Angela M. Kelly

First-Year Urban Mathematics and Science Middle School Teachers Classroom Challenges and Reflective Solutions

This study explored the challenges facing 1st-year alternatively certified teachers of mathematics and science in urban middle schools. Four teachers, participants in a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, were followed from preservice training through their 1st year of teaching, having taken part in innovative coursework, workshops, and internship training. Through focus groups, interviews, and classroom observations, data were collected to analyze their experiences in economically disadvantaged settings. The researchers explored key aspects of the scholars’ experiences, including their struggles with student performance and motivation, ways in which they developed strategies to strengthen their self-efficacy and resilience, and how novel strategies for assessing learning improved their teaching. By examining their perceptions of classroom situations and cultural contexts, and their emerging coping mechanisms, others can learn about how novice teachers may be better prepared to work in challenging environments, and develop recommendations for enabling teacher-training programs to meet the needs of their students.

Afterschool School Triathlon Training for 11- to 14-Year Old Girls: Influences on Academic Motivation and Achievement.

Objective: This study evaluated the effect of a Transformation through Triathlon after school programme in promoting health status, academic motivation and socioemotional development in at-risk girls aged 11–14 years attending middle school in the USA. Design: A phenomenological approach was employed with elements of grounded theory to analyse data from focus group interviews for insights into programmatic outcomes. Setting: Participants (N = 29) were invited to participate in the 20-week after school triathlon training and health promotion programme, and some volunteered for interviews. They were selected based on school personnel characterising them as at-risk for low self-esteem, a sedentary lifestyle, and/or classification as overweight. The programme combined empowerment lessons, nutrition and health science education twice per week from mid-March until June 2014, and after-school activities such as triathlon-specific training and group fitness classes three times per week through until July, with a culminating youth sprint triathlon (300-yard swim, 7-mile bike ride, and 1.5-mile run). Method: Focus groups of five to six girls were convened immediately after programme completion, and again 12 weeks later. A semi-structured interview protocol was developed with questions regarding individual goals, perceptions of programme structure and setting, and programmatic effects related to academics and motivation. Results: Qualitative analysis revealed that confidence, interest, and self-determination motivational constructs positively influenced goal setting, strategies, health, fitness, motivation, and academic achievement. Conclusion: Intervention participants learned to self-regulate their learning and set goals that promoted fitness, academic achievement, better attitudes, and resilience. After school community and family inclusive programmes with a structured fitness component increase confidence, self-determination and academic achievement though social support structures.

Improved Executive Function and Science Achievement for At-Risk Middle School Girls in an Aerobic Fitness Program:

This study explored the effects of a middle school physical activity intervention for adolescent girls on the executive functioning involved in science learning. The girls, ages 11 to 14, were at risk for low self-esteem, sedentary lifestyle, and poor health outcomes. Executive function stems from interdependent cognitive control processes that influence goal setting and information processing, which complement higher order thinking required for acquiring scientific process skills. A 20-week informal triathlon training program served as the intervention for the treatment girls (n = 29). The comparison group of girls (n = 30) was randomly drawn from a matched sample of students of a similar demographic. Mean comparisons, ANCOVA, and Roy-Bargmann stepdown analysis were used to measure outcomes. The intervention contributed to significant improvement in several executive functions and science achievement. These results suggest that an afterschool program with a physical fitness component may improve the executive functions involved in science learning.

Engineering Outreach: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow [SP Education]

This article discusses the current landscape of outreach efforts in the United States to engage K-12 students in engineering. It then provides an overview of two programs run by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education at Stony Brook University (SBU) to promote student participation and interest in engineering. These efforts are aligned with the recently released Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which emphasize incorporating engineering design principles in K-12 science education. We describe two models, one in the form of an on-campus summer camp and the other as a series of after-school activities with both on-and off-campus offerings. These experiences are rarely available in K-12 schools and have the added benefit of exposing students to engineering faculty and researchers. The programs are focused on electrical and computer engineering with emphasis on signal and information processing and analysis and have hosted more than 200 students for the past six years.