I have presented the results of a nine month study in a first grade classroom, whether an approach to science, based on Goethe's "delicate empiricism" leads to a better understanding of science for young students. The study was done at a Fort Worth, Texas elementary school.

ABSTRACT PRE-SERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDINGS OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS AND EFFICACY BELIEFS IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHING by Heather Marie Bjorum Peace, Ph.D., 2012 College of Education Texas Christian University Dissertation: Judith Groulx, Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology Sarah Quebec-Fuentes, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Mark Bloom, Assistant Professor of Science Education This research focuses on a cohort of pre-service elementary teachers and their perspectives with respect to the knowledge required for teaching science and mathematics at the beginning and end of their first academic year in a teacher preparation program. An activity, designed to emphasize the differences between factual/procedural knowledge and conceptual knowledge in elementary mathematics and science, was analyzed along with classroom discussions in order to gain deeper understandings of the perspectives of knowledge for teaching for the given cohort. Additionally, subject specific efficacy beliefs were compared to teaching confidence ratings related to specific science and mathematics topics. The pre-service teachers' expressed a variety of ideas regarding the role of content knowledge, and the different types of content knowledge (i.e., factual/procedural and conceptual), in teaching mathematics and science. Furthermore, their perceptions of the nature of mathematics and the nature of science were discussed. By utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, this project was able to not only note data trends, but also obtain depth and richness regarding conceptions of the knowledge required for teaching mathematics and science provided by the voices of the pre-service teachers.

This critical ethnography deconstructs how one participant researcher came to understand young adults' changing knowledge about water science and environmental issues in an after school program in Colombia. The program intended to empower self-identified young community leaders by teaching participants to engage community members in discourse related to how environmental factors impact one's level of health and quality of life. The data presented in this study illustrate how student participants responded to long-term teacher engagement and to particular curricular components that included hands-on science teaching and social justice coaching. I assessed how student interest in and knowledge of local water ecology and sanitation infrastructure changed throughout the program. Students' responses to the use of technology and digital media were also included in the analysis. The data demonstrates a dramatic change in student's attitudes and perceptions related to their environment and how they feel about their ability to make positive changes in their community.

This study explores the experiences of Black women's professional lives within academia, and focuses on those educators who are concerned with marginalized voices of Black women within curriculum studies in U.S. colleges and universities. The study will explore the ways in which the selected educators (1) see themselves and their experiences as valuable and how Black women educators can begin to generate theory about how their consciousness and understandings at the intersections of their race, class, gender and culture can expand pedagogical knowledge and practice to the field of curriculum, (2) are able to contribute to the developing body of knowledge pertaining to curriculum studies (3) face limitations in developing more multi - voiced curriculum within and among their learning environments, (4) establish support within the academic community, and (5) and how they themselves have felt silenced. This study should add a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which concerns for marginalized voices impact educators' professional lives, the forms of influence they have, and the barriers they face.

Analyzing the effect of Structure of the Intellect (SOI) Certified Learning Kindergarten (CLK) on the academic development of five kindergarten classes in five elementary schools, in a small urban, Title I school district located in the southwestern United States was the purpose of this study. Ninety-four students from the five campuses were randomly selected to participate in the CLK pilot program. Their Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) prescreening and post participation scores were compared with the TPRI prescreening and post participation scores of the 289 non-participating students in sixteen other traditional (TRD) kindergarten classrooms. The end of year (EOY) summary screening results showed a minimal growth advantage (1%) of CLK classes over TRD classes. The EOY listening comprehension scores showed a moderate growth advantage (7%) in CLK classes as compared to TRD classes. The retention rate for the CLK classes was lower (4 out of 94 students or 4.3%) than that of the TRD classes (22 out of 289 or 7.6%). The CLK classes had no special education referrals. The qualitative data collected from weekly meetings, classroom observations, and teacher interviews suggested four significant conclusions. First, the CLK teachers believed that knowing the individual needs of their students and having prescriptive support for addressing those needs made them more effective teachers. Second, the CLK teachers agreed that CLK changed their philosophy of teaching towards a more child-centered approach, making them teachers of one instead of teachers of many. Third, the success the students experienced as individual learners resulted in an increase in the students self-investment and responsibility in learning. Fourth, CLK changed the learning culture in the classrooms by fostering a community of support. Students demonstrated acceptance of individual differences, recognizing responsibility for their own learning and the shared responsibility of supporting a classmates learning. The teachers concluded that CLK positively impacted both the teacher-student and student-student relationships in the class.

This action research study examined a small cross-section of a Texas public school population. Participants were kindergarten through third grade students enrolled in the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program who were pulled out of their general classroom to receive English support within the content area of science. This study looked at how effective a hands-on learning experience using a schoolyard garden enhanced the academic language and science content of the participants. The study began in mid-March and concluded at the end of April with each group receiving 40 minutes of instruction five days a week. Each group consisted of a Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced/Advanced High student for a total of 12 participants. Four forms of data were used in this study: archival, pre-test, post-test, and journal. Rubrics were used to analyze individual students' level of academic language before and after the study. The results illustrate that the younger students (kindergarten and first grade) descriptions were very basic and concrete while the older students had more accurate and descriptive responses. Upon completion of this research, it was determined that the usage of a schoolyard garden compliments both the acquisition of academic language and the increase in science content knowledge.

This study included over 1600 students and 90 teachers from three traditional high schools, one traditional middle school and two alternative educational settings within a Midwestern school district with a total enrollment of roughly 20,000 students. Nearly half of the teachers in the study received a strengths-based intervention, a Gallup Seminar called Strengths Spotlight, focused on giving teachers the resources necessary to help students understand, apply and grow in their areas of greatest potential, their strengths. Student and teacher strengths were determined by the Clifton StrengthsFinder, an online assessment based on over 30 years of research on what makes people successful. Pre and post engagement surveys were administered to both teachers and students and responses were collected to analyze the impact of the strengths-based intervention. Students in the two alternative educational settings, who had the opportunity to learn about their own strengths and the strengths of others, had more positive perceptions about the school environment. Overall satisfaction, overall engagement, feeling safe, feeling respected, feeling that someone encouraged their development, and feeling like their opinions counted are just a few of the survey items that had meaningful growth from time one to time two within the two alternative educational groups that received strengths-based development. The engagement post survey responses of teachers in this study were compared to educational services employees within the employee engagement database of a major consulting organization. Teacher engagement is discussed as the precursor to student engagement. This study shows that sharing strengths among classmates may contribute to the overall feeling of being engaged. The students and teachers in these groups were paying attention to the uniqueness of each person and the positive potential that was within each individual. A focus on the positive aspects of these students was being celebrated and it contributed to their feeling more engaged at school.

Analyzing the effects of the Equine Essentials discipline model by examining measurable differences in teacher holonomy at schools applying the model with varying degrees of intensity was the purpose of this study. The study decomposed the analysis into tests for the presence of each of the five dimensions of holonomy: efficacy, craftsmanship, creativity, flexibility, and interdependence. Greater individual holonomy, or the extent to which people recognize and manage the tension between themselves as individuals (i.e., as a teacher) and themselves as part of a larger functioning whole (i.e., a school), is desirable in that it facilitates excellence among teachers and schools. The study followed a quantitativequalitative triangulation approach through the use of surveys, interviews, and an analysis of state test results from participating schools. The survey results failed to reveal any correlation between the discipline model and the five components of teacher holonomy, however, teacher interviews and the analysis of state tests were suggestive of a positive correlation between the discipline model and improved teacher efficacy and flexibility, with some support for a link between the model and craftsmanship.

This paper will evaluate the history of higher education administration doctoral programs and the viability a doctorate of educational leadership with an emphasis on higher education administration at Texas Christian University. We held a focus group of administrators with earned doctorate degrees and inquired what they believe higher education doctoral programs should teach and we held a focus group of potential students asking what they would like in a doctoral program. The project followed the College of Education and Graduate Council protocol to establish new courses and change an existing graduate program. A detailed curriculum was created for the Doctoral of Educational Leadership Higher Education Administration program. A financial model was created for the graduate students in the College of Education that will increase enrollment and institutional revenue.

This dissertation examined K-12 mathematics content standards for states and countries to determine the degree of alignment among high-performing, low-performing, and other data sets of interest. The assessment frameworks for the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) were also examined. In addition, the dissertation examined the cognitive demand level, or student expectation, in the standards. At the elementary level, the researcher found that Minnesota, Georgia, the District of Columbia (DC), Massachusetts, Achieve, Florida, and New York had the strongest alignment to high-performing countries. At the middle school level, Georgia, Minnesota, DC, Achieve, and Florida had the strongest alignment to high-performing countries. At the secondary level, Minnesota, Georgia, Massachusetts, and New York had the strongest alignment to high-performing countries. Examining the states against the high-performing countries grade level by grade level demonstrated the wide variability in the states' standards and the lack of focus and curriculum coherence in the majority of the standards in the United States. Most of the standards in the United States cover a wide variety of topics that were repeated year after year, as evidenced in the grade-level by grade-level sequence alignment analysis to high-performing countries. Massachusetts, Achieve, and Minnesota were the data sets with the strongest alignment to TIMSS. Ohio, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Kentucky were the states with the strongest alignment to NAEP. The data sets with the strongest alignment to PISA were Kentucky, New Mexico, Vermont, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Overall, the alignment results demonstrate that high levels of alignment to high-performing countries and to assessments do not absolutely equate to high performance. The cognitive demand analysis revealed that high-performing countries had stronger emphasis on <italic>memorize</italic> than other data sets. Low-performing states emphasized <italic>perform procedures</italic> rather than <italic>demonstrate understanding</italic> or <italic>memorize</italic>. Low-performers appeared to emphasize <italic>conjecture/generalize/prove</italic> and <italic>solve non-routine problems</italic> at the expense of the cognitive demand skills of <italic>memorize<italic>, <italic>perform procedures</italic>, and <italic>demonstrate understanding</italic>.