Integrating AI Machine Learning into the Teaching of Paleontology Using Fossil Shark Teeth in Middle Schools

2022 - 2025

 

Sharks have ruled the Earth’s oceans for 400 million years, leaving behind a widespread fossil record. Inspired by the extinct 65-foot-long predator Megalodon, fossil shark teeth can spark student interest and curiosity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Machine Learning (ML), a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is used in a variety of fields today and is broadly applicable for developing predictive models that drive research and development.

 

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A Model Program to Engage Students in Authentic, Technology-Infused Coastal Research and Monitoring: Building Student Data Literacy and Career Competency through Partnership

2022 - 2026

The project will introduce and investigate an innovative model for using authentic community-relevant research to deepen students' STEM knowledge and skills, while building strong community connections between Maine's coastal school districts and their communities. The project will involve teachers and administrators, STEM and STEM education faculty, and business leaders and other community members in a research practice partnership.

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Preparing Secondary Teachers and Students for Quantum Information Science

2021 - 2024

Quantum information science (QIS) is imperative to economic and national security, commerce, and technology.  Development of a "quantum smart" workforce needs to begin before college. The logical venue for exposure to quantum might be a physics course, but numerous K-12 students attend schools where physics is not offered. Since most students will not major in physics, it is vital to expose K-12 students to quantum concepts that are relevant to everyday experiences with credit card security, phones, computers, and basic technology.

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Robot-Mediated Learning: Exploring School-Deployed Collaborative Robots for Homebound Children

2020 - 2023
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a child tele-operating a robot and walking with friends

Over 2.5 million children in the US are medically homebound. They are socially isolated, physically segregated, and current educational practices largely exclude them from their school communities. Telepresence robots have emerged as a possible means to support these children to return to their local schools, however, it is not yet understood how homebound children can effectively use these robots for optimal learning and social development experiences.

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Engaging Native American Students in STEM Career Development Through a Culturally-Responsive After-School Program Using Virtual Environments and 3-D Printing

2021 - 2025

The project will develop and research an after-school program that is designed to increase the STEM career interests and motivations of Native American middle-school students.  Students will use digital technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D printing, to solve spatial design problems presented through the project’s culturally responsive, problem-based learning education modules.

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Launching a Discourse-Rich Mathematics Lesson

Publication

This article shares a mathematics discourse technique adapted from literacy instruction and designed to prepare students' engagement in a mathematics task by model mathematical thinking. The Math Think Aloud is used during the launch of a lesson to provide access to the mathematics and help students make sense of the task so they are able to work on the task and share their mathematical thinking. Successes, challenges, and tips for effective implementation are shared.

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Talk is the Ticket to Teaching Math to English Learners

Publication

This article describes a mathematics professional development program for elementary school teachers focused on improving mathematics discourse for all students, in particular emergent multilingual learners. Frameworks, such as the Math Discourse Matrix (Sztajn, Heck, & Malzahn, 2020) that characterizes four types of discourse (correcting, eliciting, probing, responsive) and other resources aimed at planning and implementing lessons that support emergent multilingual learners' engagement in productive mathematical discussions are shared.

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Decomposing Practice in Teacher Professional Development: Examining sequences of learning activities

Publication

In this paper, we engage in an analysis of professional development design, examining professional development activities and the sequencing of professional learning tasks. We use a theoretical framework typically used in pre-service teacher education to understand the design of one professional development program. Our overarching goal is to theorize about how to design professional development and sequence professional learning tasks for practicing teachers. Specifically, this study uses the concepts of decompositions of practice (Grossman et al., 2009), and levels of decomposition (Boerst

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Controlled Implementations: Teaching Practice to Practicing Mathematics Teachers

Publication
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In this chapter, we use the Framework for Teaching Practice (Grossman, Compton, Igra, Ronfeldt, Shahan, & Williamson, 2009) as a conceptual tool for analyzing the design of professional development. Although initially developed to examine the education of prospective teachers, we contend that this framework is appropriate for analyzing and supporting the design of professional development. The framework consists of three elements: decompositions, representations, and approximations of practice. We use these three elements to examine the literature on professional development and discuss how

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Activating Math Talk: 11 Purposeful Techniques for Your Elementary Students

Publication
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Many mathematics teachers agree that engaging students in high-quality discourse is important for their conceptual learning, but successfully promoting such discourse in elementary classrooms—with attention to the needs of every learner—can be a challenge. Activating Math Talk tackles this challenge by bringing practical, math-specific, productive discourse techniques that are applicable to any lesson or curriculum. Framed around 11 student-centered discourse techniques, this research-based book connects purposeful instructional techniques to specific lesson goals and includes a focus on

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