6418 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Debora Liberi
  2. CEEMS District Coordinator
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Cincinnati
  1. Dennis Dupps
  2. Technology Resource Coach
  3. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  4. University of Cincinnati, CEEMS

Cincinnati Engineering Enhanced Math and Science Program (CEEMS)

NSF Awards: 1102990

2018 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12

The video will provide a brief description of the CEEMS grant and how it has impacted teacher instruction and student learning. The focus will be on students working in groups on a Challenge and how, through this experience, they construct knowledge and articulate what they are learning.

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Discussion from the 2018 STEM for All Video Showcase (21 posts)
  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 13, 2018 | 05:24 p.m.

    Welcome to our video which highlights the outcomes of the Cincinnati Engineering Enhanced Math and Science (CEEMS) grant, now having completed the final school year of implementation.  We are happy to receive your feedback particularly pertaining to the following questions:

    • What do you think of CBL and EDP as instruction tools?
    • What makes these instructional strategies something you might want to try in your own classroom, school or district?
    • Are you interested in exploring the website referenced in the video that houses CBL and EDP units that have been implemented in secondary math and science classroom?
     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Dennis Dupps
  • Icon for: Anant Kukreti

    Anant Kukreti

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 14, 2018 | 06:30 a.m.

    Well presented with illustrations and results.   

     
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    Dennis Dupps
  • Icon for: Claire Duggan

    Claire Duggan

    Higher Ed Administrator
    May 14, 2018 | 08:45 a.m.

    Nicely done. 

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 14, 2018 | 09:50 a.m.

    Thank you Claire!

  • Icon for: Jeanne Century

    Jeanne Century

    Facilitator
    DIrector of Research & Evaluation and Research Associate Professor
    May 14, 2018 | 11:26 a.m.

    Dear Debora, 

    What a pleasure to have a chance to hear and see your program in action. I was impressed by your evaluation results. I'd be interested to know how you measured "learning" when you say there was an 8% increase. 

    I'm also interested in knowing more about how you measure your three student outcomes - empowerment, engagement and enthusiasm!

    Thanks!

    Jeanne

  • Icon for: Nidaa Makki

    Nidaa Makki

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 14, 2018 | 04:01 p.m.

    I liked that you shared the perspectives from students! 

    I am also interested in learning more about how you assessed learning. Was it learning of Math and Science concepts? 

    Also, did the teachers design the CBL units? or was it provided to them by the research team? 

     

    Thanks,

    Nidaa 

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 14, 2018 | 10:29 p.m.

    Hi Nidaa,

    Yes the CBL units covered math and science standards from whatever curriculum was being taught by the teacher. Since the teachers design the CBL units they decide what standards they would like to use. That is always the starting point for designing the units. This gives the teachers full ownership over the content being taught.

    Thanks for the clarifying questions.

    - Debbie

     

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 14, 2018 | 05:20 p.m.

    Hi Jeanne,

    These are great questions. Student were given a pre and post test that was knowledge based and results were tabulated showing knowledge gains. These results were compared to another teacher within the same building or district that taught the same content without using CBL. Learning gains were compared and the CBL units showed a 8% higher learning gain.

    The topic of student engagement was a little trickier. A protocol was used to observe the CEEMS teachers teaching CEEMS units and non- CEEMS units and code behaviors on 4 subscales:Lesson Design, Lesson Implementation, Lesson Content, and Classroom Culture. Specific criteria were observed and scored on each subscale. From that analysis, conclusions were drawn by comparing CEEMS and non CEEMS units. In the CEEMS classrooms, student engagement increased and classrooms became more student centered.  That is a concise summary but it give you an idea of how the research was conducted.

    Thanks for the great questions!

    - Debbie

     
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    Levi Patrick
  • Icon for: Jeanne Century

    Jeanne Century

    Facilitator
    DIrector of Research & Evaluation and Research Associate Professor
    May 15, 2018 | 08:31 a.m.

    Thanks for your response, Debora. That sounds similar to an observation protocol I used a long time ago that was generated by Horizon Research. Did you draw from that? Just curious because it has the same headings. How many people did you have doing the observations and how did you train them? Getting good reliable observations is always a challenge on our team!

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 15, 2018 | 12:07 p.m.

    Hi Jeanne,

    We did hire 5 graduate students to conduct the training. However, we were somewhat removed from the training piece and the collection of observations so as to remove bias and influence.  Yes, you are correct the protocol we used was generated by Horizon Research.  Our evaluation was conducted by Miami University in Oxford, OH and they also did the training of our grad students. My understanding is that the grad students did do a thorough job but someone else was suprvising their work. 

    Thanks,

    - Debbie

     

  • Icon for: Levi Patrick

    Levi Patrick

    Facilitator
    Assistant Executive Director
    May 15, 2018 | 11:56 p.m.

    One follow up to this question regarding evaluation: when you say the tests were knowledge based, can you elaborate? Were you measuring grade-level math and/or science? 

    Thanks!

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 18, 2018 | 10:57 a.m.

    Hi Levi,

    Yes, to be more specific, the teachers build CEEMS Units around the curriculum that they teach, so they must start with their content standards and develop content objectives based on those.  From these objectives, they create Pre-Tests which they administer tot he students. Students take the same test after completing the CBL/
    EDP Unit as a Post-Test. Learning gained is based on the comparison of the two. So all of this is on grade level or for high courses, the standards from the course curriculum.

    - Debbie

  • Icon for: Michael Briscoe

    Michael Briscoe

    Researcher
    May 15, 2018 | 07:11 a.m.

    Great video! I loved your inclusion of student voice and your online materials are excellent! The lesson plans look extremely thorough and well conceived. I am curious to hear more about the process you used to get CEEMS to such a strong position. Specifically, how much piloting did you do with the CBLs before they got to their present form? What type(s) of PD assisted your teachers with implementing these resources?

    Thanks so much for sharing these excellent materials!

  • David Vernot

    May 15, 2018 | 11:03 a.m.

    As a member of the CEEMS resource team, I can speak to some of these questions. Teachers went through a two year cohort cycle (five overlapping cohorts spanning six years total). A resource team comprised of retired educators and engineers worked with the teachers. During the cycle, teachers spent two summers on campus taking courses, participating in PD (conducted by the resource team), and developing 2-3 engineering units each summer (working with their resource team coaches). The resource team members then worked with the teachers as they implemented their units during the school year (often iterating as they prepared for and went through the implementation. A reflection meeting following each unit provided ideas for further refinement. The units currently posted online are the result of this iterative process. Many teachers began incorporporating the CBL pedagogy into other lessons.

  • Icon for: Levi Patrick

    Levi Patrick

    Facilitator
    Assistant Executive Director
    May 15, 2018 | 11:59 p.m.

    Getting project-based learning right is really challenging! I wonder what advice you might provide to a teacher thinking about implementing PBL (or other versions of CBL and EDP). A particular challenge in this space is how to handle front loading of procedural and conceptual knowledge before the application. Are there best practices that are bite-sized for those interested in getting this right in their classroom?

  • Icon for: Dennis Dupps

    Dennis Dupps

    Co-Presenter
    Technology Resource Coach
    May 16, 2018 | 08:18 a.m.

    This is a great question and one I have asked myself many times as I've implemented many PBL lessons over my 49 years in public school education. The most important ingredient to success in any PBL lesson is organization. The preparation and gathering materials needed is something you need to do well in advance to ensure success. The second piece is to carve out enough time for students to fully engage in the activities. Finding time is always a challenge for any teacher. However, if you can connect the PBL to several learning concepts, you may find the time needed. The third important part of PBL is making sure your students have the skills needed to accomplish the tasks. You will need to do a pre-test to determine this and provide preliminary lessons before starting the project. The final and very important piece is self-assessment. Students need to have time at the end to reflect on their work and lessons learned. The rewards gained from PBL/CBL lessons is well worth the time spent.  

     

  • Jessica Bleiler

    K-12 Teacher
    May 16, 2018 | 08:39 p.m.

    The three projects quickly highlighted at the end of the video grabbed my attention with their thought provoking challenges. How often and how long are these projects worked on by the students (per week/per day)? What challenges did the students and/or classroom face when completing these projects?

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 18, 2018 | 10:29 a.m.

    Jessica,

    This is an important question to be addressed. CBL units like all PBL units require time. Our CEEMS units usually take about 2 weeks and often more to complete. Our experience is that the time estimate that teachers anticipate should be needed for the students to complete the Challenge (2-3 days) is usually underestimated.  This is because building in the opportunity for students to perform iterations (using EDP) is time consuming. It is also hard to predict how much time is needed for any a particular group of students - some require more than others.  Students also seem to grow into the EDP process; they appear to be more comfortable with it over time. So the first time a teacher uses CBL and EDP with students is more time consuming. So I think that I am articulating this accurately to report that fitting in the time to conduct CBL/EDP units is the biggest challenge. A second challenge might be the materials - if the Challenge requires a lot of materials, it could be costly. A third consideration is the grouping of students. I would highly recommend using Cooperative Learning techniques when implementing CBL. The be successful, the teacher should set up groups so that they function at a high level and students feel accountable for group work even in the face of absenteeism of a member. That involves some strategies that are addressed well in Kagan's Cooperative Learning techniques.

    Thanks,

    - Debbie

  • Icon for: Pablo Bendiksen

    Pablo Bendiksen

    Facilitator
    Research Assistant
    May 17, 2018 | 01:19 p.m.

    Great presentation! And thank you for the illustrative flow charts describing CBL and EDP teaching pedagogies as they pertain to unique classrooms focused on increasing science learning. Great to hear about the outcomes relating to these pedagogies in action.

    As an extension to Jessica's questions, what students demographics have you been working with? Do you find the effect of the intervention to be more pronounced with certain groups of kids over others?

     

    Thank you

     

  • Icon for: Debora Liberi

    Debora Liberi

    Lead Presenter
    CEEMS District Coordinator
    May 18, 2018 | 10:50 a.m.

    Hi Pablo,

    We have seen successes across the board.  Our grant for CEEMS involves 5 districts and a consortium of 14 schools. The consortium represents rural schools and of the other 5 districts, one is a large urban district, one is a small urban district and the 3 others are suburban. So we have a good mixture of students both social-economically, racially and urban, suburban and rural. We have noticed that students who are used to getting "A's" sometimes struggle with CBL because it requires a different skill set and there is no one right answer.

    - Debbie

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Pablo Bendiksen
  • Icon for: Pablo Bendiksen

    Pablo Bendiksen

    Facilitator
    Research Assistant
    May 18, 2018 | 09:19 p.m.

    That's great to hear, Debora! I'm glad your project has worked across such variable school districts and demographics.

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.