in order to highlight how and why students use technology at school and in their everyday lives. The paper reports on a qualitative embedded case study of 13–16-year-old students in two Australian secondary schools. In-depth case studies of two selected students illustrate the complex nature of students’ technology practice. Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital are used as a lens through which to view and understand inequalities in students’ technology practice. The findings demonstrate the utility of sociological theory in educational technology research by highlighting systems and structures of reproduction and transformation. Furthermore, the findings can inform an approach to teaching and learning that considers students’ varied experiences, knowledge, perspectives and backgrounds relating to technology.     

Singing our song: the affordances of singing in an intergenerational,multimodal literacy programme

This exploratory case study examined the affordances of singing as a multimodal literacy practice within ensembles that featured art, singing and digital media produced in an intergenerational programme that served a class of kindergarten children and community elders. The programme that was set up by the study in collaboration with a rural school and elders' organisation saw participants meet one afternoon a week for most of a school year. Study questions concerned the meaning making and relationship‐building opportunities afforded to the participants as they worked through chains of multimodal projects. Data were collected using ethnographic tools in an elders' home where the projects were completed and in the kindergarten where project content and tools were introduced to the children and extended by the classroom teacher. Themes were identified through the juxtaposition of data in relation to the literature and study questions. Results indicate that singing provided opportunities for participants to form relationships and make meaning as a group while combining modes. Study findings foreground the communicative power of singing and suggest how singing, when viewed through a multimodal lens, might be a potent tool for multimodal literacy learning.     

Outside of School Matters: What We Need to Know in Urban Environments

This article focuses on factors outside of school that we have identified from the established research literature as essential for educators to consider in supporting students in urban environments. We start by conceptualizing what it means for a school to be “urban.” Following this discussion, we describe four outside-of-school factors that emerge from the literature: (1) Understanding Student and Family Homelessness; (2) Understanding Geography and Social Contexts; (3) Understanding Policy and School Funding; and (4) Understanding Parental and Family Involvement. These factors are important to helping educators, especially pre- and in-service teachers, in their understanding of and, consequently, the practices they use to meet the needs of students in these social contexts. We conclude with recommendations for educational practice.     

Aspiring Teachers and Urban Education Programs

The Urban Review - Research stresses a need for more contextually nuanced urban teacher preparation programs that explore racially oppressive structures in society. This article presents a case...     

The contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ executive function to children's academic achievement, learning-related behaviors, and engagement in kindergarten

Executive functioning (EF) refers to higher order thought processes considered foundational for problem-solving. EF has both ‘cool’ cognitive and ‘hot’ emotional components. This study asks: (a) what are the relative contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ EF to children's academic achievement? (b) What are the relative contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ EF to learning-related classroom behaviors and observed engagement? (c) Do learning-related classroom behaviors and observed engagement account for the relation between EF and achievement? For a sample of 173 kindergarteners, cool EF predicted math achievement, learning-related classroom behaviors, and observed engagement. Hot EF did not predict any achievement or behavior outcomes when examined concurrently with cool EF. Children's classroom behavior did not account for the relation between cool EF and math achievement, suggesting cool EF and math performance are directly associated.     

Strategic ambiguity in the role development process

Today's turbulent business and social environment often compels organizations to adopt internal programs that will help them cope with complexity. One organizational sector in which this is particularly true is the health care industry, as managed care programs and competitive forces have changed the way hospitals and clinics operate. This study looks at a specific organizational program designed to cope with these industry changes and considers the impact of the program on the nurses involved. Drawing on theory and research on role development and strategic ambiguity, this case analysis looks at a hospital system in which the nursing role of “care coordinator”; was defined in a strategically ambiguous way. After analyzing interviews with 19 care coordinators, conclusions are drawn regarding affective reactions to strategic role ambiguity, behavioral adaptation to strategic role ambiguity, and the importance of conceptualizing role ambiguity as a systemic process.     

#Class Again? How Education Faculty Engage the Disengaged College Student

Technology should play a role in the classroom, however, the gaps that currently exist between student and teacher use of technology can impede successful technology integration. While teacher education programs and faculty build courses based on foundational pedagogies in the field of curriculum and instruction, current needs, such as technology skills, may be overlooked as an essential part of the coursework for preservice teachers. This article presents a synthesized list of available websites and applications for both teacher educators and preservice teachers which can serve as a starting point for technology integration. If faculty can create an environment that honors and assesses the technological skills of their students and commit to understanding how the next generation of learners are using technology to learn, there may be a future impact on the classrooms of those preservice teachers as they start their own careers.     

The impact of Geospatial Inquiry lessons on student interest in science and technology careers

Advances in online geospatial technologies (GST) have expanded access to K-12 classrooms which has implications for the support teachers require to effectively integrate GSTs to promote learning. Previous studies have shown the impact of GST-integrated lessons on student engagement, spatial thinking skills, and/or content knowledge; however, most of these studies have been small in scope and scale and frequently focus on the affordances of the technology, without addressing the context of the implementation and student characteristics for whom GST is most impactful. We attempt to address some of these gaps. Our program scaled an effective GST-focused professional learning and development program to a national audience through a facilitator development model. This paper explores the student characteristics and lesson factors that resulted in student interest in science and technology and careers in those fields. After teaching a Geospatial Inquiry lesson created during a teacher workshop, teachers (n = 82) submitted the lessons and surveys on the implementation of Geospatial Inquiry lessons. The implementation surveys and lessons were scored for alignment to the principles of high-quality Geospatial Inquiry. Students (n = 1924) completed a post-lesson retrospective survey and indicated the extent to which their perceptions and attitudes toward science and technology changed because of the lesson. Results indicate that teacher GST performance is associated with increases in student outcomes. Students with previous exposure to science activities were more likely to have increased interest and excitement in science and careers in science but decreased interest in technology careers. Students who had previous exposure to technology activities had increased interest and excitement in technology and careers in technology but decreased interest in science careers. Geospatial Inquiry lessons also had a significant impact on students who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. After participating in the lessons, students who identify as female reported higher engagement and interest in science and higher interest in science careers. Students who identified as Black or Hispanic also reported higher interest and excitement in science and technology, and students who identified as Black reported marginally higher interest in science careers.