This study examined the effectiveness of three instructional and assessment strategies on conceptual understanding of the DNA molecule. Specifically, a model building task was utilized to determine if physical model construction, digital model construction with a touchscreen tablet computer, or paper worksheet activity effected conceptual understanding during the initial exposure to an abstract science concept. The DNA molecule was chosen as an exemplary three-dimensional, abstract concept with physical and digital model building interventions. Conceptual understanding was measured using an objective quiz, a drawing of a DNA molecule, and a hand-written explanation of DNA. Conceptual understanding was measured immediately after intervention and again two months later. The study examined effects to conceptual understanding of model building by comparing physical models constructed using foam pieces and digital models constructed using a touchscreen tablet computer. A control group completed a paper worksheet activity on the topic of DNA. In all conditions, an instructional video about DNA was used to standardize the content taught. To account for the potential covariates of spatial ability and attitudes to scientific inquiry, participants completed a mental rotation test to measure spatial ability and an attitudes to scientific inquiry survey. A total of 161 students across six intact 9th-grade Living Environment classrooms participated in the study. The results from the three conceptual understanding measures were compared among the three groups at both immediate and delayed post-test timepoints as well as across the two post-test timepoints. For both immediate and delayed post-test, there were no differences among the groups for the objective quiz measure. However, the physical model group outperformed the digital model and control groups in both the drawing and explanation measures at both timepoints (p < 0.01). Across the two timepoints, the control group showed a significant degree of forgetting for the objective quiz measure (p < 0.001) and the digital group demonstrated a significant degree of forgetting for the objective quiz measure (p = 0.03) and drawing measure (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the delayed post-test and pre-test of the objective quiz for the physical model group (p < 0.001) and no significant difference between the post-test and delayed post-test for the objective quiz for the physical model group suggesting long-term conceptual understanding and retention. Overall, the physical model group demonstrated greater conceptual understanding at immediate and delayed timepoints for the drawing and explanation measures as well as significant retention of conceptual understanding of DNA as measured by the objective quiz across three timepoints. The digital model group demonstrated a greater degree of forgetting for objective quiz and drawing measures as well as underperformed in the three conceptual understanding measures at both post-test and delayed post-test timepoints. This suggests that the greater degree of physical, haptic manipulation of a three-dimensional model aids in conceptual understanding at all three measures as well as long-term memory when compared with the limited haptic interactions with a two-dimensional touchscreen device.

Emergence is a fundamental concept in many modern scientific theories, but emergent processes are difficult for science learners to understand. This dissertation investigated the following research questions. First, which type of instructional support is more effective in learning emergent processes while using computer simulation: receiving explanations directly (condition RE), or self-explaining (condition SE) simulation behavior. Second, can students form emergent schema without being explicitly told? Third, do students’ misconceptions about emergent processes come from a lack of the emergent schema? This study employed a 2x2 experimental design. The main independent variable is termed Cognitive Engagement, with two levels: high engagement (condition SE) versus low engagement (condition RE). The second independent variable is termed Schema, with two levels: comparing attributes of emergent and direct processes with examples (condition DES) versus only showing examples without mentioning any attributes (condition DEX). To address the first question, a pilot study was conducted among students at a U.S. graduate school of education. High-prior-knowledge participants were defined as those reporting that they had learned diffusion before. Low-prior-knowledge participants were defined as participants reporting they had never learned diffusion before. The results showed that both high-prior-knowledge and low-prior-knowledge participants who self-explained (SE) performed significantly better than those who received explanations (RE) in explaining the causal structure underlying emergent processes. To better understand which instructional support (RE versus SE) is more effective, the main dissertation study was conducted among Chinese middle school students in a classroom study. The students showed no knowledge of emergent processes before learning and were all considered as low-prior-knowledge participants. Contrary to the results of the pilot study, participants who received explanations (RE) performed significantly better than those who self-explained (SE) in understanding near transfer about diffusion and explaining the causal structure underlying emergent processes. These results might come from the differences in working memory across age, or from cultural differences surrounding the value of received instruction versus self-explanations. Regarding the second research question, middle school students who were only instructed in examples (DEX) improved significantly in understanding basic knowledge and near transfer about diffusion. Though not significantly, students in condition RE – DEX, where participants were only instructed in examples and read explanations, improved in understanding the causal structure underlying emergent processes at the posttest. These results suggested that students can form some knowledge of the emergent schema without being explicitly told. Regarding the third research question, middle school students who were instructed in the direct and emergent schema (DES) performed significantly better than those who were only instructed in examples (DEX) in understanding the basic knowledge, near transfer, and far transfer about diffusion, and explaining the causal structure underlying emergent processes. These results suggested that some misconceptions about emergent processes come from a lack of the emergent schema. However, participants in all conditions showed no difference in the categorization of the two processes. Participants more frequently mentioned emergent attributes in an example that had very similar surface characteristics with the emergent example shown in the DES condition. However, no one mentioned emergent attributes in the example that had very similar surface characteristics with the direct example shown in the DES condition. This result suggests that some misconceptions stem from difficulties participants have in correctly categorizing processes as having emergent properties or not.

Citizen science projects present a distinctive opportunity for professional and volunteer scientists to coordinate their efforts to gather unique sets of data that can benefit the scientific and local communities. These projects are assumed to be an effective educational tool to teach nature of science (NOS) to participants (Brossard, Lewenstein, Bonney, 2005). This case study evaluates the effectiveness of participation in a citizen science project as a way to learn about NOS. Through enhancement of the Tryon Creek Owl Monitoring Project the researcher reviewed the characteristics of a citizen science project that were thought to be necessary to impact the volunteers' knowledge of NOS. The study also explored the benefits and limitations to organizing the citizen science protect using the principles of action research. Analysis of participants' knowledge and the effectiveness of active research theory, was evaluated through pre- and post- questionnaires and interviews. Although volunteers were able to explore the core themes of NOS through actively engaging in the scientific process, they did not experience a statistically significant change in their demonstration of understanding. For a multitude of reasons, participants had a positive experience with the presence of an embedded researcher within the project. This case study supports the use of active research as a guide to ensure that within each project the needs of both the scientific community and the volunteer scientists are met.

Elementary education has become increasingly divided into subjects and focused on the demand for high math and reading scores. Consequently, teachers spend less time devoted to science and art instruction. However, teaching art and science is crucial to developing creative and rational thinking, especially for observation and questioning skills. In this study, third grade students attending an urban school in Portland, Oregon received instruction of an art strategy using observational and quantifying drawing techniques. This study examines, "Will an art strategy observing the local environment help students make observations and ask questions?" and "In what ways are student learning and perspectives of science affected by the art strategy?" The independent variable is the art strategy developed for this study. There are three dependent variables: quality of student observations, quality of questions, and themes on student learning and perspectives of science. I predicted students would develop strong observation and questioning skills and that students would find the strategy useful or have an increased interest in science. The art scores were high for relevance and detail, but not for text. There were significant correlations between art scores and questions. Interviews revealed three themes: observations create questions, drawing is helpful and challenging, and students connected to science. By examining science through art, students were engaged and created strong observations and questions. Teachers need to balance unstructured drawing time with scaffolding for optimal results. This study provides an integrated science and art strategy that teachers can use outdoors or adapt for the classroom.

Formative assessment probes, known as Keeley probes, are one tool teachers use to reveal students' scientific misconceptions, so that they can move them closer to conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research was to document how four elementary school teachers used formative assessment probes to plan and adapt instruction to improve student learning. Specifically: How did teachers choose appropriate probes? What learning goals did teachers hope to address by using the probe?? What instructional sequences did teachers envision when planning to use a probe? What did teachers notice when analyzing student data from a probe? How did teachers use the information to modify their instructional practice? This exploratory study addresses key issues by exploring through qualitative methods how four elementary teachers used Keeley formative assessment probes in the classroom through a series of individual and group interviews. The results, reported as case studies and themes, indicate that Keeley probes may be used to help teachers strengthen their pedagogical content knowledge and as an anchor for classroom discussions. Teachers reported that students were highly engaged when considering Keeley probing questions. Teachers in this study had questions about how to analyze data collected through formative assessment, and what instructional steps they needed to take to address misconceptions. The central finding of the study is that a teacher's subject-area knowledge as well as the ability to identify students' misconceptions and make instructional decisions based on those ideas, both elements of pedagogical content knowledge, play a key role in how effectively teachers use Keeley formative assessment probes towards improving learning. Ultimately, this study showed that while the use of Keeley probes did improve opportunities for students to deepen scientific understanding, a gap still exists between the potential of formative assessment and the practical work of integrating ongoing formative assessment to improve teaching and learning. This exploratory study underlines the need for a new approach in professional development for elementary science teachers, and sheds light on what happens when teachers try Keeley probes, a promising formative assessment tool and strategy, in the real world of the classroom.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2017. / The potential for South African science teachers to become powerful agents of transformation needs to be explored. Speaking of Fensham's (2002) term “educo-politics” Aikenhead (2010) argues that, "all science teachers are constantly engaged in ‘educo-politics'” (Aikenhead, 2010:615). In this study I attempted to uncover some of the socially critical aspects of science and society related themes. This study investigated how science and society themes outlined in the Natural Sciences Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) (Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2011) are understood and valued by teachers. The study provides an account of how science teachers under the direction of the curriculum statement conceptualise the pedagogical use, and social value, of Specific Aim 3 in their regular teaching of Grade 9 Natural Sciences. The Science-Technology-Society- Environment (STSE) currents presented by Pedretti & Nazir (2011) provided a theoretical framework from which this inquiry was conducted and structured. This was a qualitative, small-scale study limited to 32 participants. The theoretical foundation of this study was influenced by the ideology and pedagogical frameworks which underpin science and society philosophies and movements in science education. An evaluation of the Natural Sciences CAPS (DBE, 2011) using such frameworks informed the development of the two research instruments used. A questionnaire was administered to 32 Grade 9 Natural Sciences teachers from government schools in the Johannesburg-West and Johannesburg-North districts in Gauteng. Three of the questionnaire participants were then interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The participants varied in age, race demographics, distribution of home languages, professional qualifications and years of teaching experience. The schools where participants teach were varied in terms of demographics and available resources. The study found that participants did not communicate a clear understanding of the principles which form science and society in the Natural Sciences CAPS. Time constraints, deviation from science content and limited usefulness for science learning were commonly cited to justify limited science and society practices. Furthermore, participants regularly made statements which communicated their belief in the superiority of science in terms of its explanatory value. In this regard participants showed insensitivity to the cultural barriers students may experience when learning science. This study has contributed to our understanding of how South African science teachers conceptualise and use science as society themes as outlined in the Grade 9 Natural Sciences CAPS. The findings of this study confirmed that the effects and consequences of the prescriptive elements and nature of the Natural Sciences CAPS (DBE, 2011) need to be critically evaluated. Although curriculum reform in South Africa was intended to empower teachers in their decision-making about what and how to teach, over-reliance on work schedules and Learning Support Materials (LSMs) results in the constriction of teacher agency (Stoffels, 2008). Such tendencies were observed in this study and hence it is suggested that this aspect of teacher agency be explored in further research. KEY WORDS Science and Society Scientific literacy Humanistic science education Curriculum Teachers Science-Society-Technology Science-Society-Technology-Environment Socioscientific Issues / EM2018

It is critical to provide inservice elementary teachers the opportunity to advance their science instruction, which in turn can positively impact not only their practice but also their perceptions towards science teaching and learning. Too often, science-specific professional development (PD) programs are scarcely provided as a result of an emphasis on English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics. Other hurdles include elementary teachers themselves having poor or little positive science experiences that lead to hesitancy or avoidance of science teaching. One way to dismantle these obstacles is for elementary teachers to engage in science learning and teaching. It has been noted that teachers can make positive changes to their practice by participating in ongoing professional development. This study uses a multiple case study approach to understand how three elementary teachers experience a science professional learning community (PLC) composed of middle school and high school science teachers and the affordances this structure provides them. Recognizing that learning is a fundamentally social phenomenon, this study utilizes situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation, communities of practice, and structure-agency dialectic as theoretical frameworks. Data from teacher reflections, audio recordings, lesson observations, researcher field notes, lesson plans, and semi-structured interviews were used to highlight the affordances of the structures of the PLC. Findings from this study suggest the vertical PLC space can greatly influence elementary teachers’ professional growth and agency development. Likewise, because of their equitable contributions in this space, the elementary teachers contributed to the secondary teachers’ professional growth. This study has implications for the design and designing and implementing professional development for inservice elementary teachers. Keywords: science professional development, elementary science teacher, professional learning community, vertically aligned professional learning community, social structures, agency

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The purpose of this action research project was to determine how my practice of implementing Universal Design for Learning-Representation (UDL-R) principles influenced my students’ understanding of content and enhanced their ability to organize their knowledge using concept maps. A secondary purpose of this action research project was to determine if student created concept maps served as a useful tool to enrich students’ written scientific explanations. Students in this study completed concept maps and wrote explanations about adaptations before and after participating in lessons enriched with UDL-R principles that included the use of multimedia sources, website searches, and trade books. The processes used to collect data for this action research project were concept maps, written explanations, student notes, and videotaped accounts of learning from UDL-R principles. The themes that emerged were deeper content understanding for students and greater engagement in learning through UDL-R practices as evidenced through student notes, student discussions and videotaped accounts. The students in this study showed minimal change in the total average scores on concept maps with mixed results for males versus female students’ scores. Although students’ concept maps and written explanations indicated minimal improvement or change, their notes listing thirty to over one hundred facts and their comments indicated their interest and engagement in the learning process supported by UDL-R practices.