Thesis (Ed.D.)--East Carolina University, 2009. / Presented to the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership. Advisor: Marjorie Ringler. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Apr. 23, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

In this workshop, participants engaged with and reflected on authentic artifacts from data modeling projects related to the solar system and to deforestation that were completed by elementary students in grade 5 (average age 11). These authentic examples were used to ground a discussion of using a data modeling approach to help elementary students make sense of and meaningful integrated use of mathematics and science concepts and tools. School-based ways of helping teachers understand this approach in order to be able to use it in their classrooms were also discussed.

Many teachers report that they rarely engage in reflection. Asynchronous forums have been used to foster reflection among prospective teachers, but there is limited research about the allocation of time for reflection in an asynchronous forum for practicing teachers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to (a) determine teachers' perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of the use of an online forum to allocate time for reflection and (b) to classify the levels of the teachers' reflections in the forum. A conceptual framework based on select writings by Dewey, Hatton and Smith, and van Manen was used to guide this study. The research questions addressed teachers' perceptions of the benefits, drawbacks, and use of a forum to allocate time to reflect as well as the levels of reflection achieved by the teachers in the forum. Ten online discussions and 2 sets of questionnaires were analyzed and coded using constant comparative data analysis. Seven elementary mathematics teachers completed the study and 52% and 56% of the discussion postings were coded as critical reflections using Hatton and Smith's framework and a summary of van Manen's framework, respectively. The themes pertaining to the benefits of reflecting online were convenience, sharing, and learning. Peer-to-peer interactions, however, were infrequent, and the teachers indicated that time was a factor that limited participation. This study may effect positive social change by advancing knowledge about using online forums to provide teachers with time earmarked for reflection focused on improving mathematics teaching and learning. Furthermore, educators can use information from this study to design online professional development experiences that include opportunities for reflection and reflective practice.

The aim of this study is to investigate perceptions of preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) regarding geometry. In addition, the purpose is to examine the relationships among the components of TPACK. Moreover, possible gender and year of enrollment differences related to preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / technological pedagogical content knowledge dimensions are examined. This research study has been conducted with 780 preservice mathematics teachers who are enrolled in elementary mathematics education department of Education Faculties of seven public universities located in Central Anatolia. Perceived TPACK regarding geometry instrument has been developed to collect data. In order to determine the levels of preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / perceptions related to TPACK in geometry, descriptive information have been used. The results indicate that preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / perceptions of TPACK related to geometry is higher than moderate. Furthermore, correlational analysis was conducted to identify the relationship among dimensions of TPACK. Positive significant correlations among the components of the TPACK framework were found in correlational analysis. Besides, two-way MANOVA has been conducted to investigate a possible relationship between demographic information of preservice elementary mathematics teachers and their perceptions of TPACK. According to the MANOVA results, there are statistically significant differences between male and female preservice mathematics teachers in favor of male participants in three components of TPACK, namely technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge in favour of males.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of changes in preservice elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / views and reflections about elementary mathematics classes based on their observations in School Experience I and School Experience II courses. Specifically, this study investigated pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / views and reflections about instruction, assessment, and classroom management issues in elementary mathematics classes based on their observations in School Experience I and School Experience II courses. The sample consisted of 19 pre-service elementary mathematics teachers from a teacher education program at Middle East Technical University (METU). Pre-service elementary mathematics teachers involved in this study made their observations in their cooperating schools for 3 months during the spring semester of 2004-2005 academic year and the fall semester of 2007-2008 academic year. The data were collected by means of their School Experience I and School Experience II course reports. The results indicated that although there was commonality in the views and reflections of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / about instruction, assessment, and classroom management issues in elementary mathematics classes, there were differences in their knowledge in the way they perceive instruction, assessment, and classroom management as they progressed through their education. In other words, when School Experience I course reports were compared with School Experience II course reports, pre-service teachers perceived the mathematics instruction as more student-centered and they gave more importance to the alternative assessment strategies in their School Experience II course reports. Furthermore, they defended more positive classroom management methods in their School Experience II course reports.