Education is always changing and science education is no exception, with many influential publications passing through science education over the years. The latest wave in science standards is called the Next Generation Science Standards. The Next Generation Science Standards are anticipated to have a significant effect on state science standards around the entire country. One thing about these new standards is very different from all previous science standards—they include the principle of engineering design in them. Asking science teachers to teach engineering design is asking them to teach a principle for which their teaching licensure would not have formally prepared them. Consequently, the hypothesis of this study was that the feeling of preparedness to teach engineering design would be low among public secondary education Utah science teachers. This study shows that hypothesis to be correct: Utah science teachers do not feel prepared to teach engineering design. The feelings of teacher preparedness can be improved through professional development and inclusion of engineering design into science teacher education programs. It should be infused into these arenas now that teachers have indicated their low feelings of preparedness. More teacher preparation should be sought because an unprepared teacher will not prepare students as well as a prepared teacher. And, creating prepared students is the goal of the education system.

Texas public high schools induct beginning science teachers each year; yet, little is known about how schools induct beginning teachers. The three studies included in this dissertation use a mixed methods approach to explore data collected by the Policy Research Initiative in Science Education (PRISE) Research Group during the 2007-2008 academic year. The first study focused on principals' perceptions of teacher induction. A content analysis of interviews collected from 50 principals examined principals' perceptions of teacher induction. Analyses indicated that high school principals had an overwhelmingly narrow focus of mentoring and provided mentor teachers with little support or training. Findings indicated that induction activities for beginning teachers were front-loaded before the school year began and were left in the hands of unprepared mentors during the school year. Further analyses indicated that the primary purpose of mentoring and induction for beginning teachers in Texas high schools revolved around orientation to campus policies and procedures. Beginning teachers' instructional needs appeared to be an afterthought. The second study explored beginning high school science teachers' evaluations of their induction experiences. Beginning teachers identified the best school-level induction supports received and recommended improvements for school-level induction. Teachers identified mentoring as one of the best received supports, yet also made recommendations for more structure in the mentoring experience. A comparison of beginning teachers' responses with teacher turnover found that: (a) Stayers (i.e., teachers retained at a campus) were most likely to report that they received induction support from other science teachers; (b) Movers (i.e., teachers who transferred to another campus) less frequently reported working conditions as a positive induction support; and (c) Leavers, (i.e., teachers not retained in the profession) most frequently did not identify induction support from the school. The final study compared principals' perceptions of induction and beginning teacher Movers and Leavers' evaluations of their induction experiences. Findings from this study indicated that principals were aware of induction components that were considered helpful by both Movers and Leavers. However, principals did not acknowledge what Movers and Leavers recommended for improvements to current induction practices. The final chapter provides a summary of all three studies. Recommendations are made for improving induction practices for high school science teachers. In particular, high school principals should discard their current "hands-off" approach to teacher induction and become more active in their induction experiences. Additionally, types of induction practices should increase to include more than mentoring. Moreover, policy makers should reform mentoring policies so that current practices, which have a narrow focus on school policies and procedures, are abandoned.

The focus of this research is to investigate teacher turnover in the form of attrition and migration of secondary science teachers in the state of Texas. This study is to fill the gap in the research pertaining to the relationship of teacher migration and attrition to secondary science teacher qualifications and school characteristics in order to assist stakeholders in developing more effective policies and programs aimed at providing all students with a qualified science educator. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine whether Texas secondary science teachers are migrating and if so, identify schools the teachers are migrating from and to, and 2) determine characteristics of the teachers who migrate or leave teaching by discipline taught, route of certification, years of service and in-field and out-of-field status. This study utilized quantitative research methods, specifically, descriptive statistics displayed as percentages and trends indicated by a novel data representation using vectors. The data used in the study were extracted from the Public Education Information Management Systems (PEIMS) data from the Texas Education Agency and the teacher certification records from the State Board for Educator Certification from 1995 - 2008. After the quantitative results and vector plots were analyzed, the results revealed that a fifth of Texas secondary science teachers are migrating between schools each year. Texas secondary science teachers of lower socio-economical status schools migrated to higher SES schools, while teachers of the highest socio-economical status schools migrated to a lower SES school. Other findings include a high percentage of incoming Texas secondary science teachers are not certified or alternatively certified. The analysis of the Texas secondary teachers showed which teachers are leaving or migrating from certain schools. It can help districts and policy makers to have equity in schools with quality teachers. Since the study used individual teacher and school data, the results can provide valuable information to school leaders, school district leaders, and policy makers at the local and state level as decisions are made regarding the implementation of policies and administrative actions intended to increase teacher retention. / text

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Science education reform movements have long urged the use of inquiry methods in all science instruction. More recently, standards and accountability reform efforts have emphasized measuring and improving student science achievement. Researchers have questioned the alignment and balance between these reforms (Lane, 2004; Yeh, 2001). This study addresses issues faced by secondary science teachers as they simultaneously meet the goals of these reform movements. Mixed methods were used to answer the questions: 1) Can a teacher's beliefs and practices regarding inquiry teaching methods be correlated with his/her assessment practices?; 2) What item types are most commonly employed by teachers that use an inquiry pedagogy?; and 3) What assessment strategies do teachers describe to assess scientific inquiry? Secondary science teachers, mostly from one western state, responded to a survey (N = 83) and provided a teacher-made classroom assessment (n = 30). Survey responses were used to assign a teacher inquiry score based on described frequency of pedagogical practices supporting or detracting from an inquiry focus. A rubric based on cognitive complexity was used to determine a numeric value for each test item with the sum of item scores providing an overall assessment score. Using regression analysis and Pearson's correlation this study found a moderate correlation (r = 0.0447, p = 0.0133) between teacher inquiry scores and assessment scores. A modest correlation was also established between teacher inquiry levels (high, medium, and low categories assigned using cut scores) and overall assessment scores using an ANOVA (DF=2, p = 0.0262) and Tukey-Kramer pairwise analysis (low to medium p = 0.046; low to high p = 0.057). Correlations indicate that teachers are able to simultaneously focus on inquiry in pedagogical and assessment practices. Cognitively complex items used by teachers with an inquiry focus measure the same cognitive skills as scientific inquiry. Survey responses to open-ended questions provided additional qualitative data supporting the study's findings. Respondents reported challenges in creating assessments that measure student scientific inquiry competency, but also noted that labs, observation and questioning, and performance assessments are useful in measuring inquiry skills.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / F. Todd Goodson / In the past, literacy was viewed solely as the basic, functional skills of reading and writing. However, with the New London Group’s (1996) proposal of multiliteracies and the more recent push for a plurality of literacies (NCTE, 2011), teachers have been urged to expand their definitions of literacy. This qualitative study explores how secondary-level social studies and science teachers perceive literacies and identifies their instructional literacies practices. Data were collected through a pre- and post-questionnaire, three focus group sessions, classroom observations, field notes, and artifacts. This study solicited nearly one hundred secondary social studies and science teachers from three Midwestern school districts. Eight educators (four social studies and four science) participated in the study that took place in the spring of 2015. Furthermore, a generous grant from a local chapter of Phi Delta Kappa partially funded this research. After applying initial and holistic codes to the data, nine themes emerged: conventional, progressive, hesitant/emerging, collaborate, calibrate, perform, practice, interdisciplinary, and intradisciplinary. The nine themes were further classified by how they appeared in the data: dispositional themes, behavioral themes, and bridge themes. Throughout the data analysis, contemporary genre theory guided the study (Devitt, 2004). Descriptive codes, derived from contemporary genre theory, further revealed that the situational, social, historical, and individual aspects of genre influence teachers’ pedagogical practices related to multiple literacies across disciplines. Therefore, the ways in which teachers perceived multiple literacies and implemented them into classroom instruction are multifaceted and vary depending on grade level, content area, and teaching location. However, teachers’ dispositions regarding literacy move beyond a traditional mindset of functional reading and writing as they engage in professional learning opportunities and collaborate within and across disciplines and grade levels. This study provides secondary educators insight into the prominence of multiple literacies present across content areas while also revealing the teaching methods and instructional strategies that foster multiple literacies.

<p>  </p> <p>Prior research on Indiana secondary science teachers’, students’, and parents’ behavioral intentions towards teaching and learning about climate change is inadequate. Therefore, this study investigated the following four research questions: RQ1. What are secondary science teachers’, students’, and parents’ perspectives on teaching and learning about climate change based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) components of climate literacy that may influence their behavioral intentions? RQ2. Is there a difference in the mean climate literacy between Indiana science teachers, students, and parents? RQ3. How do the TPB components of climate literacy influence Indiana secondary science teachers’ and students’ “behavioral intentions” to teach about climate change and its impact on Indiana? RQ4. Does the TPB model demonstrate the impact of climate literacy components on Indiana secondary science teachers’ behavioral intentions to teach about climate change and its impact on Indiana? To investigate participants’ climate literacy, a Qualtrics survey was developed that measured the five determinants of climate literacy based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB): attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), knowledge, and behavioral intentions of teaching and learning about climate change. The survey contained both quantitative and qualitative components (QUAN + qual), with closed-ended (QUAN) items serving as primary data sources and open-ended (qual) items serving as secondary data sources. A total of 115 secondary science teachers, 39 secondary science students (6th to 12th grades), and 12 parents were sampled. Survey results indicated that teachers, students, and parents had gaps in their scientific knowledge and held disbelief about climate change and its impact on Indiana, indicating a lack of climate literacy. Regression and path analysis of teachers’ responses found that both attitudes and PBC have a significant (<em>p</em> <.001) influence on teachers’ behavioral intentions towards teaching about climate change. Students’ regression analysis results showed that attitude is the only significant (<em>p</em> <.001) predictor of their behavioral intention to learn about climate change. The ANOVA results revealed a statistically significant (<em>p</em> < .001) difference in the mean climate literacy between groups (teachers, students, and parents). Differences among Indiana secondary science teachers, students, and parents regarding their behavioral intentions towards climate change teaching and learning suggest that they lack climate literacy. Based on the survey results, it is proposed that the science curriculum be revised to reflect scientific knowledge about climate change and its impacts on Indiana. Furthermore, recommendations are provided for improving teachers’, students’, and parents’ scientific knowledge, as well as the instructional approaches for teaching and learning about climate change and its impact on Indiana.</p>

The purpose of this study is to (1) identify some of the major problems confronting first-year secondary science teachers; (2) list supportive practices supplied by the school-based administration and district-wide programs for first-year secondary science teachers; and (3) describe problems of socialization confronting first-year secondary science teachers. The study analyzes perceptions of eight first-year secondary science teachers under contract at the start of the 1996-1997 school year. The study viewed these teachers as novice by definition and perceptions of specific support activities which assisted them in moving from initially licensed to career tenure status. The literature review examines research on teacher based on self-reporting data. Although several of the cited research studies consider first-year teachers in general, few qualitative studies contain specific information on first-year secondary science teachers, e. g., what is involved in the new environment or what developmental skills are needed to survive the year. The research procedure used in this study is the individual case study method. Data were collected primarily through ethnographic interviews and surveys of eight first-year secondary science teachers and six administrators responsible for evaluation of these teachers.(Two administrators did not respond to the survey.) A thematic conceptual matrix was used to display the problems and issues faced by and support offered to these teachers. The findings clearly reveal the top two problems of first-year secondary science teachers to be discipline and classroom/time management exacerbated by a perceived lack of administrative support and assistance. / Ed. D.