1. Grant #1136412 STEM Modeling: Content and Practice David Erickson, PI, LABT Katie Kinney, Noyce Scholar, Biology Alan Marr, Noyce Scholar, Biology Wes Cratty, Noyce Scholar, Mathematics and Computer Science Western Regional Noyce Conference San Diego, CA 14 November 2015.

2. Grant #1136412 Session Overview LABT grant – Learning Assistant Model of Practice Kaite’s LA Experience Alan’s LA Experience Wes’ distance-time real time app – Mathematical Modeling Questions

3. Grant #1136412 UM LA Experience: The Classroom Broad overview of science –exploring major core concepts –only required lab science course Only elementary education majors – students at varying stages in teaching program

4. Grant #1136412 UM LA Experience: The Goals Facilitate learning of major science concepts Encourage higher- order questions that can be used in the classroom Encourage students to teach science in their classrooms To “change the culture” of education in college classrooms

5. Grant #1136412 UM LA Experience: The Lessons The validity of the Noyce model in a college classroom: few opportunities to facilitate discussion in a lecture class professor preference Resistance to teaching Science in elementary school classrooms: “too hard” “not enough resources” not enough science education at the college level

6. Grant #1136412 UM LA Experience: The Next Steps Resistance to teaching Science in elementary school classrooms: Available resources Peer mentoring The validity of the Noyce model in a college classroom: TAs and Professors Lectures and Labs

7. Grant #1136412 Lecture vs. Laboratory Settings Introductory Biology Course –Lecture setting: I regularly attended the lecture component of class to maintain notes and keep on track with the professor –Lab setting: I helped in 4 different lab sections weekly and reinforced my knowledge as a learning assistant

8. Grant #1136412 The Lecture Setting The instructor –was very willing to collaborate, and –still has room for change. I was able to –hold review sessions before exams, and –find these beneficial for students that attended. I was unable to answer all the questions that the students asked.

9. Grant #1136412 The Laboratory Setting A much different experience! I was able to help answer questions for the students and even lead some of the activities. Additionally, many students were just interested in getting in and out, not diving deeper into the content.

10. Grant #1136412 Overall For Me Being an LA in the lecture setting ●Not very effective because of resistance from professors ●Not able to discuss material in the classroom Being an LA in the laboratory setting ●Better than lecture, but engaging students becomes the challenge ●Excluded from TA/lab prep meetings

11. Grant #1136412 LA Experience Conclusion How do we get professors more involved in teaching? How do we get students more interested in their learning? What resources or activities can we provide for teachers to further their students’ understanding of STEM concepts?

12. Grant #1136412 Why practice Mathematical Modeling? When will I ever use this in the real world? Mathematical Modeling helps us to understand our world in new ways. “Mathematical modeling is the standard where mathematics and science meet”(Meyer, 2015).

13. Grant #1136412 Common Core Modeling Content Standards (1) Understanding problems: identifying variables (2) formulating a model (3) performing operations on these relationships (4) interpreting the results (5) validating the conclusions (6) reporting on the conclusions

14. Grant #1136412 How can we fill in the gaps? *1 Performing calculations and interpreting are covered in the textbooks... but what about the others?

15. Grant #1136412 Why do we avoid modeling? It’s time consuming. –It takes a lot of class time to gather and filter data. It’s messy. –Data is often difficult to organize, missing points, outliers etc.

16. Grant #1136412 Modeling Application Can we cover the modeling cycle with an app?

17. Grant #1136412 Functional Requirements Provide a way to gather data quickly Gather Distance, Velocity, and Acceleration versus Time data Ability to view data (instant feedback) Ability to repeat experiment Ability to save and export data to csv file

18. Grant #1136412

19. (1) Quickly gather data Students use their own smartphone to gather data with their own body movements giving them a connection to the data.

20. Grant #1136412 (2) Display data to see of it is what we want Allows students to test their hypothesis quickly. – Does the graph look like I thought it would? This allows students to validate and re-test.

21. Grant #1136412 (2) Display data to see of it is what we want Allows students to test their hypothesis quickly. – Does the graph look like I thought it would? This allows students to validate and re-test.

22. Grant #1136412 (2) Display data to see of it is what we want Allows students to test their hypothesis quickly. – Does the graph look like I thought it would? This allows students to validate and re-test.

23. Grant #1136412 (2) Display data to see of it is what we want This is useful to test your understanding of a distance time graph.

24. Grant #1136412 (3) Export data (stretch goal) By exporting the data students can find a line of best fit which integrates many mathematical skills with data they created.

25. Grant #1136412 What Questions Can we ask? Where is the point of inflection?

26. Grant #1136412 What Questions Can we ask? Where is the point of inflection? What is happening in regard to the concavity?

27. Grant #1136412 What Questions Can we ask? Where is the point of inflection? What is happening in regard to the concavity? When is acceleration occurring?

28. Grant #1136412 What Questions Can we ask? Where is the point of inflection? What is happening in regard to the concavity? When is acceleration occurring? What were you doing at each of those times?

29. Grant #1136412 Big Sky High School

30. Grant #1136412 Big Sky High School

31. Grant #1136412 Conclusions The ability to model gives value to the mathematical process. Modeling activities exemplify the LA model in labs and lectures. LA and Educator collaboration is critical.

32. Grant #1136412 Works Cited Meyer, D. (2015). Missing the Promise of Mathematical Modeling. The Mathematics Teacher, pp. 578-583.

33. Grant #1136412 Questions

34. Grant #1136412 Contact David Erickson, david.erickson@mso.umt.edu