Check out some of the amazing posters and presenters featured at this year's event.
(Posters are organized by category; some posters appear in multiple categories)
Community College - - - Educational Transformation - - - Faculty Development & Resources - - - K-12 & Informal STEM Education - - - K-12 STEM Education - - - Program Assessment - - - Research Experience for Undergradates - - - STEM Education Research - - - Undergraduate Leadership
Community College:
The STEM Core Expansion
Janet Yowell (CEAS)
The STEM Core Expansion project is one of NSF's six INCLUDES Alliance awards, led by Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA, and CU Boulder. The STEM Core vision is to create a pathway bringing underrepresented and underprepared students to a foundational skill level required for A.S., B.S., and industry improvement in STEM fields in order to achieve the goal of increasing diversity and productivity in the nation's STEM workplace.
A Partnership Between Laser Optics and Mathematics
Paige Casabona (Red Rocks Community College)
NSF Research Experiences for Teacher project. Community college faculty member developed a Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) instrument for ultrashort laser pulse characterization; plus a laser optics cross-discipline project for use in a Calculus 3 classroom at Red Rocks Community College.
Biotech Inquiry-based Labs
Fan Yeung (Front Range Community College, Biology)
In this small ATE project, Front Range Community College (FRCC) seeks to develop the biotechnology educational pipeline in Colorado by increasing students' exposure and engagement in biotechnology careers. Inquiry-based molecular biology labs have been developed and implemented in local high schools and in high-enrolled science courses at FRCC. The inquiry-based labs equip students with competencies and skills for entry level biotechnology jobs. Partnerships with local industry ensure the workforce relevancy of the inquiry curriculum, and have provided engaging career exploration opportunities to attract students into biotechnology careers. FRCC students serve as near-peer mentors to facilitate student learning in the classroom and promote self-efficacy in career exploration. This project has generated valuable instructional materials, which can be adopted by the science education community. A long term goal is to reduce the regional educational achievement gap, and to increase local participation in Colorado's bioscience workforce.
Educational Transformation:
Coproduction of Embodied Climate Curriculum Gains STEAM
Patrick Chandler (EVNS/CIRES PhD Student),
Beth Osnes (Inside the Greenhouse co-founder, Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies CU Theater and Dance),
James Hakala (Senior Educator for the CU Museum of Natural History),
Carl Simpson (Assistant Professor, Geological Sciences/CU Museum of Natural History)
Shine/Fossils in the Classroom represents a partnership between two University of Colorado Boulder departments and the Jefferson County School District that enabled the authors to coproduce an embodied exploration of fossils, energy, and climate for 4th/5th grade students in Colorado. This project addresses the current lack of embodied participatory learning that enhances retention and understanding of climate change. Over the past year, CU faculty, staff, and students teamed up with administrative staff and teachers in the Jefferson County School District to pilot the first draft of this new curriculum. In the next year we will continue piloting our revised draft of the lessons with a diverse set of 4th and 5th grade JeffCO teachers and document the coproduction framework that enabled this work to be successful.
Developing change agency and valuing participation in Departmental Action Teams
Alanna Pawlak (CSL)
It is often a challenge for STEM departments to implement and maintain changes to their undergraduate programs. The Departmental Action Team (DAT) Model seeks to facilitate more sustainable departmental changes. In the model, teams known as DATs, comprised of students, faculty, and staff, work on collectively-determined goals aimed at improving the undergraduate experience in their department, with their work being supported by external facilitators from the DAT Project. An essential part of the DAT Model of departmental change is that facilitators not only help DAT members accomplish goals and projects, but also seek to develop DAT members as change agents: individuals who are inclined, empowered, and prepared to enact further change in their departments or beyond. Even though DATs are consensus-driven and facilitated with an eye towards equitable collaboration, however, individual DAT members can have different opinions about the value of experience, and they can develop varying degrees of identity as change agents. To investigate what impacts how DAT members feel about their DAT experience and their identity as change agents, we interviewed members from two long-running DATs. We present an analysis of one undergraduate member of a DAT and preliminary findings regarding how their experience on the DAT related to their opinions about participating in the DAT and the development of their identity as a change agent.
The Teaching Quality Framework Initiative: Engaging departments in the process of improving evaluation of teaching
Sarah Andrews (CSL)
Current teaching evaluation systems for merit, reappointment, tenure, and promotion decisions in higher education often poorly measure teaching effectiveness and lack systematic processes for formative development of teaching quality. In response to these concerns and national calls for improvement to teaching quality, the Teaching Quality Framework Initiative (TQF) is creating a process and tools for systemic transformation of departmental evaluation of teaching across the CU Boulder campus. The TQF, as part of the Bay View Alliance and NSF funded TEVAL collaboration, draws on decades of research on change in higher education, scholarship of teaching and learning, and faculty evaluation. We focus on evaluation of teaching as this can directly impact long-term objectives of institutions of higher education, including increased valuation of teaching, externalization of departmental/institutional values about teaching and learning, improved instruction and student outcomes, and a shift in culture toward a scholarly approach to teaching. Here we present our framework and overall model for improved evaluation of teaching. This approach includes a process for engaging departments in aligning their teaching practices with the framework by identifying or creating tools that better assess teaching quality, fill gaps within their current evaluation practices, and collectively represent an alignment of multiple measures from three key voices (peers, students, and self). This opt-in process utilizes the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model of regular facilitated meetings to effect change at the departmental level and combines regular stakeholder meetings, outreach to key administrative officials, and the sharing of resources and ideas across departments to create campus-wide change. We currently support 14 departments engaged in the TQF and will explore similarities and differences in how they have moved through this process and share example tools and procedures that have been developed by the teams to create a sustainable mechanism for change across campus and beyond.
Implementing Engineering Mathematics in the CEAS
Janet Tsai (MCEN / College of Engineering and Applied Science)
The third year of pilot implementation of a novel engineering mathematics intervention is underway in the CEAS, based on the Wright State Model for Engineering Math. The Wright State Model (WSM) is a one-semester introduction to the fundamentals of Calculus 1, 2, and Differential Equations through hands-on, application-rich laboratory exercises and meaningful engineering examples. By exposing students to downstream math concepts applied to engineering problems, the WSM has been shown to effectively motivate students to persist through the required engineering mathematics curriculum, increasing overall retention in engineering degrees and majors at Wright State and other institutions replicating the WSM. At CU, administering the WSM has included not just teaching the course, sourcing equipment, and building the laboratory, but also making concurrent changes to our admissions pathways and advising policies to enroll students into the course and incentivize course completion with relevant degree credit. Our poster will introduce how we have implemented Engineering Math at CU, discuss preliminary results across Years 1 and 2 of the course pilot, and share a few challenges and obstacles encountered along the way.
Faculty Development and Resources:
Ways to integrate LAs: an investigation of the 52 LA-facilitated courses at CU Boulder and FRCC during spring 2019
Aidan Barker (Learning Assistant Program), 
Betsy McIntosh (Learning Assistant Program),
Laurie Langdon (Learning Assistant Program),
Valerie Otero (Learning Assistant Program)
Learning Assistants are undergraduate students who, through the guidance of weekly preparation sessions and a pedagogy course, facilitate discussions among groups of students in a variety of classroom settings that encourage active engagement. Learning assistants (LAs) use a variety of pedagogical techniques while directly interacting with students to provide learning support in 18 departments across CU Boulder and Front Range Community College (Boulder County Campus). During spring semester 2019, 201 LAs spent ~18,000 hours directly working with ~11,000 "student seats." (Note: "student seats" includes students who have LAs in more than one course, so the number of individual students is slightly lower.) In order to better understand the depth and breadth of all 52 LA-Facilitated courses that took place at these two institutions during Spring 2019, we asked all new LAs to report the average number of hours they spent in each class context per week, including the amount of time spent directly interacting with students, and a description of their responsibilities. We found that all LAs operate within at least one of three primary contexts: lecture, lab, or recitation. Some LAs additionally interact with students in secondary contexts of a help room or office hours. Most LAs work within multiple contexts. Using this information we have developed materials for new LAs that outline the time break down, the overarching responsibilities of the LA, and advice from previous LAs. Additionally, we are working to characterize how the ways LAs interact with students is similar within, and differs between, contexts. This characterization will be used to help faculty and the LA Program better train and support LAs, and help each instructional team work together to better facilitate student learning in the classroom.
Continued Development of the LA Mentor Program at CU Boulder
Avery Langley (Learning Assistant Program),
Betsy McIntosh (Learning Assistant Program),
Laurie Langdon (Learning Assistant Program),
Valerie Otero (Learning Assistant Program)
Learning Assistants (LAs) are undergraduate students who, through the guidance of weekly preparation sessions with faculty and a pedagogy course, facilitate discussions among groups of students in a variety of classroom settings that encourage active engagement. In the pedagogy course, new LAs work to better understand the nature of teaching and learning and work with their peers to resolve issues that arise during their LA practice. New LA development is also supported by LA Mentors, experienced LAs who continue to develop their pedagogical skills and advocate for new LAs, while adapting research-validated techniques for mentoring new teachers in this peer mentoring model. We developed the LA Mentor program to provide a space where LA Mentors, program directors, and pedagogy course instructors can advocate on behalf of LAs, faculty, and other participants of the LA Program. LA Mentors support new LAs through in-class observations and one-on-one consultations focused on the ways LAs interact with students to assist their learning. These LA observations are compiled to provide feedback to course instructors and departmental coordinators about strategies for increasing student interaction and active learning in the classroom. The LA Mentor program promotes agency of experienced LAs to develop their own leadership skills through projects that impact members of the LA Program, CU Boulder, and International LA Alliance communities. We will showcase the continued development of the LA Mentoring program at CU Boulder and highlight various models for undergraduate leadership and peer mentoring.
The Teaching Quality Framework Initiative: Engaging departments in the process of improving evaluation of teaching
Sarah Andrews (CSL)
Current teaching evaluation systems for merit, reappointment, tenure, and promotion decisions in higher education often poorly measure teaching effectiveness and lack systematic processes for formative development of teaching quality. In response to these concerns and national calls for improvement to teaching quality, the Teaching Quality Framework Initiative (TQF) is creating a process and tools for systemic transformation of departmental evaluation of teaching across the CU Boulder campus. The TQF, as part of the Bay View Alliance and NSF funded TEVAL collaboration, draws on decades of research on change in higher education, scholarship of teaching and learning, and faculty evaluation. We focus on evaluation of teaching as this can directly impact long-term objectives of institutions of higher education, including increased valuation of teaching, externalization of departmental/institutional values about teaching and learning, improved instruction and student outcomes, and a shift in culture toward a scholarly approach to teaching. Here we present our framework and overall model for improved evaluation of teaching. This approach includes a process for engaging departments in aligning their teaching practices with the framework by identifying or creating tools that better assess teaching quality, fill gaps within their current evaluation practices, and collectively represent an alignment of multiple measures from three key voices (peers, students, and self). This opt-in process utilizes the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model of regular facilitated meetings to effect change at the departmental level and combines regular stakeholder meetings, outreach to key administrative officials, and the sharing of resources and ideas across departments to create campus-wide change. We currently support 14 departments engaged in the TQF and will explore similarities and differences in how they have moved through this process and share example tools and procedures that have been developed by the teams to create a sustainable mechanism for change across campus and beyond.
A Partnership Between Laser Optics and Mathematics
Paige Casabona (Red Rocks Community College)
NSF Research Experiences for Teacher project. Community college faculty member developed a Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) instrument for ultrashort laser pulse characterization; plus a laser optics cross-discipline project for use in a Calculus 3 classroom at Red Rocks Community College.
K-12 & Informal STEM Education:
Participate in a Year on board a research vessel from Anywhere - Coordinating Education, Outreach and Communication of the MOSAiC expedition
Jonathan Griffith (CIRES Education and Outreach),
Lynne Harden (CIRES Education and Outreach)
The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) is the first year-round expedition to the central Arctic to explore the Arctic climate system, beginning in September 2019. An international, multi-disciplinary team of scientists will be locked in the ice on the Polarstern, collecting data on a variety of topics. The MOSAiC Coordination Office (MOC), based at CIRES, will facilitate US communication, education and outreach efforts.
Science Research Seminar - Meet-A-Mentor
Kate Hoffman (CU Science Discovery),
Kathryn Penzkover (BVSD)
Boulder Valley School District's high schools offer this class for students interested in any type of science. The purpose of this class is to provide an opportunity for students to fully participate in research projects in the STEM fields. Students are paired with mentors in the field they are interested in. Mentors may sign up to be mentors ahead of time or may be contacted by the student and teacher of the SRS class. Students may work with this mentor in a lab or science facility, contributing to an on-going project or pursuing their own, related, research question. Other times, Students will choose to work in the high school laboratory closely monitored by the high school teacher, accessing mentors occasionally for support with procedure detail or data analysis. All students have a regular high school classroom teacher, who maintains communication with the mentors of his or her students. Students demonstrate their learning by presenting a poster at the BVSD Science Fair, presenting a powerpoint presentations at the Science Research Symposium and writing a Scientific Journal Article.
Teaching and Learning Algebraic Thinking Across the Middle Grades
Amanda McGarry (PhET Interactive Simulations),
Jeff Bush (PhET Interactive Simulations)
The PhET Interactive Simulations Project (http://phet.colorado.edu/) has developed over 130 free online interactive simulations for teaching and learning in science and mathematics from elementary school through college. The simulations are interactive, game-like environments in which students learn through exploration and experimentation. Using extensive research and student interviews, the PhET team of scientists, developers and educators design simulations to emphasize the connections between real life phenomena and the underlying science and mathematics, make the invisible visible (e.g., electrons, atoms, field vectors), and utilize the visual models and representations that experts use to aid their thinking. Here we present the scope and breadth of PhET simulation use in various educational environments, emphasizing the key design elements that foster student engagement and learning. We additionally highlight the newest directions for the PhET project, including our development of new math sims aligned to common core state standards in math and classroom research in middle school math classrooms.
Ethical and Societal Impact Implementation in High School STEM Education
Jake Lewis (Environmental Engineering)
When the acronym STEM was introduced in 2001 by the National Science Foundation, a name was given to the recent and rapid push of scientific education at the K12 level. With this push, engineering education has become prominent in Colorado high schools, either through classes and/or extracurricular activities. With high school STEM programs seeking to prepare students for college, the introduction (or reinforcement) of engineering topics to these students is critically important to the development of future engineers. Whether a class is implicitly engineering based, or promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills, students may construct their own understanding of engineering, and the role of an engineering. Engineering, comprising of numerous fields, has ethical and societal impacts (ESI) resulting from all of its many fields. Research is being undertaken to examine if ethics are being implemented in high school STEM education, seeking to understand the teacher perspective regarding ethical implementation, with the goal of identifying whether students form an understanding of engineering that incorporates ESI consideration. This qualitative research is conducted through the process of interviewing high school teachers in Colorado. These teachers represent multiple STEM subjects, school districts, public and private institutions, as well as religious and nonsectarian institutions. This poster will examine the current findings regarding how ethics are implemented in STEM education in Colorado high schools. Examples of challenges to ESI implementation will be detailed, including anonymous teacher perspectives on whether ESI is sufficiently included in STEM education, as well as suggestions from the interviewees on how to overcome or address these challenges.
Am I an Engineer? Exploring Identity Development of K12 STEM Outreach Mentors
Sabina Schill (Environmental Engineering)
Context: Many universities utilize undergraduate and graduate students as mentors for K12 outreach programs. Research within the mentoring space has primarily focused on the benefits to K12 youth mentees. There remains a gap in the literature on the benefits to university student mentors' sense of being a scientist or engineer, or their science / engineering identity. Identity has ties to student interest and retention in the sciences.
Object: This pilot study aims to explore how participation in K12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outreach programs affects the engineering or science identity of university student mentors. Research questions address how mentor identity changes throughout the program, how programmatic factors impact these changes, and if changes in identity differ based on the demographics of university student mentors. Secondary research questions probe into the goal of developing a better understanding of mentoring programs; they look at the definitions of 'mentor' held by students and faculty and inquire about how mentoring K12 students impacts mentor resilience. Method: Following a narrative methodology, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with current and past university student mentors and outreach program coordinators. Qualitative data analysis will include thematic coding based on multiple identity theory with additional codes developed using a constant comparative method. Testing of intercoder reliability and agreement will be done. Results: Results from this study will inform future studies and benefit K12 outreach programs. Though this is an ongoing study in its early stages, anecdotal evidence indicates that mentors' identities are indeed impacted by participation in K12 STEM outreach programs.
Biotech Inquiry-based Labs
Fan Yeung (Front Range Community College, Biology)
In this small ATE project, Front Range Community College (FRCC) seeks to develop the biotechnology educational pipeline in Colorado by increasing students' exposure and engagement in biotechnology careers. Inquiry-based molecular biology labs have been developed and implemented in local high schools and in high-enrolled science courses at FRCC. The inquiry-based labs equip students with competencies and skills for entry level biotechnology jobs. Partnerships with local industry ensure the workforce relevancy of the inquiry curriculum, and have provided engaging career exploration opportunities to attract students into biotechnology careers. FRCC students serve as near-peer mentors to facilitate student learning in the classroom and promote self-efficacy in career exploration. This project has generated valuable instructional materials, which can be adopted by the science education community. A long term goal is to reduce the regional educational achievement gap, and to increase local participation in Colorado's bioscience workforce.
K-12 STEM Education:
Empowering Youth to Envision Community Resilience Actions around Natural Hazards
Megan Littrell (CIRES Education & Outreach)
Communities in Colorado are increasingly experiencing major disruptions from environmental hazards, such as wildfire, flood, and drought. With this rise in hazardous events, there is a pressing need for communities increase their resilience. An interdisciplinary team from CIRES Education & Outreach is developing and implementing an innovative, action-oriented youth engagement project targeting rural Colorado students, teachers, and communities. Our engagement model empowers youth a) to envision community resilience through immersive scenario-based role play based on a solid understanding of the relevant science, b) to learn about natural hazards through Colorado-focused lessons, c) to initiate conversations about hazard preparedness and responses from within communities, and d) to develop and implement student-led resilience action projects.
The project team is developing instructional materials for middle and high school students: lesson plans focused on different hazards (fire, flood, & drought), with complementary scenario-based role-play games that focus on youth empowerment, and a teacher workshop based on these materials. Each school implementation follows a sequence in which the lesson plan activities are conducted, followed by a scenario-based role play game. Building on their experience with the game, students develop resilience strategies for their community and present those at a community Resilience Expo.
The project fills a critical gap in Colorado’s resilience planning which does not include teachers and youth. The project is guided by partners from the NOAA RISA program Western Water Assessment, seven NOAA science advisors, Science on the Sphere collaborators, and is being implemented together with over 20 community partners, school partners and collaborators from across Colorado.
Over the course of the three-year program, the project activities will train and support 140 teachers, engage 400+ students and result in 11 Resilience Expo events across Colorado, from primarily rural communities. The instructional units and the games will be used in classrooms with 600+ students.
Program Assessment:
Development of a curriculum map in Integrative Physiology to provide a mechanism for assessing undergraduate student achievement of departmental program goals
Teresa Foley (Integrative Physiology),
Janet Casagrand (Integrative Physiology)
We recognized the need to take a more holistic view of our undergraduate curriculum and determine whether our courses fit together as a cohesive whole that supports student achievement of our departmental program goals. Program goals identify what a student should know (concepts and content knowledge) and be able to do (critical thinking and other professional skills) upon completion of the major. Over the past year, we created program goals informed by overarching principles from disciplinary professional societies. Once we had a draft, we solicited and received helpful feedback from faculty.
We then used an online survey to ask faculty about the level of exposure students had to each of the goals in the course(s) they teach. Survey results indicated the program goals were well represented in what faculty reported doing in their course(s). We then used the results to create a curriculum map that provided a visual representation of what goals are accomplished in each course and the reported level of student exposure. Our next step is to compare the operational curriculum (what is intended to be taught) to the taught curriculum (what is delivered) by reviewing course artifacts and interviewing faculty. This can assist the department in making informed decisions about the undergraduate curriculum and set expectations of prerequisite knowledge and skills that students need as they progress through our courses. Once the goals and map are established, we will post them on the department website to inform prospective students, post-bac programs, and future employers of the specific knowledge and skills gained by undergraduate students through the IPHY curriculum.
Research Experience for Undergradates:
Community College Student Success: Outcomes from a Student Summer Research Program
Christine Okochi (CIRES Education and Outreach),
Anne Gold (CIRES),
Jenny Briggs (CU Office for Outreach and Engagement),
Lesley Smith (CU Regent),
Suzanne Anderson (CU Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research),
Renee Curry Minaya (CIRES),
Amanda Morton (CIRES)
The Research Experience for Community College Students (RECCS) is a 9-week summer research program in environmental and geosciences for Colorado community college students. Community colleges often serve populations traditionally underrepresented in STEM, such as racially or ethnically diverse groups, as well as first-generation college students. The goal of the RECCS program is to provide community college students with an authentic research experience that allows them to explore geosciences and gain confidence to transition to a four-year program in the STEM disciplines. Each year, 10-12 community college students receive a weekly stipend and spend the summer at CU conducting research with science mentors. They also receive extensive training in science communication and support from the RECCS staff and collaborators. The program has had a high success rate with the majority of RECCS alumni persisting in STEM, transferring to Front Range universities, and graduating with secured employment or continuing on to graduate school. RECCS science mentors have come from CIRES, the Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory (BcCZO), NOAA, INSTAAR, USGS, and the Niwot Ridge LTER. We are always looking for mentors! The RECCS program, started in 2014, received renewal funding in 2018 from the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program.
STEM Education Research:
Core Mastery Grading in APPM Calculus Courses 2018-2019
Silva Chang (Applied Math),
Anne Dougherty (Applied Math)
In 2018-2019 the Applied Math department introduced Core Mastery Grading into the Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 for Engineers courses. This grading system offered multiple opportunities for students with low exam scores to retest and raise their scores. We present data on student participation rates, the effect on class exam scores, and student satisfaction with this new grading system.
Impact of metacognition coaching on academic success strategies of undergraduate STEM students
Becca Ciancanelli (Student Academic Success Center),
Kathryn Plath (Chemistry)
The main objective of this research is to teach metacognition and related study and exam-taking strategies to undergraduate students at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder) in chemistry courses and to determine which strategies students choose to adopt to be successful on exams in these courses. We have coded student metacognitive reflections using a team of SASC undergraduate students, for questions such as "What does it take to be successful in a chemistry course?" and "After taking two exams, what are your most successful study strategies"? We also collected demographic information on these students and have discovered interesting patterns regarding time management and study strategies depending on year in school, ethnicity and gender.
Epistemology, Sense making, and Social Dynamics in Group Work
Jessica Hoehn (Physics),
Julian Gifford (Physics),
Noah Finkelstein (Physics)
We often ask our physics students to work in groups---on tutorials, during in-class discussions, and on homeworks, projects, or exams. Researchers have documented the benefits of group work for students' conceptual mastery and problem solving skills, and have worked to optimize the productivity of group work by assigning roles and composing groups based on performance levels or gender. However, it is less common for us as instructors and researchers to attend to the social dynamics and interactions among students within a collaborative setting. In this work, we identify an epistemological element of group work---students' stances towards what it means to generate knowledge in a group---and investigate how these stances interact with the sense making and social dynamics in one group problem solving session. Understanding these fine-grained interactions is one way to begin to understand how to support students in engaging in productive and equitable group work.
Quantifying students' epistemological beliefs about science using computer-based inquiry: a multi-pronged approach to a multi-faceted construct
Melanie Peffer (MCDB)
Epistemological beliefs about science, or beliefs about the nature of science knowledge and how knowledge is generated during the process of inquiry, is an essential yet difficult to operationalize component of scientific literacy. An emerging solution to the challenge of creating reliable and valid metrics to assess this construct is to instead examine student science practices. How specific epistemological beliefs relate to science practices, such as inquiry, are largely unknown. Our previous work characterized the inquiry practices of experts and novices engaged in the authentic science inquiry experiences provided by Science Classroom Inquiry (SCI) simulations and suggested that inquiry practices may reflect underlying epistemological beliefs. SCI generates a high-throughput data source that can be analyzed using learning analytics, which have been proposed as a method for assessing traditionally difficult to assess phenomena, such as epistemology. Here, we describe a biology inquiry-based assessment of epistemological beliefs about science and apply this assessment strategy to highlight differences in epistemological beliefs between biology and non-STEM majors. The theoretical framing, design, and implementation of the simulation environment draw from the learning sciences, and this work leverages learning analytics to assess the data. These perspectives combined offer biology education researchers and practitioners a technology practices-based assessment would allow for a high-throughput and unprecedented insight into students' epistemological beliefs about science, potentially leading to classroom interventions and personalized experiences in real-world inquiry environments.
Determining reading comprehension of domain texts
David Quigley (Institute of Cognitive Science),
Donna Caccamise (Institute of Cognitive Science)
This poster presents a new approach to real-time measurement of reading comprehension of expository texts in the classroom. Our approach combines traditional comprehension questions with a temporal clickstream analysis to build an understanding of both the student's current comprehension of a text along with their experiences with reading supports over the course of the unit.
Faculty Survey on Upper-Division Thermal Physics Content Coverage
Katherine Rainey (Physics),
Bethany Wilcox (Physics)
Thermal physics is a core course requirement for most physics degrees and encompasses both thermodynamics and statistical mechanics content. However, the primary content foci of thermal physics courses vary across universities. This variation can make creation of materials or assessment tools for thermal physics difficult. To determine the scope and content variability of thermal physics courses across institutions, we distributed a survey to over 140 institutions to determine content priorities from faculty and instructors who have taught upper-division thermodynamics and/or statistical mechanics. We present results from the survey, which highlight key similarities and differences in thermal physics content coverage across institutions. Though we see variations in content coverage, we found 9 key topical areas covered by all respondents in their upper-division thermal physics courses. We discuss implications of these findings for the development of instructional tools and assessments that are useful to the widest range of institutions and physics instructors.
Student behavior and test security in online conceptual assessment
Bethany Wilcox (Physics)
Historically, the introduction and implementation of research-based assessments (RBAs) has been a significant driver of education change within physics courses by providing a standardized measure of student learning that can be compared across time and across student populations. These assessments have helped motivate the need for, and adoption of, interactive engagement pedagogies broadly across many schools. Until recently, RBAs were given to students exclusively on paper and during class. This approach has some important drawbacks including decentralized data collection and the requirement of sacrificing class time to give the assessments. Recently, moves have been made to address these limitations by moving RBAs to an online platform where they can be administered outside of class time. Yet the move to having online RBAs brings with it its own set of issues. Among these are concerns about student participation rates, test security, and potential use of outside resources. Here, we report on the findings of a study addressing the second two concerns. We gave two upper-division RBAs to multiple classes at 5 different institutions; the RBAs were hosted online and featured embedded JavaScript code which collected information on students’ behaviors such as, copying text, printing pages, and clicking into other tabs while taking the RBAs. These data provide insight into how often we see these behaviors and, potentially, whether these behaviors correlate with students’ scores to determine in online and paper-based administrations of RBAs are comparable.
Implementing Engineering Mathematics in the CEAS
Janet Tsai (MCEN / College of Engineering and Applied Science)
The third year of pilot implementation of a novel engineering mathematics intervention is underway in the CEAS, based on the Wright State Model for Engineering Math. The Wright State Model (WSM) is a one-semester introduction to the fundamentals of Calculus 1, 2, and Differential Equations through hands-on, application-rich laboratory exercises and meaningful engineering examples. By exposing students to downstream math concepts applied to engineering problems, the WSM has been shown to effectively motivate students to persist through the required engineering mathematics curriculum, increasing overall retention in engineering degrees and majors at Wright State and other institutions replicating the WSM. At CU, administering the WSM has included not just teaching the course, sourcing equipment, and building the laboratory, but also making concurrent changes to our admissions pathways and advising policies to enroll students into the course and incentivize course completion with relevant degree credit. Our poster will introduce how we have implemented Engineering Math at CU, discuss preliminary results across Years 1 and 2 of the course pilot, and share a few challenges and obstacles encountered along the way.
A Partnership Between Laser Optics and Mathematics
Paige Casabona (Red Rocks Community College)
NSF Research Experiences for Teacher project. Community college faculty member developed a Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG) instrument for ultrashort laser pulse characterization; plus a laser optics cross-discipline project for use in a Calculus 3 classroom at Red Rocks Community College.
Ethical and Societal Impact Implementation in High School STEM Education
Jake Lewis (Environmental Engineering)
When the acronym STEM was introduced in 2001 by the National Science Foundation, a name was given to the recent and rapid push of scientific education at the K12 level. With this push, engineering education has become prominent in Colorado high schools, either through classes and/or extracurricular activities. With high school STEM programs seeking to prepare students for college, the introduction (or reinforcement) of engineering topics to these students is critically important to the development of future engineers. Whether a class is implicitly engineering based, or promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills, students may construct their own understanding of engineering, and the role of an engineering. Engineering, comprising of numerous fields, has ethical and societal impacts (ESI) resulting from all of its many fields. Research is being undertaken to examine if ethics are being implemented in high school STEM education, seeking to understand the teacher perspective regarding ethical implementation, with the goal of identifying whether students form an understanding of engineering that incorporates ESI consideration. This qualitative research is conducted through the process of interviewing high school teachers in Colorado. These teachers represent multiple STEM subjects, school districts, public and private institutions, as well as religious and nonsectarian institutions. This poster will examine the current findings regarding how ethics are implemented in STEM education in Colorado high schools. Examples of challenges to ESI implementation will be detailed, including anonymous teacher perspectives on whether ESI is sufficiently included in STEM education, as well as suggestions from the interviewees on how to overcome or address these challenges.
Am I an Engineer? Exploring Identity Development of K12 STEM Outreach Mentors
Sabina Schill (Environmental Engineering)
Context: Many universities utilize undergraduate and graduate students as mentors for K12 outreach programs. Research within the mentoring space has primarily focused on the benefits to K12 youth mentees. There remains a gap in the literature on the benefits to university student mentors' sense of being a scientist or engineer, or their science / engineering identity. Identity has ties to student interest and retention in the sciences.
Object: This pilot study aims to explore how participation in K12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outreach programs affects the engineering or science identity of university student mentors. Research questions address how mentor identity changes throughout the program, how programmatic factors impact these changes, and if changes in identity differ based on the demographics of university student mentors. Secondary research questions probe into the goal of developing a better understanding of mentoring programs; they look at the definitions of 'mentor' held by students and faculty and inquire about how mentoring K12 students impacts mentor resilience. Method: Following a narrative methodology, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with current and past university student mentors and outreach program coordinators. Qualitative data analysis will include thematic coding based on multiple identity theory with additional codes developed using a constant comparative method. Testing of intercoder reliability and agreement will be done. Results: Results from this study will inform future studies and benefit K12 outreach programs. Though this is an ongoing study in its early stages, anecdotal evidence indicates that mentors' identities are indeed impacted by participation in K12 STEM outreach programs.
Biotech Inquiry-based Labs
Fan Yeung (Front Range Community College, Biology)
In this small ATE project, Front Range Community College (FRCC) seeks to develop the biotechnology educational pipeline in Colorado by increasing students' exposure and engagement in biotechnology careers. Inquiry-based molecular biology labs have been developed and implemented in local high schools and in high-enrolled science courses at FRCC. The inquiry-based labs equip students with competencies and skills for entry level biotechnology jobs. Partnerships with local industry ensure the workforce relevancy of the inquiry curriculum, and have provided engaging career exploration opportunities to attract students into biotechnology careers. FRCC students serve as near-peer mentors to facilitate student learning in the classroom and promote self-efficacy in career exploration. This project has generated valuable instructional materials, which can be adopted by the science education community. A long term goal is to reduce the regional educational achievement gap, and to increase local participation in Colorado's bioscience workforce.
Undergraduate Leadership:
Continued Development of the LA Mentor Program at CU Boulder
Avery Langley (Learning Assistant Program),
Betsy McIntosh (Learning Assistant Program),
Laurie Langdon (Learning Assistant Program),
Valerie Otero (Learning Assistant Program)
Learning Assistants (LAs) are undergraduate students who, through the guidance of weekly preparation sessions with faculty and a pedagogy course, facilitate discussions among groups of students in a variety of classroom settings that encourage active engagement. In the pedagogy course, new LAs work to better understand the nature of teaching and learning and work with their peers to resolve issues that arise during their LA practice. New LA development is also supported by LA Mentors, experienced LAs who continue to develop their pedagogical skills and advocate for new LAs, while adapting research-validated techniques for mentoring new teachers in this peer mentoring model. We developed the LA Mentor program to provide a space where LA Mentors, program directors, and pedagogy course instructors can advocate on behalf of LAs, faculty, and other participants of the LA Program. LA Mentors support new LAs through in-class observations and one-on-one consultations focused on the ways LAs interact with students to assist their learning. These LA observations are compiled to provide feedback to course instructors and departmental coordinators about strategies for increasing student interaction and active learning in the classroom. The LA Mentor program promotes agency of experienced LAs to develop their own leadership skills through projects that impact members of the LA Program, CU Boulder, and International LA Alliance communities. We will showcase the continued development of the LA Mentoring program at CU Boulder and highlight various models for undergraduate leadership and peer mentoring