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Previous studies have attempted to establish an empirical link between teachers beliefs and practices. However, weak theoretical framing and ambiguity in the measurement of beliefs and practices have contributed to challenges in researching the relationship between teachers beliefs and practices, resulting in uncertainty in the prevalence of different beliefs, the amount of individual variance in beliefs, and how beliefs influence teachers classroom practices. The current study proposes a theoretical framework based on the extant literature and uses a person-oriented approach to examine early childhood teachers content-related beliefs regarding the skills necessary for school readiness. Teachers belief profiles are used to explore the link between teachers beliefs and their use of instructional time and other observed classroom practices. The influences of contextual considerations such as teacher background, classroom composition, school setting, and regional contexts on both teachers belief profiles and their classroom practices were investigated. The study found no evidence that teachers belief profiles were associated with their practices, but results suggest that contextual considerations may be more important and relevant to teachers classroom practices than previously recognized. The findings are discussed in light of previous studies and evidence regarding child behaviors that are predictive of school success. Implications for teacher education and professional development are described, as well as the need for further investigation of teachers professional contexts and the potential benefits of qualitative or mixed-methods approaches.

The purposes of the study were threefold: (1) to assess whether the math program of a small, midwestern elementary school was meeting the district's established cognitive mathematics objectives, (2) to make recommendations for improvement of the existing mathematics program and (3) to provide a basis for the cognitive components of elementary mathematics program evaluation suitable for adoption by school corporations of a similar size.The study was designed to determine the following: Does the existing mathematics program currently conducted by a small, midwestern elementary school meet the stated program learning objectives as measured by the Metropolitan Achievement Test and the program's criterion-referenced tests?The review of literature considered pertinent for the study was reviewed and categorized as. follows: (1) history and overview of achievement assessments, (2) evaluation of mathematics achievement, (3) mathematics teaching today, and (4) mathematics program recommendations. The population for the study was defined as those students in kindergarten through grade six in a small, midwestern elementary school enrolling 506 students who had been administered the Metropolitan Achievement Test during the week of April 28, 1985.The assessment of the achievement of the cognitive mathematics objectives was dependent upon results of the mathematics subtest scores of the Metropolitan Achievement Test, Form JS, Survey Battery and the criterion-referenced tests of the U-SAIL Mathematics Program. Data obtained from the tests were analyzed, summarized and presented in a narrative report.Based upon the results of the study using the MAT the following conclusions have been drawn:1. At all grade levels, the mathematics program learning objectives as measured by the MAT are generally met, however, the proportion of the curriculum measured is not adequate for assessing achievement of the district's established mathematics cognitive objectives.2. The Metropolitan Achievement Test does not measure enough objectives to adequately assess achievement of the program's mathematics cognitive objectives.Based upon the results of the study using the U-SAIL criterion-referenced tests, the following conclusions have been drawn:1. At kindergarten, first and second grade levels, the objectives are adequately met. The program is effective.2. At third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade levels, the objectives are being inadequately met. The program is ineffective.68

Self-regulation is increasingly recognized as a key component of early school readiness. Self-regulatory skills, like paying attention, ignoring distractions, following directions, and persisting on difficult tasks, are particularly relevant for school success. However, little is known about the related developmental processes that may facilitate young childrens self-regulation growth. Socio-cultural theory posits a link between childrens early language skills and their self-regulation, whereby language serves as a metacognitive tool that children use to regulate their behavior, but thus far, only limited empirical evidence supports this connection. This study explored the relationship between childrens initial language skills, self-regulation gains, and learning behaviors in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Using an array of assessment tools (including standardized language assessments, direct child measures of self-regulation, teacher ratings of language and self-regulation, and child observational data), this study employed a unique cross-validation approach to answer three main questions. The first question examined the relationship between childrens language skills at pre-kindergarten entry and their self-regulation growth during the year. The second question explored whether childrens entering language skills were associated with the learning behaviors in which they engaged in their classrooms. The final question tested whether childrens learning behaviors in the classroom mediated the relationship between their entering language skills and their self-regulation gains. The studys results demonstrated that childrens entering language skills were positively related to their self-regulation growth over the course of the pre-kindergarten year. Further, childrens entering language skills were related to classroom behaviors believed to be particularly relevant for self-regulation growth, including social and sequential learning activities. In addition, childrens language skills were positively related to involvement during learning activities, and negatively related to off-task behavior. Finally, although the overall results of the analyses did not support mediation, the models for involvement and off-task behavior approached the statistical criteria for mediation. The results suggest that early language skills may play an important role in the development of self-regulation, in part because they are an important aspect of childrens ability to become highly engaged in classroom activities.

This project focuses on whether participation in authentic research experiences has an impact on teachers understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) and, consequently, their classroom instruction related to NOS. In my dissertation, I first explore to what extent participation in research affected teachers understanding and in what ways. I then describe any patterns that were evident in aspects of or activities within teachers research experiences that suggested that they may help make certain aspects of NOS more salient to participants. Finally, I explain the extent to which any changes took place in teachers classroom instruction that reflected shifts in their NOS understanding. Results indicate that, while participation in certain research activities may, in fact, make certain aspects of NOS more understandable for teachers, this does not necessitate change in classroom practice. Implications for research-based teacher professional development programs are explored based on these results.

Graduation date: 1953

The goal of this study is to investigate how a learning-progression-centered assessment system mediated the collaborative efforts between teachers and researchers in reorienting assessment toward improving the quality of instruction and supporting student learning. In particular, this study aims to understand how the learning-progression-centered assessment system can support teachers to orchestrate productive classroom discussion based on the path outlined in the learning progression to make conceptual progress. The analysis of four case teachers provides evidence that the assessment system supported teachers in developing understandings of the big ideas of data, chance and statistics and of the learning progressions of statistical reasoning. In addition, the assessment system supported the teachers in transforming assessment practices in their classrooms. The teachers demonstrated construct-centered orchestration of assessment talk: structuring classroom interaction centered on important mathematical ideas represented in the classification system and/or aligning the instructional trajectory with the learning progressions to support student learning. This study suggests that learning progressions as a classification system can be an effective tool to disrupt the historically developed classificatory system for assessment in modern schooling (i.e., right or wrong) and eventually overwrite it with a disciplinary perspective on mathematics. The field needs to develop more content-specific classification systems to inspect qualities of students reasoning and teachers interpretations of students reasoning.

Studies and research in art education have centered mostly upon curriculum issues, creativity development, and perceptual or cognitive skills. The purpose of this study was to :identify, isolate, and define various components of expression relating to visual art. The literature suggests various aspects of expression inherent in viewing and forming visual art, but the connections between these components appear unclear. An explanatory theoretical framework was therefore developed as a logical means of portraying and examining components affecting visual expression and their potential relationships.The problem of the study focuses on two research questions: (1) what components of expression can be identified within the literature of art and art education, and (2) what theoretical relationships can be hypothesized among these components: The purpose of the study was to develop a t :eoretical framework utilizing expressive components which might generate furtherr knowledge of expression in the visual arts.The methodology develops the procedures involved in determining what factors affect expression within the visual arts and suggests possible theoretical ponents of visual art expression are:General Response,interrelatedness among these components. The procedures consisted of: (1) conducting an exploratory research to determine factors thought to affect visual expression, (2) defining and examining features of theory models, (3) investigating the functions of theory types, and(4) examining and utilizing appropriate techniques necessary to develop a theory model. The initial research resulted in consideration of expression in three areas: the artist, the art product, and the response of the observer.The result of the research is the Expressive Components Model. In a cybernetic theory framework, the model provides a basis for explaining, interpreting, and suggesting the functions and relationships of individual factors affecting visual expression. The identified comSelective Response, Conceptual Planning, Aesthetic Response, Production, Reaction, and the Art Product. The procedures used for selection of components considered significant in analyzing art forms are detailed in the section depicting the model development.The culmination chapter summarizes and provides implications and recommendations for art education purposes. Observations drawn from the study are presented as they relate to the purpose of the study and to the Expressive Components Model. Development of the Expressi°vve Components 3Model may be useful in defining and examining the expressive qualities found in art works. Art education usage of the model may be the most worthwhile result of the research. Students of art may respond with a be `ter understanding of how and why an art work is expressive instead of relying solely on intuition and feeling. Most importantly, the Expressive Components Model may generate additional research on expression and the components which seem to affect visual expression in the arts.

Science education is increasingly organized around engaging students in scientific practices, positioning them as makers of knowledge. However, there is significant uncertainty both about how to initiate students into these practices and how domain knowledge and participation in practice should be integrated in instruction. This three-paper dissertation addresses these challenges by situating students activity within the overarching enterprise of modeling. The first paper is a conceptual review of the literature on scientific argumentation. It conceptualizes argumentation as the social activity that problematizes and stabilizes modeling practice and proposes three directions for research: carefully designing uncertainty into students activity, describing how students critique not just what they know but the means by which they know it, and attending to the development of practice. The second and third papers are empirical studies of third grade students scientific activity in a backyard ecosystem; they trace the relation between students modeling practice and the development of ecological understanding. The second paper documents four phases of instruction during one school year, following the development of one disciplinary idea, the reproductive success of plants. It traces how students activity facilitated the visibility and utility of meanings for reproduction, which, in turn, shaped students subsequent modeling practice. The third paper presents a close analysis of students work around one experiment, with which they sought to understand how different amounts of light might account for the pattern of plant distribution in the backyard. It describes the aspects of modeling practice students engaged in as they worked with the experiment, how their practice made contact with ecological ideas, and how forms of practice and disciplinary understandings developed over the course of eight weeks of activity. As a set, the papers illustrate productive contacts between the social, conceptual, and epistemic aspects of scientific activity that can be cultivated in instructional experiences that are typical in elementary school. In addition, they present, test, and refine design principles for engineering learning environments in which knowledge-making is both accessible to students and a useful foundation for disciplinary understandings.

A qualitative and quantitative study that give insight into students framing of digital physics video game environments is presented in this thesis. A qualitative pilot study is explained followed by a follow-up interview study. Analysis of post-interview video data showed evidence of discourse-differences in students framing of gaming environments as being game-like, or physics like. A secondary quantitative study analyzed the detail of students post gameplay artwork to see if there were statistically significant difference in the artwork due to the frequency and duration of gameplay. Analysis using a hierarchical linear model split across class sessions was not able to explain the variance in students performance.