This study on tinkering evolved out of a review of literature on females and science. A review of this literature revealed a consistent conjecture raised by researchers to explain why females underachieve and also why they are underrepresented in the physical sciences field. The conjecture was that females do not tinker. Prior to undertaking an investigation into the nature of tinkering and how it might be related to this conjecture, it was necessary to clarify the nature of tinkering and how it might be related to the development of an understanding and interest in science. The present study offers this clarification by the way of proposing a model of tinkering. A children's science perspective was chosen as a theoretical framework for the interpretation of tinkering. Osborne & Freyberg (1985) describe children's science by noting that some children's views of the world and meanings for words are unexpectedly different from those of adults in general and scientists in particular. Those views and different word meanings influence children's subsequent learning in science. Most studies investigating children's science have focused on children's conceptualization of scientific phenomena. The present study however brought a wider perspective to children's science by seeking to describe it as the intuitive methods which children learn from everyday experience. The findings therefore add a new dimension to the study of children's science by providing insight into the methods by which some children may acquire their intuitive knowledge of selected science concepts. Based on the results from preliminary and pilot studies ten target students were selected for the purpose of data collection. Subsequently six target subjects, representing a variety of levels of tinkering, were selected for final analysis. The analysis utilized a variety of data sources (survey, interview, and classroom observation) collected over a three-month period. The model of tinkering which was constructed conceptualizes tinkering as consisting of three general sets of characteristics. These characteristics were described in terms of the different types of tinkering observed, the different phases entailed in the tinkering process, and finally the different types of knowledge generated by this activity. The first characteristic, called the "a typology of tinkering", maps out the "purpose" and the "proficiency" of tinkering as it was observed in the target subjects. Four purposes were described: utilitarian, technological, scientific and pragmatic. The proficiency of tinkering was described in terms of categories: master, professional, amateur and novice. The second characteristic focussed on the nature of the process of tinkering. Since tinkering was conceptualized as a form of problem-solving, four different phases of tinkering activity were identified. A third characteristic identified the kinds of knowledge bases that appear to be constructed from tinkering activity. These were described in terms of verbal and actional knowledge. This study also constructed three sets of factors which influence tinkering: experiential, social and personal. These factors were metaphorically described as an apprenticeship. The experiential factors were noted as ranging from low to high levels. The social factors were described as having three levels of influence, namely mentor, family and friends, and school and other agencies. The personal factors were described as ranging from low to high levels of interest. Since the problem initially arose from the literature on females and science a discussion of gender differences in tinkering was also undertaken. This discussion utilized "women's ways of knowing" (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule, 1986) to interpret the extensive data. The focus of the discussion was that tinkering is "disconnected knowing" for females and "connected knowing" for males. On the basis of this argument tinkering can be viewed as an activity which favors males. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Purpose of the study: The study explored an approach to analysing and evaluating strategies for teaching science concepts at the first-year university level based on B.O. Smith and co-workers conceptual framework of teaching. As such, the study represents an attempt to bridge the gap between a recently developed theoretical view of teaching and practical problems of classroom science teaching. A basic assumption made in the study was that teaching is a type of goal-directed activity. The major goal of science teaching was taken to be the acquisition of scientific paradigms. According to T.S. Kuhn, scientific paradigms constitute what a "scientific community thinks it knows". Since science concepts (i.e. rules governing the use of a term) are inextricably bound to scientific paradigms, the teaching of science concepts was seen as an essential aspect of science teaching strategies. It was pointed out, moreover, that teaching strategies used to teach science concepts are rarely, if ever, firmly based on systematized knowledge of teaching. Procedure: Development of the methodology was carried forward in four phases: identifying aspects of Smith and co-workers’ theoretical work potentially useful for analysing and evaluating the teaching of science concepts; characterizing records of actual teaching strategies; analyzing and evaluating actual teaching strategies for goodness-of-fit with ideal teaching strategies; and suggesting specific problems arising from the study requiring further investigation. The methodology was developed and illustrated using actual teaching strategies employed by an instructor in a first-year university physics course. The teaching strategies utilized covered a time span of eleven lectures and were directed toward an understanding of eight different science concepts. The eight concepts taught were: "Mass", "Law in Physics", "Electricity", "Electric Field", "Number of Field Lines", "Feedback", "Wave Superposition", and "Nuclear Binding Energy". Findings of the study: A general conclusion of the study was that the theoretical framework used in the study appeared to be potentially useful for analysing and evaluating certain aspects of classroom teaching. The "venture" and "move" categorizations of the framework proved tractable for analysing and evaluating actual teaching strategies performed in a lecture-type teaching situation. Difficulty, however, is likely to be encountered if the "play" categorizations; at the present stage of development, were to be included in the methodology. Classifying and organizing the information introduced by the various "moves" in a teaching strategy, in terms of the "functions to be accomplished in teaching a concept", appeared useful not only for deducing "rule-formulations" (i.e. rules governing the use of a term naming the concept) but also for evaluation purposes. In the evaluation process teaching functions which appear to be inadequately performed, because the appropriate information was not presented or because the "moves" were defective in some way, were identified. It was pointed out that suggestions for altering; a particular teaching strategy in order to include the necessary information or to modify particular "moves" would require experimental investigations into the most advantageous teaching strategy for producing specified learning outcomes for a particular group of students. The results of analysing and evaluating teaching strategies aimed at teaching concepts as illustrated in the study was seen as potentially useful information for a classroom teacher. However, it was emphasized that identifying the "intended product" of a teaching strategy (i.e. expected rule-formulations deducible from information presented in teaching a concept) is most difficult. Although the methodology developed was only applied to concept teaching it would appear to be generalizable to other kinds of teaching. Finally, four problems arising from the study and deserving further investigation were identified and described. The problems, viewed as ranging along a hypothetical-practical continuum, were: difficulties encountered in employing the "play" categorizations; a suggested expansion of the "conceptual venture" idea; devising teaching strategies for concept teaching by considering "teaching functions" in terms of the "point-at-ability" of a concept; and a suggested use of the methodology for devising a "Handbook of Teaching Strategies for Selected Science Concepts." / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the effect of Witkin's construct of cognitive style on children's performance on salient elementary science competencies. These competencies involved the ability to use science processes and the acquisition of specific attitudes. During the development of the study (see Appendix A), it was first necessary to determine the measurable objectives of the Elementary Science Study (E.S.S.). The Test of Science Processes was used to measure those E.S.S. objectives which pertained to science processes. In order to measure the attitudinal objective of the E.S.S. programme, the author developed four attitude scales, utilizing proper attitude measuring techniques. The four scales measured children's attitudes towards the following beliefs: children will feel that "Messing about in Science" is fun (Fun Scale); children will follow-up phenomena encountered during E.S.S. experiences (Pursue Scale); children will impose a structure on their play to find out more (Structure Scale); children will themselves initiate their own investigations (Independent Investigation Scale). The development of these scales is reported intact in Appendix B. Good reliability and factoral validity were established for these scales. It was hoped that the four attitude scales would prove to be useful tools for elementary science educators. A natural experiment in a small city school district was utilized to determine the effect of years of E.S.S. experience, the effect of Witkin's construct of cognitive style, and the interaction effect of years of experience with cognitive style -- on children's performance on measures of elementary science competencies. Utilizing a three by three factorial design, the test scores of 184 grade seven pupils were compared. The independent levelling variable used to determine cognitive style was based upon performance on the Children's Embedded Figures Test (C.E.F.T.). Years of E.S.S. instruction (one year, two years and three years) comprised the independent blocking variable. Groups were compared on fourteen dependent variables ( nine process variables and five attitudinal variables). Hotellings T² statistic was computed prior to analysis of variance in order to determine if the global group (C.E.F.T. score 0-15) would achieve significantly lower scores than the analytical group (C.E.F.T. score 20-25) on the sets of elementary science competencies (processes and attitudes). The predicted inferior performance of the global group was confirmed on the set of attitudinal dependent variables and on the set of dependent variables concerning processes. The predicted effect of superior performance of students who had received more E.S.S. experience than other students was not generally supported by the statistical tests. The predicted interaction effect was not generally significant either, although their appeared to be a trend which might indicate that the global group did less well when this group had more and more E.S.S. experience. Limitations of the cross-sectional design, however, made it difficult to come to any firm conclusions regarding the interaction effect and the effect of years of instruction. Analyses of variance confirmed the findings that the children with a more global cognitive style achieved significantly lower scores on elementary science competencies than children with more analytical cognitive styles. Based on these findings, the implications of the construct of cognitive style on elementary science education was discussed in terms of methodological reform and curricular reform. Finally, a plan for further research was proposed. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Historically, students have been viewed as empty vessels and passive participants in the learning process but students actually are active forming their own conceptions. One way student learning is impacted is through assessment. Alternative assessment, which contrasts traditional assessment methods, takes into account how students learn by promoting engagement and construction of knowledge. This dissertation explores portfolio-based assessment, a method of alternative assessment, which requires students to compose a purposeful collection of work demonstrating their knowledge in an upper-level biology course. The research objectives include characterizing and contributing to the understanding of portfolio-based assessment in higher education, examining reflection and inquiry portfolio components, determining student knowledge of biological concepts, and investigating student integrative thinking through the transformation of reflections into concept webs. One main finding includes the majority of reflections categorized as naive or novice in quality. There was no difference in quality of reflections among biological topic. There was a relatively equal amount of high and low cognitive level questions. Students' knowledge of biological concepts significantly increased from the beginning to end of the course. Student written reflections were transformed into concept webs to allow for examination of student integrative thinking. Concepts, relationships, and interconnections in concept webs showed variation but declined by the end of the semester. This study is one of the first examining portfolio-based assessment in an upper-level biology course. We do not contend that this method of assessment is the only way to promote student learning but portfolio-based assessment may be a tool that can transform science education but currently the role of portfolio-based assessment in science education remains unclear. Additional research needs to be conducted before we will fully understand and be able characterize this type of assessment.

As student populations in the United States become more diverse, teacher education programs are challenged to find innovative and effective ways to prepare teachers for the twenty-first century. However, the goal of "science for all" continues to elude many students in urban and high needs settings where science achievement gaps persist, teacher turnover is high, and novice teachers are often hired to fill those vacancies. Researchers have examined teachers' beliefs, attitudes, practices, as well as content and pedagogical knowledge and made progressive strides in illuminating the complexities of urban classrooms and how we can better prepare teachers for these settings. However, only recently have we begun to venture into the affective areas of teaching to investigate how these areas of human nature interact to influence instruction. This research follows three preservice teachers placed in a high needs school during their student teaching semester. In this case, a high need is described as a school with more than 30% of the students who meet the poverty criteria under section 1113(a)(f) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. This case study explored the connections between preservice teachers' emotions, identity and the implementation of student-centered science instruction during the participants' student teaching experience. Data collection included observations, interviews, and physical artifacts. The interviews included the Teachers' Pedagogical Philosophy Interview (Richardson & Simmons, 1994) and the Meta-Emotions Interview (Gottman, Katz & Hooven, 1997) as well as general interview questions that illuminated the participants' views on teaching, their emotions, life history and identity. Multiple naturalistic observations were used to describe the interactions between the preservice teachers and the students during the implementation of student-centered lessons. Physical artifacts included weekly journals and lesson plans. These artifacts will provide additional information regarding the implementation of the lessons. The study found that all of the novice teachers experienced frustration, but used different strategies to minimize those frustrations in the classroom. The most interesting commonality in their response to frustration was the participants' use of emotion regulation strategies while implementing student-centered instruction (Gross, 1998; Sutton, 2004), particularly self-talk, avoidance and reappraisal. However, in terms of the success of student-centered instruction, the more promising regulatory strategy seemed to be the reappraisal of student behaviors. Additionally, the study found that student teachers who were more comfortable with ambiguity and their own instructional progress as improvement rather than "perfection" were able to maintain a more positive outlook on teaching as a future career. Although this study sought to look at the influence of race and class on the implementation of student-centered instruction, these factors did not appear to be the essential aspect of the struggles the novices had in enacting instruction, rather it was their ability to move beyond the differences between themselves and their student that emerged. The findings indicate that the difficulties novice teachers experience when enacting student-centered instruction can be productive if they can be taught to respond to these difficulties and the emotions that may accompany the difficulties, by employing emotion regulation strategies. These insights may inform the design of teacher preparation programs to include instructional events that support social and emotional competence for building teacher resilience in novices. This approach shows promise in more effectively preparing science teachers to be successful in enacting ambitious instruction in high needs settings. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / March 19, 2015. / emotions, equity, Identity, science, student-centered instruction, urban education / Includes bibliographical references. / Sherry A. Southerland, Professor Directing Dissertation; Thomas Miller, University Representative; Christine Andrews-Larson, Committee Member; Jeanine Turner, Committee Member.

The teaching of science is a continuous process. It is closely related to every activity of the school day. The elementary teacher with little or no scientific background may utilize these wide and varied daily experiences in the teaching of the concepts of space, time, change, variety, adaptation, and interrelationships. The numerous opportunities for science study in the surrounding community may be correlated with the text as a means of gathering reliable scientific information. Contributing to the setting up of more purposeful science --learning situations are the following five major aims in the teaching or science. / Typescript. / "August, 1951." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: W. Edwards, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-49).

"The purpose of this paper is to examine the place of science in the secondary school program. It is assumed that the place of science in the curriculum has to be justified in such a study. Justification for teaching science is approached in this paper through a study of the nature of the society that creates and maintains the school; the nature of learning and the individual; and the unique contributions that science education can make for a better adjustment of the individual to his environment. It is hoped that this paper might stimulate other science teachers to explore some of the varied references mentioned herein"--Introduction. / "July, 1949." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: Mode L. Stone, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-66).

"The purpose of this paper is to compile an annotated bibliography of science books, chosen to meet established criteria for book selection and to implement the ninth grade general science program as recommended by the Florida State Department of Education. The bibliography has been arranged by units of work as recommended for the science program, then in order of relative readability"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1953." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Sara Krentzman Srygley, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 109).

National recommendations for undergraduate biology education call for orchestrating opportunities for students to "figure out" scientific explanations in the classroom setting by engaging in similar disciplinary practices and discourses as scientists. One approach to realize this vision, ambitious science teaching, describes four essential practices, each of which emphasizes classroom talk as an essential feature of student understanding. However, a critical element of reform is the instructor, who translates and enacts recommended practices in the classroom. This dissertation examines three specific aspects of ambitious science teaching in the context of an undergraduate biology laboratory course: how teaching assistants (TAs) take up the ambitious science teaching practice of eliciting and responding to student ideas, how TAs use positioning acts to support or constrain students' opportunities to engage in rigorous scientific discourse, and how engaging students in ambitious science teaching practices is mutually supportive for both the TAs develop as a professional scientist and the students' development of proficiency in science. The first study described how thirteen undergraduate biology TAs enacted one ambitious practice, eliciting and responding to students' initial and unfolding ideas, in a general biology laboratory course for nonscience majors before and after one semester of targeted professional development. Each participant was videotaped teaching the same lesson at the beginning of his or her first and second semesters as a TA. These videos were transcribed and coded for ambitious and conservative discursive moves. The findings describe four common profiles for how TAs changed in their practice of eliciting and responding to student ideas after one semester, with one profile eliciting more rigorous student discourse, one profile eliciting less rigorous student discourse, and two profiles fall in the middle of the spectrum. Implications for TA professional development are discussed. The next study was based on the premise that classrooms are complex systems, with a variety of factors influencing the teaching and learning that takes place within the system, including how teachers enact instructional practices. Teachers may translate and enact the same instructional practice differently, which could have important consequences for student learning opportunities. This study examined TA views about the role of the TA and the role of the students in classroom conversations and how these views supported or constrained opportunities for students to engage in scientific discourse. Using qualitative case study methodology, I examined how five TAs enacted whole class conversations in four different lab investigations over two different semesters. Using positioning acts as an analytical lens, the data were analyzed to develop themes describing how the role of the TA and the students was signaled in these five classrooms. The findings illustrated how TAs who positioned students as critical contributors to scientific conversations created opportunities for students to engage in scientific discourse while TAs who self-positioned as the authority on biology knowledge limited opportunities for students to engage in scientific discourse. Implications for classroom practice are discussed. The final study is based on the premise that, due to the calls for reforming undergraduate biology education, biology TAs are increasingly responsible for enacting student-centered instruction. However, TAs must balance coursework, research and teaching responsibilities, and teaching responsibilities are seldom considered opportunities to develop biology expertise needed as a professional scientist. However, some evidence suggests that using ambitious science teaching practices that engage students in the practices and discourses of science actually supports the TA in developing scientific expertise. This research investigated this link by examining how TAs organize biological knowledge before and after teaching a general biology lab curriculum that supported ambitious pedagogy. It also examined the relationship between knowledge organization and instructional practices. To capture changes in TA's knowledge organization, they completed a card-sorting task at the start and end of the semester. To capture instructional practices, TAs were videotaped teaching the same lab at the beginning of two consecutive semesters. The conversations in these teaching episodes were transcribed and TA talk was coded for ambitious discourse moves. TA knowledge organization was significantly more sophisticated after one semester of teaching experience. The sophistication of TA's knowledge organization was also positively related to their use of ambitious discourse moves to elicit and respond to student contributions. This relationship suggests a mutually supportive connection between ambitious teaching practice and disciplinary expertise. Implications for TA professional development are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / April 3, 2017. / ambitious instruction, biology education, discourse, knowledge organization, sociocultural learning theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Sherry A. Southerland, Professor Directing Dissertation; Nora Underwood, University Representative; Christine Andrews-Larson, Committee Member; Alice Winn, Committee Member.

The Next Generation Science Standards present an integrated approach to science and engineering education in which science is foundational to engineering and engineering contextualizes and reinforces science ideas. The research presented here explores how one elementary school teacher and her students came to understand what is expected of them when asked to engage in an integrated science and engineering unit on simple circuits. Analysis of whole class and small group video transcripts and artifacts revealed that an integrated approach may be more problematic that promising for teachers and students. We discuss these findings and what they might mean when engineering is seen as an avenue for applying science knowledge in classrooms. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / December 13, 2018. / Elementary Science Education, Integration of Science and Engineering, Science Education / Includes bibliographical references. / Sherry A. Southerland, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Lama Z. Jaber, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Alice Winn, University Representative; George Boggs, Committee Member.