Raider REU

Mentor: Dr. Sarah Bleiler-Baxter 

Other Senior Personnel: Dr. Grant Gardner, Dr. Gregory Rushton   

Website: https://www.act-stem.org/  

Have you ever taken a STEM course and felt like you were being weeded out rather than supported?  
Are you interested in improving the teaching culture in STEM departments to better support all students?   

ACT-STEM is an NSF-funded initiative focused on transforming the teaching culture of STEM departments within higher education to better meet the needs of today’s student population. The project works to transform departmental teaching culture from traditional, high-barrier models into collaborative communities of practice through the Teaching TRIOS model, a structured peer observation approach that promotes faculty learning by examining and amplifying the strengths of their colleagues.  

We are especially seeking undergraduates in STEM majors, but students from all disciplines are welcome. Students who have a love for education are sought after, as we value academic excellence, strong work ethic, and critical thinking.  

In this project, students will investigate aspects of the TRIOS framework and how it is implemented across STEM departments, gaining hands-on experience with educational research and project management in real institutional settings.  

Through completion of this project, the REU student will be able to:  

• Gain experience in educational research methods and project management.  

• Explore educational theories including self-determination theory, positive psychology, and diffusion of innovations.  

• Engage with faculty across departments and gain insight into institutional teaching culture.  

• Develop qualitative and quantitative research skills, from coding interviews to analyzing survey data (such as social network analysis).  

• Gain experience communicating research to academic and public audiences.  

Mentor: Dr. Alyson Lischka 

Website: https://scimath.unl.edu/mtep/  

National standards set expectations for teacher preparation programs – but how does a program transform to meet these standards? Secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs are supported by a variety of stakeholders from institutions of higher education to local school system partners and include faculty in both mathematics departments and colleges of education. Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) are an improvement science model that supports organizational change when a variety of stakeholders are involved. 

In this project, you will collaborate with a diverse team to analyze data from a national NIC (The Mathematics Teacher Education Project) focused on supporting transformation in secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs. Data will be used to answer research questions related to how a NIC supports program transformation.  

Through participation in this project, you will: 

• Develop knowledge about improvement science, and Networked Improvement Communities specifically,  

• Learn how a large-scale research project is organized, 

• Learn qualitative research methods, including coding and summarizing of data, 

• Have opportunities to join propagation efforts including conference proposals and manuscript writing.  

Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Barnes  

Other Senior Personnel: Dr. Sumaiya Tabassum 

Are you interested in helping people understand and use science to improve their health and the environment? Undergraduate biology students have the potential to bridge divides about science in society. They often have greater knowledge of human health and environmental science than those within their communities and they may be able to leverage their connections within those communities to impact the way science is used and perceived in people’s lives. However, these students may not yet have developed the communication skills needed to have conversations effectively when there is disagreement about contentious but important science topics. In this project, undergraduate researchers will analyze the conversations that undergraduate biology students are currently having with friends, family, and colleagues about climate change, vaccines, and evolution. Researchers will identify areas in which biology students are successful or need developing in their communication skills. Based on this data, researchers will collaborate with their research mentors to make recommendations for undergraduate biology instruction on science communication designed to equip students with the skills they need to have effective conversations about science with diverse public audiences. 
 
Researchers will learn: 

• Fundamental literature in biology education research 

• Quantitative data analysis 

• Qualitative data analysis 

• Effective science communication principles 

Mentor: Dr. Ryan “Seth” Jones 

Students increasingly need literacy in data science, but this topic is often overlooked in K-12 schools. When it is taught, different aspects of making claims with data are usually segregated into different classes across multiple disciplines. Statistics might be taught in math classes, experimentation in science classes, and spatial data in social studies. However, students are given very little support in coordinating these ideas across disciplinary boundaries so they can come to see the practice of data science as a coherent system. 

The Integrated Data Project designs and conducts research on learning environments that coordinate data investigations across classes and disciplines in middle schools. You will work closely with our research team to analyze data on student thinking from these investigations, revise existing investigations based on these findings, and develop ideas for new investigations.

During your time with our team you will: 

• Read about data, statistics, and data science education 

• Participate in research team meetings 

• Learn design-based and qualitative research methods 

Mentor: Dr. Greg Rushton 

Other Senior Personnel: Dr. Ryan “Seth” Jones, Dr. Keith Gamble, and Dr. Kevin Krahenbuhl 

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/leads-program 

Through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program opportunity, students will actively participate in the Leaders in Education Advancing Data Science (LEADS) project. LEADS is supported by the National Science Foundation and addresses a critical national need for highly skilled STEM teacher leaders in Data Science Education (DSE). The project is designed to prepare and support middle grade STEM teachers as they grow into leadership roles in their schools and districts, while simultaneously advancing new research on teacher learning, data science pedagogy, and leadership identity development.  

This REU is ideal for undergraduate students interested in education research, data science, teacher leadership, or STEM teaching careers. Participants will leave with skills, experiences, and professional networks that prepare them for graduate study or future roles as educators and researchers. Your work will directly support efforts to strengthen STEM education in Middle Tennessee and beyond. By contributing to the LEADS program, you will help create knowledge and models that can be scaled nationally to improve teacher retention, data science instruction, and teacher leadership in STEM fields.  

As an REU participant, you may:  

• Work closely with faculty mentors and graduate research assistants to design, collect, and analyze data from teacher leadership development activities. 

• Contribute to ongoing studies on teacher readiness, professional identity, and instructional practices in data science. 

• Participate in community-building and reflection meetings that mirror the professional learning structures of LEADS teachers, giving you both research and practitioner perspectives. 

• Gain training in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including coding classroom and interview data, analyzing survey results, and using digital research tools. 

• Co-author presentations or publications that contribute to the growing scholarly community in STEM education, data science, and teacher leadership. 

Mentor: Dr. Grant Gardner 

Other Senior Personnel: Dr. Jennifer Kaplan, Dr. Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, Dr. Liz Barnes, Dr. Gregory Rushton, and Dr. Alyssa Freeman  

Website: https://grantgardner111.wixsite.com/mtsu-props4dber  

Have you ever wondered how people get started in education research? For many, the journey begins during a postdoctoral research fellowship. Yet, we still know very little about how to best support newcomers to discipline-based education research (DBER). This project invites you to explore how postdoctoral fellows transition into education research while participating in a professional development program.  

As part of the team, you’ll work closely with our team to:  

• Draw on your own experiences of becoming interested in education research to better understand how newcomers are supported  

• Develop skills in qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews, coding, analysis)  

• Communicate findings to diverse audiences  

You will also have the opportunity to collect new data to explore how other students – like yourself – in the REU program discover and pursue education research! By joining, you’ll not only gain valuable research experience but also play a role in shaping how the next generation of education researchers are trained.  

Mentor: Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann 

Do you remember struggling with learning how to read primary literature articles and thinking that there must be better way?  Thinking in a critical way and understanding science is important to modern citizens, but learning to read and interpret science is a struggle for every beginner. This science literacy project aims to develop and test scaffolded templates by figure type to help students learn to look for and interpret specific data visualizations. These materials will be organized into an Open Education Resource (OER) Pressbook with polished scaffold templates, figure examples, and completed templates.   

In this project, you’ll work on my team to identify data visualization figure types not represented in the current scaffolds, identify key aspects for interpretation of the figure type, develop data visualization scaffolds for these figure types, and test them with students.  Your work will be included in an Open Education Resource. 

The student researcher on this project will: 

• Develop a greater understanding of how data visualizations are produced. 

• Identify critical aspects of visual, quantitative, and qualitative graphical scientific communication. 

• Develop a greater understanding of how data visualizations are interpreted and misinterpreted. 

• Critique a scaffold figure template for improved use. 

• Determine appropriate data visualizations for different data types. 

Mentor: Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann 

Do you ever wish that your biology class incorporated more relevant and real-world examples?  This project aims to build case studies to engage students with the broad, interconnected scientific concepts in their true world context.  This will better prepare you and the students who use the cases you/we build to navigate the exceedingly complex issues faced outside of the classroom. 

In this project, you’ll work with me to build an engaging story-based case study that can be used in freshman biology classrooms that is based on a topic of interest to you.  You’ll draft, polish, test, and assess the case study to ensure it aids student learning.  Case studies will be published in appropriate journals, such as the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education or case study repositories, such as the Case Study Clearinghouse. 

The student researcher on this project will: 

• Develop a greater understanding of case study methodology. 

• Identify critical aspects of creating an engaging, scientifically accurate, and world-connected case. 

• Develop a greater understanding of a specific, student-chosen biology area that aligns with one of the Vision and Change areas. 

• Draft, develop, polish, and test a case study in the classroom. 

• Assess case study efficacy using appropriate assessment strategies. 

Mentor: Dr. Katy Hosbein 

Are you curious about how students support each other in college science classes and how that support can shape their academic journey? In this project, you’ll explore the role of Learning Assistants (LAs), undergraduate students who return to help in a course they’ve already taken. LAs receive training in teaching strategies and course content, and they work closely with students during class and as peer mentors. 

We’re studying how these LA-student interactions help build a sense of community and influence students’ confidence in science, their identity as scientists, and their plans to continue in STEM majors. As a researcher on this project, you’ll work with survey and interview data to uncover how these relationships impact both the students and the LAs themselves. 

Student researchers on this project will:

• Become familiar with the literature base that explores peer learning and affect, such as science identity development 

• Gain experience with qualitative methods, such as coding survey responses and interview transcripts 

• Practice collaborating on a project with a graduate student 

• Develop research questions appropriate for a short-term research project 

Mentor: Dr. Michael Hicks 

Other Senior Personnel: Dr. Holly Zolt 

Graph transformations are essential for understanding how to graph basic functions in mathematics. It is easy to understand that the -2 in the transformation f(x)−2 “tells the truth” and moves the graph of the function f(x) down by 2 units on the y-axis.

But why does the expression f(x−2) represent a graph transformation that moves the graph to the right in the positive direction by 2 units rather than the left? In conversations with teachers, we have heard a variety of explanations for this, including a description of expressions that affect the input of a function

f(x) as being like a misbehaved puppy that never does what it’s told (and thus it does “the opposite” of what we expect), while expressions that modify the output of a function are behaved puppies that will do what you want them to. This led us to wonder: What are all the different ways that teachers talk about graph transformations?  

This project seeks to answer the question: What pedagogical tools do instructors leverage to help them teach graph transformations? Why do the instructors leverage their specific tools when teaching graph transformations? To answer these questions, we will analyze interviews with instructors of college algebra courses. The student working on this project will work with the mentors to code the interviews, generate themes associated with the instructors tools, and develop an explanation for why the pedagogical tools are used.  

Specifically, you will: 

• Develop a foundation of the current literature related to graph transformations in the mathematics education literature. 

• Develop deep knowledge of the qualitative techniques associated with grounded theory by applying those techniques to analyze data. 

• Learn to effectively communicate findings to the broader research community in the form of a poster presentation or conference proposal in mathematics education.