The purpose of this study was to examine the teacher factors which influence the program effectiveness for Agricultural and Environmental Science and Technology (AEST) programs in Mississippi. These factors included educational characteristics of the teachers and suggested instructional strategies from the AEST curriculum framework. During the 2009-2010 school year, a total of 54 AEST teachers participated in the MS - CPAS2 testing. Of the 39 AEST teachers responding to the survey, 32 (82.1%) were male and 7 (17.9%) were female. The mean age of the AEST teacher respondents was 37.93 years (SD = 10.98). The mean years of teaching for AEST teacher respondents was 5.34 (SD = 3.29). This study utilized a correlational design. The alpha level was set at .05. The regression analysis was employed to examine the relationship between program effectiveness and each of the following variables: teachers’ reported level of use of the suggested instructional strategies found in the curriculum framework, teacher-perceived level of effectiveness of the suggested instructional strategies found in the curriculum framework, and teacher-perceived level of competence in using the suggested instructional strategies. When comparing the use and perceived level of effectiveness of the 14 instructional strategies based on the perceived level of use, the perceived level of competence, and the perceived level of effectiveness, the Spearmen rho Correlation Coefficients was used. The coefficients were interpreted using Davis’s conventions for interpreting measures of associations (Davis, 1971). Based on the findings, the AEST teachers level of use and perceived level of effectiveness indicated as the teachers’ level of use of the instructional strategies decreased so did the teachers’ perceived level of effectiveness of the instructional strategy. Based on the findings, the AEST teachers’ perceived level of effectiveness and perceived level of competence indicated as the teachers’ level of effectiveness of the instructional strategies decreased so did the teachers’ perceived level of competence of the instructional strategy. Based on the findings, the AEST teachers perceived level of competence and level of use indicated as the teachers’ level of use of the instructional strategies decreased so did the teachers’ perceived level of competence of the instructional strategy.

The traditional style of teaching (teachers solely in charge of the classroom) seems to be a thing of the past, due in part, to the increasing diversity of students in the classroom. How can teachers abandon their traditional roles and adapt to the trends of teaching to promote more meaningful learning for students? To respond to the above question, the researcher investigated the degree of readiness of selected foreign language teachers teaching in culturally diverse classrooms at the secondary level in central Mississippi. All participants were purposefully selected. Methods and procedures employed were limited to observations of teachers, teacher-student interaction in the classroom, face-toace interviews, telephone interviews, transcribed audio taped interviews of the participants and classroom artifacts. Results indicated that all of the teachers interviewed were sensitive to the needs of their students; had traveled to the country where their foreign language was the official language; and indicated that they frequently used a variety of instructional methods including cooperative learning, peer tutoring, integrated technology, and direct instruction. Therefore, it was concluded that teachers such as the ones involved in this study could serve as excellent role models and mentors for novice teachers in secondary schools.

Submitted to the department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (MSTE) in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education (Natural Sciences) in the Faculty of Education, 2018. / Teaching strategies support learners in developing knowledge or skills. The teacher therefore needs to have the skills to develop the knowledge and skills of the learners (Killen, 2010). Hence CAPS states that NCS is based on principles including, inter alia, encouraging an Active and Critical approach to learning rather than rote learning and uncritical learning of given truths. Teaching strategies play a role in developing the love of the subject. South African Science teachers are struggling due to inadequate Science content knowledge, pedagogic skills and lack of confidence (Bantwini, 2010 and 2012; Centre for Development Enterprise, 2007 and 2014; DBE, 2013; Muwanga, 2003; Kriek and Grayson, 2009). The study aimed to explore the teaching strategies that teachers used in Grade 6 in the teaching of Natural Sciences and Technology in the Ngwelezane Circuit schools. The objectives of the study were to identify the teaching strategies used by the Grade 6 Natural Sciences and Technology teachers in their teaching; to explore the views of teachers on the teaching strategies they use in teaching Natural Sciences and Technology in Grade 6 and, to determine the extent to which teaching strategies align to the principles and purposes of the CAPS as indicated in the problem statement. The study employed the Qualitative Research Methodology. The information was derived through the use of survey questionnaires, in-class observation, interviews and document analysis. The study sample comprised of five Intermediate Phase teachers per school. The findings revealed that telling method, text book and question and answer are dominating in the classes as lessons were conducted, which does not align with CAPS requirements and is promoting passive learning. Teachers are aware of the teaching strategies developing Critical and Active learning as per the responses from the questionnaires and the interviews, but they are not used in class, used to a lesser extent, or not used at all. Lessons were more content based. Very few or no critical learning and problem solving, was developed in learners through active involvement in learning. No proper training was received towards teaching the subject. Other teachers having no background in the subject were mandated to teach the subject by management. The best teaching strategies are those which make the students active participants in the learning process through Active Learning where learners construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through experience reflecting upon that experience than through rote learning (Harasim, 2012).

Nursing accreditation bodies have recommended that nursing education programs prepare graduates who display competence in leadership. However, the reality of how nursing leadership skillsets are acquired at the undergraduate level and transferred into practice remains debatable. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how nursing educators teach leadership in Louisiana baccalaureate programs contrasted with ideal policy expectations. The action learning and reflective practice theories provided the foundational theoretical influences for this study. Six face-to-face virtual interviews were conducted with nursing faculty who were currently teaching or had taught leadership in a baccalaureate nursing program for at least 1 year. Data collection and analysis using the constant comparative method of the Corbin and Strauss grounded theory approach was used. From the data analysis, 7 main themes were identified, including the purpose of the leadership course, the selected teaching strategies to meet the purpose of the course, teaching to support student learning styles and workplace expectations, the application of evidence-based practice principles for leadership, the measured effectiveness of selected teaching strategies, faculty perspectives of leadership efficacy at the undergraduate level, and faculty perspectives for future nursing leadership education. Research findings suggest that positive social change for undergraduate nursing education could be influenced by the employment of active learning and reflective practice allowing the student to experience leadership, reflect on leadership, and improve on developing leadership competence. The generalist would become receptive to leadership before entry into practice, impacting the changing healthcare environment.

In 1975, Gabe Kotter introduced himself as the teacher of the Sweathogs on the television show Welcome Back, Kotter. Through the use of several timeless teaching strategies, Mr. Kotter facilitated the success of students identified by others as unruly and in need of remediation. Forty years later, these teaching strategies continue to be culturally relevant and applicable. During this presentation, the presenters will provide an overview of five timeless teaching strategies demonstrated by Mr. Kotter, show brief video clips, and discuss related literature.

This study was designed to investigate teachers perceptions about instructing listening in second-grade classrooms. Childrens literature that included specific listening content was used to explore how the teachers perceptions influenced planning read alouds for explicitly teaching listening skills. Investigations included: (1) What were teachers perceptions about teaching listening, and how did these perceptions influence the planning of read alouds, (2) and how did engaging in professional development impact teachers practices with listening instruction. A formative and design experiment (Reinking and Bradley, 2008) aligned with a constructivist methodology (Brooks and Brooks, 1999; Burleson, 2011; Creswell, 2014) was used to allow teachers to participate in authentic professional development sessions to inform theory. Analysis of teacher responses was completed through a constant-comparative method (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). Data analysis was triangulated using: (a) questionnaires, (b) teacher reflective journals, (c) researcher observations, and (d) methodological files. Analysis led to a better understanding of teachers listening perceptions including how: (a) those perceptions are shaped by their expectations for student listening in the classroom, (b) teachers engagement in professional development when teaching an unfamiliar construct, (c) the impact of an already crowded curricula, and (d) motivating teachers to recognize their role as the best model for students in listening instruction is a critical component. Teacher buy-in requires professional development that includes using motivational methods like the MUSIC® Model of Motivation (Jones, 2009) when learning new literacy constructs. This study gives insight into the need to improve instructional practices for teaching listening in educational settings (Lundsteen, 1979; Vandergrift, 2004). Finally, this study raised the awareness for the need to provide further research opportunities on listening instructional practices in primary schools that promote improving listening skill instruction to create a more balanced literacy structure for students (Duker, 1982; Field, 1998; Funk and Funk, 1989; Gee, 2015; Imhof, 2008; Jalongo, 2008; Nichols, 1957; Wolvin, 2013). / Ph. D. / This study was used in four primary grade classrooms to explore teachers’ perceptions about teaching listening. The following questions were investigated with the teachers: (1) What were teachers’ perceptions about teaching listening, and how did these perceptions influence the planning of read alouds, (2) and how did engaging in professional development impact teachers’ practices with listening instruction. Teachers participated in professional development sessions to learn about planning and teaching lessons for improving their students listening practices. The study was conducted in the authentic environment of the teachers’ classrooms and they implemented the interventions. Teacher discussions and feedback were used to identify instructional suggestions for the lessons. The data collected suggested that teacher perceptions were shaped by their previous expectations for student listening in the classroom. Other factors from the data that impacted the teachers’ perceptions for including listening instruction were an already crowded curricula, the challenge of learning to teach an unfamiliar topic, and recognizing that their teacher role was the model students practiced for listening. This study provides a beginning foundation for the need to include listening instruction in primary grade classrooms so that the students can engage in more balanced literacy instruction with foundational components of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Forskare menar att mediers alltmer betydelsefulla roll i ungdomars liv kan bidra till att stärka och sprida fördomar om olika religioner. Det finns dock begränsad forskning om hur mediers skildringar av religioner och dess utövare kan hanteras i religionsundervisningen. Studien syftar således till att undersöka på vilket sätt  mediers skildringar av olika religioner och dess utövare hanteras i religionsundervisningen i årskurs 4-6. Studien är inspirerad av en fenomenologisk ansats och utgörs av semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem religionskunskapslärare i årskurs 4–6. Intervjuerna har spelats in, transkriberats och sedan analyserats med inspiration från en fenomenologisk analysmodell. Ur resultatet framkommer att alla lärare enbart diskuterar religiösa företeelser i medier som kopplas till islam, exempelvis IS terrordåd och den pågående flyktingkrisen. Studien visar också att lärarna inte använder sig av specifika tillvägagångssätt för att analysera mediers skildringar av religioner utan behandlas främst genom diskussioner med eleverna, där diskussionerna inte enbart sker i religionsundervisningen. Lärarna är eniga om vikten av att diskutera mediers skildringar av religioner eftersom det annars finns risk för att eleverna generaliserar och relaterar alla muslimer till de våldsamma konflikter som skildras i medier idag. / The media's increasingly important role in young people's lives can according to scientists help to strengthen and spread prejudices about different religions. However, there is limited research on how media portrayals of religions and its practitioners can be handled in religious education.  The study thus seeks to examine how media portrayals of different religions and its practitioners are handled in religious education in grades 4-6. The study is inspired by a phenomenological approach and consists of semi-structured interviews with five religious teachers in grades 4–6. The interviews have been recorded, transcribed and then analyzed with inspiration from a phenomenological analysis model. The result shows that all teachers only discusses religious media phenomena linked to Islam, such as the IS terrorist attacks and the ongoing refugee crisis. The study also shows that the teachers do not use specific approaches for analyzing media depictions of religions, but is treated primarily through discussions with the pupils, where the discussions do not solely take place in religious education. Teachers agree on the importance of discussing the media´s portrayals of religion as otherwise there is a risk that students generalize and relate all Muslims for the violent conflicts depicted in the media today.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires all students; regardless of poverty level, learning disability, limited English proficiency, or racial/ethnic origins; to be in general education classrooms meeting high standards of proficiency in reading/language arts and mathematics by 2013-14. Meeting high standards of proficiency in a general education classroom is particularly challenging for students diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders, such as Asperger's syndrome. Limited interests, inflexible language, and social skills deficits without a history of cognitive or language delays before the age of three characterize the disorder. Other symptoms, such as clumsiness, unusual sensory reactions, and talk in unusual ways or with an odd tone of voice are present early in life, Asperger's syndrome is typically not diagnosed until school age and on average the age is 11 years old. Various teaching strategies and assistive technologies encourage positive learning environments allowing for students with Asperger's to be productive in a general education classroom. A quantitative survey research design was the guiding methodology. Utilizing SurveyMonkey, two cross-sectional surveys were created and sent to Tennessee's 150 special education district supervisors with a request to forward to both special education and general education teachers. The surveys had three distinct components based on students with Asperger's syndrome; teaching strategies implemented, current assistive technologies being used, and how eReaders, tablets, and mobile applications are being utilized as assistive technologies. The results were tallied and evaluated. A comprehensive set of teaching strategies and assistive technologies used in the general education classroom to improve reading/language arts for secondary students diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome was compiled.

Malawian physical science teachers (PSTs) perceive nuclear physics to be the most difficult physics topic. This study investigated: reasons PSTs would give for this perception, teaching strategies that some PSTs would use to address learning difficulties in nuclear physics, reasons the teachers would give for using certain strategies and nature of the PSTs’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in nuclear physics. Assumptions of the interpretivist paradigm and the theoretical framework of PCK guided the data collection, organisation and analysis processes. Thirty teachers completed a questionnaire, which enabled me to identify PSTs who chose nuclear physics as the most difficult, difficult aspects of nuclear physics and reasons those aspects are difficult. Stratified purposive sampling was then used to choose four case teachers. I observed two lessons on nuclear physics for each case teacher by video recording them. I interviewed each case teacher before and after both lessons. I also interviewed a group of students after each lesson. Video recordings were discussed with the respective teachers. Some documents were collected. All interviews and video recordings were transcribed into text, coded using Atlas.ti 5.2 and analysed inductively. Content analysis was used with documents. Some learning difficulties surface during lessons and they mainly related to student conceptions, nature of concepts and mathematical manipulations. The case teachers could not anticipate most of them, irrespective of qualification. It would seem the teachers were hardly aware of lesson-specific difficulties. The case teachers used combinations of strategies that focused on transmission of information. The teachers hardly probed student thinking. Reasons given for strategies adopted revealed that qualified teachers emphasised only content while the under-qualified ones also emphasised pedagogy. iv Also qualified case teachers ascertained student understanding more frequently than the less qualified ones. Also one of the qualified teachers was able to articulate main ideas of the lessons, while the other three could hardly do so. I conclude that teachers with similar characteristics as those studied here need assistance to develop the following aspects of PCK in nuclear physics: awareness of learning difficulties, use of strategies that are based on student thinking and ability to articulate main ideas.

A recente explosão do conhecimento da genética molecular e o avanço da indústria da biotecnologia requerem que o público compreenda muitos conceitos da genética para a tomada de decisões sobre a pertinência do uso dessas novas ferramentas. Durante os últimos 30 anos a literatura educacional produziu conceitos e teorias para lidar com estas dificuldades, mas a maioria dos professores desconhece estas produções, principalmente porque os periódicos de referência são publicados em línguas estrangeiras (principalmente em inglês). Esta pesquisa-ação pretende preencher esta lacuna e foi baseada em testes que envolveram 283 estudantes de 12 a 15 anos de idade. Nela descrevemos as concepções dos estudantes sobre a localização e transmissão da informação genética antes e após a aplicação de uma seqüência didática elaborada especificamente para desenvolver estratégias metacognitivas de aprendizagem. As idéias dos estudantes foram colhidas por meio dos questionários e redações, nas quais os estudantes descrevem como imaginam ser o interior das células e dos gametas. Verificamos que as crianças do ensino fundamental possuem concepções semelhantes àquelas descritas para estudantes do ensino médio. A comparação das redações produzidas pelos estudantes antes e após a aplicação da seqüência didática permitiu verificar que o padrão mais comum de aprendizagem é sincrético, ou seja, as crianças tendem a distorcer as informações oferecidas pelo professor em virtude da existência de conhecimentos prévios. Por fim, a descrição e a documentação de seqüências didáticas planejadas a partir de conhecimentos produzidos na literatura educacional permitem o entendimento dos processos de transposição didática e a relação deste com a aprendizagem dos estudantes. / The recent knowledge explosion on the areas of genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology introduced many new concepts hard for common people to grasp in their decision-making processes. During the last 30 years or so the educational literature produced concepts and theories to cope with these difficulties but the vast majority of our elementary and highschool teachers remain unaware of them possibly because the available literature is written in foreign languages (mainly in English). The action-research here presented intends to fill this gap and was based on tests performed with 283 students aged 12 to 15. We describe their conceptions on the location and transmission of genetic information before and after the application of a didactic sequence specifically elaborated to develop metacognitive learning strategies. The students\' ideas were gathered by means of questionnaires and through essays describing how they imagine the interior of cells and germ-cells. We verified that children on basic educational level have conceptions very similar to those of students of middle-level education. The paired comparison of before and after essays suggests the existence of a common, syncretic learning standard. In plain language, the results indicate that previous informal knowledge of children tends to distort the formal information transmitted by their teachers. It is clear that the description and documentation of planned didactic sequences, available from the specialized literature, provide the understanding of the didactic transposition process and its relation with the students´ learning process.