The responsibility of educators continues to increase as they serve an increasingly diverse population, while attempting to narrow achievement disparities between students with mainstream backgrounds and those who are culturally diverse. Educator cultural perceptions remain unique to their own background and experiences, yet when presented with the challenge of educating the culturally diverse, teachers are often less than enthusiastic toward their instructional obligations. This study targeted how professional development can enhance teacher capability in a culturally diverse school, with the intent to add to existing literature regarding this topic. This twelve-week qualitative study examined teacher beliefs pertaining to their own culture and that of their students, and whether or not those beliefs would change once teachers had undergone professional development regarding culturally responsive instruction. This study also analyzed the extent of increase in teacher capability for meeting the needs of culturally diverse students once they had participated in professional development focusing on how to more successfully meet student needs. Three teachers were selected as case study participants and their ideas and instructional practices were critically examined throughout the semester. Several data sources were collected and evaluated, including surveys, pre/post interviews, classroom observations, and journal entries. Analysis of data alluded to the fact that an affirming attitude toward students who differ culturally and the implementation of culturally responsive instruction is vital to the enhancement of classroom instruction. After further data examination, the researcher concluded that educator life experiences, and especially with diverse cultures, is crucial in maximizing their ability to accommodate culturally diverse students. Case study participants’ personal belief systems and previous encounters were the most influential factors in their maturation throughout the semester. Implications of this study consisted of the necessity for professional development programs explicitly modeling how to engage in critical and reflective thinking, reminding teachers how imperative it is to develop an affirmative attitude toward diversity, and providing educators experiences with diverse settings and people. The researcher also determined that cultural competence is a persistent process.

Federal educational policy, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, focused attention on America’s education with conspicuous results. One aspect, highly qualified classroom teacher and principal (HQ), was taxing since states established individual accountability structures. The HQ impact and use of data-informed decision-making (DIDM) for Texas elementary science education monitoring by campus administrators, Campus Instruction Leader (CILs), provides crucial relationships to 5th grade students’ learning and achievement. Forty years research determined improved student results when sustained, supported, and focused professional development (PD) for teachers is available. Using mixed methods research, this study applied quantitative and qualitative analysis from two, electronic, on-line surveys: Texas Elementary, Intermediate or Middle School Teacher Survey© and the Texas Elementary Campus Administrator Survey© with results from 22.3% Texas school districts representing 487 elementary campuses surveyed. Participants selected in random, stratified sampling of 5th grade teachers who attended local Texas Regional Collaboratives science professional development (PD) programs between 2003-2008. Survey information compared statistically to campus-level average passing rate scores on the 5th grade science TAKS using Statistical Process Software (SPSS). Written comments from both surveys analyzed with Qualitative Survey Research (NVivo) software. Due to the level of uncertainty of variables within a large statewide study, Mauchly’s Test of Sphericity statistical test used to validate repeated measures factor ANOVAs. Although few individual results were statistically significant, when jointly analyzed, striking constructs were revealed regarding the impact of HQ policy applications and elementary CILs use of data-informed decisions on improving 5th grade students’ achievement and teachers’ PD learning science content. Some constructs included the use of data-warehouse programs; teachers’ applications of DIDM to modify lessons for differentiated science instruction, the numbers of years’ teachers attended science PD, and teachers’ influence on CILs staffing decisions. Yet CILs reported 14% of Texas elementary campuses had limited or no science education programs due to federal policy requirement for reading and mathematics. Three hypothesis components were supported and accepted from research data resulted in two models addressing elementary science, science education PD, and CILs impact for federal policy applications. / text

Public concern over the mathematical incompetence of students and adults is longstanding and justified. The No Child Left Behind act has affected the nation’s teachers, their school systems, and their communities. The act required all classrooms have a “highly-qualified teacher” by June, 2006 (United States Department of Education, 2002). Thus, the purpose of this evaluative case study was to understand if the unique National Board Certification (NBC) focused Educational Specialist (EdS) program was effective in creating change in teacher practice of six high school mathematics teachers in a suburban Georgia county. The learning outcomes of the program and perceptions of self-efficacy were evaluated and used as guidelines for the effectiveness of the program. The study was grounded in theories of metacognition, social constructivism, and self-efficacy. Metacognition provided the basis for “thinking about thinking” (McApline, Weston, et al, 1999) but reflection expanded the thought process to thinking about thinking or actions. Reflections were an integral for each of the constructs of the EdS program and this dissertation. Data for the study included written teacher reflections, action research projects, and mentoring manuals; in addition to interviews three years after the program. Data were coded and analyzed through a process of constant comparison using the NVivo 7 software. The findings at each stage of analysis, which were halfway through the program, end of the program, and three years after the program, indicate the five constructs metacognition, social constructivism, self-efficacy, community of learners, and action research were common across data sets. Four of the five constructs became more prevalent at each stage of analysis with only action research peaking prior to the third stage. The patterns developed during the study indicated long-term change in teacher practice and these constructs solidified as part of their teaching philosophy.

This design-based research study investigates the development of progressive discourse among participants (n=15, n=17, n=20) in three online graduate course contexts. Progressive discourse is a kind of discourse for inquiry in which participants share, question, and revise their ideas to deepen understanding and build knowledge. Although progressive discourse is central to knowledge building pedagogy, it is not known whether it is possible to detect its emergence in the patterns of participation in asynchronous conferencing environments or what kinds of instructional scaffolding are most effective to support its development. This study offers a unique perspective by characterizing episodes of discourse where participants honor the commitments for progressive discourse and by refining designs of peer and software-based scaffolding for progressive discourse. Results showed that measures such as note count, replies, and thread sizes can determine some qualities of online discourse but do not shed light on the development of progressive discourse. Thus an in-depth analysis of discourse for groups was developed to trace the interdependent individual contributions to the group discourse. Peer scaffolding that made norms for progressive discourse explicit was introduced to encourage participants to engage in sustained student-centered discourse for inquiry. Findings show that this intervention was most effective at the beginning of a course for newer online learners and newer graduate students, and least effective for students who were practicing K-12 teachers. A significant barrier to fostering progressive discourse is the tendency for teachers to reject these norms and revert to belief-mode thinking and devotional discourse typical of traditional schooling. Additionally, findings suggest that software-based scaffolding (as found in Knowledge Forum’s scaffold support feature) is a promising avenue for future design innovations to encourage progressive discourse. Although the results of this study are only suggestive, the findings do illustrate ways in which graduate students can uphold the commitments to move beyond expressions of socio- affective connection and opinion to discuss ideas in ways that lead to more useful explanations. The implications for these results for analyzing the quality of online discourse and the designs of instructional scaffolding in online learning environments are discussed.

The present study used Nardi and O’Day’s (1999) information ecology theory, along with activity theory (Wertsch, 1998), social learning theory (Wenger, 1998), and situated learning theory (Lave, 2009; Lave & Wenger, 1991) to examine the informal professional learning of a high school social studies department. Existing literature is just beginning to attend to the potential of informal professional learning, so this exploratory study used a single-case study of a high school social studies department made up of 12 teachers. Data included observations of scheduled and spontaneous collaborative learning activities, department meetings, and in-service meetings; semi-structured interviews; and relevant documents to consider how high school social studies teacher participants navigate their own informal professional learning. Supporting research questions included: (1) How do high school social studies teacher participants choose what to do to individually and collectively meet their professional learning needs? (2) What actions do participants take to meet their professional learning needs individually and collectively? (3) How do participants evaluate their professional learning growth individually and collectively? (4) How do participants interact with one another and with the environment as they navigate their own professional learning? Results indicated that participants valued their informal professional learning experiences, engaged in reflection throughout their informal professional learning, were influenced by departmental leadership, and experienced successes and failures in their informal professional learning goals. The department’s informal professional learning was important but also imperfect. Further consideration of teachers’ informal professional learning may offer new ways to support teacher growth.

This design-based research study investigates the development of progressive discourse among participants (n=15, n=17, n=20) in three online graduate course contexts. Progressive discourse is a kind of discourse for inquiry in which participants share, question, and revise their ideas to deepen understanding and build knowledge. Although progressive discourse is central to knowledge building pedagogy, it is not known whether it is possible to detect its emergence in the patterns of participation in asynchronous conferencing environments or what kinds of instructional scaffolding are most effective to support its development. This study offers a unique perspective by characterizing episodes of discourse where participants honor the commitments for progressive discourse and by refining designs of peer and software-based scaffolding for progressive discourse. Results showed that measures such as note count, replies, and thread sizes can determine some qualities of online discourse but do not shed light on the development of progressive discourse. Thus an in-depth analysis of discourse for groups was developed to trace the interdependent individual contributions to the group discourse. Peer scaffolding that made norms for progressive discourse explicit was introduced to encourage participants to engage in sustained student-centered discourse for inquiry. Findings show that this intervention was most effective at the beginning of a course for newer online learners and newer graduate students, and least effective for students who were practicing K-12 teachers. A significant barrier to fostering progressive discourse is the tendency for teachers to reject these norms and revert to belief-mode thinking and devotional discourse typical of traditional schooling. Additionally, findings suggest that software-based scaffolding (as found in Knowledge Forum’s scaffold support feature) is a promising avenue for future design innovations to encourage progressive discourse. Although the results of this study are only suggestive, the findings do illustrate ways in which graduate students can uphold the commitments to move beyond expressions of socio- affective connection and opinion to discuss ideas in ways that lead to more useful explanations. The implications for these results for analyzing the quality of online discourse and the designs of instructional scaffolding in online learning environments are discussed.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate how primary teachers in Queensland, Australia can make use of the Internet for professional development and to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics. As a result of this study, implications for using the Internet for the professional development of Indonesian mathematics teachers in primary schools were drawn. The genesis of the study had emerged from reflecting upon my personal experiences in using the Internet for my own professional learning, by exploring education phenomena related to the Internet in Indonesia and Australia, and identifying gaps in research as a result of my literature review. I argue that the Internet has potential as a medium for professional development and for teaching and learning mathematics. However, little is known about the personal and professional characteristics of teachers who use the Internet to promote and renew their professional knowledge and to support their on-going learning process as well as to be good facilitators for ‘new learners’. The literature review establishes the need for investigating how teachers can use the Internet for professional development and for teaching and learning mathematics. The literature review also examines the characteristics of effective professional development, identifies inadequacies in existing professional development programs, and examines the potential advantages and limitations of using the Internet for professional development. The review suggests that there is a need to build a new model of professional development to shed light on how the Internet might be used to support primary mathematics teacher professional development. In this study, two case studies have been conducted. The first case study was of a ‘high use Internet (HUI) teacher’ (a teacher who intensively uses the Internet to sustain his/her professional growth as a mathematics teacher) and the second case study was of a ‘low use Internet (LUI) teacher’ (a teacher who has not made use of the Internet for those main goals but has a willingness to do so). The researcher learned from the HUI teacher and formulated ways to help the LUI teacher. An ethnographic approach was chosen for this study, as the researcher went into the field for an extended period of time. This study employed multiple data gathering methods, namely: participant-observation, interviews, questionnaires, and written and non-written sources. The research reported in this thesis investigated factors (personal and contextual) that support or inhibit mathematics teachers in making use of the Internet for teacher professional development and for teaching mathematics. The findings support the notion that teachers’ knowledge and beliefs are key determinants in embracing technology as a tool for teaching and learning. The findings are also significant in underscoring the non-linear, interactive and contingent nature of authentic professional development. The significance of this research is that it deepens our understanding about what is necessary for primary mathematics teachers to optimise the potential of the Internet for mathematics teaching and learning both for teachers and students. This study established the extent of the positive and negative potential effects of the Internet for professional development and the difficulties of using only this for professional development. Yet another significant outcome from this research is the construction of a theoretical framework for identifying the implications of using the Internet for professional development of Indonesian Primary teachers and for mathematics teaching and learning in Indonesian primary schools.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate how primary teachers in Queensland, Australia can make use of the Internet for professional development and to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics. As a result of this study, implications for using the Internet for the professional development of Indonesian mathematics teachers in primary schools were drawn. The genesis of the study had emerged from reflecting upon my personal experiences in using the Internet for my own professional learning, by exploring education phenomena related to the Internet in Indonesia and Australia, and identifying gaps in research as a result of my literature review. I argue that the Internet has potential as a medium for professional development and for teaching and learning mathematics. However, little is known about the personal and professional characteristics of teachers who use the Internet to promote and renew their professional knowledge and to support their on-going learning process as well as to be good facilitators for ‘new learners’. The literature review establishes the need for investigating how teachers can use the Internet for professional development and for teaching and learning mathematics. The literature review also examines the characteristics of effective professional development, identifies inadequacies in existing professional development programs, and examines the potential advantages and limitations of using the Internet for professional development. The review suggests that there is a need to build a new model of professional development to shed light on how the Internet might be used to support primary mathematics teacher professional development. In this study, two case studies have been conducted. The first case study was of a ‘high use Internet (HUI) teacher’ (a teacher who intensively uses the Internet to sustain his/her professional growth as a mathematics teacher) and the second case study was of a ‘low use Internet (LUI) teacher’ (a teacher who has not made use of the Internet for those main goals but has a willingness to do so). The researcher learned from the HUI teacher and formulated ways to help the LUI teacher. An ethnographic approach was chosen for this study, as the researcher went into the field for an extended period of time. This study employed multiple data gathering methods, namely: participant-observation, interviews, questionnaires, and written and non-written sources. The research reported in this thesis investigated factors (personal and contextual) that support or inhibit mathematics teachers in making use of the Internet for teacher professional development and for teaching mathematics. The findings support the notion that teachers’ knowledge and beliefs are key determinants in embracing technology as a tool for teaching and learning. The findings are also significant in underscoring the non-linear, interactive and contingent nature of authentic professional development. The significance of this research is that it deepens our understanding about what is necessary for primary mathematics teachers to optimise the potential of the Internet for mathematics teaching and learning both for teachers and students. This study established the extent of the positive and negative potential effects of the Internet for professional development and the difficulties of using only this for professional development. Yet another significant outcome from this research is the construction of a theoretical framework for identifying the implications of using the Internet for professional development of Indonesian Primary teachers and for mathematics teaching and learning in Indonesian primary schools.

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-04-25T13:23:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Iracema de Jesus.pdf: 724942 bytes, checksum: e582d66901ef590f8326a149655219ef (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br) on 2013-05-16T19:06:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Iracema de Jesus.pdf: 724942 bytes, checksum: e582d66901ef590f8326a149655219ef (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-16T19:06:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Iracema de Jesus.pdf: 724942 bytes, checksum: e582d66901ef590f8326a149655219ef (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Esta dissertação de mestrado teve por escopo analisar o desenvolvimento profissional de professores da Educação Infantil. A pesquisa partiu da hipótese de que os professores apresentam fases diferentes nas esferas da prática pedagógica, autonomia e identidade profissional. Perceber as interfaces da profissão docente e como se configura o ofício de ser professor, através de suas contradições, conflitos, tensões e possibilidades, a partir de uma compreensão clara do seu processo é uma das propostas desta pesquisa. Para a realização desta investigação optamos pela pesquisa qualitativa, através do método clínico. Foram entrevistadas cinco professoras que lecionam nos grupos quatro e cinco da Educação Infantil, por meio de seis histórias que retratam o cotidiano escolar de classes pré-escolares nas quais algum fator perturbador (desequilíbrio, segundo Piaget) estava presente. As histórias foram apresentadas às professoras individualmente que deveriam avaliar e julgar as situações a elas apresentadas, oferecendo soluções para os conflitos. As entrevistas foram áudio-gravadas e transcritas no momento de análise dos dados. A análise foi elaborada considerando-se critérios do referencial teórico piagetiano, a partir de três contribuições: a abstração reflexionante, a teoria das equilibrações e o desenvolvimento moral. A pesquisa apresenta considerações finais apontando que todos os professores apresentam níveis de desenvolvimento diferentes nas esferas da prática pedagógica, identidade e autonomia profissional e que a proposta de tornar o professor reflexivo requer considerar que os professores apresentam níveis diferenciados de reflexão. Entretanto, é possível promover, através de ambiente favorável, as trocas cooperativas e o desenvolvimento de seus níveis de profissionalização. / Salvador

O objetivo desta tese foi investigar as possíveis influências do curso semipresencial Gênero e Diversidade na Escola (GDE) na compreensão de seis professoras de Ensino Fundamental da rede municipal de São José do Rio Preto (SP) sobre os significados do que pode está associado às diferentes formas de ser mulher e ser professora, sob a ótica das relações de gênero. Com ênfase na formação docente e na promoção de uma política de educação para a diversidade, o referido curso foi ofertado em 2009 pela Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), campus de Rio Claro. De abordagem qualitativa, a pesquisa utilizou os seguintes instrumentos metodológicos: 1) análise do registro das atividades efetuadas pelas professoras durante o curso; 2) realização e análise de entrevistas semiestruturadas, aplicadas em junho de 2014, com as professoras. A partir do exame do material obtido e tendo em vista as teorizações de Michel Foucault e dos Estudos Feministas, foi possível notar um movimento de reprodução e, ao mesmo tempo, de resistência a regras e discursos engendrados pela sociedade patriarcal a respeito das diferentes formas de ser mulher e ser professora. De modo geral, para essas professoras, o GDE se apresentou como um curso inovador, pois as fez estranhar, questionar e confrontar a visão essencialista que possuíam sobre a sexualidade e as relações de gênero. Todavia, as participantes relatam vários obstáculos tanto em suas vidas pessoais quanto no âmbito escolar que dificultam a efetivação do que aprenderam durante o curso. Tais obstáculos demonstram a força dos processos de socialização, bem como alguns aspectos que ainda precisam ser pensados e revisados em relação aos cursos que visam auxiliar o(a) professor(a) ao longo de seu desenvolvimento profissional docente. / The purpose of this thesis was to investigate possible influences of the blended learning course Gender and Diversity at School on the understanding of six Elementary School teachers of São José do Rio Preto (SP) about what it means to be woman and to be teacher, under the perspective of gender relations. By focusing on teacher formation and the promotion of a policy of education for diversity, the above mentioned course was held on 2009 by Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Rio Claro campus. Based on qualitative approach, the research used the following methodological tools: 1) analysis of the activities undertaken by the teachers during the course; 2) conducting and analyzing semistructured interviews with the teachers. Based on the material collected, and according to Michel Foucaults theorizations as well as Feminist Studies, it was possible to notice a movement of reproduction and, at the same time, of resistance to rules and discourses engendered by patriarchal society about what is to be woman and to be teacher. Broadly speaking, for these teachers, the course presented itself as an innovative opportunity, stimulating them to deconstruct, question and confront their own essentialist views on sexuality and gender relations. Nonetheless, the course participants report several barriers both in their personal lives and in the school scope that make it difficult to put into practice what they learned during the course. Such barriers demonstrate the power of socialization processes, as well as some aspects that still need to be analyzed and reconsidered in relation to the courses which aim to assist teachers along their professional development.