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<p>The ability to make informed decisions is a skill considered as one of the 21st century skills and is crucial as part of the critical thinking and problem-solving process in science and engineering. Despite its importance, students (e.g., beginning designers) often struggle with making informed design decisions that are well supported by relevant scientific principles. It is not uncommon to see disconnection between students’ design decisions and their scientific knowledge. This type of disconnection is also described as the “design-science gap”. Different approaches such as scaffolding have been done in trying to bridge this gap, however there is still limited scaffold that could seamlessly help students connect their scientific knowledge to their design experiences, and consequently help them make scientifically informed design decisions. </p> <p>In this dissertation, we proposed argumentation as a scaffolding framework and investigated if the use of argumentation as a meaning-making scaffolding approach during scientific experimentation, facilitated students’ generation of informed design decisions while completing a CAD-based design challenge. Specifically, we looked at the impact of the argumentation scaffold on the quality of decision-making arguments made by students, the types of claims made by students and the types of evidence and reasoning they used to back up their claims, as well as their level of performance in a final design challenge. </p> <p>This study took place in a Physics for Elementary Education course in a Midwestern University in Indiana, USA. This study was part of a four-week unit that focused on the topic of heat transfer, as well as the practices of science and engineering design. The participants of this study included 54 groups of pre-service teachers (i.e., 2 to 4 students in each group) with a background in Elementary Education, from three academic semesters: Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019. In this study, these pre-service teachers were divided into two conditions – with and without argumentation scaffold. The data analysis involved looking at the quality of students’ decision-making arguments, the types of claim, evidence, and reasoning they used, as well as their final design performances. </p> <p>The results of this study indicate that students in the argumentation condition were able to transfer their argumentation skills from science experimentation to design decision-making by demonstrating better ability to justify their decisions using relevant scientific evidence and reasoning, as compared to students without argumentation scaffold. Specifically, students engaged in the argumentation scaffold generated decision-making arguments of higher quality, devoted more attention to scientific principles when they made their decision claims, used more variety of combinations of evidence and reasoning to support their claims, utilized more scientific principles to back up their claims, as well as achieved slightly better performance in their final design in terms of fulfilling the size and energy consumption requirements. Implications from this dissertation include pedagogical scaffold and assessment materials that can be easily adapted by other educators, along with suggestions based on what we learned. In addition, findings and lessons learned from this study open door to more research opportunities such as expanding and adapting the scientific argumentation framework to better fit in an engineering design context. </p>

Variation in the way that teacher preparation programs implement culturally related curriculum leads to different preservice teacher perceptions on preparedness to teach in culturally diverse classrooms. Research has indicated that preservice teachers can feel prepared after taking a culturally related course, but there is a gap in understanding how culturally related curriculum influences preparedness. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative, explanatory study was to explore how preservice teachers' perceived intercultural competence and self-efficacy, which contribute to preparedness, are influenced by forms of culturally related curriculum in a U.S. university teacher preparation program. Deardorff's model of intercultural competence, Bennett's developmental model of intercultural competence, and the concept of self-efficacy were the conceptual framework of the study. Data included interviews with 4 preservice students, student work, and documents from the teacher preparation program. Pattern matching was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the students felt that they had increased intercultural competence and confidence to teach culturally diverse students because of the culturally related curriculum that was infused throughout the program. Background experiences were also found to be an important factor in participants' views and abilities. This study can lead to improved curriculum of teacher preparation programs across the United States by providing information on what can better support the development of preservice teachers' intercultural competence and self-efficacy to teach and meet the needs of all students in a culturally diverse classroom.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of preservice students completing their associate’s degree (AS) in early childhood education (ECE). My intent was to discover, from the preservice teacher’s perspective, what skills and knowledge preservice students consider necessary to teach young children. I was also interested in how they viewed their professional preparation at the completion of their AS program. The methods included participant interviews, documents and assignments completed by students, and program contextual data (faculty focus group and program documents). Seven themes were identified that represented the student’s perceptions of the skills and knowledge needed for working with young children (child development, learning environment, guidance, curriculum, teaching, assessment and experiences with children). All students reported the development of knowledge and skills through their participation in the ECE program. Each of these themes identified student support and belief in the philosophy of developmentally appropriate practices. Three themes were identified that supported the overall perception of their professional development (reflection, National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC] New Teacher Standards, becoming a professional). All preservice students identified development of professional skills, and reported increased confidence in their preparation to be early childhood classroom teachers. All identified NAEYC New Teacher Standards as part of their professional development and understanding. This study provides the perspective of the AS degree seeking ECE preservice student. Little research is available on 2-year students. Further research in this area would aid in understanding and preparing teachers who are likely to work with the youngest in our society.

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Students with disabilities need properly trained educators. The capacity of teachers to affect student learning is contingent upon the preparation they receive. Attitudes and feelings of preparedness to work with students with disabilities expressed by teachers indicate that their training is inadequate. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore preservice and beginning teachers’ attitudes and feelings of preparedness to work with students with disabilities. Participants included preservice teachers who were just beginning their teacher education program (Phase 1), student teachers (Phase 2), and practicing teachers (Phase 3) who had been enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate initial licensure teacher preparation programs at East Tennessee State University. A three-part survey containing both closed and open-ended items, including the Opinions Relative to the Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI) scale, was used for data collection. Quantitative findings in this study were mixed or inconclusive. Some significant differences were found in overall ORI scores and subscale scores based on 1) the phase of training for undergraduates, 2) program levels (undergraduates and graduates), 3) type of teacher certification, and 4) the existence of relationships with persons with disabilities. No differences in attitude were found for any program-related teaching experiences with persons with disabilities. When combined with qualitative analysis, the study revealed a collection of disconnects that provided insight into the preparation of teachers. Disconnects were noted between expressed attitudes and feelings of preparedness; feelings of preparedness and program benefit; teacher preparation and teacher practice; and expressed value and need for more field experiences and the impact of program-related teaching experiences on attitudes and feelings of preparedness. Themes involving personal relationships, the expectancy to collaborate and learn through ongoing experience, and the limited focus on students with disabilities throughout the teacher education programs provided clues to factors that might potentially impact feelings of preparedness to work with students with disabilities.

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Traumatic events do not discriminate based on economic status, race, culture, or age. This is true for the hundreds of thousands of students who walk into classrooms every day having experienced trauma. Our teachers are then challenged to support these students in a time when their ability to learn may be affected by trauma. The goal of my thesis is to show the need to educate preservice teachers in the University of Central Florida's elementary education teacher preparation program about students experiencing trauma and how to best support these students. By analyzing existing literature and through interviews with professionals working with children experiencing trauma in and out of the classroom, a quick guide containing the definition of childhood trauma, how it affects the lives of students in elementary classrooms, and best practices to support these students will be constructed. Additionally, this thesis will survey UCF elementary education students preexisting knowledge of childhood trauma and their desire to learn more about the subject. This survey was completed by preservice teachers in the University of Central Florida elementary education preparation program The results of the survey will determine student interest in learning about teaching students who are experiencing trauma, as well as student knowledge of students experiencing trauma. The results from this survey suggest students are interested in learning more on how to support students going through trauma and that their depth of knowledge on the subject can be expanded.

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