Group-level differences in classroom language environments were analyzed to better understand implementation of best practices with learners with deafblindness (DB), and whether state certification practices, student characteristics or specialized training related to differences in adult language modeling. Participants came from four states with three distinct teacher certification policies. Data was collected from 15 teacher-student dyads through behavioral coding of videotaped language samples from classrooms, teacher surveys and Communication Matrix assessments. In our sample, teachers used verbal communication significantly more than additional classroom staff. Teachers in a state that required a severe/ profound certification used significantly higher rates of visual communication. These teachers were also the most likely to match their students’ expected receptive modalities. Classroom staff in a state with interveners used significantly more tactile communication with learners. Overall, teachers were more likely to match their students’ expected receptive modalities when the students had higher levels of communication. The students with DB were highly heterogeneous and there was no association between level of dual sensory loss and students’ expressive communication levels. Discussion focused on whether our current use of communication modalities are sufficient, or whether more diverse language modeling (i.e., augmented input) would be beneficial in classrooms with learners with DB. These quantitative results can empower teachers to advocate for the use of specific communication modalities, such as American Sign Language, and trained personnel, such as interveners, in their districts.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instructional environment and student engagement during reading instruction. Environment is composed of three key elements: teacher attributes, instructional methods, and the physical classroom setting (Blair, Rupley, & Nichols, 2007; De Naeghel, Van Keer, Vansteenkiste, & Rosseel, 2012; Guthrie, Hoa, Wigfield, Tonks, & Perencevich, 2006; Housand & Reis, 2008). This study examined a first, second, and third grade classroom in one East Tennessee school. Qualitative data was collected using a combination of instructional observation and teacher interviews in order to examine existing practices for successfully engaging young readers. Teachers for each of the classrooms were interviewed; following the interview, each teacher’s classroom was observed three times to examine the teacher’s attributes and most frequently used instructional methods, the physical classroom setting, and the expressed level of engagement of the student body in the classroom. The findings indicate that environment in terms of teacher attributes, instructional methods, and physical classroom setting affects student reading engagement; classrooms with high levels of organization, novel reading areas, and opportunity for students to select reading material were found particularly effective for reading engagement.

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Book Summary: Empowering students to be active thinkers and learnersPrimary students enter the classroom as capable thinkers with unique experiences, skills, and ideas about the world. Using this new collection of articles, educators can build on that preexisting knowledge to take teaching and learning to the next level. This valuable resource will help you- Create environments that boost learning and build social relationships among students- Engage young learners in interpreting complex literature and thinking deeply and meaningfully about math and science- Support culturally and linguistically diverse children- Foster strong ties with familiesUsing the ideas presented here as a foundation, educators can make the most of their time with students by using each interaction as a powerful opportunity to instill confidence, competence, and a love of learning.

Book Summary: Edited and compiled just for teachers, this resource explains developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) so teachers can apply DAP in their work with children in first, second, and third grades.

Student disaffection, a pervasive problem in middle school classrooms, is costly not only for disaffected students themselves (e.g., declines in GPA, high school drop out) but also for their teachers (e.g., stress-related health outcomes). Despite its importance, however, open questions remain regarding both the development of disaffection during early adolescence and the classroom dynamics that underlie changes in disaffection. This dissertation includes two free-standing manuscripts that explore these open questions regarding the development and classroom dynamics of disaffection. Each focuses on different developmental time scales and employs different methodological approaches to examine these important, but unanswered questions. Drawing from a database of classroom observation videos, study one is a multiple case study focusing on four classrooms, which were selected based on school-level socioeconomic status and student-reported disaffection. This study was designed to explore 1) how disaffection is first initiated, 2) how it develops across single class periods, 3) how teachers generally respond to student disaffection, and 4) whether different kinds of teacher responses reduce or amplify disaffection. Student disaffection and teacher responses to disaffection were observationally coded and analyzed resulting in the following findings. First, students were initially most frequently socially off task during individual work time or relatively passive whole group time. Second, six patterns of how disaffection changed over the observed class periods were found with each pattern representing distinct student experiences and varying degrees in severity of disaffection. Third, while teachers' overall responses to disaffection could be classified as generally supportive (involvement and autonomy support) or defensive (withdrawal and controlling behavior), the teachers were not strictly adherent to one response style. Finally, five kinds of teacher responses to disaffection (supportive, quick fix, no response, mixed, and defensive) were found, each with varying degrees of effectiveness at resolving disaffection. Drawing from a 5-year longitudinal cohort-sequential dataset, study two is designed to describe the normative trajectories of disaffection across the early adolescent years and then to also examine the classroom dynamics that underlie these developmental changes in disaffection. Surveys of students' experiences of disaffection and perceptions of their relationships with their science teachers and teachers' views of student disaffection were collected twice per school year and subsequently analyzed. Latent growth curve models examined the development of disaffection finding both behavioral and emotional forms to have gradually increasing linear trajectories across the early adolescent years. Additionally, both initial levels in fall of 6th grade and rates of change significantly differed between students. Regarding the classroom dynamics of disaffection, the supported model suggests that teacher views of disaffection directly and indirectly through student-teacher relationships predict concurrent student experiences of disaffection and that earlier student experiences of disaffection predict changes in teacher views of disaffection across the school year. Taken together, the studies in this dissertation contribute to our growing understanding of how disaffection develops both across single middle school class periods (study 1) and across early adolescence (study 2). Additionally, these studies are among the first to investigate the classroom dynamics that may explain why disaffection develops over these multiple time frames. Implications of each study and the collective findings of this dissertation are considered in the respective discussion sections in Chapter 3, 4, and 5.

This study investigated students' perceptions of the generalist learning environment of the primary school compared to the same students' perceptions of the learning environments of the secondary school, with a particular focus on science learning environments. The role of student sex and school size pathways were investigated as factors Influencing changes in students' learning environment perceptions. The same students' perceptions of the learning environment were collected in the final stages of primary school and again after their initial term in secondary school. Data collected were both qualitative and quantitative in nature, with the quantitative data derived from short forms of the My Class Inventory and the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction. Insights were gained into how students' perceptions of learning environment, including the teachers' interpersonal style, changed during their first exposure to secondary learning environments and teachers, and how these changes in perceptions during transition depended upon school size and student sex. The study found that students' perceptions of the learning environments did change across transition, but that these changes on some scales varied with student sex and school size pathway.

The purpose of this evaluation study was to compare students' perceptions of their science classroom environment when using science kits, textbooks or a combination of science kits, textbooks and teacher-created materials. This year-long study involved using a learning environment questionnaire, namely the My Class Inventory (MCI), interviews and observations to assess which of the three treatments leads to a more positive learning environment. Three questions investigated were whether (1) the learning environment can be reliably and validly assessed among Grade 3-5 students in Texas, (2) instruction using textbooks, science kits, or a combination of textbooks and science kits is more effective in terms of changes in student attitudes and learning environment perceptions, and (3) there are associations between student attitudes toward science classes and the classroom environment? Administrators and teachers in Texas are searching for ways to improve the scores received on standardized tests. For more than 40 years, research has shown that positive classroom environments can lead to improvement in achievement. Therefore 1 chose to investigate the above questions using a learning environments framework. This study was conducted in three urban elementary schools in North Texas. There were a total of 588 students in 28 classrooms with 16 different teachers involved in this research. The schools were similar in demographic features such as ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Analyses of data collected with the My Class Inventory (MCI) supported the instrument's factorial validity, internal consistency reliability, and ability to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. / Also, simple correlation and multiple regression analyses indicated reasonably strong and positive associations between each classroom environment scale and the students' satisfaction. The Satisfaction scale was used as an outcome variable, following the lead of Majeed, Fraser and Aldridge (2002). Results h m the MCI, interviews and observations indicated that students preferred a more positive classroom environment in terns of Cohesiveness, Competition, and Friction. Importantly, the group of students using science kits experienced greater pretest-posttest changes in satisfaction and classroom cohesiveness than did either the textbook group of the combination group. This study supports previous research that combined qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Qualitative methods suggested that students preferred a more hands-on presentation of science lessons rather than a textbook presentation. This was suggested in interviews with students and teachers and by observations of students in their science classes. This research evaluated three educational methods to determine which instructional method would produce a more positive learning environment and student satisfaction. These results suggest that the utilization of science kits achieves this goal as measured by student satisfaction and cohesiveness.

This study, which was conducted among middle-school students in California, focused on the effectiveness of using innovative strategies for enhancing the classroom environment, students' attitudes, and conceptual development. Six hundred and sixty-one (661) students from 22 classrooms in four inner city schools completed the modified actual forms of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire, and the Test Of Mathematics Related Attitudes (TOMRA). The data were analyzed for the CLES, WIHIC, and TOMRA to check their factor structure, reliability, discriminant validity, and the ability to distinguish between different classes and groups. In terms of the validity of the CLES, WIHIC, and TOMRA when used with middle-school students in California, the factor analysis results attest to the sound factor structure of each questionnaire. The results for each CLES, WIHIC, and TOMRA scale for the alpha reliability and discriminant validity for two units of analysis (individual and class mean) compare favorably with the results for other well-established classroom environment instruments. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also calculated for each scale of the CLES and WIHIC to investigate its ability to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. The ANOVA results suggest that students perceived the learning environments of different mathematics classrooms differently on CLES and WIHIC scales. In general, the results provided evidence of the validity of these instruments in describing psychosocial factors in the learning environments of middle-school mathematics classrooms in California. The effectiveness of the innovative strategy was evaluated in terms of classroom environment and attitudes, as well as achievement, among a subgroup of 101 students. / Effect sizes and t-tests for paired sample were used to determine changes in classroom environment perceptions, attitudes, and achievement for experimental and control groups. Pretest-posttest differences were statistically significant (p<0.05) for: the CLES scale of Shared Control for the experimental group, the TOMRA scale of Normality of Mathematicians for both the control and the experimental groups, the TOMRA scale of Enjoyment of Mathematics for the experimental group, and the achievement measure for both groups. Also ANCOVA was calculated to determine if differential pretest-posttest changes were experienced by the experimental and control groups in classroom environment perceptions, attitudes, and achievement. The results suggest that there were a statistically significant differential changes for Task Orientation, Normality of Mathematicians, Enjoyment of Mathematics, and achievement between the experimental and control groups. In each case, the experimental group experienced larger pretest-posttest changes than the control group. Overall, a comparison of the pretest-posttest changes for an experimental group, which experienced the innovative strategy, with those for a control group, supported the efficacy of the innovative teaching methods in terms of learning environment perceptions, attitudes to mathematics, and mathematics concept development. The results of simple correlation and multiple correlation analyses of outcome-environment associations for two units of analysis clearly indicated that there is an association between the learning environment and students’ attitudes and mathematics achievement for this group of middle-school mathematics students. / In particular, there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between: Normality of Mathematicians and Student Negotiation, Involvement, and Task Orientation with the individual as the unit of analysis; Enjoyment of Mathematics and all three CLES and three WIHIC scales with the student as a unit of analysis, and for the four scales of Personal Relevance, Shared Control, Involvement, and Task Orientation with the class mean as the unit of analysis. The multiple correlations between the group of three CLES and three WIHIC scales and each of the two TOMRA scales are statistically significant for the individual as a unit of analysis. Overall, the study revealed positive and statistically significant associations between the classroom learning environment and students’ attitudes to mathematics. A two-way MANOVA with repeated measures on one factor was utilized to investigate gender differences in terms of students’ perceptions of classroom environment and attitudes to mathematics, as well as mathematics achievement. A statistically significant but small difference was found between the genders for Student Negotiation and Task Orientation. Female students perceived their mathematics classrooms somewhat more positively than did the male students. There was no statistically significant difference between the genders on achievement and students’ attitudes to mathematics. Qualitative information, gathered through audiotaped interviews, students’ journal, and analysis of students’ work, was used to clarify students’ opinions about the new approach, classroom environment perceptions, attitudes, and conceptual development. / These qualitative information-gathering tools were utilized to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the learning environments (Tobin, Kahle, & Fraser, 1990) and the results of my study (Punch, 1998), as well as insights into students’ perceptions (Spinner & Fraser, 2005). The responses from the students’ interviews and students’ reflective journals from the group that experienced the innovative methods generally suggested that introducing Cramer’s rule as a method for solving systems of linear equations in the middle school can be beneficial and therefore might be considered for inclusion in the middle-school Algebra 1 curriculum more widely in California. Using only quantitative data would not have provided the richness that was derived from using mixed methods (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). Therefore, qualitative data obtained from students who experienced the innovative method generally supported the quantitative findings concerning the effectiveness of this method for teaching and learning systems of linear equations.

The effect that teacher interpersonal behaviour has on motivating students to want tolearn and on nurturing student self-efficacy in the science classroom cannot beunderestimated. Teacher interpersonal behaviour can be perceived to be the catalystthat determines the level of student self-efficacy in classroom activities. An analysisof effective classroom teaching has been assessed in recent times in relation toteacher interpersonal behaviour. However, the effect that teacher interpersonalbehaviour has on student motivation has not been studied.The aim of this study was to identify the interpersonal skills of teachers that areperceived to encourage a motivating classroom environment. It also describedstudents' perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour and classroom environment,and assessed the significant impact teacher interpersonal behaviour had on studentself-efficacy and student attitude towards science. Student data were collected from313 year 8, 9 and 10 science students in 12 classrooms in a girls' secondary school inBrisbane, Australia. They were studying a general science course that coveredaspects of biology, chemistry and physics. Qualitative and quantitative data werecollected. The study confirmed the validity and reliability of the Questionnaire onTeacher Interaction (QTI) and the Students' Motivation, Attitude and Self-Efficacy inScience (SMASES) questionnaire. Thus, the study identified perceptions of teacherinterpersonal behaviour and classroom environment, and investigated associationsbetween the results obtained from the analysis and the other instruments that wereadministered in the study. The study identified that there was a significantrelationship between teacher interpersonal behaviour and its effect on studentmotivation, self-efficacy and attitude towards science.