Browsing by Subject "Science education"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    The career paths of mathematics and science teachers in high need schools.
    (2009-10) Kirchhoff, Allison Lynette
    High-poverty schools typically have higher levels of attrition than other schools, particularly in mathematics and science. Financial incentives have often been used to attract teachers to high need schools and subjects. Despite extensive investments in these incentives and extensive research regarding recruitment and retention, little is known about how these areas interact with one another over teachers' careers. The purpose of this study is to address the lack of integration of these areas by investigating the career paths of 38 Noyce scholars. Acceptance of the Noyce funding requires teaching in high-need schools for two years. Grounded theory methodology was guided by the research question: What are Noyce scholars' reasons for the decisions made on the career path of becoming and remaining teachers in high need schools? Analysis resulted in an explanatory model of the "pathway to retention in high need schools." The model indicates that the career paths of teachers in high need schools are complex and interactive. Interactions among the reasons the scholars chose to enter teaching, their school setting, community, teacher education and the Noyce funding appear to play a role in their eventual satisfaction and retention. The study has implications for the recruitment and retention of teachers in high need schools.
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    The factors that affect science teachers' participation in professional development
    (2013-05) Roux, Judi Ann
    Scientific literacy for our students and the possibilities for careers available in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas are important topics for economic growth as well as global competitiveness. The achievement of students in science learning is dependent upon the science teachers' effectiveness and experienced science teachers depend upon relevant professional development experiences to support their learning. In order to understand how to improve student learning in science, the learning of science teachers must also be understood. Previous research studies on teacher professional development have been conducted in other states, but Minnesota science teachers comprised a new and different population from those previously studied. The purpose of this two-phase mixed methods study was to identify the current types of professional development in which experienced, Minnesota secondary science teachers participated and the factors that affect their participation in professional development activities. The mixed-methods approach s utilized an initial online survey followed by qualitative interviews with five survey respondents. The results of the quantitative survey and the qualitative interviews indicated the quality of professional development experiences and the factors which affected the science teachers' participation in professional development activities. The supporting and inhibiting factors involved the availability of resources such as time and money, external relationships with school administrators, teacher colleagues, and family members, and personal intrinsic attributes such as desires to learn and help students. This study also describes implications for science teachers, school administrators, policymakers, and professional development providers. Recommendations for future research include the following areas: relationships between and among intrinsic and extrinsic factors, science-related professional development activities within local school districts, the use of formal and informal professional development, and the needs of rural science teachers compared to urban and suburban teachers.
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    Factors that influence participation of students in secondary science and mathematics subjects in IB Schools outside of the United States and Canada.
    (2012-01) Straffon, Elizabeth
    The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect the extent of international secondary students' participation in International Baccalaureate science and mathematics courses. The factors examined were gender, home region, size, percent host culture and age of the program, and coeducational and legal status of the school. Participation in math and science subjects was determined by analyzing the level and number of courses taken by students taking International Baccalaureate exams in 2010. Chi-Square and Cramer's V analysis were used to measure the effect of categorical variables on student participation and One-Way ANOVA and Bonferroni comparison of means were used to analyze the quantitative variables. All categorical variables were statistically significant (p<.01). Home region was the most important factor affecting participation in both math and science. Students from East, Southeast and South-Central Asia; and Eastern Europe have greater participation in math. The highest science participation came from students in East, Southern and Western Africa; and Southeast Asia. Top participators in science came from Australia/New Zealand, Northern Europe, East Africa and South-Central and Western Asia. State schools showed higher math and science participation. Science and math participation was also greater in all-male schools though associations were weak. Boys participated more than girls, especially in math. All quantitative variables were statistically significant. The program size had the largest effect size for both math and science with larger programs showing more participation at the higher level. A decreasing trend for age of the program and percent host culture was found for math participation. Three years of participation data were collected from an international school in Western Europe (n = 194). Variables included the influence of parent occupation, math preparedness (PSAT-Math), student achievement (GPA), and the importance of significant others in career and academic decisions. Findings indicate that performance on the PSAT- Math was the most important predictor of both science and mathematics participation. Twenty students were also interviewed. Results showed the importance of several key factors. These include the role of parents in student academic and career decisions, the importance of personal interest, and the contribution of early decisions in confidence-building.
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    Learning to teach as situated learning: an examination of student teachers as legitimate peripheral participants in cooperating teachers' classrooms
    (2014-08) McDonald, Eric J.
    Learning to teach science well is a complex endeavor and student teaching provides a time for emerging teachers to learn how to reason in this uncertain landscape. Many pre-service teachers have rated student teaching as a very important part of their teacher education program (Koerner, Rust, & Baumgartner, 2002; Levine, 2006) and there is little doubt that this aspect of teacher preparation has a great impact (Wilson, Floden, Ferrinin-Mundy, 2001). It is surprising, therefore, that the interaction between the cooperating teacher and student teacher represents a gap in the literature (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005). In fact, little effort has been made in science education "to understand the contributions of cooperating teachers and teacher educators" (p. 322). Research is needed into not only how teacher preparation programs can help pre-service teachers make this transition from student teacher to effective teacher but also how the expertise of the cooperating teacher can be a better articulated part of the development of the student teacher. This instrumental case study examines the nature and substance of the cooperating teacher/student teacher conversations and the changes in those conversations over time. Using the theoretical framework of situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Lave, 1996) the movement of the student teacher from their position on the periphery of practice toward a more central role is examined. Three cooperating teacher/student teacher pairs provided insight into this important time with case data coming from pre and post interviews, baseline surveys, weekly update surveys, and recorded conversations from the pair during their time together. Four major themes emerged from the cases and from cross case comparisons with implications for student teachers regarding how they react to greater responsibility, cooperating teachers regarding how they give access to the community of practice, and the teacher preparation community regarding the role it plays in helping to facilitate this process.
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    A new era of science education: science teachers‘ perceptions and classroom practices of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) integration.
    (2012-01) Wang, Hui-Hui
    Quality STEM education is the key in helping the United States maintain its lead in global competitiveness and in preparing for new economic and security challenges in the future. Policymakers and professional societies emphasize STEM education by legislating the addition of engineering standards to the existing science standards. On the other hand, the nature of the work of most STEM professionals requires people to actively apply STEM knowledge to make critical decisions. Therefore, using an integrated approach to teaching STEM in K–12 is expected. However, science teachers encounter numerous difficulties in adapting the new STEM integration reforms into their classrooms because of a lack of knowledge and experience. Therefore, high quality STEM integration professional development programs are an urgent necessity. In order to provide these high quality programs, it is important to understand teachers‘ perceptions and classroom practices regarding STEM integration. A multiple-case study was conducted with five secondary school science teachers in order to gain a better understanding of teachers‘ perceptions and classroom practices in using STEM integration. This study addresses the following research questions: 1) What are secondary school science teachers‘ practices of STEM integration? 2) What are secondary science teachers‘ overall perceptions of STEM integration? and 3) What is the connection between secondary science teachers‘ perceptions and understanding of STEM integration with their classroom practices? This research aims to explore teachers‘ perceptions and classroom practices in order to set up the baseline for STEM integration and also to determine STEM integration professional development best practices in science education. Findings from the study provide critical data for making informed decision about the direction for STEM integration in science education in K–12.
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    On the way of educational reform: Thai High School physics teachers’ conceptions of the student-centered approach and their perceptions of their classroom practices
    (2013-02) Chaumklang, Kawin
    During the past two decades, the student-centered approach has been widely promoted and accepted by the educational community as one of the most effective instructional approaches. It has been continually developed and revised to match our current understanding of how humans learn (American Psychological Association, 1997). It is based upon the belief that students should take responsibility for their own learning. Thus, curriculum, instruction, and assessment should be carefully designed to stimulate, facilitate, and accelerate students' learning as much as possible. In order to do so, the teacher needs to take the following factors into consideration: students’ cognitive structures, metacognitive and regulative skills, motivation and affective states, developmental and individual differences, and social supports. However, the term student-centered has been defined and described by researchers and scholars in many different ways. Little is known about how practicing teachers conceptualize this term and how they perceive their classroom practices in relation to these conceptions. The purpose of this study was to utilize a qualitative multiple-case study approach to investigate teachers’ conceptions of the student-centered approach and their perceptions of their classroom practices. Four Thai high school physics teachers, who were considered products of the current student-centered educational reform movement in Thailand, participated in this study. Data were collected for one learning unit (three to eight weeks) through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The data analysis revealed that teachers’ conceptions of student-centered curriculum, instruction, and assessment had three common characteristics: (a) students’ active participation; (b) special emphasis on students’ background knowledge, understanding, motivation, affective states, and learning capability; and (c) benefits to students. The results also indicated that there were some similarities and differences between teachers’ conceptions of the student-centered approach and the underlying principles of the student-centered approach. Moreover, this study showed that teachers’ conceptions of the student-centered approach were not always consistent with their classroom practices. In addition, these teachers used various instructional activities perceived by them as being non-student-centered, such as developing curriculum based on the national high school physics textbooks and teacher’s experiences, delivering knowledge through lecture, and assessing students’ understanding by using teacherconstructed test questions. Furthermore, findings from this study provide implications for researchers, teacher educators, and policy makers with regards to successfully implement the reform-based, student-centered approach in the actual science classroom.
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    Reading Nature as a Strategy to Increase Science Achievement and Ecological Content Knowledge in Middle School Students
    (2015-06) BySura, Johnathan
    This paper reports on two methodologies for the teaching and learning of ecology in a rural North Georgia private school for 6th and 7th grade students. The purpose of this study was to test two different teaching methodologies to determine which teaching strategy was more effective in increasing standardized achievement and conceptual knowledge in students through the analysis of four content areas (autecology, taxonomy, synecology, and systemic view). It examines the idea of reading nature, a term that was coined by Swedish professor Ola Magntorn in 2007. Curriculum was designed to implement two different methodologies to help students read nature in a stream ecosystem. The four content areas being taught had either an outdoor-focused 'bottom up' approach or a classroom based ‘top down' approach. The experimental groups utilized the bottom-up approach, while the control groups utilized the top-down approach common to science education in American schools. Both teaching methodologies were measured using a standardized achievement pre- and post-test, as well as a written concept map pre- and post-test to understand how the students were making connections to the material they learned. Students were asked to identify and make as many connections as possible to 15 natural items on a tray. A large part of the instruction took place outdoors for the experimental group, whereas the control group's instruction took place in a normal classroom-lab setting. This study gives important insight into how bottom-up processing and direct experience with natural systems can increase standardized scores in science education just as well as traditional models used in many schools. In addition, bottom-up processing vastly improved middle school students ability to make conceptual connections to the natural world.
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    Senior science teachers' experience of teaching in a changing multicultural classroom: A case study
    (2012-09) Ryan, Mark
    Demographic changes within the US are bringing significant changes in the cultural make-up of the classrooms in our schools. Results from national and state assessments indicate a growing achievement gap between the science scores of white students and students from minority communities. This gap indicates a disconnect somewhere in the science classrooms. This study examines the teacher's perspective of the changing learning environment. The study focuses on senior teachers with traditional Midwestern backgrounds and little multicultural experience assuming these teachers had little or no education in multicultural education. Senior teachers are also more likely to have completed their science education within a traditional Universalist perspective of science and likewise have little or no education in multicultural science. The research method was comparative case studies of a purposeful sample of nine science teachers within a community experiencing significant demographic change, seven core senior teachers and two frame of reference teachers. The interviews examined the teachers' awareness of their own cultural beliefs and the impact of those beliefs on classroom practices, the teachers' understanding of cultural influences on the students' academic performance, and the relationships between the teachers' understanding of the cultural aspects of the nature of science and their classroom practices. Analysis of the interview data revealed that the teachers maintain a strong, traditional Midwestern worldview for classroom expectations and they are generally unaware of the impact of those standards on the classroom environment. The teachers were supportive of minority students within their classroom, changing several practices to accommodate student needs, but they were unaware of the broader cultural influences on student learning. The teachers had a poor understanding of the nature of science and none of them recognized a cultural element of NOS. They maintained a Universalist perspective of science with a strong commitment to the philosophy of scientism which left no room for a multicultural view of science. These results have implications for the broad science community with respect to the philosophy and nature of science. There are also implications in pre- and in-service teacher education and professional development aimed at raising cultural awareness of science teachers and providing a broader understanding of NOS. The problems raised by this research appear to be systemic requiring a commitment beyond the level of the individual teacher to implement a multicultural education that matches the composition of our classrooms.