This study explored the use of reflection as a professional developmental strategy to facilitate improvement of tangible classroom behaviors among novice university science faculty. Specifically, the study addressed the following questions: How did the novice college instructors perceive the reflection experiences to impact their teaching practice? During the progression of reflection experiences, in which teaching practices did the instructors? performances change? How? A mixed method approach was employed in answering the aforementioned questions. The participants? responses in semi-structured interviews and informal discussions, their written responses to reflective prompts, and the researcher?s observations of their teaching were qualitatively analyzed for themes. Students? responses to a survey about the participants? instruction were analyzed quantitatively. Findings revealed that the participants developed self awareness and exhibited cognition-induced behavioral change consistent with their developmental goals. Findings also suggested that participation in the study facilitated development of cognitions supportive of sustained reform in instructional practice and bridging of gaps within participants? pedagogical content knowledge.

The purposes of this study were to determine what program characteristics African American parents consider when they enroll their children into an informal science education enrichment program, the parents? evaluation of a program called Jordan Academy in which they enrolled their children, and the alignment of the parents? perspectives with Black Cultural Ethos (BCE). BCE refers to nine dimensions posited by Wade Boykin, a psychologist, as comprising African American culture. Participants were parents of students that attended Jordan Academy, an informal science enrichment program designed for third through sixth grade students from underserved populations. Qualitative methodologies were utilized to perform a thorough assessment of parents? perspectives. Data sources included classroom observations, student surveys, academy curriculum, photos and video-taped class sessions. Data included teachers and parents? responses to semi-structured, audio recorded interviews and students? written responses to open-ended items on the program?s evaluation instrument. The data were analyzed for themes. and the findings compared to Black Cultural Ethos. Findings revealed that the participants believed that informal science education offered their children opportunities not realized in the formal school setting - a means of impacting their children holistically. The parents expressed the academic, cultural, and personal development of their children in their characterizations of the ideal informal science education experience and in their evaluations of Jordan Academy. Overall, the parents? views emphasized the BCE values of harmony, affect, verve, movement, orality and communalism. The study has important implications for practices within and research on informal science education.

The purpose of the study is to review the efficacy of the SAS Curriculum Pathways (SIS) chemistry modules on student achievements in a high school academic level chemistry class. The research question was âDo SIS modules (numbers 692 chemical quantities, 867 chemical reactions and module 10 the mole) increase student understanding of chemistry concepts in which they are designed to teach when compared to student groups receiving traditional instruction (i.e., without the integration of the SIS modules) Comparing pre and post-tests means through a t-Test, it was found that after a unit was taught using SIS Curriculum Pathways students showed a significant (p<0.05) increase in understanding of the chemistry topics covered in the modules. Student journals were kept during the time frame of the study. Qualitative results suggest that there are three factors which may affect the student outcomes concerning the use of simulations: student comfort with the computer, amount and availability of information in the simulation, and the novelty of using computer simulations in a science class.

This study examines the views of the relationship between science and faith and the understandings of biological evolution, geologic history and the nature of science, with emphasis on the use of evidence, held by United Methodist ministers, pre-service science teachers, and pre-service language arts/social studies teachers. By completing a nineteen and a twenty-item, combination multiple-choice/open-ended questionnaire and individual interviews, participants demonstrated a wide array of scientific understandings and articulated in some cases how those understandings inform their views of the relationship between alternative ways of knowing. Findings included little disparity overall between participant groups' scientific understandings, although slightly more ministers demonstrated more informed understandings of the concepts assessed. Additionally, findings indicated that pre-service science teachers viewed scientific literacy as less important than other participant groups and few participants reported any change in their views of science as a result of formal post-secondary instruction. Almost all participants considered evidence to be used in faith but little to no distinction was made between scientific, historical, and faith-based types of evidence. Recommendations are included regarding curriculum development for science teacher and religious education, as well as implications for potential partnerships between the science educators and clergy.

This study provided an overview of the issues science teachers faced in the 2006-07 school year with the change to the block schedule in Wake County, North Carolina. The purpose of this research was to address gaps in literature related to changes teachers had made in their instruction and interaction with students after the implementation of the block schedule. The mixed methods used were a survey instrument, followed by eight focus group interviews. Data Analysis included t-tests, correlations, and triangulation through a phenomenological approach. Results obtained were a difference in methods used by teachers with End-of-Course tests when compared with Non-End-of-Course tests in the areas of outdoor activities, projects, media center visits, and guest speakers. Teachers with more experience also tended to change instructional methods less on the block schedule. Conclusions drawn include state testing negates some benefits of block scheduling including those to curriculum, learning, and student relationships.

The purpose of this research has been to determine the influence of verbal and nonverbal behavior on power and status within small groups. The interactions which took place within five small groups of students in a middle school spatial reasoning elective were analyzed. Verbal responses to requests for help were analyzed using sequential analysis software. Results indicated that the identity of the child asking a question or requesting help in some form or another is a better predictor of whether he/she will receive help than the type of questions he/she asks. Nonverbal behavior was analyzed for social gestures, body language, and shifts in possession of tools. Each nonverbal act was coded as either ?positive? (encouraging participation) or ?negative? (discouraging participation); and, the researchers found that in groups in which there was unequal participation and less ?help? provided among peers (according to the verbal analysis results) there tended to be more ?negative? nonverbal behavior demonstrated than in groups in which ?shared talk time? and ?helping behavior? were common characteristics of the norm. The combined results from the analyses of the verbal and nonverbal behavior of students within small groups were then reviewed through the conflict, power, status perspective of small group interactions in order to determine some common characteristics of high functioning (collaborative) and low functioning (non-collaborative) groups. Some common characteristics of the higher functioning groups include: few instances of conflict, shared ?talk time? and decision making, inclusive leadership, frequent use of encouraging social gestures and body language, and more sharing of tools than seizing; while, some shared traits among the lower functioning groups include: frequent occurrences of interpersonal conflict, a focus on process (rather than content), persuasive or alienating leadership, unequal participation and power, frequent use of discouraging social gestures and body language, and more seizing of tools than sharing. While ?functionality? was easily defined, labeling groups according to this characteristic proved to be a more difficult task. Although there was clearly a ?highest functioning? and a ?lowest functioning? group among the five, the other three groups fell somewhere in between these two, along a continuum (dependent upon the day).

<p>BODZIN, ALEC MICHAEL. Purposeful Use of a Non-Restrictive, Asynchronous Public Web-Based Forum for Facilitating Reflective Discourse with Preservice Science Teachers. (Under the direction of John C. Park.) The purpose of this research has been to investigate the purposeful use of asynchronous telecommunications in a science education methods/curriculum course involving the use of a non-restrictive, public Web-based forum for facilitating reflective discourse with preservice science teachers. Thirty-two preservice secondary school science teachers participated in a public science teaching forum on the World Wide Web during their student teaching internship. The forum was designed with NetForum software to be a place where science teachers share ideas, reflections and conversations on teaching and implementation of technology in the classroom and other instructional pedagogy, while also providing support for each other as members of an electronic professional community. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to explore interaction patterns that facilitated collaborative preservice teacher reflective discourse on the forum and participants? attitudes towards using asynchronous telecommunications during their student teaching internship. Data from forum discourse analysis, interviews, and survey instruments illustrate that the use of this asynchronous Web-based forum provided the participants the opportunity to discuss and examine science concepts and reflect on classroom issues that were directly relevant to their student teaching experiences. The findings revealed that most participants had positive attitudes with respect to interacting with the Web-based forum. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in attitude between participants who had access to a networked computer and those who did not have access. An analysis of the forum postings showed that saturation in the discourse can occur with large groups participating in online asynchronous conversations. <P>

<p>Assessment is a key element in the process of science education teaching and research. Understanding sources of performance bias in science assessment is a major challenge for science education reforms. Prior research has documented several limitations of instrument types on the measurement of students' scientific knowledge (Liu et al., 2011; Messick, 1995; Popham, 2010). Furthermore, a large body of work has been devoted to reducing assessment biases that distort inferences about students' science understanding, particularly in multiple-choice [MC] instruments. Despite the above documented biases, much has yet to be determined for constructed response [CR] assessments in biology and their use for evaluating students' conceptual understanding of scientific practices (such as explanation). Understanding differences in science achievement provides important insights into whether science curricula and/or assessments are valid representations of student abilities. </p><p> Using the integrative framework put forth by the National Research Council (2012), this dissertation aimed to explore whether assessment biases occur for assessment practices intended to measure students' conceptual understanding and proficiency in scientific practices. Using a large corpus of undergraduate biology students' explanations, three studies were conducted to examine whether known biases of MC instruments were also apparent in a CR instrument designed to assess students' explanatory practice and understanding of evolutionary change (ACORNS: Assessment of COntextual Reasoning about Natural Selection). </p><p> The first study investigated the challenge of interpreting and scoring lexically ambiguous language in CR answers. The incorporation of 'multivalent' terms into scientific discourse practices often results in statements or explanations that are difficult to interpret and can produce faulty inferences about student knowledge. The results of this study indicate that many undergraduate biology majors frequently incorporate multivalent concepts into explanations of change, resulting in explanatory practices that were scientifically non-normative. However, use of follow-up question approaches was found to resolve this source of bias and thereby increase the validity of inferences about student understanding. </p><p> The second study focused on issues of item and instrument structure, specifically item feature effects and item position effects, which have been shown to influence measures of student performance across assessment tasks. Results indicated that, along the instrument item sequence, items with similar surface features produced greater sequencing effects than sequences of items with dissimilar surface features. This bias could be addressed by use of a counterbalanced design (i.e., Latin Square) at the population level of analysis. Explanation scores were also highly correlated with student verbosity, despite verbosity being an intrinsically trivial aspect of explanation quality. Attempting to standardize student response length was one proposed solution to the verbosity bias. </p><p> The third study explored gender differences in students' performance on constructed-response explanation tasks using impact (i.e., mean raw scores) and differential item function (i.e., item difficulties) patterns. While prior research in science education has suggested that females tend to perform better on constructed-response items, the results of this study revealed no overall differences in gender achievement. However, evaluation of specific item features patterns suggested that female respondents have a slight advantage on unfamiliar explanation tasks. That is, male students tended to incorporate fewer scientifically normative concepts (i.e., key concepts) than females for unfamiliar taxa. Conversely, females tended to incorporate more scientifically non-normative ideas (i.e., naive ideas) than males for familiar taxa. Together these results indicate that gender achievement differences for this CR instrument may be a result of differences in how males and females interpret and respond to combinations of item features. </p><p> Overall, the results presented in the subsequent chapters suggest that as science education shifts toward the evaluation of fused scientific knowledge and practice (e.g., explanation), it is essential that educators and researchers investigate potential sources of bias inherent to specific assessment practices. This dissertation revealed significant sources of CR assessment bias, and provided solutions to address these problems. </p>

Thesis (M.Ed. 1980) -- University of Adelaide, Department of Education, 1980.

Thesis accepted for the degree of doctor of pedagogy at the University of Toronto. / Bibliography: p. 119-123.