Mathematical sciences | STELAR - STEM Learning and Research Center

Data Jam

Curricular Materials

Engaging students with local ecological data in Puerto Rico Data Jam is an initiative of the Luquillo Long -Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. The University of Puerto Rico's Luquillo LTER has compiled decades of data on the El Yunque rainforest ecosystem and made it publicly available. The Data Jam program engages middle and high school students in the process of formulating their own questions about environmental phenomena in El Yunque and then exploring, analyzing, and summarizing long-term data as evidence to support their scientific research questions. Successful Data Jam projects

Luquillo Data Jam: A Powerful Model for Broadening Participation in Science

Publications

The Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in Puerto Rico has implemented a Data Jam initiative that fosters student engagement in ecological data science. In December 2023, over 175 middle and high school students presented 51 data-driven projects at a symposium in El Yunque National Rainforest. The initiative, rooted in the LTER’s extensive datasets, allows students to develop research questions, analyze data using the CODAP tool, and present findings. The program includes professional development for teachers, with workshops and Virtual Lab Meetings that equip them to guide

Designing to transform: High school students’ reasoning with geometric transformations in an authentic real-world project

Publications

As educators pursue more authentic and relevant approaches to mathematics instruction, it is essential to understand how students reason mathematically in innovative learning environments. This study examines students’ reasoning with geometric transformations during a summer camp, in which they used dynamic geometry environments (DGEs) to design transforming, multi-functional products. Student artifacts were analyzed using two frameworks on reasoning in transformational geometry. taxonomy of transformational reasoning. Findings show that students’ reasoning was closely tied to their product

Algorithms, spreadsheets and functions: exploring middle graders’ functional reasoning during a STEM entrepreneurial pitch competition

Publications

This paper reports on a five-day study exploring six middle school students’ developing understanding of algorithms and functions during the Building Algorithms challenge, an entrepreneurial Design & Pitch Challenge in STEM. Students proposed businesses and built automated spreadsheet algorithms to inform users’ decision making by assigning ratings to objects (e.g. videos, music, racetracks) based on their preferences. Part of a larger NSF study of students’ participation in entrepreneurial experiences with mathematical connections, the study used a design-based research methodology

Amplifying Mathematics Learning Through Teacher Discourse Moves: Investigating Teachers' Personal Practical Knowledge Within an Entrepreneurial Design Projects

Publications

This study investigates how teachers facilitate small-group mathematical discourse during Design & Pitch (D&P) Challenges in STEM, an experiential framework combining entrepreneurial, project-based, and design-based learning. By examining teacher interactions, we explore how educators draw on their personal practical knowledge to support student thinking and navigate the unpredictable nature of student-generated ideas in these innovative learning environments. This exploratory study investigates how teachers drew on their personal practical knowledge during group check-ins, leveraging teacher

Transforming Preschoolers’ Spatial Orientation: Leveraging New Technologies for Learning in Early Childhood Classrooms and at Home

Poster

The development of spatial orientation (SO) is a strong predictor of math skills and later school success and academic achievement. Thus, fostering SO skills before children enter formal schooling provides them with a sound foundation for later mathematical learning. Our project is titled Transforming Preschoolers' Spatial Orientation: Leveraging New Technologies for Learning in Early Childhood Classrooms and at Home.

CASCADE: Engaging Adolescents through Collaboration on Simulated STEM Career Scenarios and Mathematics Activities

Poster

We create and study virtual simulations of peer collaboration in STEM fields, designed for youth in informal learning environments. Practice with the simulations will help teens from underrepresented groups build collaborative skills and career interest in STEM fields, especially those that use mathematics and require strong teamwork.

Digital Mathematics Storytelling - Chao

Poster

Digital Storytelling with children in urban emergent communities, this project aims to create protocols that children can use to document, share, and showcase the rich mathematical knowledge that exists in their own families and communities.

Peering a Generation into the Future: NSF's Young Scholars Program (YSP) and the nation’s STEM workforce

Poster

This project is a multiyear study of the impact of an enrichment program that the US National Science Foundation (NSF) managed in the 1990s. The Young Scholars Program (YSP) involved around 18,000 7th–12th grade students and 600 separate grants between 1989 and 1996. The purpose of YSP was to introduce high-achieving middle and secondary school students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields to encourage their entry into those fields and thus increase the size and quality of the nation’s STEM workforce.

Project eSPAC3: A Culturally Affirming Approach to Spatial Computational Thinking Skills and Career Awareness

Poster

Project eSPAC3 aims to develop upper-elementary students’ spatial computational thinking skills and awareness of computationally-intensive careers by designing an immersive Latinx culturally affirming enactive learning experience in Minecraft Education Edition which emphasizes family engagement, near-peer mentorship, peer collaboration and expert modeling.

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