Norm Thompson lectures about skulls and the origin of mankind at the UGA Chapel as part of UGA’s Origins Series.

Hobbit skulls and the evolution of man wrap up UGA’s Origins Series reports an April 24 story  Red & Black. Norm Thompson, a UGA associate professor of science education, lectured on the origins of mankind during the presentation at the UGA Chapel.

Taylor

COE graduate Catherine Taylor (BSEd ’11), a coordinate algebra teacher at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, has been selected as a member of the 2013 LearnZillion Dream Team, reports a story in the April 5 Rome News-Tribune.

Taylor earned her bachelor’s degree from UGA in mathematics education.

Smith

Wayne County High School teacher Tanya Smith (BSEd ’98) is one of 10 finalists for the Georgia Teacher of the Year, reports a story in the March 18 edition of the Wayne County Press-Sentinel.  Smith, who received her bachelor’s of science in education with an emphasis on chemistry from UGA, teaches physical science and gifted/accelerated chemistry.

UGA’s graduate programs in secondary education, which include science education, are perennially ranked among the Top 10 in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “Best Graduate Schools” survey.

University of Georgia College of Education faculty members were ranked among the most productive faculty in science education research published during the first decade of the 21^st century, according to a study in the March 2013 edition of the Journal of Education and Learning.

UGA science education faculty were ranked third in the nation in research productivity from 2000-2009 when data were adjusted for the acceptance rates of the four top science education journals studied and fourth when data were adjusted for raw number of publications.

UGA science education faculty published 55 articles in the top four international science education journals during the 2000s. Only science education faculty at the University of Michigan (84), Indiana University (66) and Purdue University (59) published more during that period.

UGA’s graduate programs in secondary education, which include science education, are perennially ranked among the Top 10 in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “Best Graduate Schools” survey.

Oliver

“Science education faculty members have been leaders in the field dating back to the 1970s,” said Steve Oliver, professor and science education program coordinator during much of the last decade. “Those of us who replaced those earlier individuals came of age in the 2000s and wanted to participate fully in our professional field. A number of individuals who are no longer at UGA—Tom Koballa, Lynn Bryan and Carolyn Wallace—were very important to the success we had in those years.”

Today, UGA’s faculty members in science education continue research to develop new and better methods for instruction to enhance each student’s education from elementary school through doctoral studies.

Shen

For instance, researcher Ji Shen is pursuing a synthesis of the achievements and challenges of modeling-based instruction (MBI) in K-12 science education over the last three decades to identify the most effective MBI practices for successful student learning, with an emphasis on technology-enhanced ones.

Shen is directing another study to design and implement technology-enhanced formative assessments to help college students integrate scientific knowledge and solve complex problems across disciplines. Specifically, researchers are targeting fundamental biological processes in physiological contexts that are closely related to physics. The assessments will be administered to college students enrolled in introductory physics, biology, physiology and science education courses.

Oliver is one of five UGA researchers leading a five-year, multi-discipline, partnership project among scientists and science educators at UGA, science teachers in high school and the national Biological Sciences Curriculum Study to create and evaluate curricular materials that use highly interactive 3-D models and animations of physiological processes that could set new standards in science education.

Crawford

Luft

Two new senior faculty members who joined the College of Education in 2012—Barbara Crawford and Julie Luft—both bring groundbreaking research projects to UGA.

Crawford’s research focuses on how to move the essence of inquiry into the science classroom, how to support teachers in engaging students in authentic science, and how to alter and shape views of science in students generally underrepresented in the sciences (including English language learners).

Luft, the inaugural Athletic Association Professor of Mathematics and Science Education, was named the 2012 Outstanding Mentor of the Year by the Association for Science Teacher Education last fall.

Her current research focuses on beginning secondary science teachers and the development of their knowledge and instructional practices during their first five years in the classroom. Her work reveals the importance of content knowledge during induction programs and suggests new roles for science educators in higher education. In 2012, research from this project received the Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award for the most significant publication of the year.

Research published in science education journals impacts a wide range of areas, ranging from teacher education to curriculum development to assessment to policy. This study identifies the places where science educators are producing new knowledge, which can inform faculty, current and future graduate students, teachers of science, and policymakers for United States K-12 science, according to authors Lloyd Barrow and Nai-en Tang, both of the University of Missouri.

See abstract, link to full text of the science education research productivity study:
www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jel/article/view/25011

UGA’s graduate programs in secondary education, which include science education, are perennially ranked among the Top 10 in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “Best Graduate Schools” survey.

University of Georgia College of Education faculty members were ranked among the most productive faculty in science education research published during the first decade of the 21^st century, according to a study in the March 2013 edition of the Journal of Education and Learning.

UGA science education faculty were ranked third in the nation in research productivity from 2000-2009 when data were adjusted for the acceptance rates of the four top science education journals studied and fourth when data were adjusted for raw number of publications.

UGA science education faculty published 55 articles in the top four international science education journals during the 2000s. Only science education faculty at the University of Michigan (84), Indiana University (66) and Purdue University (59) published more during that period.

UGA’s graduate programs in secondary education, which include science education, are perennially ranked among the Top 10 in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “Best Graduate Schools” survey.

Oliver

“Science education faculty members have been leaders in the field dating back to the 1970s,” said Steve Oliver, professor and science education program coordinator during much of the last decade. “Those of us who replaced those earlier individuals came of age in the 2000s and wanted to participate fully in our professional field. A number of individuals who are no longer at UGA—Tom Koballa, Lynn Bryan and Carolyn Wallace—were very important to the success we had in those years.”

Today, UGA’s faculty members in science education continue research to develop new and better methods for instruction to enhance each student’s education from elementary school through doctoral studies.

Shen

For instance, researcher Ji Shen is pursuing a synthesis of the achievements and challenges of modeling-based instruction (MBI) in K-12 science education over the last three decades to identify the most effective MBI practices for successful student learning, with an emphasis on technology-enhanced ones.

Shen is directing another study to design and implement technology-enhanced formative assessments to help college students integrate scientific knowledge and solve complex problems across disciplines. Specifically, researchers are targeting fundamental biological processes in physiological contexts that are closely related to physics. The assessments will be administered to college students enrolled in introductory physics, biology, physiology and science education courses.

Oliver is one of five UGA researchers leading a five-year, multi-discipline, partnership project among scientists and science educators at UGA, science teachers in high school and the national Biological Sciences Curriculum Study to create and evaluate curricular materials that use highly interactive 3-D models and animations of physiological processes that could set new standards in science education.

Crawford

Luft

Two new senior faculty members who joined the College of Education in 2012—Barbara Crawford and Julie Luft—both bring groundbreaking research projects to UGA.

Crawford’s research focuses on how to move the essence of inquiry into the science classroom, how to support teachers in engaging students in authentic science, and how to alter and shape views of science in students generally underrepresented in the sciences (including English language learners).

Luft, the inaugural Athletic Association Professor of Mathematics and Science Education, was named the 2012 Outstanding Mentor of the Year by the Association for Science Teacher Education last fall.

Her current research focuses on beginning secondary science teachers and the development of their knowledge and instructional practices during their first five years in the classroom. Her work reveals the importance of content knowledge during induction programs and suggests new roles for science educators in higher education. In 2012, research from this project received the Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award for the most significant publication of the year.

Research published in science education journals impacts a wide range of areas, ranging from teacher education to curriculum development to assessment to policy. This study identifies the places where science educators are producing new knowledge, which can inform faculty, current and future graduate students, teachers of science, and policymakers for United States K-12 science, according to authors Lloyd Barrow and Nai-en Tang, both of the University of Missouri.

See abstract, link to full text of the science education research productivity study:
www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jel/article/view/25011

Jacobson

Erik Jacobson, a graduate student in the University of Georgia’s College of Education, has received a $20,000 dissertation award from the Grants Board of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Jacobson (MA ’11), of Watkinsville, a doctoral candidate in mathematics education, was recognized for his dissertation titled, “Professional experience and the development of mathematical proficiency for teaching.” The awards are highly competitive and only 15 are awarded each year. Jacobson is the first student to receive the award in his department.

Jacobson’s dissertation employed secondary analysis of data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics and a longitudinal, mixed methods study with teachers in Georgia to identify factors that support elementary and middle grades mathematics teachers’ development of content knowledge and productive disposition for teaching. His major professor is Regents Professor of mathematics education Jeremy Kilpatrick.

The grant is for the 2013 calendar year. Before graduation, it will support travel to present Jacobson’s dissertation work at the Second Annual Scholarship of STEM Teaching and Learning Conference hosted by Georgia Southern University in March and the annual conference of the American Education Research Association in April. After graduation, the grant will support work over the summer to write journal articles from his dissertation for publication and travel to the annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education in November.

The AERA is the top educational research organization in the nation. It provides small grants and training for researchers who conduct studies of education policy and practice using quantitative methods and including the analysis of data from the large-scale data sets sponsored by National Center for Education Statistics and National Science Foundation.

Before graduate school, Jacobson taught courses in algebra, geometry, probability and statistics in a public high school in Vermont. He holds a master’s degree in mathematics from UGA and a B.A. in mathematics from Dartmouth College.

Bishop and Conner are working on separate five-year studies funded by two NSF awards totaling $1.2 million.

What makes mathematics difficult for some students to learn? Two University of Georgia College of Education researchers believe the answer may lie in the way mathematical reasoning is communicated in classrooms.

Assistant professors Jessica Bishop and AnnaMarie Conner, both in the department of mathematics and science education, are working on separate five-year studies documenting student-teacher interactions and assessing other classroom factors that may influence mathematics learning. Two CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation that total $1,207,853 fund the studies.

A former high school mathematics teacher, Bishop often wondered what aspects of her teaching made a real difference in student learning. Much of the time in math classrooms was spent talking, she noticed, but not all of the talk was “mathematically productive.”

Bishop

“What elements of mathematics conversations encourage students to generate, explain and defend mathematical ideas and to make connections between concepts?” asked Bishop. “We need to be able to identify what it is that teachers and students are doing in productive mathematics conversations so we can better support practicing and prospective teachers.”

Over the next five years, Bishop will use an NSF CAREER award of $672,846 to systematically document the small details of student-teacher exchanges in elementary and middle school math classes. She will analyze shifts in student-teacher interactions across different curricular topics, grade levels, school periods and teachers, and in schools with student populations from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“This project should help determine the common elements of successful communication and describe the teaching patterns that correspond to success,” said Bishop.

Conner will use NSF funding of $535,007 over five years to observe and document how college mathematics education majors and new teachers help students create and critique mathematical arguments, or proofs. Conner will study a learning process known as collective argumentation, whereby students—with teacher guidance—discover ways to answer particular mathematical questions.

Connor

“Prospective teachers often come to class believing that math involves memorizing rules and the teacher’s role is to communicate those rules,” said Conner. “If a teacher can foster student involvement in creating mathematical arguments and proofs, however, students learn something more valuable: reasoning skills.”

“Creating and critiquing mathematical arguments is an increasingly important part of mathematics classes,” said Conner. “This will lead to students having better mathematical preparation for college.”

Conner’s research team will follow college mathematics education majors through their coursework and into their first two years of teaching. The team will record how novice educators’ support for collective argumentation evolves over time, said Conner. In addition, the research team and educators will use the data they collect to develop more effective ways to support this learning method.

“These projects address critical areas in the teaching and learning of mathematics, particularly in the area of discourse,” said Denise Spangler, head of the department of mathematics and science education. “We are very excited to have two CAREER Awards in the same year.”

The NSF CAREER Award is among the most competitive grants available from the National Science Foundation. The acceptance rate for NSF CAREER proposals submitted over the last four years to the directorate for education and human resources, which oversees Bishop’s and Conner’s projects, averages 10 to 13 percent.

Assistant professors Jessica Bishop and AnnaMarie Conner, both in the department of mathematics and science education, are working on separate five-year studies documenting student-teacher interactions and assessing other classroom factors that may influence mathematics learning. Two CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation that total $1,207,853 fund the studies.

A former high school mathematics teacher, Bishop often wondered what aspects of her teaching made a real difference in student learning. Much of the time in math classrooms was spent talking, she noticed, but not all of the talk was “mathematically productive.”

Bishop

“What elements of mathematics conversations encourage students to generate, explain and defend mathematical ideas and to make connections between concepts?” asked Bishop. “We need to be able to identify what it is that teachers and students are doing in productive mathematics conversations so we can better support practicing and prospective teachers.”

Over the next five years, Bishop will use an NSF CAREER award of $672,846 to systematically document the small details of student-teacher exchanges in elementary and middle school math classes. She will analyze shifts in student-teacher interactions across different curricular topics, grade levels, school periods and teachers, and in schools with student populations from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“This project should help determine the common elements of successful communication and describe the teaching patterns that correspond to success,” said Bishop.

Conner will use NSF funding of $535,007 over five years to observe and document how college mathematics education majors and new teachers help students create and critique mathematical arguments, or proofs. Conner will study a learning process known as collective argumentation, whereby students—with teacher guidance—discover ways to answer particular mathematical questions.

Connor

“Prospective teachers often come to class believing that math involves memorizing rules and the teacher’s role is to communicate those rules,” said Conner. “If a teacher can foster student involvement in creating mathematical arguments and proofs, however, students learn something more valuable: reasoning skills.”

“Creating and critiquing mathematical arguments is an increasingly important part of mathematics classes,” said Conner. “This will lead to students having better mathematical preparation for college.”

Conner’s research team will follow college mathematics education majors through their coursework and into their first two years of teaching. The team will record how novice educators’ support for collective argumentation evolves over time, said Conner. In addition, the research team and educators will use the data they collect to develop more effective ways to support this learning method.

“These projects address critical areas in the teaching and learning of mathematics, particularly in the area of discourse,” said Denise Spangler, head of the department of mathematics and science education. “We are very excited to have two CAREER Awards in the same year.”

The NSF CAREER Award is among the most competitive grants available from the National Science Foundation. The acceptance rate for NSF CAREER proposals submitted over the last four years to the directorate for education and human resources, which oversees Bishop’s and Conner’s projects, averages 10 to 13 percent.

Atwater

University of Georgia College of Education professor Mary M. Atwater delivered  a keynote address during the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education’s 21st International Conference at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, Africa January 15.

This major event for researchers and scholars across Southern Africa attracts up to 500 of the leading international presenters and speakers to address delegates on current issues, trends and progressive research currently being undertaken in the field of science, mathematics and technology education. The theme for the conference was: “Making Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Socially and Culturally Relevant in Africa. ”

Atwater, a professor of science education, conducted a workshop titled, “Research Paradigms, Theoretical Frameworks, and Methodological Framework for Socially and Culturally Relevant Science Teaching.” Her keynote address was titled, “Socially and Culturally Relevant and Socially and Culturally Sustaining Science Education.”

Atwater served on the  Science Standards Committee of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in 2011. She was named an inaugural class Fellow of the American Educational Research Association in 2009 and served as an original member of the NBPTS’s Early Adolescence/Science Standards Committee from 1991-98.

She received the Legendary Award from the Association of Multicultural Science Education for her work in adding to the depth of literature in the field by presenting research nationally and internationally, and spearheading organizations that promote multicultural science education.

An 8th grade science textbook written by Atwater titled, Using Energy, was heralded around the world as the inspiration and guide for a 14-year-old African boy’s quest to build a windmill that provided electricity for his family and village for the first time, after a book was published in 2009 about his experience.

Atwater was named one of 1999’s African-American Phenomenal Women by the African-American Professional Women of the Athens Area and was named to the National Technical Association’s Academy of Top Minority Women in Science and Engineering in 1998 and 1997. She was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995.

Atwater, who joined the UGA faculty in 1987, was the first African-American female to earn a doctorate in science education at North Carolina State University in 1980 and first African-American female department head at the University of Georgia.

Zepda

Spangler

Two studies by COE faculty member Sally Zepeda that show the ineffectiveness of block scheduling in high school classrooms is cited in Clarke Schools’ recommendation to move back to regular scheduling, reports a front page story in the January 6 Athens Banner-Herald. Denise Spangler, head of the department of mathematics and science education and a member of the Clarke County Board of Education is quoted in the story.