Tag Archives: MoHSES

Laura Zangori, Ph.D.

Leave a reply

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.

Fall 2014 School of Natural Resources Seminar Series

Leave a reply

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.

2014 MoHSES summer workshop

Leave a reply

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.

Laura Zangori accepted to the 2013 Sandra K. Abell Institute for Doctoral Students

Leave a reply

Congratulations to MoHSES and PIESC3 project doctoral student Laura Zangori for being accepted to the 2013 Sandra K. Abell Institute for Doctoral Students. The institute will be held July 15 – 19, 2013 on the George Washington University campus and the offices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC. Laura’s current research, which is embedded in the MoHSES project, focuses on characterizing 3rd-grade students’ model-based scientific reasoning about hydrologic phenomena. The work is part of broader project efforts to foster effective elementary science learning environments that afford students iterative opportunities to construct, use, evaluate, and revise models, one of 8 scientific practices articulated in A Framework for K-12 Science Education, of the water cycle over time. Laura is currently wrapping up MoHSES project Year 1 data collection in 6 3rd-grade classrooms. The Abell Institute will provide Laura an exciting opportunity to benefit from others’ feedback on her work.

Schwarz co-presents NSTA Webinar on Developing and Using Models

Leave a reply

Christina Schwarz, MoHSES project Co-PI and Associate Professor of Science Education at Michigan State University, co-facilitated a webinar for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), entitled ‘Preparing for the Next Generation Science Standards—Developing and Using Models’, on 9/25/2012. The webinar is part of a series sponsored by NSTA to highlight and begin discussions about the scientific practices articulated in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. These practices include developing and using models, the core scientific practice targeted in the MoHSES project. We’re excited for the opportunity to work with Dr. Schwarz and benefit from her expertise!

MoHSES project funded

Leave a reply

MoHSES logo TextOutlinesThe Modeling Hydrologic Systems in Elementary Science (MoHSES) project has been funded by the National Science Foundation. More information about the project can be found here. The MoHSES project is an exploratory project supported by a NSF Discovery Research K-12 grant and additional support from the UI Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER). I am excited to be afforded the opportunity to build upon my past research and begin to investigate students’ learning alongside teachers and teaching.