Scholarship & Research
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Item The impact of teaching growth mindset to biology students at Sentinel high school(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Dixon, Samuel Eugene; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThis classroom research project investigated the impact of teaching growth vs fixed mindset lessons twice a month for four months to nine and tenth grade biology students and eleventh and twelfth grade AP biology students. Mindset has been shown in many studies to have a large impact on student learning and future success. This project was conducted to try and shift a student mindset towards the growth and away from the fixed side on the mindset spectrum. In addition, to try and improve student mindsets, I also wanted to see if there was a correlation to student learning and growth, as well as overall student wellness. I collected data from student mindset survey and a student wellness survey before and then after administering the treatment. The treatment was a series of mini lessons that were taught to the students twice a month for four months. Student interviews were conducted after the treatment as well. The students' overall grades from quarter 1 and quarter 2 were used as a metric to measure academic growth. Results showed growth in student mindsets and various aspects of wellness from pre to post assessments. Out of all students that completed the pre and post mindset assessment nearly 90% of them increased their mindset score. Every class period showed an increase of average mindset score. There was no correlation between student mindsets and academic achievement or academic growth. There were some categories of student wellness that were unchanged, but there were many aspects of student wellness that showed improvement from pre to post assessment. The students verbal and written responses to prompts about mindset and wellness support these findings. In conclusion, students who were exposed to a treatment of mindset lessons showed increases in both their mindset score and overall wellness.Item Next Generation Science Standards and phenomenon-driven storylining in high school biology(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Morgan, Julia Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThe purpose of this study was to determine if the use of an NGSS centered, phenomenon-driven storylining curriculum would increase student development of scientific literacy and skills as well as student engagement within the classroom. The treatment group received an NGSS driven, phenomenon-based, student-centered curriculum which was grounded in the Africa storyline. The non-treatment group received a teacher led, direct instruction biology curriculum. The treatment group (n=47), had a mean post test score that was 7.5% higher than the control group (n=26). Teacher observations, student surveys, as well as pre and post test results were analyzed. The data supported higher levels of content knowledge retainment, skill development, and engagement within the treatment group.Item The effects of ungraded homework on student learning and homework completion rates in a high school biology classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Mello, Amanda Louise; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesIn two high school Biology classes, a modified homework grading practice was implemented by removing the grade or credit from assigned homework. Homework provides students with opportunities to learn outside of the classroom and deepen their understanding of a subject. Homework doesn't account for the diversity of student life circumstances, rewards compliance, and does not necessarily measure what a student knows. This could be creating an unequal educational environment for student learning opportunities and evaluation of their learning. The purpose of this study was to determine how removing the grade from assigned homework affected student learning and homework completion rates. The study was implemented for 15 weeks and included four units of study. Prior to the study period, students were given an anonymous pre-treatment questionnaire. Throughout the study period, students completed daily formative assessments, daily homework questionnaires, summative assessments, and summative assessment questionnaires. Student focus group interviews and questionnaires were administered at the conclusion of the study period to obtain student opinions regarding their experience with ungraded homework. While the rate of homework completion decreased during the treatment units, there was not an overall significant difference between unit test scores during the units with graded and ungraded homework. There was a weak positive correlation between homework completion rates and student unit test scores. Homework is one of many tools that can support student learning. This study finds that when homework provides an opportunity to review and practice concepts already introduced in class, credit for homework may not be warranted. The data suggests that students who complete ungraded homework do so with more fidelity. Students can still achieve content mastery with homework that does not count toward or against their grade. However, homework completion was also shown to improve student learning. Awarding points incentivized homework completion.Item Student experiences of interdisciplinary connections in high school science courses(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Yamagiwa, Nicole Collier; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesIn high school, students often perceive science as an independent entity, and many struggle to connect their current course of study between science classes and/or beyond the realm of science as a whole to increase overall relevance and connection to their lives. In order to engage students and create higher value and increase curiosity in science classes, students must be able to recognize science as a starting place for many interdisciplinary connections. This study investigated how and where students made connections between science classes and other subjects on a biweekly basis. This study also investigated in what formats students felt most connected to science and beyond. Concept Maps were used as a mechanism before summative assessments to visually evaluate how students made connections between the material they were learning as well as what was relevant to their lives. The results indicated that, out of four classes (Geology, Honors Geology, Biology, and Honors Biology), Honors Geology was the most connected as a class over the course of three Quarters of the school year. Students in non-honors classes were the least connected more often. Students felt most connected between scientific disciplines and connecting material outside of science through casual conversations, rather than homework, assessments, or projects. As a whole, however, the students felt more aware of science and its connections due to the implemented biweekly surveys.Item Effects of participation in formative assessment on critical thinking skills in a science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Templin, Sarah Rae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesCritical thinking is a skill that students struggle to master. This skill is useful not only in academics but also in becoming a discerning consumer of information. I wanted to see if student participation in formative assessment with frequent feedback would improve their critical thinking skills as well as their confidence in those skills. The experimental group was given additional questions on each formative assessment that assessed their critical thinking skills. The comparison group was given formative assessments without the added critical thinking questions. Both groups of students were given the same pre- and post-assessments to measure growth in critical thinking skills. Both groups were also given a pre-, mid-, and post-survey to measure confidence. The results of this study showed that participation in formative assessment does not improve student performance of critical thinking skills and did not increase student confidence in those skills. Further study is needed in this area.Item Effectiveness of KLEWS on high school freshman engagement and performance during biology discussions(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) McEwen, Mitchell Mark; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThe implementation of this action research was at Bradford Area School District (BASD) in Bradford, Pennsylvania. KLEWS were used at Bradford Area High School (BAHS) with freshman Biology students. KLEWS is an acronym that stands for "Know," "Learning," "Evidence," "Wonderings," and "Scientific Principles.". This is an example of a CER "Claims, Evidence, Reasoning" framework of teaching that has been shown to aid in learning progression by utilizing a scaffolding approach to teaching (Yao & Guo, 2016). CER was a framework developed to model scientific explanation and justify claims by using appropriate evidence and scientific research (Yao & Guo, 2016). There were five data collection methods used for this action research: discussion engagement charts, pre-treatment Likert surveys, post-treatment Likert surveys, unit exam, and student interviews. The duration of this action research was eight weeks and involved 57 freshman biology students. At the end of the eight weeks, two sections of biology students took a unit exam, and the results were analyzed using a standardized t-test.Item The use of authentic messy data and case studies to improve data literacy skills in high school students(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Ekhoff, Julie Kathryn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThe purpose of the is study was to examine if analyzing and interpreting authentic messy data had any effect on my students' data literacy skills. Additionally, the study examined if case studies were an effective means of communicating authentic data. For this project students were given case studies that presented data using various graphs. Students were then asked to describe, analyze and reach conclusions about the data in the case study. The non-treatment group received case studies with clean data, while the treatment group received case studies with messy data. The two groups were compared using pre- and post-assessment, surveys and student interviews. The results showed that the use of messy data did not impact student data literacy skills, but using messy may increase student ability to think of data critically. Using case studies allowed the students to incorporate information on the subject and data collection methods into their data-based conclusions.Item The impact of technology on engagement and content mastery in high school biology(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Livesay, Jennifer Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThe use of technology-mediated versus traditional paper-based delivery methods as a means of increasing student mastery and engagement was studied in the areas of notetaking and simulations. Data collection instruments included pre- and post-content tests with confidence response measures as well as both Likert-item and open-ended response surveys. Data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The results indicate that technology leads to increased levels of engagement and mastery when utilized as a way to model scientific processes, but a decrease of mastery and engagement when used as the medium for notetaking.Item Metacognitive strategies in secondary science education(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Benson, Stacey Rochelle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesStudents often struggle to meaningfully reflect on their conceptual understandings, establish well-defined learning goals, and employ strategies that effectively bridge learning gaps. The benefits of metacognitive strategies in the science curriculum to enhance student self-awareness is well-documented in the research literature. Metacognition refers to one's considerations for their own thinking and learning. Metacognitive strategies can be subdivided into three categories: planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Planning strategies are utilized prior to a task or unit to encourage goal setting, establish prior knowledge, and identify learning objectives. Monitoring strategies aid students in actively gauging their learning progress. Evaluation strategies nurture student reflection on learning success and assessment preparation techniques. The effectiveness of planning, monitoring, and evaluation metacognitive strategies on assessment performance and perceived learning was investigated within an Alberta Biology 20 class of 19 students. The project time frame was subdivided into five, approximately two-week sessions, and the first session represented a non-treatment stage. Students implemented planning, monitoring, evaluation, and combined strategies for the subsequent four treatment sessions. At the conclusion of each session, students were summatively assessed on their recent content knowledge. Box and Whisker Plots were generated for a visual comparison of the assessment score distributions. A Friedman Two-Way Analysis of Variance by Ranks and a Post-hoc test examined significance between assessment scores for the five sessions. Assessment score ranks sums were statistically significant between the no treatment sample and treatments 2, 3, and 4 respectively, suggesting that metacognitive strategies may contribute to an increase in assessment performance. Likert-style surveys with accompanying open-ended questions were provided to participants at the conclusion of each treatment. The anonymous surveys required students to compare strategy effectiveness between and within treatments, to consider how likely they were to independently use metacognitive strategies in future classes, and to express their interest in learning additional strategies for a particular type. Survey data supported the claim that the incorporation of metacognitive strategies within the curriculum improved the perception of learning. Most students retained a favorable opinion of metacognition strategies throughout the study, and believed the strategies were effective at fostering the development of conceptual understandings.Item Increasing student engagement with citizen science(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Brewer, Robyn Sue; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesStudents actively engaged in their lessons will learn better. The current model of many science courses uses standard labs covering concepts that have been taught in the classroom. Students are doing experiments that have already been done before and already have an answer. They know it is not real. It is simply an assignment. This project implemented citizen science into the classroom. Students were given real projects and evaluated on their learning outcomes. The citizen science units were compared to standard teaching units. The data suggests a positive relationship between using citizen science as a teaching technique and student learning outcomes.