Education Research Projects - Life and Marine Sciences
STUDENT RESEARCH IN OTHER DISCIPLINES
Current Student Research:
- Katie Clegg – What Do Middle and High School Students Understand about Photosynthesis, and What do Their Teachers Think They Know?
- Marine Sciences
- Past Research
- Danielle Miniutti (MST, ’09) – Evaluation of the Aquatic Invaders in Maine (AIM)
- Jonathan Moyer (MST, ’07) - Visualizing chromatin dynamics in the oocyte-to-embryo transition
What Do Middle and High School Students Understand about Photosynthesis, and What do Their Teachers Think They Know?
By: Katie Clegg
Photosynthesis is a fundamental concept in any life science curriculum, and is included in National Science Content Standards as well as the Maine Learning Results for both middle and high school grades several times at all grades. Research has shown that there are several common misconceptions regarding photosynthesis as well as its counterpart, respiration. MEA results from 2002-2005 suggest that students have difficulty understanding what is needed for photosynthesis, how photosynthesis is tied to the carbon dioxide cycle, and that respiration occurs in all organisms. These MEA results and my review of the research literature have led me to investigate three major research questions: 1) What misconceptions about photosynthesis persist between middle and high school students? 2) What do teachers find difficult to teach about photosynthesis? 3) What do teachers think their students know about photosynthesis after teaching the unit? To find the answer to these questions I am surveying middle and high school students and their teachers before and after their photosynthesis unit is taught.
Student Understanding of the Cardiovascular System
By: Nitisha Mitchell
An Introductory course in Anatomy and Physiology is an essential body of knowledge for students ranging from Pre-med to Medical Assisting. Although, there are a range of professional careers that require students to take Anatomy, not much research has been done to examine content issues students may have. An investigation of students enrolled in an Introductory Anatomy and Physiology course and an Advanced Physiology course at the University of Maine will be used to determine if this population of students understands cardiovascular phenomena such as pressure/flow/resistance, or do they simply memorize terms associated with the physiology of the system? A previous study done by Michaels and his colleagues found that students have difficulty understanding the relationship between cardiac output, mean arterial pressure, and peripheral resistance. With this information I developed a ten-question survey where each question altered one or more variables in the equation: Cardiac Output = Mean arterial Pressure / Peripheral Resistance. This was done to address the previous research done on student understanding of these variables and their relationships with one another.
Pre-semester social interaction and its influence on the formation and efficiency of study groups in a freshman undergraduate Biology course
By: Elizabeth Whitmore
The purpose of this research project is to observe the effects of the Schoodic Experience on the attitudes and academic performances of undergraduate Biology students. Through survey data I will look at the effects of a pre-semester social experience on student study habits. The information gathered by this research will show how students prepare for exams and the types of resources they use. This information can then be used to determine if creating a sense of community at the beginning of the semester will help students throughout the semester.
A longitudinal assessment of student content knowledge in an undergraduate marine science program
By: Ryan Weatherbee
Within the School of Marine Sciences’ (UMaine) undergraduate program, the concept of primary production (the production of organic compounds via photosynthesis) is a central tenant to the curriculum. There is, however, no program-wide methodology in place to assess student understanding of this topic. This project involves developing and implementing a content knowledge assessment tool that will be used to track changes in student’s understanding of primary productivity throughout the program. The development phase of the project will involve gathering information about the undergraduate curriculum via faculty interviews. These data will help identify what aspects of the topic are currently taught as well as the difficulty level of the subject matter at each year level. Another component of the development phase will be identifying common misconceptions on this topic using an extended response questionnaire previously completed by a subset of the Marine Science undergraduates. These sources of information will aid the construction of a mixed selected-response/extended-response survey. The resulting survey will be deployed to all Marine Science majors over the course of an academic year. Results of the assessment will identify how well the student population understands the concept of primary production, where in the program the knowledge is least/most advanced, as well as identify persistent and emergent misconceptions which might aide instructional decision making within the program. Additionally, the assessment protocol will provide a foundation for further content assessment development and implementation within the School of Marine Sciences.