This study of prospective science teachers learning of science and science teaching during their university studies set out to investigate what experiences influenced the prospective teachers to understand science and science teaching the way they did, and what experiences promoted or undermined the current goals of science education reform. The research questions focused on the beliefs that prospective science teachers share and the experiences that facilitated those beliefs. / This interpretive study of one group of prospective science teachers during one year of university science education instruction was undertaken to understand the "meaning-perspectives" of the participants as the experiences were related to science teaching and the nature of science. The primary data sources were field notes, formal and informal interviews, informal discussions (recorded as field notes), and data produced by the participants (i.e., journals, class assignments). The study, in large part, involved active participation on my part. I had multiple roles in the study, including researcher, university instructor, high school teacher, university supervisor, doctoral student, and friend. / Beliefs were interpreted using the idea of cultural myths. A myth of objectivism was a primary referent for the prospective teachers' sense making. The prospective teachers believed knowledge existed independently of thinking beings and matched an objective reality. The myth was supported by the university undergraduate science culture and science coursework. Only by reflecting on teaching experiences from a constructivist epistemology were prospective teachers able to value the goals of current science education reform. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3583. / Major Professor: Kenneth Tobin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the implicit belief system of the physical education pre-service teacher as measured by Weber's (1977) Teacher Competency Questionnaire and selected teacher behaviors as measured by Birdwell's (1980) Academic Learning Time-Physical Education-Teacher Behavior systematic observation instrument. Fourteen junior pre-service physical education teachers served as subjects for the study. Following a thirteen week course in teaching methodology, which included instruction in Mosston's (1981) spectrum of teaching styles, each subject prepared and presented three 5 minute micro-lessons. Each lesson was taught in a different Mosston teaching style, excluding command style. The micro-lessons were video taped and subsequently the teacher behaviors only were coded by two trained observers using Birdwell's Academic Learning Time-Physical Education-Teacher Behavior observation instrument. Each subject also completed an informal survey which asked the subject to list at least ten qualities, based on his/her own perception, of a good teacher. The relationship between intended teaching behaviors and actual behaviors of the subjects in their micro-teaching was examined. Also, the subject responses to clustered items on the Weber TCQ were compared with frequencies of specific teacher behaviors using the Pearson product-moment correlation statistical procedure. / The results of the investigation indicated a wide discrepancy between intended teaching behavior and demonstrated teaching behavior. Intended behaviors, such as monitoring, occurred at lower than anticipated frequencies, while the frequency of actual demonstrated teacher behaviors, such as giving directions and feedback, occurred at much higher than anticipated frequencies. Seven of the eleven correlations examined between the results of the clustered Weber questionnaire items and the frequencies of the corresponding teacher behavior were negative. These relationships suggest that even though the subjects indicated that the specific competencies cited in the Weber questionnaire were "of very great importance", they were either unable or unwilling to demonstrate those competencies in supporting frequencies during their micro-teaching experience. Further, the data suggest that the implicit belief system of the pre-service teacher concerning the teaching of physical education may have a critical impact on actual teaching behaviors. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-07, Section: A, page: 1732. / Major Professor: Beverly J. Yerg. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

<p> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of teachers who effectively promoted student creativity and maintained high levels of work engagement. Creativity is considered a skill crucial for future success but is often misunderstood. High-stakes accountability in modern education has increased focus on test scores, reduced emphasis on creativity development at the school level, and negatively affected teacher work engagement. </p><p> In-depth interviews and written responses were used to generate an understanding of how teachers who foster student creativity and maintain high levels of work engagement experience modern education. Fifteen participants from 14 schools in three school districts across northern Georgia shared their experiences. </p><p> Findings indicated that teachers can foster student creativity in the current high-stakes accountability environment when they focus on establishing meaningful relationships with students and colleagues, exhibit adaptability in the classroom, and maintain confidence in their educational identity. The participants in the study also were driven toward self-improvement, found intrinsic value in their approach to curriculum and instruction, were supported by administration, focused on social and emotional aspects of education, provided students with ownership in the learning process, made learning relevant, and established structure and safety for students within a flexible approach to learning. Future implications for practice include placing an increased focus on creativity development in schools because this focus has the potential to increase student learning in addition to boosting creativity.</p><p>

<p> Educational reform movements set ambitious goals for student learning. Numerous factors contribute to students achieving these goals. It has been widely understood that &ldquo;the increasing emphasis on quality of teaching and learning has placed new demands on staff development, and the search for models and methodologies which are promising for professional development of academic staff has become an important agenda in itself&rdquo; (Ho, A.,2001 P.35). Effective changes in practice require a great deal of learning on the part of teachers and an even greater amount of support and guidance from administrators (Borko, 2004, Putnam &amp; Borko, 2000).</p><p> Problematic practices in hiring and staffing make it difficult, albeit impossible, to provide an equal distribution of qualified teachers in high poverty districts and schools serving minorities. Contributing to the problem of teacher inequality and underqualified teachers is the phenomenon of out-of-field teaching- a term in reference to certified or qualified teachers who were teaching a subject in which they had no formal qualification or training (Hobbs, 2013). These teachers often receive little training and support and therefore find it difficult to experience success.</p><p> Through qualitative interviewing this study seeks to explore the perceptions of out-of-field teachers and mentors and understand how they make meaning of their experiences. Five themes emerged from the study: ineffective training and professional development, desire for success, buy in, time, and support. </p><p> Teachers and mentors want professional development that is meaningful to the work they do in the classroom. Educators, especially those teaching out-of-field, need training that is intense, focused and content oriented. Buy in is vital to any professional training. Out-of-field teachers want to be included in the decision-making as to what professional development they receive.</p><p> From this study, it was learned that it is a teacher&rsquo;s priority to make sure they are teaching content standards from day-to-day. The participants identified a lack of support as an inhibitor to that implementation. This concern for the lack of professional support among the participants bares out much of the research (Borko, 2014. Hobbs, 2015, Darling-Hammond, 2002, Ingersoll, 1999). Out-of-field teachers are highly committed to the students and communities they serve. With focused and intense training, close monitoring, time to observe skilled content area teachers, and strong support from building and district administrators, out-of-field teachers can become effective educators when teaching outside their area of expertise.</p><p>

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 28-09, Section: A, page: 3540. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1967.

The purpose of this study was to describe the physical education student teaching experience as a student progressed through a twelve-week experience. This study was conducted in the naturalistic setting using qualitative methods (Erickson, 1986). The qualitative techniques were: nonparticipant observation, informal interviews, reflective journal entries, formal interviews, and document analysis. / During data analysis, themes and categories were discovered through analytic induction and constant comparison (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984; Patton, 1983). To insure that these themes and categories were derived systematically, a strategy called domain analysis was used (Spradley, 1980). After the specific details of the fieldnotes had been categorized into domains, a theme analysis was carried out to identify "recurrent themes." An in-depth analysis of selected domains was combined with an analysis of "recurrent themes" (Spradley, 1980). / During analysis three major domains emerged that framed the first three research questions: (a) What instructional tasks occurred during the student teaching experience? (b) What management tasks occurred during the student teaching experience? and (c) What routines were used during the student teaching experience by the student teacher? The last two research questions were formulated from two "recurring themes": (a) What were the different expectations that existed in the physical education setting? (b) What issues related to instruction and management presented difficulties for the student teacher during his student teaching experience? These five research questions were used to describe this student teacher's experience. In addition, a description of the student teacher, the setting, and the researcher were included. / The major findings of this study were the two "recurring themes" and their implications for teacher preparation programs. From the findings of this study, recommendations for teacher education programs were made and suggestions for further research in student teaching were offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0751. / Major Professor: Charles H. Imwold. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes about art and art education held by elementary art teachers, classroom teachers, and principals, and how an involvement in a discipline-based art education (DBAE) program through participation in the Florida Institute for Art Education (FIAE) might affect these attitudes. The FIAE has adopted the educational change model of the Getty Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts as a vehicle for implementing change. The main focus of this study addressed two issues: (1) how attitudes concerning art and art education held by elementary teachers and principals who participated in the FIAE might differ from the attitudes of nonparticipating teachers and principals, and (2) how attitudes of FIAE elementary teachers and principals might change as a result of intensive training in the teaching of art using the DBAE approach facilitated by an educational change model. / In order to identify specific attitudes about art education, a questionnaire was developed and tested, and a survey was conducted. The population for this study included eleven county school districts in Florida who have participated in the 1988, 1989, and 1990 summer institutes of the FIAE and eleven county school districts who did not participate. Data analysis was completed using an analysis of covariance and descriptive statistics. / The results of the study revealed a statistically significant difference between the attitudinal mean scores of participants of the FIAE and nonparticipants.. Implications of these findings indicate that existing attitudes can be altered, and that educational change can occur. Recommendations were made for creating new art programs, and enhancing existing programs by a discipline-based approach to teaching art implemented through an educational model. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0693. / Major Professor: Jessie Lovano-Kerr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The study investigated two main questions: the first focused on the factors that enabled and constrained student teachers' engagement of a socially critical pedagogy in physical education teacher education (PETE); the second centered on gaining insight into the usefulness of knowledgeability as a concept for analysing student teachers engagement of a socially critical pedagogy. At the time of writing this thesis empirical analyses of socially critical pedagogies in physical education were rare in the educational literature. The study provided an alternative way of analysing student teachers’ engagement of a socially critical pedagogy in PETE. Alternative in that it avoided recycling and reproducing the dualism between agency and structure (Aronowitz and Giroux, 1985) that is prevalent in much of the physical education literature. Conversational interviews were conducted with four student teachers and their teacher educators throughout the duration of a one-semester PETE unit in an Australian university. Observations were made of the lecture and practical sessions and a document analysis was conducted of all unit learning resources. The analytical frame used in the study was structuration theory (Giddens, 1979, 1984). This framework was useful because it gave primacy to the duality of structure which recognised ‘the structural properties of social systems are both the medium and outcome of practices that constitute those systems’ (Giddens, 1979, p.69). The pedagogical intentions of the teacher educator co-ordinating the PETE unit were to change the orientations of the student teachers towards primary school physical education by encouraging them to adopt different ‘lenses’ through which to examine pedagogical practices. These ‘lenses’ highlighted the questions central to those with socio-critical intentions, eg. power, social injustice and diversity. Data generated from conversations with, and observations of, the student teachers, indicated that the actualisation of the teacher educator's intentions were somewhat limited. Despite this, adopting structuration theory as the explanatory framework for the study proved generative at a number of levels. Broadly, structuration theory was useful because it highlighted the way that student teachers' engagement with a socially critical pedagogy is contingent upon particular (idiosyncratic) dialectics of agency and structure. Using the duality of structure as an analytical tool illustrated the way student teachers' were influenced by structural factors as well as the way these structural factors were in turn constituted by the action of the student teachers. Also, by utilising structuration theory as an explanatory framework, the concept of knowledgeability was identified as a useful concept for analysing student teachers' engagement with a socially critical pedagogy in PETE. What is more, the study highlighted the reflexivity of the self and social knowledge, both characteristics of late modernity, as being integral to the way the student teachers engaged with the socially critical pedagogy of EAE400. Not only did the study highlight the reflexivity of the self but it also provided insight into the reflexivity of social knowledge. Much of the socially critical work in physical education implicitly adopts a linear approach to change. Given the findings of the study it might be useful for future developments to consider change as circular. The thesis concludes by suggesting that given the reflexivity of social knowledge, socially critical perspectives might be more readily engaged if the PETE content was incorporated into student teachers existing knowledge frameworks rather than viewed as a replacement for such frameworks.

State educational agencies are charged with following provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and when components such as adequate yearly progress (AYP) are not met, consequences follow such as lack of school choice and loss of federal funding. A school district in the southeastern United States was found unable to meet the AYP reading requirement for 4 consecutive years. Research suggests that exposure to various forms of informational text is needed in order for students to develop into successful readers, achieve state requirements, and be successful on standardized tests. This qualitative phenomenological study was based on the premises of constructivism and theories of learning motivation that encourage interactive learning, exposure to a variety of reading forms, and opportunities for creating meanings and reflecting. The purpose of this study was to address the research question that involved understanding teachers' perceptions of what information and components of informational texts are needed to improve students' reading abilities. Interviews were conducted with 10 third-grade teachers at one particular school within the district. Emerging themes were identified through open coding of interview data. Results suggested that informational texts could be beneficial for increasing student achievement if student ability level, instructional content, and educational standards were taken into account. Based on past research and on the findings of the current study, a professional development plan and manual for utilizing informational texts in the classroom was developed. Implications for positive social change include improvements in professional development on informational texts for teachers in order to enhance student achievement and reading success.

Even the most caring teachers need to feel appreciated by their students. Noddings proposed a circle of care in which teachers develop a caring classroom environment and initiate care for students. A positive response from the student is required in order to close the circle of care. Although researchers have described the characteristics of caring teachers, there is little research to examine the diverse ways that students reciprocate. / The purpose of the current ethnographic research was to examine the class environments that physical education teachers created for their students. The research question that guided this study was: "What was the place of caring in three physical teachers' class environments." / To address the question, I conducted an ethnographic, multi-site, case study involving sixth-grade classes from three different middle schools in a suburban school district. In each school I observed one teacher teach two classes. I used qualitative research to collect class observations and teacher and student interview data, focusing on the identification of interpersonal interactions between teachers and students. At the conclusion of the observation period, the three physical education teachers administered a 15 min. written questionnaire to all the students in their two classes. I also conducted one-on-one interviews with 28 students. After the student interviews, I conducted semi-structured interviews with each teacher. I analyzed data inductively and deductively using open, axial, and selective coding and adopted specific strategies to enhance the trustworthiness and transferability of these findings. / Results suggested that the three physical education teachers created and maintained effective classroom environments and held expectations for students associated with learning. However, each teacher's approach to teaching was unique and produced characteristic influences on student learning. The class environments maintained by the teachers led to a wide range of student responses. The students' satisfaction with the classroom environments seemed to be influenced by their interpretation of relationships with their teachers. / One physical education teacher in this study facilitated a variety of interpersonal interactions with students assisting each other in building skills and performing. This environment provided for interpersonal exchanges and relationships, closing the circle of care.