Search for: All records

Live (not decayed) radioisotopes on the Earth and Moon are messengers from recent nearby astrophysical explosions. Measurements of⁶⁰Fe in deep-sea samples, Antarctic snow, and lunar regolith reveal two pulses about 3 Myr and 7 Myr ago. Detection of²⁴⁴Pu in a deep-sea crust indicates a recent r-process event. We review the ultrasensitive accelerator mass spectrometry techniques that enable these findings. We then explore the implications for astrophysics, including supernova nucleosynthesis, particularly the r-process, as well as supernova dust production and the formation of the Local Bubble that envelops the Solar System. The implications go beyond nuclear physics and astrophysics to include studies of heliophysics, astrobiology, geology, and evolutionary biology. 

As part of our Noyce Capacity Building grant, we examined how existing STEM course content is preparing students for the Missouri Content Assessment (MoCA) exam that is required for state certification. We also examined this through the lens of the recent curriculum designed on the state of Missouri model, which is Unified Science: Biology. Our most recent graduates in STEM Education exhibited difficulty in passing the MoCA exam in their specific STEM area of interest. Data from 2014-2018 showed that only half of our teacher candidates passed their STEM field MoCA exam on the first attempt. Some candidates took as many as four attempts to pass their exams while others were unable to achieve a passing score. In order to increase the number of teacher candidates as well as their success rates on the MoCA exam, we planned targeted revisions to our curriculum and coursework at Webster. One approach we used was to have content experts (faculty from Webster and our partner institution, St. Louis Community College) take the MoCA exams in their respective STEM disciplines. The qualitative survey results, coded using NVivo, and feedback from these experts allowed us to map learning outcomes and knowledge areas found on the exam to information on the MoCA website as well as our existing curriculum and course content. In this presentation, we will report the results of our survey, the impact this had on our curriculum redesign and articulation agreements, and our future strategies for our Track 1 application that were informed by the results of our capacity building activity. We also include use of study guides, practice tests and review sessions for MoCA exams to impact/improve pass rates of STEM Education majors on the content exam.