Carmen Fies
University of Texas at San Antonio, COEHD-ILT, Faculty Member
Capitalizing on the enthusiasm about space science in the general public, our goal as an interdisciplinary group of scholars is to design and teach a new teamtaught interdisciplinary course, “Philosophy and Science of Space Exploration... more
Capitalizing on the enthusiasm about space science in the general public, our goal as an interdisciplinary group of scholars is to design and teach a new teamtaught interdisciplinary course, “Philosophy and Science of Space Exploration (PoSE)” at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) where we currently teach. We believe that this course will not only help overcome disciplinary silos to advance our understanding of space and critically examine its ethical ramifications, but also will better educate the public on how science works and help overcome the science skepticism that has unfortunately become more prominent in recent years. In what follows, we first juxtapose two seemingly contradictory trends: increased interest in space science on the one hand and increased skepticism about and distrust in science on the other. We then turn to how our anticipated Philosophy and Science of Space Exploration (PoSE) course will develop tools that could dismantle distrust in science whil...
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The San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA) completed its fourth annual iteration in June 2021 . While the program began as a face-toface professional development opportunity for future and current school teachers, it... more
The San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA) completed its fourth annual iteration in June 2021 . While the program began as a face-toface professional development opportunity for future and current school teachers, it transitioned to a fully online opportunity in 2020. In our efforts to offer an astronomy education program that is inclusive and particularly attentive to highly diverse populations, the transition to online programming became a core aspect of scaling up the program. The 2021 iteration featured an international facilitation team, and, for the first time, supported teachers from across the State of Texas. In this paper, we share data on how the facilitation team transitioned from a local to an international group, and on how the participant pool expanded from local to state-wide. 1. Background Astronomy can be perceived by some as esoteric and less relevant to our daily lives than other sciences. This is wholly incorrect, rather it is (1) highly inspirat...
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We report on the processes and findings related to the iterative design of the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA). In particular, we show how the initial iteration in 2018, limited to only future (or preservice)... more
We report on the processes and findings related to the iterative design of the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA). In particular, we show how the initial iteration in 2018, limited to only future (or preservice) secondary school STEM teachers, broadened to include current (or in-service) secondary school teachers in 2019, and then added primary school pre- and in-service teachers in 2020. The participants of all three years are now part of a community of practice that continues to engage in astronomy education in varied ways.
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Passive solar and energy efficiency concepts are usually taught through lectures, textbooks, or hands-on experimentation, but the relationship between these concepts istypically not effectively visualized. To address this, this paper... more
Passive solar and energy efficiency concepts are usually taught through lectures, textbooks, or hands-on experimentation, but the relationship between these concepts istypically not effectively visualized. To address this, this paper reports on the design, development and preliminary testing of a prototype Augmented Reality (AR) application for residential energy use education. This tablet-based AR application simulates the impact of different residential building design characteristics on both indoor temperature (for passiveheating/cooling) and annual energy use and cost (for mechanical HVAC). The application was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers/educators from three related fields: architecture, interdisciplinary education, and computer science. AR consists of additional information that is visible through a technology interface, shown on top of the images of the real world under study within a digital 3D space. The interdisciplinary model presented in this pap...
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Secondary school teachers often lack the necessary content background in astronomy to teach such a course confidently. Our theory of change postits that an increased confidence level will increase student retention in astronomy and... more
Secondary school teachers often lack the necessary content background in astronomy to teach such a course confidently. Our theory of change postits that an increased confidence level will increase student retention in astronomy and related STEM fields. Beyond the science content knowledge though, teachers need opportunities to embed the content in pedagogically sound practices, and with appropriate technology tools. We report on our interdisciplinary approach to designing, developing, fielding, and iteratively improving the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA), an annually offered Teacher Professional Development program. In particular, we present how our separate areas of expertise, in content and in STEM pedagogy, led to a synergistic process of teacher professional development that has now resulted in three cohorts of alumni. In this paper, we share our interdisciplinary processes and lessons learned; program metrics are described elsewhere in detail.
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This paper compares two cases of a Teacher Professional Development (TPD) focused on astronomy education: the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA). The central question here is: How do in-service teachers’ perceptions... more
This paper compares two cases of a Teacher Professional Development (TPD) focused on astronomy education: the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA). The central question here is: How do in-service teachers’ perceptions of the logistics and key benefits of SATTAA compare across two cases: the 2019 fully face-to-face (f2f) iteration in 2019, and the fully online iteration in 2020. Participants in both iterations equally indicated that they thought of their experiences as valuable and the program effective with two exceptions: (1) field trips that took place f2f were ranked higher than virtual options; and (2) technology was highlighted as benefit in the 2020 online iteration, but not in the 2019 f2f program.
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Our primary objective is to enable effective game based learning approaches in tangible augmented reality. In game based learning there is often a tradeoff in motivation between the educational aspects and game aspects. For example,... more
Our primary objective is to enable effective game based learning approaches in tangible augmented reality. In game based learning there is often a tradeoff in motivation between the educational aspects and game aspects. For example, consider our previous work - a tangible augmented reality application for passive solar energy education (AR-SEE), in which users learn about the science behind architectural design by interacting with a tangible model house and an augmented reality-based visualization of energy transfer within the house. This research extends AR-SEE to begin to convert this educational simulation into an effective educational game by introducing gaming elements, such as interactive virtual humans. Although it is known that AR-SEE does enable learning, it is unknown how the addition of interactive virtual humans will affect user perception of temperature data and learning. In this paper, the goal was to compare user perception of two approaches to temperature data visual...
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Passive solar and energy efficiency concepts are usually taught through lectures, textbooks, or hands-on experimentation, but the relationship between these concepts is typically not effectively visualized. To address this, this paper... more
Passive solar and energy efficiency concepts are usually taught through lectures, textbooks, or hands-on experimentation, but the relationship between these concepts is typically not effectively visualized. To address this, this paper reports on the design, development and preliminary testing of a prototype Augmented Reality (AR) application for residential energy use education. This tablet-based AR application simulates the impact of different residential building design characteristics on both indoor temperature (for passive heating/cooling) and annual energy use and cost (for mechanical HVAC). The application was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers/educators from three related fields: architecture, interdisciplinary education, and computer science. AR consists of additional information that is visible through a technology interface, shown on top of the images of the real world under study within a digital 3D space. The interdisciplinary model presented in this paper integrates three distinct lenses: 1) passive design and energy efficiency education 2) AR as an interactive modality and 3) a computationally complex building performance simulation model. In particular, the paper reports on the results of an experiment in which junior-level university students in a school of architecture used the prototype. Results from the pre and post knowledge surveys conducted within the experiment show consistent and high improvement in the students' confidence in their knowledge of the topics following the use of the prototype. Student feedback was also generally positive but some issues were identified which may indicate that this prototype would be more effective at the freshmen level. Plans for future development phases for this project include focusing on this new population. The project described in this paper also illustrates the considerable potential that interdisciplinary collaboration offers for architectural research through enabling architectural researchers to tackle more complex issues and developing a better understanding of the research approaches and expectations in other disciplines.
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ABSTRACT The purpose of this activity is for students to build a rainstick out of materials in their own environment and imitate the sound of rain while investigating the physical principles of sound. Students will be able to relate the... more
ABSTRACT The purpose of this activity is for students to build a rainstick out of materials in their own environment and imitate the sound of rain while investigating the physical principles of sound. Students will be able to relate the sound produced by an instrument to the type and quantity of materials used in its construction.
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This study investigated the impact of completely anonymous Classroom Response System (CRS) use on learning outcomes and student attitudes in a large university physical science course for pre-service teachers. As students were expected to... more
This study investigated the impact of completely anonymous Classroom Response System (CRS) use on learning outcomes and student attitudes in a large university physical science course for pre-service teachers. As students were expected to have read the textbook prior to class, class time was devoted primarily to conceptual introductions followed by small group discussions of qualitative questions. In the treatment
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... Juliet Langman a & Carmen Fies a pages 81-99. ... Technology in support of middle grade mathematics: What have we learned?. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching , 23(1): 5–20. View all references; Nicol and... more
... Juliet Langman a & Carmen Fies a pages 81-99. ... Technology in support of middle grade mathematics: What have we learned?. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching , 23(1): 5–20. View all references; Nicol and Boyle 200321. Nicol, DJ and Boyle, JT ...
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The larger the classroom, the more likely is it that communications consist of a one-way flow from the instructor to students. Classroom Response Systems (CRSs) are frequently hailed as technologies capable of improving communications by... more
The larger the classroom, the more likely is it that communications consist of a one-way flow from the instructor to students. Classroom Response Systems (CRSs) are frequently hailed as technologies capable of improving communications by opening the space for dialogic engagement; yet, a causal relationship is not documented in the literature. The data reported on here stem from a mixed
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... Titre du document / Document title. UNEXPECTED ANTI-MARKOVNIKOV ADDITION TO 1-METHOXY-1,3-CYCLOHEXADIENE. Auteur(s) / Author(s). EMERY SL ; FIES CH ; HESTER EJ ; MCCLUSKY JV ; Revue / Journal Title. ...
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ABSTRACT In this Activity, students use their deductive reasoning skills as they identify formulas of unknown elements and compounds modeled by paperclips. Each color of paperclip represents a different element, with linkages between... more
ABSTRACT In this Activity, students use their deductive reasoning skills as they identify formulas of unknown elements and compounds modeled by paperclips. Each color of paperclip represents a different element, with linkages between different paperclips in appropriate ratios representing 20 unknowns. The Activity supports formation of a basic understanding of elements and compounds, including allotropes, oxidation states, and diatomic elements. Keywords (Audience): High School / Introductory Chemistry
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As the frequency with which Classroom Response Systems (CRSs) are used is increasing, it becomes more and more important to define the affordances and limitations of these tools. Currently existing literature is largely either anecdotal... more
As the frequency with which Classroom Response Systems (CRSs) are used is increasing, it
becomes more and more important to define the affordances and limitations of these tools.
Currently existing literature is largely either anecdotal or focuses on comparing CRS and
non-CRS environments that are unequal in other aspects as well. In addition, the literature
primarily describes situations in which the CRS is used to provide an individual as opposed
to a group response. This article points to the need for a concerted research effort, one that
rigorously explores conditions of use across diverse settings and pedagogies.
becomes more and more important to define the affordances and limitations of these tools.
Currently existing literature is largely either anecdotal or focuses on comparing CRS and
non-CRS environments that are unequal in other aspects as well. In addition, the literature
primarily describes situations in which the CRS is used to provide an individual as opposed
to a group response. This article points to the need for a concerted research effort, one that
rigorously explores conditions of use across diverse settings and pedagogies.