This is a study of teachers transition after a professional development (PD). The purpose was to document and characterize the teachers’ experiences as they transitioned toward use of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and more learner-centered teacher practices. The teachers participated in a PD workshop that provided information on the use of the NGSS (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Following the PD workshop, the teachers’ experiences as they transitioned in their classroom teaching practices were documented and analyzed. This study used a mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative evidence) design and emphasized two of the eight science practices: Asking questions and Engaging in argument from evidence. To examine the teachers’ transition to learner-centeredness, Webb’s depth of knowledge chart and learner-centered rubric and the Survey of Science Instructional Practices were used. Four high school science teachers volunteered to participate in this study and were observed, audio-recorded, and interviewed over 9 weeks to document and analyze their transition toward a more learner-centered classroom. Classroom observations started after the teachers participated in a full-day PD workshop. Classroom observations, recordings, and interviews were used to note the frequency with which the participants and their students engaged in the target science practices over the 9 weeks of the study and to identify factors that facilitated or inhibited the teachers’ transition toward learner-centered instruction. The teachers demonstrated a mostly transitional approach over the 9-week observational period. The results showed that during the first through the final classroom observation, the teachers’ practices became more learner centered, but the pattern of progress varied. There was no linear progression from the first through the last observation. The teachers provided a rich and informative narrative about the factors that facilitated or inhibited their transition from a traditional- to a student-centered learning environment. For example, all of the participants stated that the PD was integral in helping them implement the target practices but that they did not receive enough support from colleagues and administrators to fully transition to learner-centered instruction. In addition, the New York State Regents Examinations in June 2019 seemed incompatible with the new science and engineering practices of the NGSS. This study provides insight into teachers’ challenges as they adopt the NGSS and implement the NGSS science and engineering practices in their classrooms. The research is particularly beneficial to teachers who have been textbook-oriented and seek a shift to a learner-centered classroom using the science practices of Asking questions and Engaging in argument from evidence.

As part of their initial teacher education, most aspiring middle and high school science teachers take one or more semesters of coursework in the methods of teaching science. Surprisingly little is known about the curriculum of secondary science methods courses, however. This exploratory study aimed to better understand the goals and content of secondary science methods courses, especially regarding their adoption of two important schools of reform in science education: the vision of instruction conveyed by the Framework for K-12 Science Education, and calls to foreground diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in science instruction. Three forms of data were collected. First, institutions were surveyed regarding which science teacher preparation standards their methods courses addressed (n = 27). Faculty at a subset of these institutions (n = 15) participated in a semi-structured interview about their methods courses, and provided, in most cases, syllabi for the courses in their science methods sequence (n = 35 course syllabi, from 13 institutions). All three pools of data were analyzed individually and then compared. Data suggest that secondary science methods courses may be taking on more goals than they can practically achieve, rendering them unable to engage sufficiently with reforms like the Framework and DEI. More significant engagement with these reforms seems likely to require two things: more coherent teacher education programs that allow methods courses to focus on fewer goals in greater depth, and networks of science teacher educators dedicated to promoting better, more equitable science teaching among candidates.

This study explores the challenges that elementary science educators face when teaching science in a time of crisis, as well as how to best provide elementary teachers with ongoing support for their science teaching during the novel COVID-19 pandemic. Using a phenomenological approach, this research focuses on elementary science teachers, educators, and formal and informal leaders to understand their experiences during the pandemic and how to best support them during remote and in-person science teaching. Using data collected from questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions, findings discuss the specific experiences and challenges faced by elementary science first-year teachers, early career teachers, and leaders. Following the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and the buffering effect of social support (Cohen & McKay, 1984), first-year and early career elementary science teachers used multiple coping mechanisms to handle the stress of science teaching during the pandemic, including problem solving and collaborating with other educators. From a distributed leadership perspective (Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001b), district-level elementary science curriculum specialists and coaches act as leaders in science education. When faced with constraints and challenges due to the pandemic, these district-level leaders used this opportunity to reimagine what their leadership work could look like, including rethinking what supports they can offer classroom teachers when they cannot easily access classrooms, how to design effective science curricula for remote teaching, and how to collaborate with other educators in new ways.

This scale-up study investigated the impact of a teacher technology tool (Curriculum Customization Service, CCS), curriculum, and online resources on earth science teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices and on students’ achievement and engagement with science learning. Participants included 73 teachers and over 2,000 ninth-grade students within five public school districts in the western U.S. To assess the impact on teachers, changes between pre- and postsurveys were examined. Results suggest that the CCS tool appeared to significantly increase both teachers’ awareness of other earth science teachers’ practices and teachers’ frequency of using interactive resources in their lesson planning and classroom teaching. A standard multiple regression model was developed. In addition to “District,” “Training condition”(whether or not teachers received CCS training) appeared to predict teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Teachers who received CCS training tended to have lower postsurvey scores than their peers who had no CCS training. Overall, usage of the CCS tool tended to be low, and there were differences among school districts. To assess the impact on students, changes were examined between pre- and postsurveys of (1) knowledge assessment and (2) students’ engagement with science learning. Students showed pre- to postsurvey improvements in knowledge assessment, with small to medium effect sizes. A nesting effect (students clustered within teachers) in the Earth’s Dynamic Geosphere (EDG) knowledge assessment was identified and addressed by fitting a two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM). In addition, significant school district differences existed for student post-knowledge assessment scores. On the student engagement questionnaire, students tended to be neutral or to slightly disagree that science learning was important in terms of using science in daily life, stimulating their thinking, discovering science concepts, and satisfying their own curiosity. Students did not appear to change their self-reported engagement level after the intervention. Additionally, three multiple regression models were developed. Factors from the district, teacher, and student levels were identified to predict student post-knowledge assessments and their engagement with science learning. The results provide information to both the research community and practitioners.

The introduction of Science Education Standards for the K-12 education system of the United States and those of Bhutan is aimed at providing students with equitable access to quality science instruction and to promote a scientifically literate society. These reforms in education systems require teachers who are well prepared to translate the reform documents, (i.e., Science Standards and curriculum goals) into effective daily classroom instruction. Reform efforts by the states or the federal government involve significant investment of financial and other resources. But all too often the teachers are not prepared to implement reforms in their classroom professional practices due to lack of proper (and timely) professional development and necessary support. To design professional development and educative materials to enable teachers’ implementation of these reform ideas, we need research into the current practices and challenges in implementing reform ideas by pre-service science teachers and in-service science teachers. Science education programs and research has increasingly placed emphasis on the need for sound theoretical models to support educational program development and implementation. This is a case study based on a multi-compartment network model designed to examine aspects of current practices in implementing reform ideas, and furthermore to identify areas of best practices and areas of improvement (e.g., professional practices and interpretation of theories of teaching and learning). The core of the model is grounded in the principles of social constructivism, and the relevant theories and practices guiding teacher education forms the multi-compartments of a network box model that focuses on how the components interact with each other in a teacher education program. It is intended to provide a holistic picture of how the teacher education practices and reform implementation goals interact. This model was initially applied in an investigation of practices of a cohort of pre-service science teachers in a teacher education program in the U.S. This constituted phase one of this research. Subsequently, it also was applied to a pre-service science teacher education in Bhutan. There, the course involved translation of reform ideas into the pre-service teacher’s professional practices, in this latter case science Standards (referred to as Bhutan Goals of Science Education) in Bhutan. In parallel to the U.S.-based study, a cohort of pre-service science teachers in a science education course and relevant expert science teacher educators participated in the Bhutan study. The study was carried out in two separate case studies with distinct contextual characteristics. The U.S. case study part one was designed in some ways to pilot the analytical model. The Bhutan case study part two is an extension of the first study. In both the U.S. and Bhutan study, the pre-service science teachers and expert science teacher educators showed strong degree of coherence in terms of their ranking of the science Standards and their rationale behind the ranking, indicating a certain degree of evidence for a community of practice. However, further inquiry revealed that pre-service science teachers struggled to effectively incorporate Standards in their lesson plans. Furthermore, the findings from the two-part study provide some insights into how this analytical model can be applied to science teacher education engaged in reform implementation, across different institutional and cultural contexts. Both quantitative and qualitative evidence were obtained and analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis methods and qualitative data analysis techniques.

No description available.

No description available.

This research discusses the issue of education reform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through an exploration of the perspectives of a range of participants involved in the preparation programme for science teachers which is run through an existing relationship between the University of Taibah and public schools in Medina city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research examines the perspectives of participants in the university and the school (university supervisors, university coordinators, headteachers, collaborating teachers and science student teachers). It discusses teacher preparation issues in the multiple contexts reported in the literature. Teacher preparation in other contexts has revealed models which could be useful in the Saudi context. Activity Theory (AT) was used as the theoretical framework to achieve this study’s objective of exploring the academic systems of the university/school and the relationship between them in science teacher preparation, focussing on the contradictions that create conflicts for student teachers learning to teach the modern science curriculum. Activity Theory was a useful tool in organizing this research as it permitted the exploration of the relationships between systems, analysing the rich data collected on the relationship between university and school. Activity Theory acted as a link between the need for a more expansive unit of analysis in initial teacher education (ITE) studies and appropriate and effective research methods. This research is situated within the interpretative paradigm. It usescase study with mixed methods as an appropriate methodology, using multiple methods of data collection, namely semi-structured interviews as the main tool, questionnaires and documentary evidence. This research revealed the utilitarian nature of the relationship between the university and the school, which did not reach the level of a cooperative partnership, and which contained many contradictions that created conflicts for science teachers when learning the teaching skills required of modern science curricula.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.