Education

The NAEYC recommends that early childhood mathematics education be research-based and developmentally appropriate. Currently, research indicates that early number sense predicts later mathematics achievement, hence, teachers feel pressure to ensure young students meet specific mathematics benchmarks. Mathematics learning trajectories provide a research-based background for expectations for where students should be in their mathematics learning development. In this vein, an in-depth look at actual students’ development in the context of their classrooms is warranted. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to document and describe the characteristics of 5 three-year-olds’ evolving mathematical knowledge over the course of a year in a play-based preschool classroom. The research questions that guided this study included: 1) In what ways do three-year-old preschoolers’ mathematical knowledge develop over a year?, 2) What are the characteristics of their evolving mathematical knowledge?, 3) What are their patterns of achievement?, and 4) What are their characteristics of engagement as their mathematical knowledge evolves? This research involved the collection of multiple assessments (i.e., the TEAM and IGDIs), observations, and teacher interviews for the purpose of triangulation. The data were analyzed in terms of assessment scores, learning trajectory codes, and other open coding methods. We are still analyzing the data, but the preliminary results indicate that one-to-one correspondence and cardinality are key skills that these three-years-olds acquired. One-to-one correspondence and cardinality represent turning points in these students’ mathematical knowledge. The preliminary results suggest that these students need additional opportunities to make shifts in other concepts on the mathematics learning trajectories. The implications for this research include the practical use of learning trajectories to observe students’ evolving mathematical knowledge. Other implications may be the importance of guided and consistent mathematics instruction in addition to spontaneous free-play situations. A multiple-case study provides an in-depth look at children’s development across learning trajectories in the context of their classroom. This study provides context-based evidence for how and why these preschoolers’ mathematics knowledge is evolving and can inform preschool instructional practices and assessments. Recommendations for guided practice, content integration, and multiple opportunities to use one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, subitizing, counting, and part-whole ideas will be provided.

Purpose: Evaluate the effect of interprofessional education (IPE) on undergraduate students’ attitudes of IPE, perceptions of working together, and ratings of teamwork. Background: The culture of education prepares healthcare professionals in silos, then expects them to work collaboratively upon graduation. Medical errors, resulting from communication issues, are considered a leading cause of patient death. Interdisciplinary education of future professionals may prevent communication issues and reduce patient deaths. IPE of undergraduates may improve communication of future professionals educated in universities without medical schools. Research Questions: Following a semester-long IPE class: 1. How do students describe their perceptions about ability to, value of, and comfort in working in interprofessional teams? 2. What are students’ ratings of teamwork, interprofessional interactions and relationships? 3. What are students’ attitudes toward IPE and opinion of usefulness of IPE activities? 4. What are the differences between healthcare student groups’ (nursing, dietetics, medical lab science, pre-professional etc.) perceptions of working together, attitudes of IPE, and ratings of teamwork? Methodology: A pre-post descriptive quantitative design was used. A total of 110 undergraduate students completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of an interprofessional health professions course. Study subjects included students from the following majors: nursing, dietetics, medical lab science, pre-professional, and other health-related professions. Quantitative data included survey results of three validated instruments used in IPE research: Attitudes Towards Healthcare Teams (ATHCT), Interprofessional Socialization & Valuing Scale (ISVS), and The University of West England Interprofessional Questionnaire (UWE IPQ). Data were analyzed using a two-tailed paired t-test. Findings: Student responses showed significant increases in IPE scores with two of the three instruments. Students participating in the interprofessional course reported significantly increased scores on the ATHCT (M baseline = 3.75; M follow-up = 4.17; p = .000; 5-point Likert-type) and ISVS (M baseline = 3.72; M follow-up = 5.35; p = .000; 7-point Likert-type). Results of the UWE IPQ were mixed. Students reported significantly increased scores on the interprofessional relationships subscale (M baseline = 3.42; M follow-up = 3.92; p = .000; 5-point Likert-type), while scores on the other three UWE IPQ subscales were not significant. Conclusions and implications: IPE of undergraduate students in health-related majors can significantly improve their attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration. While IPE may serve to augment collaboration among future health professions, it cannot substitute for hospital interaction. In the undergraduate setting for future health professionals, IPE should be used in conjunction with hospital experiences.

Evolution is central to understanding Biology and Health. Nevertheless, many people still don’t accept evolution as a well founded principle and mechanism of change (Pew 2016). The central research of this project is to examine the acceptance of evolution among Biology majors at the beginning and end of their undergraduate experience, the reasons as to why they accept or reject evolution, and if applicable, why they changed their minds during their undergraduate experience. Previously, the acceptance of evolution in non-major Biology courses (Ferguson and Ogden) has been investigated. The results show that students can change their opinions on evolution and the leading factors for this were: 1) the teaching of evolutionary evidences drove changes in acceptance; 2) the importance of a role model; and 3) helping students overcome misconceptions. Further, previous studies examined students' observations and knowledge of evolutionary theory and found that the degree of conflicts perceived between religion and science was negatively correlated with their knowledge of evolution. Main Objective: The objective of this research is to better understand the acceptance of evolution among students majoring in Biology. Methods: We will administer a short "pre-interview survey" and we will conduct interviews with students majoring in Biology, that are enrolled in Biol 4550 and Biol 4500, in order to better understand the reasons why they accept or reject evolution and why they change or don't change their minds throughout their undergraduate experience. The survey and interview questions are designed to investigate the opinions of evolution and how the students changed throughout their undergraduate experience and over the course of the semester. The recordings will be transcribed and quantified by binning answers into categories. Given the high % of students that are LDS, we will ask a few additional questions concerning religion and the student's knowledge of their religion's position concerning evolution. Hypotheses: We proposed that as students knowledge of the evidence for evolution increased over their college years that acceptance would increase. We further hypothesized that religious students would have to reconcile their religion's position on science and evolution with their growing knowledge of evolutionary theory.

Purpose: This systematic review was conducted to gain a better understanding of the contextual factors, mechanisms, and outcomes associated with organizational learning in inpatient hospitals. Background: Organizational learning is a positive change process by which organizations enhance their ability to achieve their desired outcomes. In hospitals, examples of desired outcomes include improvements in patient safety, care quality, patient experience, and financial viability. Although a growing body of research supports organizational learning as an effective strategy for achieving gains in each of these performance areas, the literature on organizational learning in inpatient hospitals has not been systematically reviewed. Thus, nursing researchers and leaders are without a practical resource to guide their efforts to study and foster organizational learning. Methods: Databases searched were CINAHL, MEDLINE, Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, PsychINFO, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Sociological Abstracts. The search terms used were ("organi?ational learning" OR "team learning" OR "group learning" OR "collective learning" OR "learning organi?ation*" OR “workplace learning”) AND (hospital OR hospitals) with no limits set on date of publication. After an initial scan for duplicates, approximately 2,300 articles remained. Article titles were sorted for relevance based on the following criteria: reports empirical data from an inpatient hospital setting, treats organizational learning as a process rather than an output, situated in an inpatient hospital setting, written in English, published in a peer-reviewed journal, refers to human improvements in knowledge, cognition, or behavior. Article abstracts were reviewed, followed by a review of the full text. The remaining 197 articles were scored using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. During the appraisal process, 47 additional articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria or had critical methodological flaws were removed. Data extraction was performed for the remaining 150 articles, with a focus on contextual factors, mechanisms, and outcomes associated with organizational learning in inpatient hospitals. Results: Contextual factors associated with organizational learning included: shared purpose, motivation, psychological safety/relationships, infrastructure, skills in organizational improvement, and experience as a team. Mechanisms associated with organizational learning included: interaction, collective reflection, deliberate learning, practice, retention, and leadership. Outcomes associated with organizational learning included: clinical outcomes, patient outcomes, team outcomes, financial outcomes, and adoption of new/improved clinical practices. Implications: Organizational learning is an important process for improving patient care and performance in inpatient hospitals. This systematic review provides a practical resource for nursing leaders and researchers to advance the practice and science of organizational learning.

This paper intends to expand and deepen the current research on Learner-centered Teaching (LCT), a pedagogy that seeks to shift the focus of an educator from his or her own teaching to the learning of those being educated. It is modern application that stems from a significant amount of research conducted on learning. The research regarding LCT, however, seems to be focused on modern examples and contexts. No one has looked to the past to find examples of LCT techniques present in the methods of ancient educators. This paper begins the research on historical examples of LCT and intends to open a discussion on the comparisons that can be made between historical teaching methods and the methods included in LCT. One of the learning theories that plays a significant role in LCT is Constructivism. This paper illustrates the presence of constructivist learning in historical education settings through a case study analyzing some of the teaching methods of Jesus Christ. Regardless of one’s belief in historical authenticity, Jesus is an excellent example because his teachings are well-known, widely available, and offer a look into ancient instruction. This paper analyzes interactions that Jesus had with others in the New Testament Gospels and makes connections between Jesus’s teaching methods and those related to constructivism in LCT. The purpose of making these connections is not to suggest that Jesus taught exactly as is outlined in LCT; rather, it is to show the usefulness of studying historical examples of LCT and to encourage such research. Although Jesus does not fit the modern definition of a learner-centered teacher, certain aspects of Jesus’s teaching closely resemble the methods of LCT. New historical insights will aid in a better understanding of LCT. The goal is to expand its area of research, which will undoubtedly lead to better implementation. It will also strengthen the argument for its use in modern education. Other historical teachers should be researched in this way, and connections with learning theories other than just Constructivism should be explored. This paper intends to point out this gap in current literature and call for additional research.

Instruction for developing students’ number sense is a critical area of research in mathematics education due to the role number sense plays in early mathematics learning. Specifically, number system knowledge— knowledge of the systematic relations among Arabic numerals and the skills in using this knowledge to solve arithmetic problems—has been identified as a key cognitive mechanism in number sense development. We view number system knowledge as a component of number sense and theorize that it plays a critical role in second-grade students’ understanding of relationships among numbers and adaptive expertise with mathematics problems. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to investigate the variations of an 8-year-old student’s number system knowledge learning as she participated in an instructional treatment over 9 weeks. Our main research questions were: 1) In what ways does a student struggling in mathematics develop number system knowledge during a 9-week period in her second-grade classroom? 2) How does the instructional treatment influence her number system knowledge and number sense development during the 9-week period? The case in our study was selected based on her low pretest score combined with her desire for making sense of mathematics. Data were collected with a number sense assessment (which included a targeted number system knowledge assessment), student interviews, and classroom observations. Data were triangulated using these multiple sources. The analysis involved a multiple-cycle coding process that resulted in themes regarding the development of adaptive expertise and the union of procedural and conceptual knowledge in mathematics instruction. The results suggest that this instructional treatment provided this case-study student to develop more pronounced adaptive expertise in mathematical problem solving. Additionally, it revealed the importance of mathematics instruction that includes numerals linked to quantities in order to help students to conceptualize basic mathematical practices. Typical elementary school teachers are challenged by reaching the needs of students struggling in mathematics. Number system knowledge is a predictor of later mathematics achievement, and an in-depth analysis of how and why one struggling student develops number system knowledge during a 9-week instructional treatment within the context of her mathematics class provides exploratory evidence to help researchers and teachers develop and implement similar practices in elementary mathematics instruction.