Issues in Math and Science Education Seminar: 2009 Schedule
This weekly seminar is of interest to faculty, graduate students, and K-12 teachers. This seminar meets Thursdays at 4:00 and alternates meeting in the Math Department (Avery 351) and Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education (Teachers College Hall 204). The presentations relate to the teaching and learning of P-16 science and math.
To volunteer to speak at the seminar or if you have questions, contact or .
| Date | Location | Presenters | Title | Abstract |
| 9/3 | TC 204 | Mary Alice Carlson | Beyond the Answer: Connecting Teacher Questions to Instructional Practice, Discourse, and Teacher Beliefs | In this action research project, I examined my teaching through the lens of teacher questions. I looked at my lesson planning and implementation as well as the ways that my questions influenced classroom discourse. Finally, I considered how my own beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics were (or were not) communicated through the questions I asked. |
| 9/10 | Avery 351 | Debbie Berg | On Mathematical Connections | Debbie will be talking about the mathematics in Al Cuoco's book, Mathematical Connections: A Companion for Teachers and Others. |
| 9/17 | Avery 351 | Silvia Saccon | Algebra for Algebra Teachers: Perspective of a Mathematics Graduate Student | Silvia will give an overview of the course "Algebra for Algebra Teachers", taken by the participants during a 2-week summer institute in July 2009. |
| 9/24 | TC 204 | Ron Bonstetter | University Retention: First Semester GPA comparisons to Behaviors, Values and Soft Skills of Freshmen Engineering Students | |
| 10/1 | TC 204 | Cheryl Miner Anne Schmidt Steve Dunbar Julie Kreizel |
Lincoln Area Teachers' Math Circle | An overview and description of the Lincoln Area Teachers' Math Circle. |
| 10/8 | Avery 351 | Steve Dunbar Dave Fowler Eric Smith |
GeoGebra Demonstrations | |
| 10/15 | TC 204 | TJ Bliss | "Scientific Teaching" in General Biology | An overview of implementations of Handelsman, Miller, and Pfund's (2006) teaching framework in UNL's BIOS 101L (introductory biology lab for non-majors) and BIOS 102R (introductory biology recitation for majors). |
| 10/22 | Avery 351 | David Gosselin | Approaches to Improve Scientific and Environmental Literacy at UNL: Examples from Environmental Studies and Earth's Natural Resource Systems | |
| 10/29 | TC 204 | Meixia Ding Michael Matthews |
Mathematical Errors of Pre-service Elementary Teachers | |
| 11/5 | Avery 351 | Dan Ross | Functions in Contemporary Secondary Mathematics Textbooks | Functions are widely recognized as a core concept in secondary mathematics and a key to understanding much of the mathematics beyond high school. Yet research has shown that many students bring misconceptions and poor understandings of function into post-secondary mathematics studies. Some have argued that poor textbook presentations of function are at least a partial cause for this. In this session, recommendations from research on how textbooks should present function will be considered and compared to findings from contemporary secondary mathematics textbooks. Two main areas of focus will include definitions of function and characteristics of example spaces of function created in different textbooks. |
| 11/12 | -- | No Seminar | UNL Math Day | |
| 11/19 | TC 204 | TBA | ||
| 12/3 | Avery 351 | Ruth Heaton Maria Pierce |
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| 12/10 | TC 204 | Carrie Campbell |
Spring 2010 Schedule: TBA
The seminar will continue to meet Thursdays 4:00-5:00 and alternate locations between the Math Department and Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education.
