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.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a read- aloud nonfiction picture books would increase fifth grade students' science comprehension as measured by a criterion reference test. Four questions guided the research in this study: 1. What are the benefits of reading aloud to fifth grade students? 2. According to the Fry Readability graph, what is the readability of the Harcourt textbook used in fifth grade and the readability of the nonfiction picture books chosen for this study? 3. Does the use of a read aloud nonfiction picture book increase fifth grade students' comprehension versus a round-robin instruction of the textbook? 4. What is the attitude of fifth grade students when exposed to read aloud picture books? The subjects in the study included eighty- seven students in four fifth grade classrooms. Four fifth grade teachers from two schools participated. Two fifth grade classes received the nonfiction picture book treatment and two received the textbook round robin instruction. Pretests were given before each lesson and posttests were given after each lesson or treatment. Based on the posttests scores of each group it was determined that the mean rate of change for students in the nonfiction picture book group exceeded that of the textbook group.

The purpose of the study was to explore the effect of integrating technological activities with science instruction. The researcher examined whether fifth-grade students' achievement and curiosity relative to the science unit were related to their participation in classes where the experimental treatment was employed. A secondary focus of the study was to determine whether students' curiosity about the unit prior to studying it was related to their achievement. The researcher used a quasi-experimental,pretest/post test design for the study. The researcher developed and field tested two instruments for use in the study: a measure of curiosity and a measure of students' science knowledge and comprehension relative to the unit studied on changing forms of energy. The sample (n=l23) was drawn from a population of fifth-grade students in Staunton and Augusta County, Virginia. Classrooms were randomly assigned as treatment and control. Treatment group teachers taught the unit by having students participate in two technological activities that corresponded with the science unit. Control group teachers used traditional science methods (i.e., primarily teacher demonstrations of science experiments) to teach the unit. Pretest and posttest data were analyzed using correlation analysis and analysis of covariance procedures. The researcher reported a significant difference between treatment group students' and control group students' curiosity, favoring the treatment group. No significant differences were found between groups in science achievement and no significant relationship between students' curiosity and achievement was reported. The researcher concluded that the integration of technological activities with science instruction may positively affect fifth-grade students' curiosity but may not enhance or deter from their science achievement. Hence, the science-technology linkage shows promise as a useful method of promoting greater student curiosity without negatively affecting their achievement. / Ed. D.

M.S.

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