Educational Psychology Faculty Research
- CS4EDU: Computer Science for Education
- Classroom Links to Vocabulary And Phonological Sensitivity Skills
- The Scientific Literacy Project (SLP)
CS4EDU: Computer Science for Education
Dr. Aman Yadav is working on this project in conjunction with other faculty around campus. The goal of project CS4EDU is to create new pathways for undergraduate education majors to become computationally educated secondary teachers. It includes a joint effort between faculty in the departments of computer science and education to create a Computer Science Endorsement program based on the Educational Computing Standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education. The pathways to the endorsement program are targeted at diverse student groups: education majors will be exposed to modules focused on computational thinking, science education majors will be able to fulfill general course requirements while taking courses towards the endorsement, and students transferring into education from a STEM discipline will be able to build on their background.
Funding Information:
National Science Foundation - CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH)
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf09528
Classroom Links to Vocabulary And Phonological Sensitivity Skills
Dr. Aman Yadav is working in collaboration with faculty in Child Development and Family Studies to develop and test video case-based hypermedia combined with individualized coaching of teachers to significantly improve pre-kindergarten teachers' use of effective instruction to promote children's vocabulary and phonological sensitivity.
Funding Information: Institue of Education Science (IES) - Teacher Quality
The Scientific Literacy Project (SLP)
Faculty Member: Youli Mantzicopoulos, Helen Patrick, Ala Samarapungavan
http://www.purduescientificliteracyproject.org/
The Scientific Literacy Project (SLP) evolved out of the researchers’ interests in science education, children’s early development, learning, and motivation, and classroom environments that support learning through linkages between home and school. With funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, the SLP is structured on the premise that young children can effectively acquire scientific knowledge through adult-guided inquiry, experiences with high quality informational texts, interaction with peers in the classroom, and activities that promote home-school continuity. The SLP provides learning contexts that allow children to experience the scientific process in a hands-on, meaningful way. The program includes six inquiry-oriented, literacy-rich units with classroom and home components.
Ongoing research documents that participation in the SLP activities results in gains for young children. Multiple sources of data (e.g., artifacts such as science notebook entries, photographs, activity boards, as well as video-recordings of children engaged in science activities) show that young children can ask meaningful questions, make predictions about outcomes, observe and record evidence, revise and represent their knowledge, and communicate their findings (Samarapungavan et al., 2008, 2011). Not only does participation in the SLP activities promote science learning, but it also fosters motivation for science (Mantzicopoulos et al., 2008; 2013; Patrick et al., 2009).