Anne L. Kern

A qualitative report of the ways high school chemistry students attempt to represent a chemical reaction at the atomic/molecular level

We report the findings of a large-scale (n=1,337) qualitative descriptive analysis of U.S. high schools students’ particulate representations of a chemical reaction, specifically, the combustion of methane. Data were collected as part of an end of course exam. Student representations were coded into 17 distinct subcategories under one of five broad themes: i) Particulate Representations with discrete atoms, ii) Inappropriate Particulate Representations, iii) Quasi-particulate Representations, iv) Non-particulate Representations, or v) Irrelevant Attempts. Only 35.1% of student responses showed representations with discrete atoms that appropriately matched the individual molecular formulas in the combustion reaction. Of student responses, 45% were representations with discrete atoms; however, these representations were not chemically appropriate, displaying either incorrect connections between atoms within individual molecules or inappropriate groupings of atoms into individual molecules. 5.9% of student responses were coded as quasi-particulate, and included representations that displayed some form of particles that did not show discrete atoms. 22.9% of student responses were coded as non-particulate. The remaining 5.5% of responses represented no real attempt to address the question. The various representations are illustrated and described to provide a map of the domain of students’ alternative conceptions of chemical reactions. Interestingly, of the 65% of students who were able to balance the equation correctly, more than half were unable to show the appropriate particulate representation. The ability to represent a chemical reaction at the symbolic level does not guarantee the ability to represent the reaction at the particulate level.

Mentoring from the Outside: The Role of a Peer Mentoring Community in the Development of Early Career Education Faculty

Developing an identity as a researcher and negotiating the expectations and responsibilities of academic life are challenges that many beginning education faculty face. Mentoring can provide support for this transition; however, traditional forms of mentoring may be unavailable, limited, or lack the specific components that individual mentees desire or need. In this paper, we draw on a community of practice perspective to examine and understand the complex and emerging nature of an informal peer mentoring community composed of beginning education faculty members from different institutions. Our engagement in this peer mentoring community is examined through reflections on our experiences and our collective narratives. The formation of our group began with our mutual desires for support in advancing scholarship and navigating the transition to academia and has grown into a community that supports us both personally and professionally as we develop our identities as educational researchers.

Inside a Beginning Immigrant Science Teacher's Classroom: An Ethnographic Study.

Teaching is a highly personal endeavor shaped by ‘funds of knowledge’ and beliefs about teaching, learning, and students. This case study examines how one Asian immigrant teacher’s personal expectations and beliefs influenced his expectations of students and the teaching and instructional strategies he employed. His expectations of students’ behavior and their failure to conform to his expectations influenced him to utilize more traditional, didactic instructional practices and responses to classroom management dilemmas. It is generally assumed that immigrant and minority students will benefit from exposure to teachers from similar backgrounds, and that ethnically diverse teachers can better prepare minority students for the multicultural workplace and global economy. This study focuses on the role a teacher’s background and experiences play in development of their beliefs about teaching and learning, their expectations of students, and the instructional decisions they make regarding teaching and learning. This study suggests that teachers draw on their personal histories and cultural understandings to create classroom practices which are molded by microcosms of personal ‘funds of knowledge’ and beliefs about teaching and learning. In contrast to conventional wisdom and unquestioned myths, this study emphasizes the importance of knowing that teachers’ cultural backgrounds do not necessarily qualify them to provide the most appropriate instructional environment for students from similar cultural backgrounds. This study suggests that all teachers need to learn to recognize and negotiate the unique social elements culturally diverse students bring to the classroom.

Dynamics of Tensions and a Sense of Belonging in an Informal Peer Mentoring Community of Women Faculty

Women in academia face many challenges as they navigate through the tenure and promotion process. In addition, institutes of higher education lack the appropriate support to meet the varied needs to mentor diverse faculty. Researchers have shown the importance of mentoring networks to support women in their academic career progression, as well as advancement toward tenure, promotion, and leadership as faculty in higher education. However, few researchers explore the tensions and conflicts in mentoring networks, their dynamics, and implications in the communities of practice. In this chapter we conducted an ethnographic case study using communities of practice (CoPs) as a cognitive framework to examine the dynamics of tensions and sense of belonging in an informal peer-mentoring network of 21 women faculty who connect globally. The findings showed that members held an overall sense of belonging to this network community. In addition, three themes emerged regarding tensions: Members of the community recognized the existence of tensions; lack of space, action, and opportunity to resolve conflicts; and members’ hesitancy to use their voice. Implications of this study include considerations to support collaborative communities, the need to intentionally address aspects of collaborative productivity, and suggestions for ways to resolve conflicts when working in informal mentoring and distant communities.

Storying Our Academic Career Transitions within a Peer-mentoring Community

Careers in academia entail multiple transitions, which may also involve new places, new roles, new colleagues, new opportunities, and new challenges. In this chapter, we describe how our engagement in an informal peer mentoring group consisting of faculty members in science and mathematics education supported our various academic transitions during the early years of our careers. Through the construction and reconstruction of our personal narratives we identify, analyze, and abstract themes related to our transitions. Three themes emerged from the analysis of our narratives: support in navigating uncertainty and complexity, providing a venue for collegiality and collaboration, and supporting our professional identity development. These findings highlight the importance of alternative spaces for faculty to access mentoring and support as they navigate these academic transitions.

Facilitating collaborative interdisciplinary research: exploring process and implications for leisure scholars

ABSTRACT Many institutions encourage interdisciplinary research (IDR) to maximize organizational resources and to develop more practical approaches to address transdisciplinary ‘real world’ issues such as obesity. Leisure researchers have joined fields such as public health and kinesiology to address increased rates of obesity and physical inactivity with the perspective that these issues require integrated cross-disciplinary knowledge. This case study examined the collaborative process throughout an IDR project involving leisure, health education, physical education and STEM education faculty (five members). The major research questions addressed are as follows: (1) What are the synergies, opportunities and/or obstacles identified by faculty throughout the development, implementation and evaluation of the IDR program? (2) What are the implications of these findings for leisure researchers working in IDR? Faculty responded to email questions and surveys and were interviewed individually before and during the planning phase, during the implementation phase and at the end of the study. All data were transcribed and analyzed inductively, relying on the constant comparative method, with triangulation within and across different data types and member checks. Themes relating to synergies, constraints, understanding of collaborative processes and interdisciplinary knowledge were identified.

Drawing on Place and Culture for Climate Change Education in Native Communities

Connection to place is a critical cornerstone of a Native sense of identity, and a necessity for preservation and restoration of land and Tribal sovereignty. The land and environment hold particular significance for Native peoples and communities. Changes in the environment due to a rapidly changing climate have a profound impact on the livelihood of Native people (Davis 2010). Daniel Wildcat (2009) suggests climate change can be thought of as the “fourth removal” for Native communities. For example, effects of climate change are a cause for the movement or elimination of local food sources, such as buffalo and fish resulting in the relocation of a local community to search for other sources of food. With this fourth removal, unlike the others where the focus was to “civilize” the American Indian through “geographical, social, and psycho-cultural” (p. 3), the impacts of climate change reach far beyond Native communities, impacting all life on the planet.

Impact through Images: Exploring Student Understanding of Environmental Science through Integrated Place-Based Lessons in the Elementary Classroom.

In the early 1800s, the U.S. President Thomas Jefferson assembled a team of explorers led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to forge a waterway connecting the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. How has this environment changed in 200 years and how do elementary students make sense of those changes? This study looks at the impact of environmental change over time in an integrated place-based curricular unit using visual art and images. This qualitative descriptive case study looks at how visual art and photographic images affect elementary students’ understanding when participating in an integrated place-based environmental science experience. Participants included 25 elementary students, their classroom teacher, and researcher as etic observer. Data were drawn from student journals, in-depth student interviews, teacher interview, and artifacts created by the participants. Three dominant themes emerged: (1) student perceptions about their own efficacy, (2) students’ scientific misconceptions, and (3) development of students’ critical thinking skills. Through this study, elementary students utilized mediated experiences to increase confidence in their ability to be part of their own learning experience by the inclusion of images in place-based environmental science lessons.