Samia Khan

I investigate how rural households with children ages three to six embed reasoning in everyday practices and how such reasoning is recognized or overlooked as STEM within India's public early childhood care and education system (Anganwadi). Drawing on Funds of Knowledge theory (González et al., 2005; Moll et al., 1992) and cultural capital theory (Bourdieu, 1986), I study households from historically marginalized caste and tribal communities in rural Rajasthan, including families from a community criminalized under British colonial rule. Using a case study methodology, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in one Anganwadi center and ten households in Badgaon, Rajasthan. Data sources included interviews with one Anganwadi worker and 13 caregivers, household observations, field notes, and community photography. Through cross-case analysis (Khan & VanWynsberghe, 2007), I identified STEM-related practices with routines that supported household functioning. Practices were organized into four categories: survival mathematics (e.g., balance-scale reading), everyday science and ecology (e.g., cause and effect reasoning in plant growth), tools and technology (e.g., fire management), and domestic engineering. I understand these as funds of STEM knowledge, drawing on Khan and VanWynsberghe’s (2023, p. 1) definition of “funds of knowledge that are related to codified forms of science, technology, engineering, or math and largely gained through activities that are part of how the household or community functions.” Using critical Discourse analysis, I examined in what ways these practices appear to "count" and their levels of institutional recognition. The Anganwadi report card did not meaningfully capture reasoning observed in households, including reasoning involving estimation, classification, causal events, and spatial models. Recognition appeared to privilege recitation, counting, and English, while household STEM funds remained undocumented. I argue that the home-Anganwadi boundary functions as a selective filter through which practice-based reasoning associated with STEM does not readily traverse. I propose a pedagogy for Anganwadi contexts that addresses this filter and the constraints presented by the context and teacher education. By documenting reasoning in these households, I move away from deficit framing and argue that children's STEM funds can be better recognized and extended in early years education in ways more responsive to children's homes and communities.

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Despite the growing use of the hybrid course delivery format in science education, there is a scarcity of research to support its effectiveness in enhancing student learning at the secondary school level. My research explores how a hybrid mode of course instruction compares with the traditional offline face-to-face mode of instruction in terms of student achievement and satisfaction. In order to assess the differences between the two course delivery formats, student satisfaction and achievement levels were measured in two Chemistry 12 classes. Findings demonstrated that students in the traditional offline face-to-face class were more satisfied than students in the hybrid class with respect to perceptions of course content and communication levels with the instructor and peers. With respect to students’ satisfaction with given grades and access to course materials, both the traditional offline class and the hybrid class yielded similar findings concerning course satisfaction. Results overall also showed that students in the hybrid class did not perform any better or worse than students in the traditional offline face-to-face class. Rather, student achievement and satisfaction levels in the hybrid format seem to depend on multiple factors not reducible to choice of format.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate how a technology-enhanced lesson based on the principles of model-based teaching and learning can contribute to student understanding of two challenging topics in chemistry: Le Chatelier’s Principle and Chemical Equilibrium. A computer simulation program was utilized that contained multiple digital representations,such as: a chemical formula view, a slider view, a graph view, a description view, a prediction view, a molecular view and a dynamic analogy view. The study also addressed the sequencing of instruction, changing when computer simulation was introduced in two chemistry 12 classes (n=46). One class of 22 students received instruction in a traditional form (lecture, labs) and then interacted with the simulation and the other class of 24 students interacted with simulations first and then received a traditional form of instruction. Both the classes participated in a pre-test, mid-test, post-test, surveys and interviews designed to assess students’ conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium. Statistical analysis of thetests revealed that a computer simulation such as Technology-Enhanced Model-Based Science (TEMBS) promoted understanding by supporting the generation of more scientifically accurate models of chemical equilibrium. Secondly, there was a significant improvement in test results of students who received instruction in a traditional form first and then interacted with simulations compared with students who interacted with simulations firstand then received traditional instruction. According to the surveys, students in both classes listed teacher discussions in class as one of the three most important contributions to their learning. An implication of this study for science educators and educational technologists is that computer simulations such as TEMBS simulation which utilize multiple representationsincluding a dynamic analogy can assist students in their understanding of abstract concepts such as Le Chatelier’s principle and can be more effective if introduced after a full discussion of the concept and notes.

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