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Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Many researchers cite living more sustainably as humans' most pressing long- term challenge. Living sustainably can be defined as meeting one's needs without interfering with future generations ability to meet their needs. Engaging students with the social causes and effects of sustainability issues may help to address and create dialogue about our own needs and those of future generations. Unfortunately, no studies examine how teachers deliver this topic as a social issue in their classrooms. Through the research question, "What are the curricular, pedagogical, and assessment strategies of three teachers when they teach the social issues of sustainability education?" this qualitative case study seeks findings useful to the education field. For example, teachers might learn how peers plan, implement, and assess this sort of instruction. Teacher educators could create or update pre- service education sustainability frameworks. Or, researchers might study the findings' impact on existing educational paradigms. Thus, this study advances understanding within education on ways to sustain humanity's prosperity.

I investigate stakeholder experiences in five New York City secondary classes associated with the low end of the civic opportunity gap. Classroom stakeholders are students, teachers, and college mentors participating in the Generation Citizen program. Generation Citizen is a push-in program meant to promote civic engagement opportunities in middle and high schools associated with the civic opportunity gap. The civic opportunity gap refers to observations that opportunities for civic engagement differ based on racial and socioeconomic markers. A conceptual framework based on situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) guides data collection and analysis. The framework draws attention to the experiences of individuals and groups in specific contexts, called communities of practice. Successful learning in a community of practice begins with legitimate peripheral participation, a process similar to apprenticeship. Situated learning theory considers the ways that people engage with each other around important issues, imagine realities in other communities, and try to align their efforts with existing processes. I present data collected through observations of classroom interactions and interviews with students, teachers, and program mentors. I find that legitimate peripheral participation required classroom stakeholders to engage the root causes of their chosen issues and put their knowledge into practice through actions aligned with the locus of their issue. This finding emerged through three themes, which address the role of classroom pedagogies in supporting or complicating the process of legitimate peripheral participation. Themes allow a discussion of the role that classroom interactions play in framing civic engagement experiences. Opportunities for civic engagement in school can positively address the problems of civic gaps when youth can name and enact legitimate efforts on their own terms.

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Assuming that the social studies teacher should shoulder responsibility for developing reading skills, what steps are necessary in planning a program aimed at the development of reading skills in the social studies classroom? This paper will treat only one step: evaluation of the present position of the student and/or class in terms of skill development and ability levels. The author shall attempt to ascertain whether or not it is possible for the classroom teacher to determine present achievement levels in terms of specific skills needed in reading social studies materials through an item analysis of student performance on two commonly used standardized social studies tests. This will, in effect, be testing the thesis: Through item analysis of tests concerned with reading skills in the social studies it is possible to determine achievement levels of a class or individual accurately enough, in terms of specific skills, to design a program for skill improvement. / Typescript. / "August, 1959." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Education." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-42).

This study answers the question of what meanings teacher-participants make in Holocaust professional development at a Jewish heritage museum in a mandate state. By understanding these meanings, the educational community can better understand how a particular context and approach influences teacher meaning-making and the ways in which museum teacher education programs shape the learning of participants. Meaning-making is a process of interpretation and understanding experiences in ways that make sense to each individual teacher. Meanings that are formed may impact teachers' pedagogic interpretation of the Holocaust, which may in turn shape their instructional practices. This instrumental case study used multiple interviews, observations, surveys and documents to explore the meanings teachers make about the Holocaust from participation in Holocaust professional development at a Jewish heritage museum. Participants in the study included nine teachers from public schools and private Jewish schools and two professional developers from the Museum. Each participant was interviewed three times, and six different professional development programs were observed over a period of six months. Programs typically lasted from one to six days and included a presentation by museum staff, Holocaust experts, and survivors. At any museum, each representation of the Holocaust conveys particular messages and mediates Holocaust history through a particular lens. This study reveals insights about how intended aims are interpreted in Holocaust professional development. Three categories emerged of meanings teachers made, namely (1) the hopeful narrative, (2) identity, and (3) the emotional narrative of the Holocaust. This study contributes to the larger field of professional development by partially filling in an area of missing scholarship on Holocaust professional development. Findings from this study may be used to plan future professional development programs on the Holocaust, as well as on other topics, through a deeper understanding of the meanings teachers make of multiple programs at one site.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.