-As any engineering faculty member teaching undergraduates knows, students possess a wide variety of misconceptions about fundamental engineering concepts. In the thermal sciences, there are numerous misconceptions about heat, energy, and temperature; mechanics students hold misconceptions about inertia, angular velocity, and energy. This is complicated by the fact that we possess many years of everyday experiences with energy flows, forces, and kinematics. Due to previous experiences, it is often difficult to repair these misconceptions -simple classroom lecturing often fails to instill correct conceptual knowledge. In order to provide real-world context, we are developing Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) to help repair misconceptions in dynamics and the thermal sciences. An MEA is a clientdriven problem that requires student teams to develop an engineering model or procedure. This approach creates an environment where students value abilities beyond using the traditional prescribed equations and models. During this process, we hypothesize that rich discussion and model re-formulation will help students recognize and repair misconceptions, and that the real world context will help them remember these critical concepts.Index Terms -Misconceptions, model-eliciting activities, thermal sciences, mechanics. CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN ENGINEERINGIf a large SUV hits a motorcycle, doesn't it make sense that the SUV exerts more force on the motorcycle than the motorcycle exerts on SUV? If a wooden spoon feels warmer than a metal spoon, does that mean it is at a higher temperature? These examples illustrate how everyday experiences help to form our conceptual (mis)understanding of science and engineering.Although engineering professors are often successful in teaching students how to choose and apply an appropriate equation, we are typically less successful at producing true conceptual understanding in our students. The problem is widespread through STEM disciplines, with nearly 7700 reported studies of student misconception in the literature [1]. Prior research by Streveler, Miller, and Olds in engineering student misconceptions of thermal science topics shows that seniorlevel chemical and mechanical engineering students retain a significant number of robust misconceptions even after completing courses in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics [2]. Over 40% consistently cannot distinguish between the rate and amount of heat transfer between two bodies at different temperatures and approximately 50% cannot distinguish between the quantity and quality of energy as described by the second law of thermodynamics. Nearly 30% cannot logically distinguish between temperature and energy in simple engineering systems and processes. Clearly, we need to continue to develop reliable and valid methods for both identifying and repairing important misconceptions.Two challenges must be met to promote deep conceptual learning in the face of misconceptions. The first is to identify prevalent and robust student misco...

This study examined the implementation of high-stakes adoption of edTPA® in one state in the year prior to consequential use of edTPA scores for teacher licensure. Using a mixed methods design, we investigated concerns of coordinators who were responsible for edTPA implementation in their institutions. We utilized the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) to understand edTPA coordinators’ Stages of Concern, the nature of the challenges they faced, and the professional development opportunities that alleviated their concerns. Based on the CBAM survey, the most common Stage of Concernfor edTPA coordinators was Management.Coordinators’ interviews revealed the nature of their concerns at different stages and how the size of their institution and supportive resources at particular times may have played a crucial role in shaping the edTPA roll-out in their institutions. The use of the CBAM framework enabled edTPA coordinators (a) to understand their own concerns about the high-stakes policy, (b) to articulate the complexities involved in implementing edTPA initiatives, and (c) to underscore the importance of relating concerns to appropriate professional development opportunities and support for themselves as well as their faculty.

Alemdar has experience evaluating programs that fall under the umbrella of educational evaluation, including K-12 educational curricula, after-school programs, and comprehensive school reform initiatives. Across these evaluations, she has used a variety of evaluation methods, ranging from multi-level evaluation plan designed to assess program impact to methods such as program monitoring designed to facilitate program improvement. Her leadership evaluation work includes serving as a lead evaluator on NASA's electronic professional development network (ePDN), a new initiative dedicated to preparing teachers to engage their students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) through the use of NASA-developed learning materials and resources. She also serves a the lead evaluator on several NSF-funded Noyce Scholarship programs. She has direct experience leading or contributing to evaluations of leadership, and STEM-related innovations.

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The nature of literacy is changing. Increased student use of computer-mediated, digital, and visual communication spans our understanding of adolescent multi-modal capabilities that reach beyond the traditional conventions of linear speech and written text in the science curriculum. Advancing technology opens doors to learning that involve literacies far beyond the single textbook classroom. This research project looked at the effects of utilizing multi-modal strategies and techniques in the middle grades science curriculum and incorporated a qualitative collaborative interactive group action research methodology. The authors completed one "cycle' of research and concluded that using the multi-modal tools and techniques students engage in outside of the classroom was a beneficial addition to the traditional curriculum inside the classroom. They recommend more research at other grade levels and content areas to develop specific strategies and techniques to incorporate multi-modal strategies and techniques in more aspects of teaching science.