Faculty Research Day

Every spring the University of Central Missouri's Information Technology and Instruction and the Center for Teaching and Learning host Faculty Research Day. It begins with a call for research papers in the fall. The deadline for these papers is at the end of January. These papers are anonymously reviewed by our colleagues and winners are announced in March. The first place winner earns $500 while the second place winner earns $250.

I submitted a paper based on my dissertation data (hiss!). I wrote the paper for the ASTE conference in Connecticut in January and presented with my advisor, Dr. Wavering. I was also second author on another paper, "Persistence of Meteorological Misconceptions." My gal pal, Sal (aka Dr. Zellers) was first author and the paper shared findings from our initial study on weather misconceptions common to undergraduate students. This paper was also presented at the ASTE conference in January.

Winners were announced Tuesday. First place for Education and Human Services went to a colleague for his paper, "Effects of an Inner City Preschool Teacher-Directed Curriculum on the Achievement of Third Grade Students Following Standardized Assessment Measures for English and Mathematics" and the second place went to ME for my paper, "Alternative Conceptions in Earth Science and the Preservice Teacher." (Special thanks to my editor and advisor, Dr. Wavering, who served as co-author!)

Both of these papers came from our newly formed department, Elementary and Early Childhood Education! A major coup for us. And while I didn't place first ~sob~ I did spend several hours editing the paper that earned first place so I like to think I helped a little. The award ceremony will be Friday, March 6, in the Union! I can't wait!

Ten Days

I cannot believe it has been ten days since I have posted! It just might be a record! I apologize; it is simply an indicator of how busy the past few weeks have been. My absence from the blogosphere, the pile of laundry, the unmade bed, the sticky kitchen floor, and the unpaid bills all point to the same, wicked truth. School has resumed!

I have been spending roughly 14 hours every day on campus. This has been my attempt to get caught up so that I can devote more time to research. You may ask how I could be so far behind during the first week of school. I didn't even have papers to grade until Thursday! After all I went to work a week early to get things ready. Alas, I had a student that consumed a particularly great deal of my time (over thirty hours in a week an a half). This student was not prepared to enter their internship and waited until the last minute to begin making corrections to the document that would enable them to participate in the internship. Said student had nearly three months to make corrections. And while the quote "Failure to plan on your part does not constitute and emergency on mine," continually played in my head over the course of dealing with said student, I was still the one who ended up being the most affected. Who pays for a students inability to follow directions, to plan, to organize, or to write coherently? Not the student. The teacher.


That aside, a great deal has happened in the last few days.

• School started for all three of us! Orion is navigating the often choppy waters of middle school. John is taking two courses (Anthropology & Ecology) in the mornings. And I am attempting Meteorology. I say attempting because I am conducting research with the professor of the course (Sally) and hanging out. I fear that I may not have the time to dedicate to studying.
• John has returned to the late night shift of 3:15 to 12:15.
• I am teaching another full load this semester, however I have taught all of these classes before so at least I have a vague idea of what I am doing this time around!
• An old friend died last week.
• Helen, the grey kitten, was adopted by three young ladies, students at UCM.
• I've been pretty sick and I have a mild case of pink eye! Allergy related? Perhaps.
  

And this is only a sampling of what has been happening! I have decided to use my blog as an incentive or reward! When I complete a certain amount of tasks, I will allow myself to post to the blog. Unfortunately, I doubt that there will be much to report. All work and no play makes Kat a very dull blogger!

Let's hope not!

Misconceptions of Astronomical Proportion

What have I done? I participated in a Writer's Workshop, that's what "I done." I decided to participate for two hours graduate credit so that I may easily renew my Missouri Teaching License. Part of the requirements for graduate credit included creating, revising, and submitting a manuscript for publication. Holy smokes!

And as of today, August 12, 2008 I have completed my first book proposal. After my professor evaluates my manuscript proposal I will submit it to NSTA Press (National Science Teachers' Association) for consideration.

My proposed book is called "Misconceptions of Astronomical Proportion: An Illustrated Guide" and I will rope my friend, Sally Zellers, into being co-author. The book will target school teachers. I have suggested ten chapters. Each chapter will cover a common misconception in astronomy, provide the current scientific understanding complete with illustrations (gotta find an illustrator!), and lastly offer teachers developmentally appropriate (bases on National Science Education Standards) activities and demonstrations that teachers may implement in their classrooms. What fun!

Sally and I had often talked about writing a series of these books over misconceptions in biology, earth science, and possibly chemistry. But both of us seriously doubt our content knowledge in at least two of those areas. However, through the process of creating my manuscript proposal, I realized that Sally and I could serve as editors for books over areas that may be beyond our 'cognitive scope.'

I've not give much thought to chemistry, but for biology I will be looking for misconceptions about evolution, plant life, reproduction, and more... If you're interested in writing a chapter for my common biology or chemistry misconceptions books drop me a line. I'm so excited! Some of you may be hearing from me via email in the very near future!

Wish me luck!