This dissertation employed a mixed-methods approach to examine the relationship between spatial reasoning ability and understanding of chemistry content for both middle school students and their science teachers. Spatial reasoning has been linked to success in learning STEM subjects (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009). Previous studies have shown a correlation between understanding of chemistry content and spatial reasoning ability (e.g., Pribyl & Bodner, 1987; Wu & Shah, 2003: Stieff, 2013), raising the importance of developing the spatial reasoning ability of both teachers and students. Few studies examine middle school students’ or in-service middle school teachers’ understanding of chemistry concepts or its relation to spatial reasoning ability. The first paper in this dissertation addresses the quantitative relationship between mental rotation, a type of spatial reasoning ability, and understanding a fundamental concept in chemistry, the particulate nature of matter. The data showed a significant, positive correlation between scores on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test of Rotations (PSVT; Bodner & Guay, 1997) and the Particulate Nature of Matter Assessment (ParNoMA; Yezierski, 2003) for middle school students prior to and after chemistry instruction. A significant difference in spatial ability among students choosing different answer choices on ParNoMA questions was also found. The second paper examined the ways in which students of different spatial abilities talked about matter and chemicals differently. Students with higher spatial ability tended to provide more of an explanation, though not necessarily in an articulate matter. In contrast, lower spatial ability students tended to use any keywords that seemed relevant, but provided little or no explanation. The third paper examined the relationship between mental reasoning and understanding chemistry for middle school science teachers. Similar to their students, a significant, positive correlation between scores on the PSVT and the ParNoMA was observed. Teachers who used consistent reasoning in providing definitions and examples for matter and chemistry tended to have higher spatial abilities than those teachers who used inconsistent reasoning on the same questions. This is the first study to explore the relationship between spatial reasoning and understanding of chemistry concepts at the middle school level. Though we are unable to infer cause and effect relationship from correlational data, these results illustrate a need to further investigate this relationship as well as identify the relationship between different spatial abilities (not just mental rotation) and other chemistry concepts.

The lack of teaching experience in uncertified teachers leaves them with little or no understanding of the transformation of Content Knowledge (CK) at their disposal. This transformation of CK is termed Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and it is known to develop through practice. Therefore, reflective analysis of lessons taught by these teachers is important. Research has also shown that they are often not supported as they embark on their teaching career. Therefore, the study investigated the influence of an intervention on novice unqualified graduate teachers’ (NUGTs) Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge within a specific topic – the particulate nature of matter. The construct, Topic Specific PCK was the theoretical framework of my study and it consists of five topic specific categories that collectively enable transformation of content knowledge. The categories are: (1) learner prior knowledge (2) curricular Saliency (3) what is difficult to teach (4) representations and (5) conceptual teaching strategies. For measuring the quality of Topic Specific PCK, a new tool based on the topic of the particulate nature of matter was developed. The Topic Specific PCK tool was then validated using a group of 11 practising science teachers. The tool was scored using a rubric that is in line with the five categories, which are rated on a four point scale, where 1 stands for limited PCK and 4 is exemplary PCK. The research design followed in my study was mixed-methods research (MM). The study involved 16 novice teachers recruited by Teach South Africa working together with the Department of Education. The teachers hold university degrees, have done chemistry for a minimum of one year during the course of their degree and have no teaching qualifications. Four of the teachers who taught the particulate nature of matter were selected as case study teachers. Data was collected through a number of tools, including the newly designed Topic Specific PCK test on particulate nature of matter, a CK test and Content Representations (CoRes) which were all adapted from existing tools and thus considered validated. The case study teachers were observed while teaching particulate nature of matter and their lessons were analysed. All the teachers were tested before and after the professional development intervention (PDI). The findings show that the quality of Topic Specific PCK and CK in particulate nature of matter was improved in all NUGTs. The greatest improvement was observed in the NUGTs who taught the topic directly. This improvement was attributed to the experience of teaching the topic directly or teaching related concepts that need understanding of it. The improvement was observed in all the NUGTs, showing the effect of indirect experience. This can be deduced from their improved CoRe which forced the NUGTs to engage with the construct and also through the positive significant improvement in CK and Topic Specific PCK results. Finally, I suggest that although interventions like PDI have the potential to produce science teachers, care should be exercised in making assumptions about their CK and knowledge for teaching, and training programmes need to pay attention to both CK and Topic Specific PCK.

This thesis is focused upon chemistry as a school subject and students' interpretations and use of formally introduced teaching models. To explore students' developing repertoire of chemical models, a longitudinal interview study was undertaken spanning the first year of upper secondary school chemistry. Matter in its different states was selected as the target framework for this study. The results presented are derived from both generalisations of groups of students as well as a case study describing an individual learner's interpretation of formal content. The results obtained demonstrated that the formal teaching models provided to the students included in this study were not sufficient to afford them a coherent framework of matter in its different states or for chemical bonding. Instead, students' expressed models of matter and phase change were to a high degree dependent on electron movement (Paper I), anthropomorphism (Paper II) and, for one student, a mechanistic approach based on small particles and gravitation (Paper III). The results from this study place focus on the importance of learners' prior learning (previous experiences) and the need to develop a coherent framework of formal teaching models for the nature of matter and phase change.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-118).

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No description available.

The availability and sophistication of visual display images, such as simulations, for use in science classrooms has increased exponentially however, it can be difficult for teachers to use these images to encourage and engage active student thinking. There is a need to describe flexible discussion strategies that use visual media to engage active thinking. This mixed methods study analyzes teacher behavior in lessons using visual media about the particulate model of matter that were taught by three experienced middle school teachers. Each teacher taught one half of their students with lessons using static overheads and taught the other half with lessons using a projected dynamic simulation. The quantitative analysis of pre-post data found significant gain differences between the two image mode conditions, suggesting that the students who were assigned to the simulation condition learned more than students who were assigned to the overhead condition. Open coding was used to identify a set of eight image-based teaching strategies that teachers were using with visual displays. Fixed codes for this set of image-based discussion strategies were then developed and used to analyze video and transcripts of whole class discussions from 12 lessons. The image-based discussion strategies were refined over time in a set of three in-depth 2x2 comparative case studies of two teachers teaching one lesson topic with two image display modes. The comparative case study data suggest that the simulation mode may have offered greater affordances than the overhead mode for planning and enacting discussions. The 12 discussions were also coded for overall teacher student interaction patterns, such as presentation, IRE, and IRF. When teachers moved during a lesson from using no image to using either image mode, some teachers were observed asking more questions when the image was displayed while others asked many fewer questions. The changes in teacher student interaction patterns suggest that teachers vary on whether they consider the displayed image as a "tool-for-telling" and a "tool-for-asking." The study attempts to provide new descriptions of strategies teachers use to orchestrate image-based discussions designed to promote student engagement and reasoning in lessons with conceptual goals.

Este estudo situa-se no campo de formação de professores e utiliza o conceito de Conhecimento Pedagógico do Conteúdo (PCK) como referencial teórico. O PCK versa sobre um conhecimento específico do professor, que fundamenta suas decisões didáticas diante dos processos de ensino e aprendizagem no contexto de sala de aula. Neste trabalho, investigamos o PCK sobre conceitos pertinentes ao tema \"Natureza da Matéria\", de licenciandos em Química, manifesto no processo de elaboração de um planejamento de ensino proposto em uma disciplina integradora (entre conteúdo químico e pedagógico) de final de curso, oferecida no IQ-USP. Os planejamentos elaborados pelos licenciandos, assim como as transcrições de gravações dos debates gerados nessa disciplina, foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo agrupando-se as ideias centrais em categorias construídas a partir do modelo de PCK de Rollnick et al.. Os resultados indicam que as discussões para elaboração do CoRe promoveu, ainda na graduação, a ampliação do repertório profissional. Na elaboração do planejamento de ensino, os licenciandos também puderam refletir sobre os conhecimentos necessários para a docência e evidenciaram as manifestações e o domínio dos conhecimentos necessários ao professor. Pelas falas e textos, os licenciandos mobilizam diferentes conhecimentos advindos de sua formação prévia, a saber, os conhecimentos: do conteúdo, dos alunos, pedagógico e do contexto de forma integrada e também acabam transformando tais conhecimentos como resultado da discussão em grupo promovida durante a disciplina. Essa transformação pôde ser acessada por exemplo, quando o conhecimento do conteúdo vai sendo ampliado e ganha especificidade quando esses licenciandos necessitam discutir e negociar aspectos desse conteúdo sob o ponto de vista do ensino. Assim, o acesso ao PCK desses licenciandos se dá pelo dinamismo observado da ampliação dos repertórios de experiência profissional e pedagógica acoplados a um conteúdo específico. Os distintos conhecimentos vão sendo mobilizados à medida que esses licenciandos discutem situações de planejamento de ensino. Os resultados indicam que os licenciandos, ainda na graduação, passam pelas etapas de apropriação dos conhecimentos necessários para a prática docente, desenvolvem a compreensão, do conhecimento do conteúdo nas disciplinas específicas de química, dos propósitos com base nas propostas oficiais e na seleção de temas estruturadores nas disciplinas integradoras que, juntamente com os domínio do conhecimento pedagógico, direcionam as transformações sobre o conhecimento. Foi possível observar assim, durante o processo da pesquisa flashes das disciplinas da formação inicial no repertório profissional dos licenciandos investigados. / This study is situated in the field of teacher training and uses the concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as the theoretical base. The PCK is about a teacher\'s specific knowledge, which bases its decisions on the educational processes of teaching and learning in the classroom. In this paper, we investigate the PCK on concepts relevant to the theme \"Nature of Matter\" by undergraduates in chemistry, manifest in the process of developing a plan of education proposed in an integrative discipline (between chemical content and pedagogical) final course offered at IQ-USP. The plans prepared by undergraduates as well as transcripts of recordings of the discussions generated in this discipline, were subjected to content analysis by grouping the main ideas in categories from the model of PCK Rollnick et al.. The results indicate that the discussions for the preparation of CoRe promoted, still an undergraduate, expanding professional repertoire. When planning teaching, undergraduates could also reflect on the knowledge needed for teaching and showed manifestations and develop the knowledge necessary to the teacher. Through speeches and texts, undergraduates mobilized different knowledge from their previous training, namely, knowledge, content, students, teaching and the context of an integrated and also end up turning this knowledge as a result of group discussion promoted during discipline. This transformation could be accessed for example, when knowledge of the content will be expanded and gain specificity when these undergraduates need to discuss and negotiate aspects of the content from the point of view of education. Thus, access to these undergraduates PCK is given by the dynamism of the observed expansion of the repertoire of teaching experience and coupled to a specific content. The different skills are being deployed as we discuss these undergraduates planning teaching situations. The results indicate that undergraduates still in grad school, go through the steps of appropriation of knowledge needed for teaching practice, develop understanding of content knowledge in specific disciplines of chemistry, based on the purposes of official proposals and selection of themes structuring proposed by the integrative disciplines which, together with the domain of pedagogical knowledge, direct knowledge about the changes. It was thus possible to observe during the research process flashes of the disciplines of professional training in the repertoire of the undergraduates surveyed.

Este estudo situa-se no campo de formação de professores e utiliza o conceito de Conhecimento Pedagógico do Conteúdo (PCK) como referencial teórico. O PCK versa sobre um conhecimento específico do professor, que fundamenta suas decisões didáticas diante dos processos de ensino e aprendizagem no contexto de sala de aula. Neste trabalho, investigamos o PCK sobre conceitos pertinentes ao tema \"Natureza da Matéria\", de licenciandos em Química, manifesto no processo de elaboração de um planejamento de ensino proposto em uma disciplina integradora (entre conteúdo químico e pedagógico) de final de curso, oferecida no IQ-USP. Os planejamentos elaborados pelos licenciandos, assim como as transcrições de gravações dos debates gerados nessa disciplina, foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo agrupando-se as ideias centrais em categorias construídas a partir do modelo de PCK de Rollnick et al.. Os resultados indicam que as discussões para elaboração do CoRe promoveu, ainda na graduação, a ampliação do repertório profissional. Na elaboração do planejamento de ensino, os licenciandos também puderam refletir sobre os conhecimentos necessários para a docência e evidenciaram as manifestações e o domínio dos conhecimentos necessários ao professor. Pelas falas e textos, os licenciandos mobilizam diferentes conhecimentos advindos de sua formação prévia, a saber, os conhecimentos: do conteúdo, dos alunos, pedagógico e do contexto de forma integrada e também acabam transformando tais conhecimentos como resultado da discussão em grupo promovida durante a disciplina. Essa transformação pôde ser acessada por exemplo, quando o conhecimento do conteúdo vai sendo ampliado e ganha especificidade quando esses licenciandos necessitam discutir e negociar aspectos desse conteúdo sob o ponto de vista do ensino. Assim, o acesso ao PCK desses licenciandos se dá pelo dinamismo observado da ampliação dos repertórios de experiência profissional e pedagógica acoplados a um conteúdo específico. Os distintos conhecimentos vão sendo mobilizados à medida que esses licenciandos discutem situações de planejamento de ensino. Os resultados indicam que os licenciandos, ainda na graduação, passam pelas etapas de apropriação dos conhecimentos necessários para a prática docente, desenvolvem a compreensão, do conhecimento do conteúdo nas disciplinas específicas de química, dos propósitos com base nas propostas oficiais e na seleção de temas estruturadores nas disciplinas integradoras que, juntamente com os domínio do conhecimento pedagógico, direcionam as transformações sobre o conhecimento. Foi possível observar assim, durante o processo da pesquisa flashes das disciplinas da formação inicial no repertório profissional dos licenciandos investigados. / This study is situated in the field of teacher training and uses the concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as the theoretical base. The PCK is about a teacher\'s specific knowledge, which bases its decisions on the educational processes of teaching and learning in the classroom. In this paper, we investigate the PCK on concepts relevant to the theme \"Nature of Matter\" by undergraduates in chemistry, manifest in the process of developing a plan of education proposed in an integrative discipline (between chemical content and pedagogical) final course offered at IQ-USP. The plans prepared by undergraduates as well as transcripts of recordings of the discussions generated in this discipline, were subjected to content analysis by grouping the main ideas in categories from the model of PCK Rollnick et al.. The results indicate that the discussions for the preparation of CoRe promoted, still an undergraduate, expanding professional repertoire. When planning teaching, undergraduates could also reflect on the knowledge needed for teaching and showed manifestations and develop the knowledge necessary to the teacher. Through speeches and texts, undergraduates mobilized different knowledge from their previous training, namely, knowledge, content, students, teaching and the context of an integrated and also end up turning this knowledge as a result of group discussion promoted during discipline. This transformation could be accessed for example, when knowledge of the content will be expanded and gain specificity when these undergraduates need to discuss and negotiate aspects of the content from the point of view of education. Thus, access to these undergraduates PCK is given by the dynamism of the observed expansion of the repertoire of teaching experience and coupled to a specific content. The different skills are being deployed as we discuss these undergraduates planning teaching situations. The results indicate that undergraduates still in grad school, go through the steps of appropriation of knowledge needed for teaching practice, develop understanding of content knowledge in specific disciplines of chemistry, based on the purposes of official proposals and selection of themes structuring proposed by the integrative disciplines which, together with the domain of pedagogical knowledge, direct knowledge about the changes. It was thus possible to observe during the research process flashes of the disciplines of professional training in the repertoire of the undergraduates surveyed.

I arbetet undersöks lärares uppfattningar om partikelmodeller och vad de anser vara nödvändiga kunskaper för att elever ska kunna använda dessa. I undersökningen deltar fem legitimerade och verksamma lärare inom naturvetenskapsämnena. Lärarna bidrar med att ge sina perspektiv på begreppet partikelmodell och hur det kan skilja sig från läroplanens begrepp ”enkel partikelmodell”. De sätter även ord på vad eleverna behöver utveckla för kunskaper för att använda enkla partikelmodeller. Datainsamlingen utgörs av intervjuer med de fem lärarna som transkriberas och citeras. Resultatet från intervjuundersökningen diskuteras i relation till aktuell forskning och den nu gällande- och den kommande kursplanen i kemi där det relativt ospecificerade begreppet ”enkla partikelmodeller” används. Undersökningen bidrar med flera förklaringar till vad partikelmodeller kan vara och uppmanar till att vidare utforska området, inte minst för att se över den svenska läroplanens beskrivning. / This study explores teacher descriptions of particle models and the particle model of matter. The teachers also describe what they consider to be necessary knowledge for young students to make use of them. The interview study is based on the thoughts of five science teachers regarding “simple” particle models in comparison to particle models. The gathered data from the interviews is analysed and the result of the study is compared to recent studies and the Swedish curriculum for chemistry. The aim of the study is to shed some light and various viewpoints on the particle model and to propose further studies in relation to the Swedish curriculum and its debatable description on the particle model.