This page provides links to a partial list of projects associated with ESTEME. To find a particular project, please see the Table of Contents on the right.

http://jimi.cbee.oregonstate.edu/concept_warehouse/ Oregon State is the lead on this collaborative project with the University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Kentucky. The goal of this project is to create a community of learning within the discipline of chemical engineering (ChE) focused on concept-based instruction by developing and promoting the use of a cyber-enabled infrastructure for conceptual questions, the AIChE Concept Warehouse. We intend this tool to be used throughout the core ChE curriculum (Material and Energy Balances, Thermodynamics, Transport Phenomena, Kinetics and Reactor Design, and Materials Science). Conceptual questions, both as Concept Inventories and ConcepTests, are available through an interactive website maintained through the Education Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the discipline's major professional society. The overall objective is to lower the activation barrier for using conceptual instruction and assessment so that many more chemical engineering faculty will incorporate concept-based learning into their classes. Contact Milo Koretsky for further information.

Convergence is a research collaboration of OSU, OUS, the National Science Teachers Association and the Computer Science Teachers Association. Briefly the premise is ”…computational thinking (and not just computation) has begun to influence and shape thinking in many disciplines–Earth sciences, biology, and statistics, for example. Moreover, computational thinking is likely to benefit not only other scientists but also everyone else–bankers, stockbrokers, lawyers, car mechanics, salespeople, health care professionals, artists, and so on” (NRC 2010, pp. vii-viii). Convergence will build an operational meaning of computational thinking and study an implementation of content and instructional methods to include meaningful use of computational thinking across all science disciplines. Many problems in contemporary science are “deeply digital” and their representation in school science will enhance more contextualized science learning as well highlight and develop the emerging fundamental skill of computational thinking. Locally, Dr. Larry Flick is a Co-PI and he can be contacted for further information.

http://cbee.oregonstate.edu/education/VirtualCVD/ The long term goal of the Industrially Situated Virtual Laboratory Project is to contribute to the understanding of how engaging engineering students in authentic, ill-structured engineering tasks enables the development of their engineering knowledge and skills. Over the last seven years, we have developed, implemented, and studied student learning in cyber-enabled learning systems. Central to each of these learning systems is a virtual reactor that enables a team of students to develop, test, and refine solutions to an engineering task. Two virtual reactors have been developed, the Virtual Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Reactor and the Virtual Bio Reactor. Each of these has been integrated into a learning system. We are also assessing the effectiveness of these learning systems by collecting data, including think-aloud observations as the student teams work, analysis of their work products (e.g., notebooks, reports, presentations), and reflections on the experience after they have completed the task. Contact Milo Koretsky for further information.

INSTANCES is an NSF-funded curriculum development project. Our vision is a systemic change in education that reflects the reality of computation having become an essential element in all sciences. Our aim is to provide online/blended courses on computational scientific thinking & modeling for pre and in-service teachers to introduce computing within the framework of solving scientific problems. This should lead to better preparation of educators, and consequently their students, in understanding scientific practices in relation to computing and increase participation in computing. The project PI is Rubin Landau and co-PI is Nam-Hwa Kang from OSU. Other institutions involved in this project’s operation include University of Connecticut, Shodor Educational Foundation, and Linn-Benton Community College.

The Paradigms in Physics program is an NSF-funded curriculum development project which has restructured our upper‐division curriculum for majors to be more modern, flexible, and inclusive. The content is reordered to present physics the way professional physicists organize their own expert knowledge. Pedagogical approaches include interactive small-group learning, project-based classes, kinesthetic activities, and technology-based visualization activities, among others. Further information about the program is available on the student website, and extensive documentation about the courses and pedagogy is available on the instructor website. The Director of the Paradigms Project is Corinne Manogue, and the current PIs on our NSF grants are Tevian Dray, David Roundy, Emily van Zee, Eric Weber any of whom can be contacted for further information.

The Vector Calculus Bridge Project is an offshoot of the Paradigms in Physics project, whose goal is to teach vector calculus the way physicists and other scientists and engineers use it. In a word, this project emphasizes geometric reasoning, not merely algebraic manipulation. Group activities (“labs”) as well as an extensive instructor's guide are available on the website, as is an online text covering multivariable and vector calculus, as well as electro- and magnetostatics. After 6 years as an independent project, the Bridge Project was formally merged back into the Paradigms Project in 2007. The director of the Bridge Project is Tevian Dray, in close cooperation with Corinne Manogue, either of whom can be contacted for further information.

https://secure.engr.oregonstate.edu/che/WISE/WISE.php?goto=WISEHome The WISE learning tool allows an instructor to pose to the class questions that probe for conceptual understanding and supports a variety of student response types including: multiple choice answers, multiple choice with short answer follow-up, numerical answers, short answers, and Likert-scale surveys. We also plan to incorporate interactive applets. The objectives of the WISE learning tool are to: (1) Provide formative assessment of student learning, both allowing instructors to make necessary alterations and corrections to their instruction, and guiding students where to direct their learning efforts; (2) Form an integral part of the instructional activities themselves, transforming the classroom into a more learner-centered environment; and, (3) Provide a tool that education researchers can use to collect data to understand specific aspects of student learning. Contact Milo Koretsky for further information.

Researching Mathematics Leader Learning is a five-year NSF-funded research project intended to study the understandings and practices of mathematics professional development leaders associated with developing mathematically rich learning environments. The project investigates the question: How can leaders cultivate professional development environments where teachers have a greater opportunity to grapple with and understand mathematics deeply? The project staff include collaborators at the University of Washington and WestEd. For more information contact Rebekah Elliott, elliottr@science.oregonstate.edu

AIC is an Oregon ESEA Title II Mathematics and Science Partnership grant. Co-PIs Rebekah Elliott and Larry Flick (PI). This three-year research and development grant to support mathematics, science, and career & technical education teacher collaboration to advance detracked high school Algebra student achievement in a socio-economically diverse, Gates Foundation small-school. This qualitative study involves teacher/administrator interviews and observations of teachers’ collaborative working groups, classroom teaching, and participation in professional development.