This dissertation describes and analyzes how participants in one gender-informed graduate-level seminar socialized each other through joint construction of the learning environment and the learning. The research was conducted in two phases. First an ethnographic approach was used for collecting data over the course of the year in a graduate-level women's history seminar. Using ethnographic methods, I worked out an analysis of the learning environment--in particular the expectations of the professor, the motivations of participants, subject matter, and organization of space and activities. The second phase of the research used sociolinguistic methodology to arrive at an analysis of how the participants co-constructed the learning in a gender-informed collaborative classroom. Reviews of research on gender and graduate-level teaching and learning, constructivist and social constructivist learning theory, and learning processes in gender-informed classrooms formed the theoretical framework for the dissertation. Particularly relevant were studies which examined gender-balancing processes and constructivist perspectives in graduate-level learning. The study contributes to our understanding of how participants in a gender-informed seminar socialized each other and jointly constructed meanings. When the professor provided gender-informed subject matter to men and women who were willing to learn, then men and women became more conscious of the workings of gender in their own lives. In addition, the social context in the classroom became more supportive across gender lines. Through discussions alone, consciousness can be raised, but it is through collaborative work and group dialogue on individual projects that new understandings are integrated and demonstrated in written work and in social behavior.

Considerable research has addressed the problem of poor student achievement in basic accounting courses as evidenced by low grades and high drop out rates. Much of this research focused on (1) changing the environment of instruction from the traditional classroom lecture setting to an individualized setting, or by (2) manipulating the elements of instruction within the lecture setting, for example, test frequency. The results of this research were largely inconclusive. Believing that the way the information is structured in traditional courses and texts contributes to its difficulty of learning, this research focused on a teaching approach which relied on a restructured form of this information to teach basic accounting. A two dimensional model of the whole accounting cycle process was created from the information found in traditional courses and texts. An approach was developed which used this model or "big picture" to teach the accounting cycle material. A test was conducted comparing the Restructured Information (RI) Approach with the Traditional Structure Approach to determine its effect on students' achievement and attitudes. Two groups of community college students were involved in the test, one taught using the (RI) Approach (experimental) and the other taught using the Traditional Structure Approach (control). Achievement was measured by test scores and course grades. Attitudes were compared for the experience of learning, how students felt about the accounting learned, and the value put on learning it. The experimental students scored significantly higher on the test most related to the accounting cycle. The remaining test scores were equivalent between the two groups. The experimental students achieved higher course grades than the control students but not significantly. There were no significant differences between the two groups on the attitudinal questions. Overall, the experimental students were quite positive about the (RI) Approach. Several groups were more positive than others. Students with no previous accounting instruction achieved significantly higher grades and were significantly more positive than students with previous accounting. It appeared this latter group experienced frustration when being required to relearn the accounting cycle material in a different way. Older students were significantly more positive about the (RI) Approach than younger students.

This study was purposed to understand the experiences of a group of undergraduate teaching assistants (UTA) working in a college remedial mathematics program which emphasized constructivist problem solving. Data were collected from four sources: in-depth and post interviews with the UTAs, interviews with the co-working instructors, interviews with two students from each of the UTA's class, and classroom observations. Results were presented in two ways: (a) UTAs' stories were told in individual profiles, detailing their experiences learning math from early school years and their teaching math in the current context; and (b) from the perspective of their four tasks (asking constructivist questions, classroom circulation, homework grading, and working in the Study Center), describing their successes and difficulties. Three important results were surmised from the data. First, UTAs' past experiences with math had a large effect on how they perceived their own math abilities and the way they thought that math should be taught. Second, the use of constructivist approach to teaching and learning was effective in changing UTAs' perceptions of what math was and how it could be learned; however, it also added pressure to these UTAs in their work with their students. Third, because of the contructivist emphasis, UTAs experienced early on impact and task concerns as well as personal concerns. Suggestions for preparing training program's for similar populations were advanced.

Within the period of each student teaching experience a series of transfers takes place in which responsibility for decision-making in instruction and classroom management is shifted from the cooperating teacher to the student teacher and culminates with the assumption of the role of teacher by the student teacher. The purpose of this study was to investigate the transfer of instruction and classroom control and the degrees of freedom allowing the student teacher to make decisions during the preservice clinical experience. Six categories were used as a framework to discipline the collection of the data: Time Sequence, Readiness, Formal Communication--Conferences, Informal Communication--Cues and Signs, Degrees of Freedom and Proximity, and Legal and Moral Responsibilities. The methodology involved three phases of investigation: oral interviews, classroom observations, and questionnaires. The population in Phases 1 and 2 consisted of ten matched pairs of cooperating teachers and student teachers who were interviewed and observed. In Phase 3 nine cooperating teachers and eight student teachers comprised a different, non-matched population who responded to two types of questionnaires. All participants were from elementary preservice clinical experiences in western Massachusetts. Collected data from the three phases were qualitatively analyzed to identify significant factors relative to the transfer of control. Cooperating teachers and student teachers had no personal explicit time sequence to grant or receive the transfer of control but believed an implicit pattern existed. Student teachers had no personal criteria for readiness to assume control but determined it by personal successes in classroom management, lesson ownership, and pupil respect. Cooperating teachers had an implicit pattern for determining readiness based on these factors. Conferencing varied in length and content; reflective thinking and philosophical discussion were not major components. Cues and signs were important indicators of the progress of the transfer of control. Student teachers needed to experience degrees of freedom to make decisions as they assumed control. They believed the cooperating teacher's proximity affected the mode of instruction and limited the degrees of freedom in their instructional and management styles. Legal questions limited the latitude of the student teacher's risk-taking and decision-making potential.

The purposes of this dissertation were to compare the creative thinking of kindergarten students from three different child rearing backgrounds who participated in two curriculum approaches. Another purpose was to identify suggestions for promoting and developing creative thinking in children. The three child rearing styles examined were: democratic, autocratic and overprotective. The two curriculum approaches were: Readiness Activities Oriented Curriculum and the Academic Oriented Curriculum. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking Figural Form A was translated and adapted to suit Thai students (Rungsinan, 1978). The Torrance Tests yielded three measures: fluency, originality and elaboration. The Kindergarten Curriculum Evaluation Form developed by the researcher was used to identify fourteen kindergarten schools that participated in the study. The Questionnaire Concerning Child Rearing Practices was adapted from the questionnaire developed by Thumnut (1979) and revised by Kiattikul (1988). A total of three hundred and seventeen children participated in the study. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance procedures. The following findings emerged from the study: (1) There were no significant differences in fluency, originality and elaboration scores among students from different child rearing backgrounds. (2) The students in the readiness kindergarten programs scored significantly higher on fluency, originality and elaboration than students in the academic kindergartens. (3) The measure of elaboration emerged as a variable which was highly significant and may be of practical significance. In promoting and developing creative thinking in kindergarten students, the researcher suggests the use of brainstorming, webbing and pretending as techniques to help students produce new ideas and form relationships between concepts, to encourage their imagination and to involve students with minimal amounts of direction, exposition and instruction.

This study is a descriptive analysis of the perceptions of selected first and second grade teachers on the design and implementation of writing-portfolio assessment. The literature supported the need to examine alternative writing assessments that include both product and process-oriented information about developing writers. Writing-portfolio assessments focus on day-to-day interactions in the classroom and provide on-going diagnostic information about students' writing development and involvement with various instruction processes and procedures from one month to the next and from one year to the next. Two first grade teachers were chosen for an indepth investigation of their portfolio assessments of the early writer. Data were gathered using indepth interviewing, field observations and the analysis of student portfolios. The data collected were analyzed around categories derived from five main areas of investigation: (A) Changes in writing instruction. (B) Instruction and assessment. (C) Reporting procedures. (D) The Changing role of the teacher. (E) Support for teachers. Data gathered in this study indicated that as changes in writing instruction occurred in teachers' classrooms, a need for alternative assessments developed that would focus on a closer analysis of students' writing strengths and needs and would "capture" writing process opportunities and self-assessment activities in the classroom. As student portfolios were analyzed, teachers were able to outline patterns of strengths and needs that led to designing specific goals and implementation plans with individual students and the class as a whole. The specificity of the assessment allowed teachers to include students in self-assessment processes that focused on their development. Reporting portfolio assessment results to parents, future teachers, administrators and students themselves proved to be positive and informative. Teachers implementing writing-portfolio assessments needed time and opportunities to discuss and define good writing, determine the kinds of information to collect, articulate realistic writing goals and expectations, design appropriate implementation plans and writing strategies and organize necessary record-keeping that would document and report on progress in students' writing portfolios. Student writing-portfolio assessments documented students' development as writers, informed instruction and provided a "window" into the classroom. They offered teachers a greater potential in understanding and supporting their students' literacy development.

This study will attempt to clarify behavior modification practices as related to the timeout procedure generally and specifically in a program for emotionally and behaviorally troubled children grades 3-5 and to propose a new concept which may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of behavior management. This study took place in a self-contained classroom in a public school that is located in a semi-rural community. It is understood that teachers need to be in control of their classrooms in order to maintain an effective learning environment. The way they achieve that control may be dependent upon imposed control in contrast to students managing themselves. This study will attempt to provide an understanding of children's ability to control their own behaviors and the role of the teacher as a facilitator of tools for modifying behavior.

The intent of this study was to describe the complex phenomenon of mentoring student teachers in one elementary teacher education program. A case study research design was used. Interviews, observations, and an examination of documents were used to uncover two major themes, support and challenge, across the three central topics of curriculum, classroom management, and school culture. An operational definition of preservice mentoring was constructed, using the literature as well as data from the participants: Emergent teachers moving through the teacher education continuum of preservice, induction, and inservice, construct a mentoring system to help them manage their professional growth and development: a unique network of people who support and challenge them with curriculum, classroom management, and the school culture. A mentor/protege relationship is characterized by shared beliefs, negotiation, reciprocity, commitment, collegiality, nurturance, and respect for the autonomy of the protege along a developmental path of initiation, reciprocity, separation, and redefinition, always with a goal of increased self-reliance. (Templeton, 1994). The study focused on the cooperating teacher/student teacher relationship that occurs during the student teaching semester in order to arrive at a description of the vital elements that are central to mentoring in preservice teacher education. The study described the context underlying the collaborative mentoring support system that operates within this elementary teacher education program. The questions that guided this inquiry were (1) How does mentoring operate in the cooperating teacher/student teacher relationship in the student teaching component of one elementary preservice teacher education program? (2) What do cooperating teachers and student teachers identify as the key elements of mentoring relationships in the student teaching component of one elementary preservice teacher education program? The study revealed that mentoring occurs at many different levels during teacher development and is interpreted in many different ways, both in the mentoring literature and in practice. Phases of the mentoring relationship were experienced in the same order, but in varying intervals by each of the three student teachers. These phases were initiation, reciprocity, separation, and redefinition. The study may provide a basis for guiding others interested in incorporating mentoring into their teacher education programs. Teacher educators could benefit from this study because the data may exhibit elements which will contribute to a systemic model of mentoring at the preservice level. It is important for teacher educators to start thinking about the skills they need to provide, model, and encourage preservice mentoring processes because mentoring can be a critical element in providing a bridge between preservice education and induction into teaching.

The "Draw to Learn" study was undertaken to determine if a combination of drawing and writing in a high school language arts setting would enhance creativity and self-expression. The intervention described in this study took place in a 9-12 high school in Hartford, Connecticut, during April and May of 1993. It consisted of six classroom lessons and four measurements: the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (T.T.C.T./non-verbal), the Sheridan RESCORE writing analysis test, an opinion survey questionnaire and a three-judge panel review of randomly selected student journals. Outcomes were mixed. Results from the T.T.C.T. and the RESCORE were the opposite of expectations. The T.T.C.T. creativity index dropped significantly after the intervention and the RESCORE results measured no general increase in writing between the first and last sessions of "Draw to Learn." Other results were more promising. Anecdotal material from RESCORE, data from the opinion survey questionnaire and the judges' responses indicated some enhancement of creativity and self-expression from the intervention, with a noticeably stronger performance in drawing than in writing. It was speculated that time constraints could have been involved in producing both this discrepancy and the negative results from T.T.C.T. and RESCORE. The possibility that the data were reflecting a population undergoing change was also raised. Several areas of further research are suggested by the study, including uses of the model with other populations, different kinds of drawing activities, and longer time frames.

<p> A mini-economy is an ongoing classroom project in which elementary school students apply for jobs, receive simulated income, go shopping at the classroom store, and ultimately create their own businesses. This study uses design-based research methodology to find out what classroom practices emerge when the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards (C3 Framework) (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) is used by elementary teachers as the basis for instruction in the context of a classroom mini-economy, and how analysis of those practices can be used to improve instructional design. Design-based research seeks to simultaneously create and analyze teaching materials, with the purpose of improving both the materials themselves and the research literature on which the materials are based. In this case, the goal of the teaching materials was to improve the authenticity and rigor of the teacher-participants&rsquo; classroom mini-economies. Therefore, the study draws upon research literature in Authentic Intellectual Work, as well as inquiry teaching in social studies, particularly in economic education. </p><p> Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) is a way to think about curriculum, instruction, and assessment. It seeks &ldquo;to identify some kinds of intellectual work as more complex and socially or personally meaningful than others&rdquo; (King, Newmann, &amp; Carmichael, 2009). It consists of construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and value beyond school (Scheurman &amp; Newmann, 1998). Inquiry teaching in social studies has taken many forms, most currently in the C3 Framework, which was the approach used in this study. The C3 Framework conceptualizes inquiry as &ldquo;the disciplinary concepts and practices that support students as they develop the capacity to know, analyze, explain, and argue about interdisciplinary challenges in our social world&rdquo; (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013, p. 6). Classroom mini-economies in particular fall within the realm of the social science of economics, so the study pays special attention to the literature on K-12 economic education. </p><p> The study reveals ways in which teachers were able to use the C3 Framework to build authenticity in the mini-economy, though it also reveals that teachers were willing to dilute the quality of the inquiry process when it fit with their larger goals. The findings suggest that inquiry as conceived in the C3 Framework can be used as a powerful tool for equipping students for an increasingly complex social world. However, the inquiry process is at its best when lesson materials that use it are carefully designed to meet teachers&rsquo; desires to provide interdisciplinary and real-world experiences for their students.</p>