Browsing by Subject "Curriculum Implementation"
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Item Promoting social emotional learning in education: a three year formative evaluation of curricular program implementation.(2009-12) Goetz, Tamara AnnThe following three year, formative evaluation closely watched the implementation of a program to integrate social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum into Lakeland Union High School. Like many other U.S. public schools, Lakeland Union High School is in need of addressing their student's poor academic achievement and negative behavioral actions. Lakeland Union chose SEL programming to focus their instructional efforts toward. SEL programming focuses on five specific competency areas specific to promoting prosocial skills to young learners. Integrative SEL programming designed for classroom instruction is fairly new to the educational field, yet is highly regarded for its instructional approach. Three rounds of data collected over three academic school years were utilized to investigate the school's experience with implementing SEL programming. A survey was used for round one, in exploring the relationship between SEL homeroom programming with the attitudes of students and teachers at Lakeland Union High. The second round of data collection interviewed several teachers concerning the implementation process to gain depth and to continue exploring SEL implementation. Data collected in the third round involved additional exploratory techniques of classroom observation, teacher focus groups and administrator interviews, and gained further insight into SEL programming integration. Teacher and student attitudes toward the SEL first round programming were not favorable. The homeroom SEL activity programming approach was dropped after a formal grievance was filed by the teacher's union. An integrated SEL classroom approach was inserted for the second round of programming. Teachers favored this approach to SEL programming, although reported issues and challenges with the school wide SEL initiative. The third round of SEL implementation continued with the SEL integrated classroom approach. It was determined that the SEL initiative at this point was still not fully thriving at the school. Findings in all three rounds provide information integral for program improvement, which leads to three primary recommendations for the school to address in their continuing efforts with SEL programming. Future programming recommendations include: 1) administration sets clear parameters for the SEL initiative, 2) professional development focused on SEL integrated curriculum programming, and 3) outline SEL integrative curriculum assessment for evidence-based practice.Item Teacher Conceptions of Integrated STEM Education and How They Are Reflected in Integrated STEM Curriculum Writing and Classroom Implementation(2017-05) Ring, ElizabethThere has been a nation-wide push for an increase in the use of integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States. With this shift in epistemological, pedagogical, and curricular content, there is a need to develop an understanding as to what integrated STEM education is, particularly among practitioners. In this dissertation, inservice science teacher conceptions of integrated STEM education were investigated to help understand what these conceptions are and how these conceptions influence curriculum writing and implementation of integrated STEM curricula in classrooms. Teacher conceptions and their influences were investigated through three separate but interrelated studies. First, K-12 inservice science teachers’ conceptions of integrated STEM were investigated through the analysis of their sketched models of integrated STEM education. How these models changed throughout an intensive, three-week professional development was also explored. The goal of this first study was to identify conceptual models of integrated STEM education held by inservice science teachers and to understand how these conceptions might change over the course of a professional development. Second, photo elicitation interviews (PEIs) and curricular analysis were used to provide rich descriptions of the conceptual models of integrated STEM education held by inservice science teachers, determine what components of STEM inservice science teachers found fundamental to integrating STEM in the classroom based on their conceptions, and explore how teachers’ conceptions of STEM were used in their development of integrated STEM curricula. The goal of this second study was to better understand inservice science teachers’ conceptual models of integrated STEM and explore how these models were realized in the teachers’ curriculum writing. Third, a multiple-case study was conducted with three teachers to investigate how the conceptual models held by inservice science teachers were enacted in their implementation of an integrated STEM curriculum unit in their classrooms. The goal of this third study was to determine how, if at all, teachers enact their conceptual models of integrated STEM education in the classroom when implementing a STEM curriculum. Together, these three studies helped to broaden the research related to integrated STEM education in the literature. The progressive nature of the studies in this dissertation, as well as the diverse use of methodologies and data analysis, helped to expand STEM education research.