- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1852690
- First Name Edward
- Last Name Freeman
- Institution St. John Fisher University
- Role/Position Co-PI
- Proposal Type Workshop
- Workshop Category Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends
- Workshop Disciplines Audience Chemistry
- Target Audience Co-PIs, Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Other Faculty/Staff, Project PIs, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Promising practices for preparing and retaining teachers in rural districts
Goals
Participants will learn or be able to do the following after attending this session: Understand what data modules are and appreciate their broad application in STEM instruction, Interact with specific databases that have curated activities centered on data modules, and Replicate the steps we used to guide our scholars in the use of data modules to supplement their instructional strategies. The goal of this session is to share a strategy we have used with our undergraduate Noyce scholars to encourage their use of data analysis in their future classrooms. Scholars attended sessions with the following themes: An introduction to using pre-existing data modules as a tool for instruction, Learning about modules by playing the part of the student, Instruction on how to navigate and interpret the New York State standards for science and mathematics, Exploration of various websites with curated data base modules, and Completion of a scholar data module presentation centered on a topic of their interest with a consideration of how they would modify the data module to suit their needs and what state standards the lesson would allow them to cover. Session One was used as an ‘introduction to data modules’ experience wherein we introduced the idea of using pre-existing data modules as a tool of instruction, regardless of scientific or mathematical discipline. Session Two was used as a “play the part of the student” experience wherein scholars completed the guided steps associated with organizing a dataset reporting on obesity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Session Three Scholars were given a lecture on how to navigate and interpret the New York State standards. Opportunities to work with interpreting the standards and asking questions were included. Homework associated with session three required scholars to create a mini lesson around a topic of interest, to consider how they would modify the data based module they chose to suit their needs, and what state standards the lesson would allow them to cover. Session 4 was for reporting with the scholars sharing their specific mini lesson ideas, discussing what grade level they would use the lesson for, what would be modified to suit their desired outcomes, and what state standards would be addressed by conducting the lesson.
Evidence
Current scholars will share their experiences in working with the data modules during their junior or senior year – one Math and one Chemistry major. Short presentations will be given that detail the finished product of the overall series of activities from the scholar perspective.
Proposal
The Noyce scholars at St. John Fisher University explored the use of data modules (https://qubeshub.org/) for classroom use. Work with these modules provides a resource for future teachers that may be limited in peer planning interaction and or supply money for classroom resources. Our multi-session experience begins with an introduction to data modules. The first few sessions use a CDC data set, detailed instructions, prompting questions and has the students work through much of the provided activity to explore the resources that are available. This allows our scholars to experience some of the challenges and frustrations that students can feel when working with data in a classroom setting. After multiple module-based sessions, the scholars are then exposed to a workshop focused on the science and math standards for New York State. After this workshop scholars are required to locate a data module of their choosing and consider its use in their future classrooms. Specifically, scholars are asked what modifications would need to be made, what grade level they would use the module in and, importantly, what state standards would be accomplished through the use of the data module. At the conclusion of the semester the scholars provide a short presentation with this information for the group. This experience allows our scholars to explore a freely available resource, consider how that resource might be useful to them as a future educator and to gain practice in connecting their instruction.
