<p> Achieving and maintaining student engagement within a classroom are issues educators have dealt with since the inception of formal educational systems. The effects of seating arrangements on the classroom ecology have often been an area of concern for teachers. Recently a new trend in education called flexible seating has emerged. Flexible seating consists of a variety of alternative seating options. Proponents of flexible seating allege it creates an environment that decreases off-task behaviors which increases student outcomes through attentiveness. The purpose of this study is to understand how the effects of a flexible seating arrangement impact the ecology of the at-risk secondary classrooms, and to explore advantages and disadvantages of flexible seating in these classrooms. The study&rsquo;s findings are taken from teacher interviews and observations within two at-risk secondary classrooms. The results demonstrate flexible seating increases the democracy in the classroom creating a feeling of well- being and allows self-regulation. However, based on this study educators are advised to learn their students&rsquo; needs and remember the nature of the task should influence the seating arrangement as well. </p><p> <i><b>Key Words:</b></i> flexible seating, traditional seating, at-risk, school ecology, on-task behaviors, off-task behaviors, engagement </p><p>

<p> With the increasing human population, it is critical to develop informed citizens with ecological perspectives and motivation to make positive contributions to the biosphere. This study investigates the impact of a place-based science elective on the development of students&rsquo; ecological identities, motivation for environmental action, and ecojustice self-efficacy. Targeted curriculum was implemented, including a campus habitat design project. Pre and post tests for three instruments were used to assess 25 high school freshmen, half of whom are members of a STEM program. There was an increase in nature relatedness, motivation and self-efficacy for STEM students but not for non-STEM students. The research study demonstrated the effectivity of using place-based curriculum within classes to encourage student connection, empowerment and involvement. Support for teachers to develop targeted mentoring of students&rsquo; abilities and interests are needed and can help develop informed, involved global citizens. </p><p>

<p> This dissertation characterized trainings designed to prepare citizen scientists to collect ecological data in natural outdoor settings. Citizen scientists are volunteers who participate in scientific activities under the guidance of professional scientists and organizations. The work of citizen scientists greatly expands the data collection possibilities in natural resource management and increases science literacy among participants and their social communities. The general problem is that some scientists and land managers view the data collected by citizen scientists as unreliable. The specific problem is the absence of educational training measurement in citizen science program design and analysis with which to ascertain the learning gains of trained citizen scientists. </p><p> Through a sequenced methodology of data analysis, survey, and semi-structured interviews, deductive descriptors and codes guided a directed content analysis of data collected. The analysis indicated strong alignment between citizen science, andragogy, and social learning theory. The sample revealed a bimodal distribution related to the type of data collected and the subsequent training design. Little training existed when data collection involved photography only. Citizen scientists brought prior skills to the task but did not need to gain new procedural learning to complete their data collection task. When citizen scientists collected more complex measurements, classroom and field mentoring facilitated learning. </p><p> Citizen science leaders described their perception of the reliability of their citizen scientists&rsquo; data collection efforts. Computer technologies validated photo and water quality data. Therefore, quantitative data analysis supported the perception of data reliability. Terrestrial data had a range of reliability qualifications including video and paper quizzing, field observation of methods implemented, periodic data checks, and follow-up mentoring when data quality was poor. Managers of terrestrial citizen science programs were confident in the reliability of the data for the land management, policy, and research applications required.</p><p>

<p> This thesis project consists of the development of an eighth-grade lesson sequence written for students on Catalina Island in Southern California. It is written as part of a project developed by the Catalina Island Conservancy to promote the ecological awareness of students living on the island. It encompasses the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards, highlights an outdoor component, and uses a 5E lesson framework. The lesson was reviewed by the Catalina Island Conservancy and by teachers experienced with the Next Generation Science Standards. Revisions were made based on their feedback. The lesson sequence focuses on a local endemic subspecies of bird in order to explore natural selection. Students learn about the bird, investigate its local habitat, compete in a natural selection simulation, and then make predictions about the fate of the bird due to a climatic change, using evidence collected throughout the lesson.</p><p>

<p> Three learning cycle science lessons were developed for preschoolers in an early childhood children&rsquo;s center in Costa Mesa, California. The lessons were field tested by both novice and experienced teachers with children ranging from three to five years old. Teachers were then interviewed informally to collect feedback on the structure and flow the lessons. The feedback was encouraging remarks towards the use of learning cycle science lessons for early childhood educators. Adjustments were made to the lessons based on teacher feedback. The lessons and their implications for preschool education are discussed. </p><p>

<p> Secondary science teachers make many daily decisions in the enactment of curriculum. Although curriculum materials are widely available to address science content, practices, and skills, the consideration that goes into deciding how and whether to use such materials is complicated by teachers&rsquo; beliefs about science, their understandings of school-level accountability and testing measures, and their perspectives on the adolescent students they teach. This study addresses the need to understand how teachers consider multiple forces in their enactment of science curriculum.</p><p> The purpose of this study was to explore the ways that discourses around accountability, science, and science education emerge in the narratives around teachers' decision-making in secondary science classrooms. Using a case study approach, I worked at two school sites with two pairs of science teachers. We established criteria for critical incidents together, then teachers identified critical decision-making moments in their classrooms. We analyzed those incidents together using a consultancy protocol, allowing teachers to focus their thinking on reframing the incidents and imagining other possible outcomes.</p><p> Using post-structuralist rhizomatics, I assembled analyses of teachers&rsquo; discussions of the critical incidents in the form of dramatization&mdash;scenes and monologues. I then developed two major interpretive strands. First, I connected teachers&rsquo; sense of having &ldquo;no time&rdquo; to blocs of affect tied to larger discourses of national security, teacher accountability, and the joy of scientific discovery. Second, I demonstrated how teachers&rsquo; concern in following logical pathways and sequences in science relates to the imposition of accountability measures that echo the outcomes-driven logic of the learning sciences. Across both interpretations, I found accountability to be complex, multidirectional, and unpredictable in how it works on and through teachers as they make decisions.</p><p> Research in this area has important practical implications in the fields of professional development, curriculum development, and school change. As more states (including New York) adopt standards derived from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the importance of privileging teachers&rsquo; investment and critical decision-making in the process of new curriculum development is vital. I suggest that tools like video-based coaching and consultancy protocol discussions support this kind of thoughtful curricular change.</p><p>

<p> Issues of sexual assault have become pervasive across all social strata in American society. Citizens need to start having conversations regarding these issues. To combat the issue of sexual assault, children need to be educated regarding the multifaceted aspects of sex through sex education in order to understand consent and resources they have available to them. Utilizing grounded theory methodology, this thesis analyzes sex education literature provided to Palm Beach County Middle School students. Using Burke&rsquo;s theory of terministic screens and Foucauldian theories of power and control; an understanding of the ideological underpinnings of this literature and discourse were acquired. After analysis, suggestions for disclosure and sex education programs are provided.</p>

This study reports middle school astronomy classes that implemented photographs and classroom response systems (CRSs) in a discussion-oriented pedagogy with a curriculum unit for the topics of day-night and cause of seasons. In the new pedagogy, a teacher presented conceptual questions with photographs, her 6th grade students responded using the CRSs, and the teacher facilitated classroom discussion based on the student responses. I collected various data: classroom observation with field-note taking and videotaping, student pre- and post-conception tests, student attitude survey and classroom short surveys, and teacher interviews. Classroom video recordings and teacher interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with the grounded theory approach. This approach was used to analyze the open responses of the student attitude survey as well. Pre- and post- conception tests consisted of open-ended questions and they were scored based upon rubrics. Numerical data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and simple t-tests. In this study, I answered three research questions: (1) student-teacher discourses and interaction patterns while learning and teaching with the photographs and CRSs in the new pedagogy; (2) 6th grade students' misconceptions about the concepts of day-night and cause of seasons, and their knowledge gains after they had the intervention; and (3) the students' and the teacher's attitude toward the new curriculum and the new pedagogy. Finally, I discuss the student-teacher interaction model and three important teacher-questionings in this pedagogy; levels of misconceptions; and the pedagogical roles of the photographs and CRSs.

<p>Recent attention to socio-scientific issues such as sustainable agriculture, environmental responsibility and nutritional health has spurred a resurgence of public interest in gardening and cooking. Seen as contexts for fostering scientific literacy?the knowledge domains, methodological approaches, habits of mind and discourse practices that reflect one?s understanding of the role of science in society, gardening and cooking are under-examined fields in science education, in part, because they are under-utilized pedagogies in school settings. Although learning gardens were used historically to foster many aspects of scientific literacy (e.g., cognitive knowledge, norms and methods of science, attitudes toward science and discourse of science), analysis of contemporary studies suggests that science learning in gardens focuses mainly on science knowledge alone. Using multiple conceptions of scientific literacy, I analyzed qualitative data to demonstrate how exploration, talk and text fostered scientific literacy in a school garden. Exploration prompted students to engage in scientific practices such as making observations and constructing explanations from evidence. Talk and text provided background knowledge and accurate information about agricultural, environmental and nutritional topics under study. Using a similar qualitative approach, I present a case study of a third grade teacher who explicitly taught food literacy through culinary arts instruction. Drawing on numerous contextual resources, this teacher created a classroom community of food practice through hands-on cooking lessons, guest chef demonstrations, and school-wide tasting events. As a result, she promoted six different types of knowledge (conceptual, procedural, dispositional, sensory, social, and communal) through leveraging contextual resources.This case study highlights how food literacy is largely contingent on often-overlooked mediators of food literacy: the relationships between participants, the activity, and the type of knowledge invoked. Scientific literacy in food education continues to be a topic of interest in the fields of public health and of sustainable agriculture, as well as to proponents of the local food movement. This dissertation begins to map a more cohesive and comprehensive approach to gardening and cooking implementation and research in school settings.

<p> Gender differences in middle school science were examined utilizing a mixed-methods approach. The intrinsic and extrinsic experiences of male and female non-gifted high-achieving students were investigated through the administration of the CAIMI, student interviews, teacher questionnaires, observations, and document examination.</p><p> Male and female students were selected from a rural Northeast Georgia school district based on their high performance and high growth during middle school science. Eighty-three percent of the student participants were white and 17% were Hispanic. Half of the male participants and one third of the female participants were eligible for free and reduced meals.</p><p> Findings revealed that male participants were highly motivated, whereas female participants exhibited varying levels of motivation in science. Both male and female students identified similar instructional strategies as external factors that were beneficial to their success. Due to their selection by both genders, these instructional strategies were considered to be gender-neutral and thereby useful for inclusion within coeducational middle school science classrooms.</p>