There is an increasing number of International Baccalaureate programs in the United States that require instruction in an additional language to prepare culturally responsive global citizens, but there is little research on how the teaching of culture is addressed in elementary additional language programs. This study was guided by Vygotsky's and Dewey's social constructivism and investigated how the teaching of culture is integrated in additional foreign language classrooms in the State of Georgia's International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programs (IB PYP). It also investigated how personal, professional, or organizational factors such as values, beliefs, teacher training, or time constraints impact the integration of culture and language. This qualitative multiple-case comparative study examined the experiences of 3 teachers in Georgia who taught in K-5 additional language classrooms, using curriculum maps, student work samples, lesson plans, and semi-structured interviews as the data sources. Data were analyzed using Atlas.ti software and coded using constant comparative methods; the inductive qualitative content analysis included open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The study findings showed that a variety of factors impacted program goals including the attitudes of school community, teacher isolation, philosophy, Georgia Standards, and practices of the IB PYP. Findings are applicable to additional language teachers for further discussion on the current state of elementary language programs in Georgia's IB PYP and for informing choices on program design. This study contributes to social change by expanding the body of professional literature in the field of foreign language education and on the issues that affect teachers in additional language classrooms in the IB PYP.

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program [IB PYP] is a student-driven, inquiry-based elementary school level educational program that has grown rapidly in the United States since its creation in 1997. This study explores how IB PYP art teachers define and implement inquiry-based instructional methods in their art rooms through a nation-wide, online survey of art teachers, coordinators, and administrators. The Survey consists of 22 questions which ask respondents to describe their classroom practices and provide examples of how they make use of inquiry-based methods in the art room. The responses to this survey were then value coded for four different phases of inquiry and three degrees of student-centeredness to analyze understandings of these practices. This study concludes that conceptions of these instructional methods vary greatly in occasionally contradictory ways. There is need for more robust lesson plans examples and increased frequency and access to subject specific training, in both physical and online settings.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) standards recognize reflection as an integral part of the framework and the fabric of the Primary Years Programme school, as it is embedded in the foundational standards and practices of the inquiry-based IB teaching model. However, teachers in an IB Primary Years Programme school located in the southeast United States struggled with being reflective practitioners. Guided by John Dewey's reflective thought, the purpose of this bounded qualitative exploratory case study was to examine teacher perceptions of reflection practices in an IB Primary Years Programme school. Research questions were drafted to ask about teachers' perceptions of their reflective practices, how teachers' perceived reflective practices aligned with IB's teaching model, and beliefs about the school-based support and resources teachers needed to implement reflective practices. The selection criteria included teachers with at least 2 years of teaching experience who had been to at least 1 outside IB training. Ten teachers, chosen through purposeful sampling, completed a 2-week reflective journal and participated in a semistructured interview. Based on the open-coding and inductive analysis patterns emerged, leading to themes; including lesson reflections, planning, time, and training. Based on the findings, a project, a white paper, includes recommendations to address the teachers' perceptions of reflective practices that will be presented to the school as well as the district. This improved instructional change may provide positive social change in the culture of reflection for teachers and help them and to better differentiate instruction for students.

The purpose of this study is to examine teachers&rsquo / beliefs and perspectives about an applied transdisciplinary approach of integrated early childhood curriculum. While developing an integrated curriculum for early childhood education, one of the challenges for educators is delivering the themes into different disciplines. For this reason, researchers have developed different models to integrate disciplines in different ways. Transdisciplinary approach is one of the models developed for integrated curriculum. Transdisciplinary approach, in which activities are complementary, provides different disciplines to be connected through a real life context. That is, the themes or units do not arouse from disciplines, there is a globally significant theme for the thematic teaching units. Furthermore, collaborative planning is another crucial part of transdisciplinary approach for an effective curriculum teachers working together. International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program is the first and foremost a transdisciplinary curriculum developed for international primary education. To examine teachers&rsquo / beliefs and perspectives about transdisciplinary approach, collaborative planning, integration of disciplines in a transdisciplinary curriculum and benefits of this curriculum to children and parents in a private kindergarten which is implementing Primary Years Program is chosen. This study is conducted in a private kindergarten in Ankara with eighteen teachers who teach six-year-old children. In accordance with this thesis, the structure of a transdisciplinary approach of integrated early childhood education curriculum and teachers&rsquo / beliefs and perceptions about transdisciplinary curriculum are qualitatively determined by the case study approach. The results reveal that teachers have positive point of view towards transdisciplinary curriculum in early childhood education. They believe that there are positive effects of transdisciplinary curriculum on students and parents. Moreover they point out the importance of collaborative planning.

abstract: This research investigates teachers' understanding of and feelings about transdisciplinary education and the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme (PYP) as utilized by two remote schools in the province of Papua, Indonesia on the island of New Guinea. A goal of transdisciplinary education is to make learning through inquiry authentic, broad, student-centered, and relevant to the real world. In this study I examine educators’ perspectives of how transdisciplinary education is manifested in the two different and yet related elementary schools. Both schools are supported by a multinational mining company. One school is for expatriate students and the language of instruction is English. The second school, which is for Indonesian students, follows the Indonesian National Curriculum of 2013, with instruction delivered in the Indonesian language by Indonesian teachers. A single expatriate superintendent oversees both schools. Teacher experience, teacher PYP experience, implications of the PYP framework, cultural implications of the location, and demographics of the school stakeholders were considerations of this research. To acquire data, homeroom teachers, specialist teachers (music, art, physical education, and language), administrators, and PYP coordinators completed a survey and were interviewed. Additional data were collected through document examination and observation. A broad range of experience with transdisciplinary education existed in both schools, contributing to some confusion about how to implement the PYP framework and varying conceptions of what constitutes transdisciplinary education. Principles of the PYP were evident in curriculum documents and planning and discussed by the teachers in both schools. Educators at the expatriate school identified with the international-mindedness and approaches to learning in the PYP. Educators at the national school valued to character education elements of the PYP, which they viewed as consistent with Indonesian principles of pancasila. The mission and vision statements of the schools in this study aligned with the PYP in different ways. Challenges faced by educators in these schools are acquisition of professional development, experienced teachers and teaching materials due to the remote location of the schools. While transdisciplinary education was described, it was not necessarily implemented. The findings of this study suggest that transdisciplinary education is a mindset that takes time, experience, and commitment to implement. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2019