Journal Articles

Two university researchers who have considerable practitioner and research experience in urban schools conducted an interventionist action research project in collaboration with the professional staff of a diverse urban elementary school. The goal was to collaborate with the administration, faculty and staff in an average urban elementary school to improve the academic success of all students and all student groups regardless of the race, ethnicity and family income of the students and their families. While analyses of the school's state accountability data indicated that there was some improvement in the academic success of the school's diverse students, particularly among the lowest scoring student group, problems that arose in this process led the researchers to identify four themes of resistance to school change. These were 'externals are the cause of low achievement and achievement gaps', 'accountability systems are destructive to my teaching', 'suggesting change is critique' and 'we are not leaders'. Following a description of the themes, implications and recommendations are briefly discussed.

The purpose of this article is to suggest the structure and content of an educational leadership program whose aim is to prepare principals for social justice work. Research Design: The authors have conceptualized foundational components for a comprehensive principalship program focused on social justice. They assert that educational leaders for social justice must have three goals at the forefront of their efforts: (a) They must raise the academic achievement of all the students in their school, that is, high test scores do matter; (b) they must prepare their students to live as critical citizens in society; and (c) both of these goals can only be achieved when leaders assign students to inclusive, heterogeneous classrooms that provide all students access to a rich and engaging curriculum. The components addressed for this social justice-oriented principalship preparation program include (a) how students should be selected for such a program and (b) an outline of the knowledge and content for educating social justice leaders. The importance of induction/praxis after students graduate from these programs is discussed. Conclusions: The aim of this article is to provoke a discussion in the field and spark faculty to engage in ongoing conversations and thinking about their own programs and to imagine new avenues for future research in this area. Faculty also can use these suggestions as a guide to assess their efforts and to bolster program quality, sensitive to the unique needs and schooling contexts of their particular students.

This case addresses a typical context faced by a new urban principal. Under the former principal, the school had several years of average academic success. Consequently, the superintendent appointed the new principal to significantly improve the success of the highly diverse elementary school. Although the new principal has been well trained and has had experience under a successful principal, she understands that her challenges are formidable. In response, she has been building trust and relationships with the staff, teachers, and parents, but now she must develop a yearlong improvement plan, as must the students who use this case in their coursework.

The clash of values between the principal and the community has political ramifications for how policies are developed and implemented. This case study describes a situation in which an African American principal in a White-dominant but increasingly diverse rural school district tests the limits of a community by enforcing a tardy policy for the students. The tensions between the community and its wishes, on one hand, and the principal's enforcement of a new policy, on the other, converge to create a dilemma with enormous implications. In particular, the principal's implementation and regulation of policies are likely to have serious ramifications for how the principal will be embraced by the community. To address this issue and its broader implications, this case narrative contains topics selected to promote dialogue about the development of policies in White-dominant but increasingly diverse rural communities where the principals' race and values vary greatly from those of the parents and students.

The purpose of the paper is to reflect on and respond to the papers contained in this Special Issue of Journal of Educational Administration. Design/methodology/approach: A commentary is provided for each of the nine articles in the Special Issue. Findings: The papers in the Special Issue constitute a substantial and important contribution toward incorporating international perspectives into an existing research discourse on educational leadership for social justice. One of the immediate challenges that will need to be addressed is how to systematically work against the hegemony of Western thought and colonialism that infiltrates all our discourses, even those that generate scholarship such as that found in this Special Issue. Originality/value: The paper reflects on the current Special Issue, and provides directions for future research.

Book Chapters

Books

Despite the intense political attention that has been focused on accountability, on standardized testing, and on the equity effects of both accountability and testing, the great majority of recent debate in education policy circles has failed to attend to either the dynamism or complexity of these issues and has, instead, been carried out in a dualistic, good versus evil, fashion. In contrast, the scholarship collected in this important new volume is designed to move beyond the prevailing dualism and to push the discourse about accountability, testing, and educational equity in public schools usefully forward, and to provide a much-needed resource for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

Technology integration in mathematics classrooms is important to the field of education, not only because today's society is becoming more and more advanced and reliant upon technology but also because schools are beginning to embrace technology as an essential part of their curricula. The Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2000) and the National Educational Technology Standards (International Society of Technology in Education [ISTE], 2005) for both teachers and students emphasize the importance of technology in teaching and learning for K-12. There is a variety of technologies integrated into mathematics classrooms that support different teaching and learning strategies and objectives. Of particular interest here are the educational technologies used in K-12 mathematics classrooms and their effects on instruction and student learning.

This study reports findings from comparative samples of 6th grade Chinese and U.S. students' interpretations of the equal sign. Ninety-eight percent of the Chinese sample correctly answered 4 items indicating perceptions of equality and provided conceptually accurate explanations. In contrast, only 28% of the U.S. sample performed at this level. We examine how teacher preparation materials, students' textbooks and teachers' guidebooks treat equality in each country. U.S. teacher preparation textbooks rarely interpreted the equal sign as equivalence. On the contrary Chinese textbooks typically introduced the equal sign in a context of relationships and interpreted the sign as "balance," "sameness" or "equivalence" and only then embedded the sign with operations on numbers.

The focus of this research summary is to foster an understanding of project-based learning (PBL), particularly in mathematics education; to explain the factors for making a conscious decision to implement PBL in middle grades mathematics classrooms; and to provide insights about the possible realized effects when mathematics-based PBL is implemented.

This study examined students' conceptions about the equal sign in light of historical findings with an international comparison group. Textbooks for preparation of students as mathematics teachers were examined. Participants were sixth grade students from the USA (n = 105) and China (n = 145). About 98% of the Chinese children correctly answered all items by providing conceptually accurate explanations, but only 28% of the U.S. sample did. Textbooks for education majors who would teach in the USA rarely discussed the equal sign as equivalence while the Chinese texts introduced the "equal sign" in a context of relationships and discussed it as "balance," "sameness" or "equivalence."

Prior studies of curriculum for doctoral students have been conducted in various disciplines and subdisciplines. The present study examined methods (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods) requirements in doctoral programs in education. Requirements such as these operationalize our visions about what educational research is and what educational researchers should be able to do. Our findings also provide a framework for some commentary about where the field has been, and where the field seems to be moving. Approximately 72% of the programs required at least one quantitative course, 42% required at least one qualitative course and the mean number of required research methods courses was 2.6 (mdn = 2.0, SD = 2.2).

This article describes a full time teaching internship program, where, in lieu of student teaching, interns serve as classroom teachers in urban area schools. Through a partnership between a university and participating school districts, all interns received intensive mentoring and induction during their first year. Among the program results, were a 100% retention rate of interns in the teaching profession, significant growth in teaching interns' confidence, readiness, and self-efficacy regarding their abilities to teach successfully. In addition, school administrators consistently rated interns as proficient teachers using a state approved evaluation instrument. Implications for continuing the internship program are presented.

In considering the nexus of pedagogy and curriculum theory in mathematics education, one is always confronted by and with the consequences of personal perspective for understanding evidence for curriculum effectiveness. Does personal perspective for evidentiary effectiveness always rule discretionary pedagogical choices? How distinct are the two constructs and have they, or are they, evolving in our more technological and less personal modern world as distinct and unrelated? We examine the issues related to the phenomena of the nexus of research into pedagogy and curriculum theory.

This paper reports the results of a study of college students' problem solving. Participants (N=73) came from undergraduate math education classes at a southern university in the US. Earlier studies (Capraro, Cifarelli, Capraro, & Zientek, 2006; Cifarelli & Cai, 2005) found that the use of open-ended mathematics problems with secondary mathematics education students enabled them to develop and stretch their conceptual understanding. The current study examined the following questions: 1. Can the same tasks be used with middle grades education majors to achieve similar benefits? and 2. Can the benefits be maintained by providing instruction via an on-line format? Students solved a series of open-ended tasks and submitted their solutions as part of an on-line class using WebCT. Sixteen of the students participated in small group discussions of their solutions. Data sources included the on-line self reports and the researchers' field notes from observations of those who engaged in the discussion groups. While there was some compatibility between these results and the prior studies, the students did not demonstrate high level of mathematical sophistication in their solutions when compared to students of the earlier studies. However, the students in the discussion groups demonstrated more sophisticated mathematical activity than those using only the on-line format. The results suggest challenges that must be met in order to effectively implement open-ended problem solving in classrooms.

Teachers and researchers have long recognized that students tend to misunderstand the equal sign as an operator; that is, a signal for "doing something" rather than a relational symbol of equivalence or quantity sameness. Students' equal sign misconception has been researched for more than thirty years (Weaver, 1971, 1973) with little refinement in the theory. It was popularly believed that younger students were not developmentally ready to work variations of open numbers sentences, such as missing addend problems (Thompson & Babcock, 1978). In fact, misconceptions about the equal sign were identified in kindergarten students even before formal instruction (Falkner, Levi, & Carpenter, 1999). However, it is clear that with specific instructional guidance, elementary students can understand that the equal sign expresses a relation (Baroody & Ginsburg, 1983; Carpenter, Levi, & Farnsworth, 2000; Saenz-Ludlow & Walgamuth, 1998). In this article, the authors examine variables that could contribute to student's equivalence misconception and whether the equal sign misconception is still manifest in a U.S. sample and present in a Chinese sample. Findings indicate that misconceptions are still manifest in the U.S., and textbooks do little to mitigate the problem in the United States, while in China students are able to interpret the equal sign as a relational symbol of equivalence. The authors also found that the inclusion of multiple representations for equivalence in textbooks and guidebooks in China make a difference in assisting students to correctly interpret the equal sign.

This study addresses the nexus of two critical challenges for today's mathematics teacher. On the one hand, teaching for understanding for all students is the goal of most mathematics teachers. However, many teachers also must acknowledge and address the requirement that students do well on high stakes tests. This study analyzed data on 6th grade students' performance and achievement after a year-long implementation of Connected Mathematics (CMP). Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) data were analyzed, comparing students' achievement from 5th to 6th grade. The variables of at-risk, socio-economic status, and ethnicity were analyzed to determine the nature and practical importance of adopting CMP. The results indicated that the overall gain from using CMP materials over the previous year's mathematics achievement was four points (p < .01). The at-risk students demonstrated a mean 10-point gain (p < .01) while the non at-risk students demonstrated a mean 2-point gain.

Three assumptions frame this study (a) preservice teachers who enjoy reading foster positive attitudes towards reading, (b) life-long reading habits are developed during formative years, and (c) these preservice teachers convey reading strategies that encourage success across content strands. This study examines the relationship between literacy experiences, reading attitudes and behaviors of 129 elementary pre-service and their ability to assist students with reading mathematics word problems. A questionnaire was administered to obtain personal reading characteristics, and a structured interview was used understand the phenomenon from eight purposefully selected participants. Findings suggest the majority of participants are not active readers but the impact for teaching mathematics word problems were: 1) those who claimed to read regularly, actively engaged students in comprehension strategies during mathematics instruction, 2) active readers were more likely to check vocabulary understanding with students, and 3) non active readers were likely to rely on key word strategies for solving word problems or to match specific vocabulary to certain arithmetic operations.

This study analyzed how one teacher used contemporary children's literature to supplement middle-grades geometry. The teacher's students were matched to students in other classes on general reading, general mathematics, and geometry. Student and teacher interviews, observation notes, and video tape recordings provided insights into fluency and flexibility with mathematical vocabulary. On the three outcome measures, the groups showed little change in general reading and a modest increase in general mathematics abilities. In contrast, the students in the children's literature group showed markedly improved performance in geometry. Analyses indicated these students: (a) showed fluency with geometry vocabulary, (b) demonstrated flexibility in the application of geometry concepts, (c) explained formulae with rich descriptions, and (d) outperformed the non story group on geometry ability when controlling for pretest performance.

Sections in Books

After completing this chapter, you should be able to

• Understand the benefits of working in a team.
• Organize team projects and team member responsibilities.
• Communicate and work in a team.
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
• Apply strategies for improving team performance.
• Solve problems with team members.
• Work in a team effectively.

Problem solving is a process whereby a "best" outcome is determined for some "situation", subject to certain constraints. Many models for problem solving exist, differing in the emphasis and sequence of steps employed as well as the accessibility of these steps to practitioners with different levels of experience. There are two distinct types of problem solving, analytical problem solving and open-ended problem solving. Analytical problem solving tends to be more discipline-specific where as open-ended or creative problem solving draws on a wide variety of cognitive, affective, and social skills. Important differences in the level of skill development and skill integration between these domains can be noted in the behavior of novice and expert problem solvers.

The conventional wisdom is that teachers teach best by reducing the stress (of any kind) on the students (to make them happy). This is often implemented by methods that have the effect of lowering expectations, even though nothing could be farther from the real needs of the students (or the desires of their teachers). This module contains a description of a useful tool, the Accelerator Model, which educators can use to guide their efforts to create the right level of challenge in learning situations. Research evidence and educational theory support the concept and design of the model and how it helps with assessing learning situations as well as learners. Analyzing how the interaction of learner ability, level of academic challenge, and learner affective skills affect learning outcomes provides educators with an enhanced understanding of facilitation possibilities. Work with the accelerator model also provides a way to increase educators' self-growth in learning facilitation.

Papers in Journals

This paper discusses the development of project-enhanced courses that combine the best of problem-based learning and traditional "topic" focused instruction. This approach addresses the need to ensure that students receive the technical content required while developing critical problem solving skills. This balance between skill development and technical content assurance is a key feature of this approach and a main difference to problem-based learning. It is also different from traditional approaches, where a project is simply added to the tasks the students are expected to accomplish, and the impacts of the approaches on student learning are significantly different. The implementation of the projects into a junior level introductory structural analysis course is discussed, including details into the goals of the projects, and the changes made to make room for the projects. Assessment and evaluation of the impact of these projects include an evaluation on how the courses and projects address specific department and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology learning outcomes. Student perceptions are evaluated immediately at the conclusion of the course and substantially after the conclusion of the course (while in a senior design course), enabling the assessment of knowledge and skill transfer. Performance in this senior design course also is used to assess the impact these projects by comparing those with (1) a project enhanced experience, (2) a project-added experience, and (3) no project experience in their structural analysis course. Those with a project-enhanced experience perform much better than students in either of the other groups in the follow-on course, and the contrast with a project-added experience is particularly striking. The process of balancing the outcomes for this course with the needs of follow-on courses, and the tradeoffs that are needed to accomplish both could be applied to any junior level engineering course.

Papers in Conferences

Demonstrations can be very effective at engaging students, generating interest in a topic, and enhancing student learning. A key component to an effective demonstration is active student engagement throughout the entire process. This means students are involved in discussing the purpose of the demo; predicting what will happen during the demo; discussing who developed theories to help us understand what happens during the demo; and comparing observations to predictions, as opposed to simply passively watching a demonstration. Demonstrations can occur at three different stages of a course topic: as an introduction, as a wrap-up and an aid used throughout the class discussion of a topic. Depending on when they occur, different types of learning outcomes are achieved. This paper presents a model for infusing demonstrations into an engineering science class and the use of this model during a semester. Assessment includes components from both faculty and students, as well as from a faculty development professional who is an instructor in a different discipline.

The civil engineering department at our university has adopted a course in Dynamics & Vibrations as the standard introductory undergraduate dynamics course. The course emphasizes model development and the use of general kinematic equations and differential equations of motion for problem solving. In addition, the course includes the demonstration of physical models; the use of simulation; team based projects & incorporates civil engineering examples and real-world applications with much more emphasis on vibration than in a traditional dynamics course.

The increased emphasis on the vibration material keeps our civil engineering students more engaged in the course. There is an initial resistance to learning the material when all students see are box-spring examples when first going through the derivation of the equation of motion for single degree of freedom systems. Instead of starting with the simplified model, a one-story building is presented to the class and the first step in solving the problem is the development of the analytical model for the system. This also serves to connect the concepts of the dynamics course with other courses in the curriculum.

Course projects are based on realistic civil engineering examples, with an emphasis on the assumptions required to develop the analytical model. The projects are team assignments and rely on numerical analysis, a pre-requisite for the course. These projects have several objectives: (1) to allow students to tackle a larger and more realistic civil engineering dynamics problem, (2) expose students to computational tools used in solving dynamics problems for which a closed form solution does not exist, (3) evaluate critical thinking and communication skills. The projects also allow for the introduction to advanced engineering concepts, such as seismic response.

This paper presents the implementation of this course for all civil engineering undergraduate students. Course content and structure, materials (including projects); student acceptance and performance; and course assessment and evaluation are addressed in the paper.

Readiness assessment tests (RATs) are a simplified formative assessment tool to evaluate the incremental progress of individual learners in a classroom environment. Often times, a RAT is administered to measure the understanding of one or two general concepts from prior course material; it is also used to estimate the preparedness of each learner to move forward with new material in the current course lecture. As a means of individual formative assessment, RATs have shown promise as a feedback tool for learners within a variety of classroom environments.

RAT usage in the classroom was first proposed and investigated by Michaelson et al., who were evaluating individual learning in large courses within a business-related curricula1. Adaptation of the RAT concept within engineering education occurred later, most likely in the early 1990s, where it provided a modern placement of the traditional unannounced quiz into engineering education pedagogy. Since that time, engineering education researchers have shown the effectiveness that RATs may have on learner performance and, more importantly, improved learner understanding of the course material2.

Because RATs are usually paper-based and therefore require grading, the instructor cannot immediately adjust his/her content to the learners' preparedness, even when classroom discussion is used to evaluate learner understanding. To mitigate this problem, researchers have developed near real-time feedback techniques for RAT scoring. Yost et al. solicited responses to RAT questions on scantron forms and then used a portable scantron reading device in the classroom for grading2. Other researchers have begun to utilize online course management systems such as BlackBoard and WebCT for RAT scoring and other course assessments3,4,5.

In each of the cases above, the RAT feedback results must typically be manipulated to have any type of immediate pedagogical value to both the instructor and the learners. Therefore, to transform the RAT concept into a real-time formative assessment tool, an online real-time quiz system was developed. The real-time quiz system administers the RAT electronically but also provides real-time feedback to the instructor both numerically and graphically in the classroom. Graphical results of the real-time quiz can be used immediately by the instructor to create 'teachable moments' that may better facilitate learner understanding of the course material.

This paper discusses implementation of the projects into a junior level introductory structural analysis course. The goals of the projects, and the changes made to make room for the projects are also discussed in detail. Assessment and evaluation of the impact of these projects include an evaluation on how the courses and projects address specific department and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology learning outcomes. Student perceptions are evaluated immediately at the conclusion of the course and substantially after the conclusion of the course (while in a senior design course). Performance in this senior design course also is used to assess the impact these projects by comparing those with and with out project experience in their structural analysis course. The process of balancing the outcomes for this course with the needs of follow-on courses, and the tradeoffs that are needed to accomplish both could be applied to any junior level engineering course.

The civil engineering department at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has modified two junior-level courses, dynamics and introductory structural analysis, to incorporate design-oriented team projects based on realistic civil-engineering systems. This change represents a move towards project-based learning, a pedagogical approach that closely models engineering practice. These projects are open ended problems with multiple possible solutions and are designed to emphasize interpretation of numerical results rather than pure numerical computations. As such, they serve to improve learning outcomes through critical thinking and evaluation. In addition, the project teams serve to give the students experiences intended to improve ABETREF and TAMU departmental outcomes, specifically:

TAMU 1. Ability to apply knowledge of basic mathematics, science, and engineering [ABET a]
TAMU 2. Ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams [ABET d]
TAMU 3. Ability to formulate and solve civil\ocean engineering problems [ABET e]
TAMU 4. Ability to communicate effectively (verbal & written) [ABET g]
TAMU 5. Ability to use computers to solve civil\ocean engineering problems [ABET k]

These projects have several objectives: (1) to allow students to tackle a larger and more realistic civil engineering dynamics problem, (2) expose students to computational tools used in solving problems, (3) evaluate critical thinking and communication skills. The projects are designed to be solved by student teams, who are told they are acting as consultants on the project posed (TAMU 2). As the problems posed are more realistic than standard homework assignments, the structures to be analyzed are more complex and computer software applications are used to solve the numerical component of the projects. The content in these courses was modified to include how to convert a physical system (structure and corresponding loads) into the most adequate mathematical model in order to perform the analyses (TAMU 1 and 3). To emphasize good written communication skills, a detailed written report and discussion is part of the submission requirement and counts as a third of the project grade (TAMU 4). Additionally, the students are required to use approximate methods to evaluate the results from the computer software package (TAMU 5). This requirement is important in addressing a major deficiency that many new graduates have: the lack of ability to evaluate whether the computer results make sense or someone committed an error in the input.

This paper discusses the changes in the courses and the implementation of the projects. Assessment and evaluation of the impact of these projects include data from faculty and students. These include an evaluation on how the courses and projects address specific Department and ABET outcomes. Student perceptions are evaluated immediately at the conclusion of the course and substantially after the conclusion of the course, for example in a follow-on course. Performance in a senior design course is used to compare the impact of having exposure to these projects prior to the complete design experience at the senior level.

With support from the STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) of the National Science Foundation, the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has created a project-based first-year engineering course. In the process of creating the course, the faculty team has identified four major challenges that a renewed first-year engineering course should address. Employing an engineering design project, the faculty team translated the challenges into a set of needs, functional, and performance requirements. Then, the faculty team designed a set of five projects in an attempt to satisfy these functional and performance requirements. A sequence of two first-year engineering courses that used these five projects was implemented in the 2004-05 academic year and offered to approximately 200 students. In one of the projects, students used Lego Mindstorms™ to construct a model of a wheelchair lift that satisfied several constraints. Although student teams successfully designed model wheelchair lifts, the faculty team thought that there was room for considerable improvement.

In the Fall Semester of the 2005-06 academic year, the STEPS program was offered to approximately five hundred students and the faculty members used the wheelchair project, but made four major changes to the project. First, the faculty team was dissatisfied with the variety of mechanisms that students in the 2004-05 academic year constructed. All of the projects tended to use very similar mechanisms. To promote greater variety, one faculty member asked student teams to create three different conceptual designs, and not just variations in configuration, for the wheelchair lift mechanism. Then, the faculty member selected the most complex mechanism to implement. Second, analysis of the wheelchair lift mechanism in the 2004-05 academic year focused on kinetics, that is, forces in the various members. In the revised version, faculty formulated additional kinematical constraints. Third, faculty members noted that many student teams were assembling their models only a short time before the projects were going to be demonstrated. To encourage students to engage in a more detailed analysis of their design, faculty members required that students demonstrate a prototype of their design in a dry run one week before the actual demonstration. Fourth, faculty members prepared constraints that required more elaborate programming of the microcomputer controller for the wheelchair lift. More detailed descriptions of the rationale for the changes, implementations of the actual changes, and results from the changes will be presented in the paper.