Literature clearly supports the use of data to support and drive school policy. Data can be immensely informative; however test scores are not the sole indicator of school effectiveness. To successfully implement a plan for data use, it is imperative to a provide climate of teacher buy-in and collaboration. Multiple sources of data should be considered collectively prior to making any judgment(s) about students, teachers, curriculum, or schools. Data use for effective decision-making is an on-going process that requires strategic planning and a long-term commitment. Over the past year, I have led the math department through a modified version of the steps identified in the Using Data Project, which piloted and field tested the Using Data Process of Collaborative Inquiry. As part of this project, one of the primary data sources we utilized was the ERB standardized test data from 5th through 8th grade tests, which are taken at the end of the school year. I will show how my school successfully implemented a collaborative inquiry process to inform classroom and curriculum decisions in mathematics. The collaborative inquiry process at The Dunham School had the following aspects: 1) high-quality, extensive data; 2) the collaborative team involved most of the math department on a regular basis; 3) standards were used extensively; 4) scheduled times and tasks were necessary; 5) this project fit the environment, served our recognized needs and had administrative involvement (including awareness, input, oversight, and expectations of deliverables).

Natural selection is a topic that is laden with misconceptions. These misconceptions are often not addressed, and students can leave a biology classroom with the same incorrect ideas that they entered with. These misconceptions can be identified and addressed by using the Concept Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS). Furthermore, by teaching using methods that encourage hands-on, inquiry based techniques, students are more apt to reconcile these misconceptions and have a deeper understanding of the natural selection process. The goal of my research was to show a positive correlation between reduction in student misconceptions about natural selection and inquiry based activities. Five classes of students (145 total students) completed the CINS twice; once as a pre-test, and again as a post-test. Three classes had the natural selection unit delivered in a lecture-based format with no hands-on activities. Two classes had the unit delivered with no lectures, but instead with inquiry activities that utilized methods and practices from the Reformed Teacher Observation Protocol (RTOP). Data was collected from both classes and compared. If teaching method plays a significant role in decreasing student misconceptions, there would be a statistically significant difference in gains between the teaching styles, which there was.

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics were released in June of 2010. The standards were developed by a team of over 75 teachers and specialist in response to improve math education in the United States through more focused, coherent, rigorous standards to help our students be competitive in the 21st century. As of June 2012, 45 states had adopted the new standards which better coordinate what students at individual grade level should know and be able to do to in order to be college and career ready by grade twelve. With new computer based assessments being developed and set to be given to students as early as 2014 to assess understanding of these standards, it is necessary for teachers to begin implementing instructional shifts in the classroom that prepare students for both the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice. The concept of dual intensity emphasizes that both procedural and conceptual skills are of equal importance in the classroom and changes should be made to provide opportunities for students to experience both in an atmosphere that is both rigorous and intense. Providing students opportunities to demonstrate The Standards for Mathematical Practice will involve the most change in the classroom. It will involve a change in the classroom environment involving the roles of both the teacher and the student. This thesis discusses how the use of tasks and technology were used in the Algebra II classroom to implement the Common Core Standards and describes student misconceptions and lesson revisions for future use that include connections to calculus. The process of formative assessment was used to provide information to both the teacher and the student intended to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. Information gained from the formative assessment reinforced the need to provide more opportunities for students to connect the Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice using tasks and technology.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a professional development (PD) program for middle and high school teachers of mathematics and science which is funded by a $5 million National Science Foundation grant. The evaluation was internal and formative in nature and took place in two separate phases. The focus of the evaluation was not only on program improvement but also to extend the body of existing knowledge in the area of teacher professional development. Both the needs of project stakeholders and the findings of previous research in the areas of professional development and program evaluation were drawn on to help inform the framework and direction of the study. The objectives of phase one were to ascertain participants perceptions of program activities, identify program activities reported as having direct impact on classroom practice, and collect recommendations for program changes. Data were collected from the 2010 mathematics cohort through survey, a focus group, interviews, and content analysis of documents. Findings suggested the following activities influenced the professional beliefs of teachers and impacted their classroom practice: viewing familiar mathematics content in alternative ways, exposure to pedagogical strategies including the principles of learning and deliberate practice in conjunction with planning for implementation, observing peers present topics from the school curriculum, and individualized assignments with support provided in various forms. Numerous recommendations for program changes were made to the program director based on the analysis of participant feedback. The objective of phase two of the evaluation was to determine the strength of Desimones (2009) five features of effective PD in the program and their influence on teacher knowledge and practice, as reported by participating teachers. Fifty science and math teachers out of sixty-three current and past program cohort participants responded to an invitation to complete an online survey. A path analysis was conducted from the survey results and a formal causal model was estimated. Active learning, content focus, coherence and consequent enhanced knowledge and skills and changes in teacher practice were reported at moderate to high levels. Coherence and enhanced knowledge and skills appear have the strong interconnectedness with change in teacher practice.

Abstract Eight unit tests closely aligned with the Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum for high school geometry were developed. Five of these were administered, each to the same 115 students spanning all ability and attainment levels in a magnet school in a semi-rural Louisiana district. The results were analyzed to determine the quality of the questions as well as to glean information about student-learning. The test scores were compared to the results of the state-administered end-of-course test for high-school geometry. The main findings were as follows: a) most students do not communicate their reasoning or justification unless directed to do so, and even then only poorly, b) very basic skills are problematic for a very small (but troubling) number of students, c) pre-requisites from more recent grades are problematic for larger numbers, d) many students fail to read or understand directions, e) understanding the types of mistakes students make in these tests is likely to be useful in planning future lessons, f) only one of the unit tests was a good predictor of end-of-course results, suggesting that the end-of-course test might not represent all units in the course evenly.

A concept map is an educational tool designed to help identify, represent, and categorize relationships between different ideas relating to an overall concept. Relationships or transitions between the ideas are created by students and can either be static or dynamic. Static transitions help to describe, define, and organize knowledge for a given domain. Dynamic transitions show how a change in quantity, quality, or state in one concept causes change in quantity, quality, or state in the other concept. The focus question of the map directs student input of the concepts and ultimately determines what types of transitions are used. The study by Derbentseva et al. (2006) provides a framework for how to influence students to utilize dynamic thinking in a concept map by directing the focus question toward more analysis of a subject rather than simple description. By changing the wording of the focus question, this study examined the difference in the amount of dynamic transitions used by students to break down a concept. The study was run on two different populations in order to find a trend between the wording of the focus question and the number of dynamic transitions used. Gender, academic level, and methodology were also evaluated and shown to have no effect on the dynamic transitions in a concept map. Overall, when students were asked to answer a How doeswork? question, they used more dynamic than static transitions to break down a concept. When students were simply presented with a What is? question, their overall thinking proved to be more static in nature. An increase in dynamic thinking means a shift from a recall level of thinking towards a more conceptual level of thinking, which should lead to an increase in student academic gains.

This thesis emphasizes on an alternate instructional tool called Concept Map. The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using concept maps in improving the science achievement of 10th -grade students and compare it with a traditional approach for a Biology unit. Furthermore, the interaction of the students concept mapping ability and their learning gains was investigated. Both the control and the experimental groups were required to take a pre test before instruction and a posttest at the end of three weeks. The test consisting of 31 questions was used to assess learning gains on a Biology Unit about Balance in Nature. Student-constructed maps were scored using Novaks scoring scheme. The first finding of the study was that concept map exposed students did not perform much better than the same level students in the traditional group. The difference in the learning gains between the experimental and the control group in their unit test, though statistically significant, did not seem to be solely due to concept mapping. The second finding indicated that total scores in concept maps did not strongly predict student achievement in Science. Moreover, results showed that the levels of concept mapping ability were not associated with the concept- mapping students learning gains. Nevertheless, the study suggests that, when carefully integrated into the normal classroom procedure and when other contributing factors such as student motivation and preparedness, reading ability levels, time and classroom environment are considered, concept mapping has a potential to be an effective instructional strategy.

This two-week study was conducted to investigate the impact Learning Logs have on student conceptual mastery of force, motion, and kinematics. To begin the study a sample of 554 ninth grade students were selected from a suburban public school in Louisiana. The students were randomly divided into experimental and control groups within four teachers classrooms. This distribution was to examine the impact of Learning Logs regardless of the teaching style or time of day. Upon the studys conclusion there was no significant differences noted due to teaching style or time of day. The Force Motion Concept Evaluation (FMCE) was used to establish conceptual knowledge gained throughout the unit. Further analysis of the data was done to see if other variables such as gender, ethnicity, economic status, or student learning exceptionalities had a significant impact on conceptual mastery. None of the aforementioned variables showed statistical significance. The students in this study did not make significant gains on the FMCE. The data showed that students stayed with their personal explanations regardless of the Learning Logs. Students appeared to have held onto their own explanation or an Aristotelian view despite the variables discussed. The persistence of student responses is greater than the random guessing threshold. Students were more likely select and maintain their misconception on the FMCE.

ABSTRACT Different teaching styles can impact student learning in many ways. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Modeling Instruction on student achievement in a high school Chemistry course. Different tests were used to compare the data at the beginning of a school year and at the end of the school year. The tests used were to determine gains in chemistry content knowledge, abilities to reason scientifically, and attitudes about learning chemistry. The control group was taught by traditional instruction through the use of lecture, note-taking, and textbook guided assignments. The experimental group was taught by the use of the Modeling Curriculum from Arizona State University, which consists of daily group activities, including white-boarding, journal-writing, and self-discovery tactics. As far as concepts in Chemistry were concerned, based on Chemistry Concept Inventory normalized gains, there was a significant gain for the Modeling group independent of students prior exposure to Physical Science and gender. There was also a positive increase towards favorable attitudes in learning Chemistry for the Modeling sample, based on the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science-Chemistry. The data in this study shows utilizing Modeling instruction in a high school Chemistry setting is effective for positive gains in content knowledge and attitudes about chemistry.

New methods and practices are constantly being introduced in education due to new research that emerges as a push for student achievement increases. We as teachers must adapt to these new ideas to ensure student success. This study was completed to determine if inquiry-based teaching methods would be more beneficial in learning Biology concepts than traditional lecture instruction. The students were divided into two groups, which differed based solely on their instructional format. The activities involved in this study included inquiry-based activities and traditional activities, i.e. PowerPoints, guided notes, experiments and worksheets. The participants in this study, students in a ninth grade Biology class, were given a pretest to assess prior knowledge of the unit on DNA that would be covered in the classroom lessons. The same assessment was also administered at the completion of the unit to measure leisure gain. The instructional format of the material given showed an effect on learner outcomes. In general, there was a significant difference in the mean posttest scores. However, further analysis showed this difference was between honors students and academic students. When comparing unit test scores, inquiry students scores were significantly higher than the traditional lecture students. If inquiry activities are executed properly, implementing them into the Biology curriculum can increase learning gains of Biology topics.