The purpose of this study was to examine elementary students' perspectives of a constructivist approach to enhance their knowledge about stress. Participants were fifth grade students in an elementary school in the northeast. Data collection included a pretest-posttest, teacher reflective journal and student interviews. A multiple choice pre-test was administered to students to obtain information about students' knowledge of stress. The pre-test was followed by a four day unit that focused on the concept of stress employing a constructivist approach. The four day unit was monitored in two ways. First, a daily reflective journal was recorded by the teacher about each lesson. Second, students were interviewed at the end of the unit regarding their perceptions of learning through a constructivist approach. A post-test was administered to evaluate students' knowledge. Data analysis for the pre-test consisted of descriptive statistics. The teaching reflective journal and students' interviews were analyzed using constant-comparison. An overview of the results of the study indicates that students reported increased self awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the feelings of others, and enhanced appreciation of human relations from the unit. Other findings indicate that the females scored higher on the pre and post test than the males. Both the individual groups of males and females improved as a result of the unit. The implications of this study may provide educators with insights into the possible effectiveness of a constructivist approach to teaching various health concepts.

Reforming science education is a multidimensional and complex undertaking. Of extreme importance is transforming how teachers teach. Answering the equity call of reform initiatives requires focusing on the underlying values and beliefs guiding teacher action and the promotion of inclusive practices (Brickhouse, 2001; Harding, 1994; Eisenhart, Finkel, & Marion, 1995; Mayberry & Rees, 1999; Rodriguez, 1997). Reform efforts within the last decade are being directed at college level science courses. Course and pedagogical transformations are particularly aimed at increasing the numbers of females and persons of color in science and improving the education of preservice teachers. Facilitating transformations toward these goals at the individual and program level is challenging work. This study explores and describes the conditions of the teacher change process toward an inclusive pedagogy. Two science professors affiliated with a reform collaborative were the main participants of the research. The professors, in collaboration with the primary researcher, engaged in assisted action research that lead to the identification and descriptions of their context and practical teaching theories. Among the questions explored were: “How does placing the professor in a position to conduct an assisted action research project help to foster teacher change conditions?” “How do the practical theories guiding the professors' teaching foster or impede inclusionary practice?” “What necessary conditions of the teacher change process toward an inclusive pedagogy emerged from the study?”. Using case study and ethnographic qualitative research strategies for data collection and analysis, this study affords a unique perspective through which to consider why and how science professors change their practice. Data indicated that the assisted action research strategy fostered the conditions of teacher change. In addition, findings revealed that the professors shared a teacher and curriculum centered teaching philosophy and an ethic of care and respect for their students that, in varying ways, both supported and impeded inclusive practice. Teacher change was heavily mediated by departmental contexts. Assertions are made about the necessary conditions of teacher change toward an inclusive pedagogy and implications for further research are explored.

The availability and sophistication of visual display images, such as simulations, for use in science classrooms has increased exponentially however, it can be difficult for teachers to use these images to encourage and engage active student thinking. There is a need to describe flexible discussion strategies that use visual media to engage active thinking. This mixed methods study analyzes teacher behavior in lessons using visual media about the particulate model of matter that were taught by three experienced middle school teachers. Each teacher taught one half of their students with lessons using static overheads and taught the other half with lessons using a projected dynamic simulation. The quantitative analysis of pre-post data found significant gain differences between the two image mode conditions, suggesting that the students who were assigned to the simulation condition learned more than students who were assigned to the overhead condition. Open coding was used to identify a set of eight image-based teaching strategies that teachers were using with visual displays. Fixed codes for this set of image-based discussion strategies were then developed and used to analyze video and transcripts of whole class discussions from 12 lessons. The image-based discussion strategies were refined over time in a set of three in-depth 2x2 comparative case studies of two teachers teaching one lesson topic with two image display modes. The comparative case study data suggest that the simulation mode may have offered greater affordances than the overhead mode for planning and enacting discussions. The 12 discussions were also coded for overall teacher student interaction patterns, such as presentation, IRE, and IRF. When teachers moved during a lesson from using no image to using either image mode, some teachers were observed asking more questions when the image was displayed while others asked many fewer questions. The changes in teacher student interaction patterns suggest that teachers vary on whether they consider the displayed image as a "tool-for-telling" and a "tool-for-asking." The study attempts to provide new descriptions of strategies teachers use to orchestrate image-based discussions designed to promote student engagement and reasoning in lessons with conceptual goals.

This dissertation is an evaluation of an intervention designed to (a) increase the number of minority students who pursue graduate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and (b) to develop a cadre of qualified individuals from minority backgrounds who, upon finishing their training, are ready to take positions as faculty members and mentors. The Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) is a program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a pathway from undergraduate to graduate school and to a career in the professoriate. AGEP is part of an effort by the U.S. Government to keep the nations' competitive edge; redress historical gender and racial inequalities still prevalent at the higher levels of science and academia; and to use those who have reached the top of their professions as effective role models for the thousands of talented youth who are excluded from STEM fields due to real or perceived social, economic, or cultural barriers. As of September 2012, there were 178 colleges and universities grouped in 37 alliances nationwide and serving approximately 22,000 minority doctoral students. Specifically, this evaluation focuses on one alliance situated in the North Region of the United States, and presents the approaches, rationale, and findings of evaluation activities conducted during 2011 through 2012. The overarching goals of this evaluation were to assist program managers and staff in their efforts to improve the quality and effectiveness of the program, and to provide them with information related to the program's contribution to increasing the recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented minorities (URMs) in STEM graduate programs, their transition into the professoriate, and the strength of the program's theory of change. To achieve these goals the evaluation design included a) the reconstruction of the program's theory, b) a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing research; and c) analysis of primary data collected from a sample of current AGEP students, alumni, faculty, staff, and program officers. Primary data were collected through focus groups, interviews, and electronic surveys for current and former participants. The evaluation found evidence that the North Region program has been largely successful in contributing to the number of URM receiving STEM graduate degrees at both the master's and doctoral levels in North Carolina since its inception in 1999. Those who have received their graduate degrees are employed in academic and non-academic settings as practitioners, researchers, and as university faculty. Probably the most significant weakness was the absence of a systematic or coherent evaluation design of the program that could be found throughout the history of the program.

The purpose of this study was to explore teacher beliefs and images of students, learning, and teaching. The study was designed to elicit images and beliefs with the use of teachers' symbolic drawing and subsequent interpretation of their drawings. Twelve first grade teachers with teaching experience ranging from 1½ to 25 years, and from a variety of educational settings (i.e., urban, suburban, traditional public schools, non-traditional public or private schools) participated. Data collection utilized two primary methods of qualitative inquiry: teacher created abstract symbolic drawings and interviewing. The combination of symbolic drawings and interviewing provided an effective means for teachers to access, reflect upon, and express their tacit images and beliefs in a cohesive and holistic manner. The twelve teachers in this study appeared on the surface to have similar images of learning and teaching. Teachers talked about learning as a process that involved images of filtering, connecting, becoming stuck, and disconnecting. One major difference emerged that separated teachers into two distinct groups. The majority of teachers, ten out of twelve, viewed learning as a fact-based associative categorization where students either made connections through associations or replaced old information with new information. Only two teachers talked about learning as theory-based, describing learning as making connection through an assimilatory categorization process or making revisions to personal theories. Teachers who viewed learning as fact based also viewed teaching as fact-based. In general, these teachers used discussion, teacher questions, and a large variety of activities to help students collect new facts and make associative connections. Teachers who viewed learning as theory-based used activities, discussion, and teacher questions to promote conversation and thinking. They expected students to use new facts to build and revise theories with the use of logical reasoning.

High school science teachers cite "academic preparation" as the primary goal of their instruction. Almost universally, they focus their courses' content and design on the skills and knowledge that they believe are necessary for success in subsequent courses in that particular science. This study challenges the accuracy and efficacy of that priority. Data on completion of high school chemistry courses were disaggregated, analyzed, and compared with grade performance in first-year college chemistry at three institutions of higher education in Maine. Completion of any level of high school chemistry failed to correlate with academic performance in college chemistry. The study compared scores on the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA) in mathematics and reading and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in quantitative and verbal areas with grade performance in first-year college chemistry. It revealed positive correlations between test scores and course grades with the mathematics section of the MEA and with both portions of the SAT. Maine high school chemistry teachers cited different priorities for varying levels of high school chemistry. Those teaching the highest level courses reported covering more of the textbook material, but spending less time using a text than did their colleagues teaching lower level courses. Teachers using the American Chemical Society's "Chemistry in the Community" program articulated substantially different course goals, expectations, and use of instructional time than did their colleagues using other text based programs. This study involved administering a pre and post questionnaire to students enrolled in first-year college chemistry, gathering data from their high school and college records, and surveying Maine high school chemistry teachers. The study employed non-parametric statistics, correlations and comparisons of means to analyze the data.

Prior research has indicated that students of all ages show little understanding of respiration beyond breathing in and out and the need for air to survive. This occurs even after instruction with alternative conceptions persisting into adulthood. Whether this is due to specific educational strategies or to the level of difficulty in understanding a complex system is an important question. The purpose of this study was to obtain a deeper understanding of middle school students' development of mental models of human respiration. The study was composed of two major parts, one concerned with documenting and analyzing how students learn, and one concerned with measuring the effect of teaching strategies. This was carried out through a pre-test, "learning aloud" case studies in which students engaged in one-on-one tutoring interviews with the researcher, and a post-test. Transcript data from the intervention and post-test indicates that all students in this study were successful in constructing mental models of a complex concept, respiration, and in successfully applying these mental models to transfer problems. Differences in the pretest and posttest means were on the order of two standard deviations in size. While findings were uncovered in the use of a variety of strategies, possibly most interesting are the new views of analogies as an instructional strategy. Some analogies appear to be effective in supporting construction of visual/spatial features. Providing multiple, simple analogies that allow the student to construct new models in small steps, using student generated analogies, and using analogies to determine prior knowledge may also increase the effectiveness of analogies. Evidence suggested that students were able to extend the dynamic properties of certain analogies to the dynamics of the target conception and that this, in turn, allowed students to use the new models to explain causal relationships and give new function to models. This suggests that construction of causal, dynamic mental models is supported by the use of analogies containing dynamic and causal relationships.

The majority of urban minority students, particularly Black students, continue to perform below proficiency on standardized state and national testing in all areas that seriously impact economically advanced career options, especially in areas involving science. If education is viewed as a way out of poverty, there is a need to identify pedagogical methodologies that assist Black students in achieving higher levels of success in science, and in school in general. The purpose of this study was to explore White teachers' and Black students' perceptions about the teaching strategies used in their low socioeconomic status (LSES) urban science classrooms, that led to academic success for Black students. Participants included three urban middle school White teachers thought to be the best science teachers in the school, and five randomly selected Black students from each of their classrooms. Methods of inquiry involving tenets of grounded theory were used to examine strategies teachers used to inspire Black students into academic success. Data collection included teacher and student interviews, field notes from classroom observations, group discussions, and questionaires. Data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. The teachers' perceptions indicated that their prior belief systems, effective academic and personal communication, caring and nurturing strategies, using relevant and meaningful hands-on activities in small learner-centered groups, enhanced the learning capabilities of all students in their classrooms, especially the Black students. Black students' perceptions indicated that their academic success was attributable to what teachers personally thought about them, demonstrated that they cared, communicated with them on a personal and academic level, gave affirmative feedback, simplified, and explained content matter. Black students labeled teachers who had these attributes as "nice" teachers. The nurturing and caring behaviors of "nice" teachers caused Black students to feel a sense of community and a sense of belonging in their classrooms. Black students demonstrated that they respected and always "had the back" of these "nice" teachers. Results from this study could play a significant role in teacher retention and in informing best practices for preservice and other teachers who are struggling to meet the needs of LSES urban students.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand how women enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs perceive their undergraduate experience in relation to their anticipatory socialization into the engineering profession. The significance of this study rests in the fact that although over the past few decades millions of dollars have been invested to combat the shortage of women entering and persisting in engineering undergraduate programs, very little improvement has yet been achieved. More importantly, although many factors have been determined to perhaps influence the under representation of women in engineering, a clear understanding of why this phenomenon continues has not yet been established. The findings from this study are intended to provide insight into what women in engineering need to succeed and provide clear recommendations for practice and policy to address the issue.

The practice of science requires careful observation, experimentation and rational thinking accompanied by imaginative and intuitive insights to thrive in a mood of cutting edge exploration. South African Grade 9 Chemistry deals with established facts, usually devoid of artistic stimuli for capturing the imagination or awakening the intuitions of most learners. Many previous attempts to use the arts in the teaching of Chemistry are limited to the use of pictures, and less often, music and drama which are often superficial or even distracting from the real content. Most research into Science education has its focus on improving academic results with almost no research being conducted in the use of holistic, artistic devices to improve learner interest. Child-centred, holistic education indicates that the integration of rational logic with personal, intuitive knowing through story and the arts is a seed to sustained learner interest. This study used video-recorded experiments and a poem with holistic use of story, metaphor, rhythm and rhyme to characterise the behaviour of acids, bases and salts, to awaken greater learner interest. Class discussion centred on inquiry-based learning which challenged the validity of the characterisations used in the poem, completed the holistically integrated intervention. Changes in learner interest levels were determined by matched pairs in the pre-test and post-test. The research was undertaken with 222 learners from four schools in the greater Tshwane region. The results show that such holistically integrated devices, or stimuli, significantly increased learner interest through good engagement in the lesson as well as an improved perception of their grasp of the content, feelings towards Chemistry and relevance of Chemistry for their lives. As a first-of-its-kind research, further research in the use of appropriate holistic, artistic devices in Science education is recommended. Research into the longer-term use of such devices as well as the effects on learner academic results should be tested. This research indicates that teachers should consider providing a greater context and characterisation, with a broader range of stimuli, when presenting Chemistry to Grade 9 learners to allow them to relate to the experimental and academic content in a more imaginative, intuitive and personally meaningful way. The presentation of this dissertation will follow the courses of a dinner feast in the hope that the reader will be nourished holistically on multiple levels. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted