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Archive: Science Update: The Enduring Legacy of Henrietta Lacks, September 16, 2020

As we celebrate Henrietta Lacks’ 100th birthday, this web seminar presentation will highlight the contributions of HeLa cells to science and medicine, as well as NIH’s unique agreement with the Lacks’ family related to access to HeLa genomic data. Since Ms. Lacks’ untimely death in 1952, HeLa cells have been a vital tool in biomedical research, leading to an increased understanding of the fundamentals of human health and disease.

As we celebrate Henrietta Lacks’ 100th birthday, this web seminar presentation will highlight the contributions of HeLa cells to science and medicine, as well as NIH’s unique agreement with the Lacks’ family related to access to HeLa genomic data. Since Ms. Lacks’ untimely death in 1952, HeLa cells have been a vital tool in biomedical research, leading to an increased understanding of the fundamentals of human health and disease.

As we celebrate Henrietta Lacks’ 100th birthday, this web seminar presentation will highlight the contributions of HeLa cells to science and medicine, as well as NIH’s unique agreement with the Lacks’ family related to access to HeLa genomic data. Since Ms. Lacks’ untimely death in 1952, HeLa cells have been a vital tool in biomedical research, leading to an increased understanding of the fundamentals of human health and disease.

As we celebrate Henrietta Lacks’ 100th birthday, this web seminar presentation will highlight the contributions of HeLa cells to science and medicine, as well as NIH’s unique agreement with the Lacks’ family related to access to HeLa genomic data. Since Ms. Lacks’ untimely death in 1952, HeLa cells have been a vital tool in biomedical research, leading to an increased understanding of the fundamentals of human health and disease.

 

Brief

Empathy in Action

Bringing Design Thinking to Life

Connected Science Learning July–September 2020 (Volume 2, Issue 3)

By Mallory Tuominen

Empathy in Action

 

Diversity and Equity

Codesigning With Indigenous Families and Educators

Creating Robotics Education That Contributes to Indigenous Resurgence

Connected Science Learning July–September 2020 (Volume 2, Issue 3)

By Carrie Tzou, Elizabeth Starks, Meixi, Amanda Rambayon, Sara Marie Ortiz, Shawn Peterson, Paradise Gladstone, Ellie Tail, Arianna Chang, Elise Andrew, Xochitl Nevarez, Ashley Braun, Megan Bang

Codesigning With Indigenous Families and Educators

Science Update: The Enduring Legacy of Henrietta Lacks, September 16, 2020

Join us on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, starting at 7:00 pm ET and learn about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks.

Join us on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, starting at 7:00 pm ET and learn about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks.

Join us on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, starting at 7:00 pm ET and learn about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks.

Join us on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, starting at 7:00 pm ET and learn about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks.

 

Freebies for Science Teachers, Week of July 30

By Debra Shapiro

Freebies for Science Teachers, Week of July 30

 

Starting to Teach During the Pandemic

By Debra Shapiro

Starting to Teach During the Pandemic

 

Elementary Middle School High School Informal Education    |    Daily Do

How is COVID-19 Impacting Families and Communities?

How is COVID-19 Impacting Families and Communities?

 

RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Comparing Academically Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Groups in an Active Learning Physics Class

Journal of College Science Teaching—July/August 2020 (Volume 49, Issue 6)

By Michael Briggs

Many methods have been developed for managing groups in active learning classes, but little research has been done on the effect of group structure itself. Results are presented for an active learning physics class in which half of the class was placed in academically homogeneous groups while the other half was in heterogeneous groups. Students were given the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism as a pretest and posttest, and also filled out surveys on their experiences in their groups. The study was intended to be continued for three years, but was terminated halfway through the second semester as the evidence had become sufficiently compelling that placing half of the class in academically heterogeneous groups was placing them at a significant disadvantage. Student feedback, pretest, and posttest data indicated that low- and middle-performing students benefitted the most from academically homogeneous groups. Results for the one full semester of the study and the rationale for discontinuing are presented.

 

Many methods have been developed for managing groups in active learning classes, but little research has been done on the effect of group structure itself. Results are presented for an active learning physics class in which half of the class was placed in academically homogeneous groups while the other half was in heterogeneous groups. Students were given the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism as a pretest and posttest, and also filled out surveys on their experiences in their groups.
Many methods have been developed for managing groups in active learning classes, but little research has been done on the effect of group structure itself. Results are presented for an active learning physics class in which half of the class was placed in academically homogeneous groups while the other half was in heterogeneous groups. Students were given the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism as a pretest and posttest, and also filled out surveys on their experiences in their groups.
 

RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Concept Maps for Structuring Instruction and as a Potential Assessment Tool in a Large Introductory Science Course

Journal of College Science Teaching—July/August 2020 (Volume 49, Issue 6)

By Carl-Georg Bank and Heidi Daxberger

Concept maps make connections between ideas apparent, and thus would seem ideally suited to demonstrate learning. Yet, they are not widely used by instructors, particularly in large university classes. In this paper we review the strengths and rationale behind concept maps and provide examples we have used to structure content for one of our introductory courses. A rubric that focuses on propositions was used to grade student-created concept maps on a final exam administered to 293 students. These grades are compared to those of multiple-choice questions, short answers, and an essay on the same exam. We find poor correlation between concept maps and the other instruments, and stronger correlations between short answers and multiple choice, as well as between short-answer content grades and essay writing grades. We speculate that concept maps may be less influenced by student language skills and short-term memory than written answers, and that concept maps should be used as an alternative assessment of higher order thinking skills.

 

Concept maps make connections between ideas apparent, and thus would seem ideally suited to demonstrate learning. Yet, they are not widely used by instructors, particularly in large university classes. In this paper we review the strengths and rationale behind concept maps and provide examples we have used to structure content for one of our introductory courses. A rubric that focuses on propositions was used to grade student-created concept maps on a final exam administered to 293 students.
Concept maps make connections between ideas apparent, and thus would seem ideally suited to demonstrate learning. Yet, they are not widely used by instructors, particularly in large university classes. In this paper we review the strengths and rationale behind concept maps and provide examples we have used to structure content for one of our introductory courses. A rubric that focuses on propositions was used to grade student-created concept maps on a final exam administered to 293 students.
 

RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Measuring Computational Thinking Teaching Efficacy Beliefs of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Journal of College Science Teaching—July/August 2020 (Volume 49, Issue 6)

By Erdogan Kaya, Anna Newley, Ezgi Yesilyurt, and Hasan Deniz

With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), assessing K–12 science teachers’ self-efficacy in Computational Thinking (CT) is an important research gap to study. Bandura defines self-efficacy as awareness of the individual’s potential and capabilities to accomplish a goal. Teaching efficacy beliefs is a significant identifier of teachers’ performance and motivation in teaching the specific content successfully; however, K–12 science teachers’ CT teaching efficacy beliefs are rarely discussed. Participating preservice elementary teachers (PSET) were enrolled in an undergraduate elementary science teaching methods course during the spring and summer 2018 semesters in a southwestern state university. We administered a CT teaching efficacy beliefs survey at the beginning and end of the related unit (i.e., the intervention). During the intervention, the PSET followed the CT practices by building educational robots, coding visual block-based programs, and solving puzzles in the video game “Zoombinis.” In this paper, we report the impact of the intervention on teaching efficacy beliefs of PSET. We used SPSS software to analyze our quantitative results. We performed paired samples t-test for the two teaching efficacy beliefs subscales, Personal Computational Thinking Teaching Efficacy (PCTTE) and Computational Thinking Teaching Outcome Expectancy (CTTOE), to measure if there is a significant difference in teaching efficacy beliefs. Our research findings suggest that introducing CT increases PSET CT teaching efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, based on the results of our exploratory research with PSET, we propose implications of the study for K–12 CT teaching efficacy beliefs and CT education research.

 

With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), assessing K–12 science teachers’ self-efficacy in Computational Thinking (CT) is an important research gap to study. Bandura defines self-efficacy as awareness of the individual’s potential and capabilities to accomplish a goal. Teaching efficacy beliefs is a significant identifier of teachers’ performance and motivation in teaching the specific content successfully; however, K–12 science teachers’ CT teaching efficacy beliefs are rarely discussed.
With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), assessing K–12 science teachers’ self-efficacy in Computational Thinking (CT) is an important research gap to study. Bandura defines self-efficacy as awareness of the individual’s potential and capabilities to accomplish a goal. Teaching efficacy beliefs is a significant identifier of teachers’ performance and motivation in teaching the specific content successfully; however, K–12 science teachers’ CT teaching efficacy beliefs are rarely discussed.
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