Category Archives: Research

Molly Brandt, M.A.S.

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Congratulations to Molly Brandt for successfully defending her thesis study, entitled, “Exploring Elementary Students’ Agricultural and Scientific Knowledge using Evidence-Centered Design”.  For the past two years, Molly has worked as a graduate assistant with the Science Literacy Initiative on STEM education projects supported with funding from USDA-NIFA and National Agriculture in the Classroom program.  Her work involved developing and pilot testing assessment instruments to measure STEM-based agricultural literacy outcomes using interviews and assessment data from over 400 elementary students in school districts in Nebraska.   It has been a pleasure to work with Molly as both project PI and her advisor. Molly’s thesis study was conducted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.  Her committee members included Drs. Krista Adams from Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education and Jennifer Keshwani from Biological Systems Engineering.Molly's defense 6

Jaime Sabel, Ph.D.

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Jaime's defense 1Congratulations to Dr. Jaime Sabel for successfully defending her dissertation study, entitled, “USE OF SCAFFOLDS TO SUPPORT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN LEARNING AND UNDERSTANDING BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS”. Jaime has worked on the RAES project for the past 4 years, first at the University of Iowa and later at UNL. It has been a pleasure to work with Jaime as both project PI and her advisor. In August, Jaime will begin a new position as an Assistant Professor of Biology Education in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Memphis.

New Project to Study Science Fairs

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There are few STEM education activities more sacred than the science fair.  However, as with many such institutions, there is precious little empirical research to support the conventional wisdom that science fairs are valuable, worthwhile experiences for students.  The National Science Foundation has funded the Education Development Center to conduct a national study of middle school science fairs.  Results from this work will be important to inform decision-making about STEM programming in school settings, as well as in non-formal and informal science learning environments.

Graduation for Laura Zangori

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Me and Cory_May 8_2015Congrats again to Laura Zangori for successfully completing her doctoral studies and graduating from the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education in the UNL College of Education and Human Sciences.  It’s been a long journey across three states (and many different classrooms, professional development workshops, and conferences across both the PIESC3 and MoHSES projects) to arrive at this point.  What a wonderful accomplishment.  Good luck next year at Mizzou!

Laura Zangori, Ph.D.

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Congratulations to Dr. Laura Zangori for successfully defending her dissertaIMG_7407tion study, entitled, “EXPLORING 3RD-GRADE STUDENTS’ MODEL-BASED EXPLANATIONS ABOUT PLANT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT”.  Laura has worked on both the PIESC3 and MoHSES projects, first at the University of Iowa and later at UNL.  It has been a pleasure to work with Laura as both project PI and her advisor. In August, Laura will begin a new position as an Assistant Professor of Science Education in the College of Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Forbes Group presentations @ AERA, NARST, and NSTA, 2015

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Over the past few months, we have had the opportunity to present a number of papers from project work at AERA, NARST, and NSTA.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us with requests for papers or questions.

Biggers, M. & Forbes, C. T. (2015, April). Curriculum planning and enactment in elementary science: Beyond fidelity of implementation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Forbes, C. T., Schwarz, C. V., Zangori, L., & Vo, T. (2015, March). Using models to support elementary students’ learning about water. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Chicago, IL.

Forbes, C. T., Vo, T., Schwarz, C. V., & Zangori, L. (2015, April). Exploring elementary teachers’ knowledge and practices for model-based science instruction about the water cycle. Paper  presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Forbes, C. T., Zangori, L., Vo, T. & Schwarz, C. V. (2015, April). Studying the impact of a design intervention on 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations for water systems. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Sabel, J., Forbes, C. T. (2015, April). Elementary teachers’ use of life science content knowledge to inform formative assessment instructional decisions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Sabel, J., Forbes, C. T., & Zangori, L. (2015, April). Preservice teachers’ use of content knowledge and formative assessment in a life science methods course. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Sabel, J., Forbes, C.T., & Zangori, L. (2015, April). Content knowledge and formative assessment integration in a life sciences methods course for preservice teachers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Vo, T., Forbes, C. T., Zangori, L., & Schwarz, S. (2015, April). Engaging students in scientific practices: The role of teachers in providing opportunities for student learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C. T. (2015, April). Exploring 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations about the interactions between plant processes and the hydrosphere. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Chicago, IL.

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C. T. (2015, April). Exploring 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations about the interactions between plant processes and the hydrosphere. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Zangori, L. Forbes, C., Schwarz, C. V., & Vo, T. (2015, April). Supporting 3rd-grade students’ model-based explanations about the water cycle: A quasi-experimental study of a curricular intervention. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.

Article published in International Journal of Science Education

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A new paper was published in the September issue of the International Journal of Science Education.

Forbes, C.T., Lange, K., Möller, K., Biggers, M., Laux, M., & Zangori, L. (2014). Explanation-construction in 4th-grade classrooms in Germany and the United States: A cross-national comparative video study. International Journal of Science Education, 36(14), 2367-2390.

This research involved a comparative study of 4th-grade classrooms in the U.S. and Germany involving samples of videorecorded science instruction around a variety of topics.  We used the P-SOP instrument to characterize scientific practices and processes of inquiry in which students were observed taking part.  While there were many similarities between the nature of science teaching and learning in classrooms in the two countries, we also found key differences in how students were afforded opportunities to formulate scientific explanations, a crucial scientific practice highlighted in the Next Generation Science Standards.  This study was a wonderful opportunity to extend the impact of PIESC3 project through an very fulfilling and enjoyable collaboration with colleagues from the University of Münster in Germany.  I thank Kim Lange, Kornelia Möller, and Mira Laux for their contributions and collegiality.  I look forward to continuing to work together on issues related to elementary science.

 

Fall 2014 School of Natural Resources Seminar Series

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On Wednesday, September 3rd, I presented some of our work as part of the Fall 2014 SNR Seminar Series.  In the talk, entitled, “Discipline-based Education Research on Teaching and Learning in Elementary Science Learning Environments”, I discussed the MoHSES, RAES, and UnICORN projects, all focused on elementary (K-6) science, from a disciplinary perspective.  The seminar was a fantastic opportunity to share more about our work with SNR colleagues and I appreciate the interest of all who attended.

Article published in Science Education

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A new paper was published in the July issue of Science Education.

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C.T. (2014). Scientific practices in elementary classrooms: 3rd-grade students’ scientific explanations for seed structure and function. Science Education, 98(4), 614-639.

This research focuses on 3rd-grade students’ scientific explanations for plant-related phenomena as part of the FOSS Structures of Life curriculum module across multiple classrooms.  Drawing from a diverse array of data, the study explores connections between teachers’ conceptions, their observed instructional practices, and student.  The study provides evidence that teachers’ professional ideas and pedagogical reasoning about evidence-based explanation in science – a crucial scientific practice highlighted in the Next Generation Science Standards – play an important role in their instructional practices to support students’ explanation-construction in the classroom.

2014 MoHSES summer workshop

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IMG_6179This month the MoHSES team had the wonderful opportunity to work with a fantastic group of 7 3rd-grade teachers who have been involved in the MoHSES project over the past two years.  The collaborative workshops were held at the Grant Wood Area Education Agency in Coralville, Iowa where we spent a few days talking and thinking about supporting elementary students’ use of models to make sense of the water cycle.  We are incredibly lucky to be working with such a knowledgeable and engaged group of teachers as partners and co-designers in this exciting project.