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Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Recent K-12 science reforms necessitate a shift in curriculum and instruction to support coherence from the students’ perspective. This coherence emerges when students see their science work as addressing and making progress on their questions and problems. Storyline curricular units afford student coherence, but teachers need support to craft coherent instruction from storyline materials. This three-paper dissertation involved research into one teacher’s storyline design work. The first empirical paper explores how one expert teacher interpreted the storyline materials as he planned for enactment. I used interaction and thematic analysis to identify key sources of tension that the teacher engaged with as he made sense of the storyline materials for epistemic agency. Three key sources of tension were: curricular coherence and student coherence-seeking; equitable participation and incremental building of science ideas; and singular or different forms of epistemic agency in discussions. Over time, the teacher grappled more deeply with these tensions and learned to leverage them to share epistemic agency with students. The second empirical paper documents how the same expert teacher designed instruction during enactment as students’ sensemaking diverged from the storyline plans. I engaged in interaction analysis to identify and describe particular episodes of storyline activity where the teacher shared epistemic agency with students in these divergences. The teacher engaged in principled improvisation related to the students’ interactive role, the science ideas they raised, and the experimental errors they experienced. Each episode involved the teacher’s efforts to work with students' divergences with an eye toward leveraging the storyline designs to share epistemic agency. The third paper, which is conceptual, provides an initial image of the Teacher-Storyline relationship. This relationship involves the teacher’s use of storyline materials to design and enact instruction with the goal to be coherent for students. The relationship concerns the teacher, the storyline materials, the participatory interactions between the two, and the subsequent planned and enacted storyline that is an outgrowth of this relationship. It has implications for ‘opening up’ curricular materials and for designing curriculum-based professional learning. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Blended learning is the fastest-growing modality in North America and much of the world. However, research and training in blended learning is far outpaced by its usage. To remedy this gap, we developed a competency framework and self-survey instrument to help teachers and researchers evaluate teacher readiness for blended environments. The purpose of this research is to prove that the model and accompanying survey instrument are reliable for use with teacher candidates both before and after going through a blended teaching course. To accomplish this, we sent out a survey instrument to 326 teacher candidates studying in a blended teaching course at a university in the western United States. The teachers took the survey at the beginning of class, and then once again, three months later. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we determined that the pre-class survey results fell within the range of the four fit statistics cutoffs (RMSEA=.056, CFI=.906, TLI=0.900, SRMR=.04). And with slight modification, the post-class survey results did as well (RMSEA=.052, CFI=.914, TLI=.907, and SRMR .058). We also showed that the factor loadings and communalities were statistically significant. By testing the factors in this way, we make a case for the survey to be a valid and reliable instrument in assessing teacher competency, and make a case for thinking of blended teaching competencies in terms of our model. We then tested for measurement invariance, but were unsuccessful in making a case for it. The results of our findings provide teacher educators, teacher candidates, and researchers a new pedagogically-oriented framework and scientifically validated self-survey to use in order to improve and personalize teacher education and professional development for blended settings.

K-12 online learning continues to grow, and with it, the need for well-trained online teachers. This multiple-article dissertation explores K-12 online teaching professional development. A literature review describes research trends regarding unique strategies and competencies related to online teaching. It explores strategies such as acting as a facilitator, developing course knowledge, encouraging student engagement, interacting regularly with students, giving feedback, and developing time management skills. The literature review suggests that there is a lack of specific recommendations about what content should be covered and why professional development is beneficial for both teachers and students. Programs that incorporate online teaching professional development specific to their model may have more satisfied and motivated students and teachers. The second article provides insight into the design process for a K-12 online teaching professional development course that focuses on effectively communicating with online students. The course is designed as a professional development opportunity to enhance teachers' knowledge of online pedagogy and technology skills unique to communicating in the online environment. The course contains hands-on experiences and activities, allowing teachers the opportunity to learn in the role of teacher and student. The professional development was designed using Desimone's five core features commonly used for traditional classroom teacher professional development. This article describes the professional development goals, course structure, evaluation process, and preliminary findings. By sharing the development and design of this professional development course the hope is that other K-12 online designers and administrators will have a framework on which to build. The final article presents the implementation and evaluation results of the professional development course mentioned in article two. This case study shares the learning perspective of 80 teachers that completed the professional development course through pre and post assessments and a course evaluation. Researchers conducted interviews with 11 participants to further explore how the course impacted their pedagogical and technical knowledge in relation to effectively communicating with their online students. Overall, participants reported a satisfactory experience and personal growth in the topics provided. More research is needed on the effects of professional development for online teachers and if it can help lead to student success.

This dissertation uses a three-manuscript style, and the ultimate purpose was to support critical thinking teaching in K-12 education from a systematic view concerning the lack of critical thinking in the young generation. The three manuscripts included in this dissertation were entirely or partly adapted based on three published or submitted research papers. The first research paper is a literature review article with an introduction to a development framework of nine principles, which provided a new view to developing critical thinking in younger children based on conceptual understanding of critical thinking. The second research paper is a study I coauthored with J. Michael Spector, which calls for more attention to the development of human intelligence given the rapid development of artificial intelligence and proposed that developing inquiry and critical thinking is a key to develop human intelligence. The third research paper reports an investigation over middle school educators' conceptualization of critical thinking and its alignment with the established theory and research. The major purpose was to connect the established theory and research with educational practices regarding what critical thinking constitutes. The significance of this study is to reveal the issues behind the abstract understanding of critical thinking and address the insufficient critical thinking teaching phenomenon from the perspective of educational practices.

Computer scientists have been working towards a common definition of abstraction; however, the instruction and assessment of abstraction remain categorically underresearched. Because abstraction is often cited as a component of computational thinking, abstraction has been summarily likened to a higher order thinking skill. A broad conceptual framework including philosophy, psychology, constructionism, and computational thinking was aligned with the descriptive qualitative design and guided the literature review and data analysis. This qualitative examination of how teachers determine curriculum, deliver instruction, and design assessments in K-12 computer science education provides insight into best practices and variables for future quantitative study. The instructional strategies, objectives, and assessments of twelve K-12 computer science teachers from 3 states were examined in this descriptive qualitative examination of instruction using thematic coding analysis. The majority of teachers had little to no professional development regarding teaching abstraction. All teachers in the study were unsure what student abstraction abilities should be according to grade level. Teachers'€™ understanding of abstraction ranged from very little knowledge to very knowledgeable. The majority of teachers did not actively assess abstraction. Teachers described successfully teaching abstraction through multiple instructional practices and spiraling curriculum. Practical descriptive insights illuminate additional variables to research the instruction of abstraction qualitatively and quantitatively, as well as provide anecdotal instructional successes.

The study was conducted to develop a process by which teachers and counselors could initiate implement and evaluate career guidance activities in regular junior high school classrooms. The problem. Junior high school teachers in Utah were not participating with counselors in providing career guidance activities for students. Purpose. To conduct a pilot program in career guidance in which teachers and counselors at the junior high school level could create student activities which are applicable in the classroom from a pre-designed career guidance model. Objectives. To develop career guidance behavioral objectives and learning activities applicable to teaching in the classroom at the junior high school level. To evaluate the activities in a pilot project to determine if they reach the criterion set by the behavioral objectives. To publish the developed bheavioral objectives and learning activities as a guide for further program development in junior high schools throughout the State of Utah. To develop a contractual process for the purpose of involving counselors and teachers in career guidance activity development. Sample. The sample involved approximately 800 boys and girls, ages 13-15, at T. H. Bell Junior High School. The staff involved included the principal, one supervisor, two counselors and 16 teachers, five ninth grade, five eighth grade, and six seventh grade teachers as determined by their homeroom assignment. Data. The data gathered were the written and evaluated activities developed by each teacher. Observational design. Contracts were written on each of the 56 pre-developed behavioral objectives. The contract stipulated the behavioral objective, time limitations for completion and the criterion level. The teacher, with the assistance of a supervisor or principal, developed activities which met the established criterion. Upon completion, these materials were compiled by a supervisor and final evaluation for correctness and completeness was determined. Upon completion, the teacher received a pre-arranged financial remuneration. The completed activities were placed in book form to correspond with the behavioral objectives. This placed the teacher developed activities within the total curriculum model at the junior high school level. Summary. Career guidance activities were written, and tested to determine if they reached criterion level specified by behavioral objectives, and these were then used in junior high school classes. The result of the process was to expand the career guidance offering at one junior high school from two counselors interacting with students to a large portion of the faculty interacting with students relative to their future career choices. It appears that the process developed in this study has merit as it pertains to career guidance activities integrated into regular classrooms. The career guidance model with the developed activities were distributed to junior high schools throughout the state for the purpose of serving as an example of expanding career guidance activities into the regular classroom.

Over the past decades, online learning has contributed to a large percentage of educational success in higher education and K-12 learning environments. It has not only allowed a number of opportunities for students to receive education due to flexibility, reachability, but also additional course offerings and educational advancement. As K-12 online learning has continued to soar as an option for educating students, concerns relating to students’ success in these courses have arose. Due to the concerns relating to student success, researchers have sought to determine what attributes can contribute to student success in online courses offered to students in elementary and secondary education. Therefore, this study examined the relationships between academic success and demographic characteristics of high school students enrolled in online courses in order to determine the predictability of various academic and demographic characteristics on students’ success. The demographic and academic characteristics examined in the study included: gender, ethnicity, attendance, grade level, GPA, previous online experience, and lunch code (free, paid, or reduced lunch). The population for this study included 987 students who enrolled in online high school courses at central and southern Alabama high schools between the semesters of fall 2015 through spring 2017. After the data were coded and analyzed using a multiple logistic regression, four variables -- GPA, gender, grade level, and lunch code were found significant in the predictability of students’ success in an online high school course. The results showed: a) students with high GPAs, b) upper-grade level high school students, c) female students, and d) students who paid for their lunch -- tend to be more successful in completing an online high school course. The findings of this study can benefit school enrollment counselors, principals, administrators, and advisors to better assist with student enrollments in online high school courses. Future research is recommended to examine if any relationship existed between online high school student’s success and other academic and demographic characteristics such as students with learning disabilities, economic status of parents, number of disciplinary infractions, etc.

Despite the continued growth of K-12 online learning, there remains a need for additional research addressing roles of online facilitators and how they can improve the sense of community at K-12 online schools. The first article of this dissertation presents a case study illustrating how online facilitators can provide the same level of support for their students that on-site facilitators provide students in blended environments. Data was gathered from teachers at Mountain Heights Academy (MHA), a fully online high school. MHA implemented a "Shepherding Program" to provide student with online facilitators. Each teacher, or shepherd, was responsible for 20 to 25 students. Teacher focus groups and one-on-one interviews were used to examine the perceived effects of a shepherding program on shepherd-student relationships. Additionally, the teacher roles in the shepherding program were compared to the roles of on-site facilitators. Teachers were largely satisfied with the perceived impact of the shepherding program on their relationships with their students. Findings also highlighted strong similarities between the support the shepherding program provided online students and the support on-site facilitators provide blended learning students. The second article was a continuation of the case study from the first article. A key addition to the case study for the second article was the inclusion of student interviews. This article examined how teachers and students perceived that the shepherding program influenced instructor-student relationships. The analysis exposing similarities and differences between teacher and student perspectives of the shepherding program was conducted based on the four dimensions of Rovai's online sense of community: spirit, trust, interaction, and learning. Findings illustrated shepherd-student relationships consisting of all four elements of community in some degree.

Reading is a fundamental skill that each person needs to develop during early childhood and continue to enhance into adulthood. While children/teenagers depend on this skill to advance academically and become educated individuals, adults are expected to acquire a certain level of proficiency in reading so that they can engage in social/civic activities and successfully participate in the workforce. A step towards assisting individuals to become lifelong readers is to provide them adequate reading selections which can cultivate their intellectual and emotional growth. Turning to (web) search engines for such reading choices can be overwhelming, given the huge volume of reading materials offered as a result of a search. An alternative is to rely on reading materials suggested by existing recommendation systems, which unfortunately are not capable of simultaneously matching the information needs, preferences, and reading abilities of individual readers. In this dissertation, we present novel recommendation strategies which identify appealing reading materials that the readers can comprehend, which in turn can motivate them to read. In accomplishing this task, we have examined used-defined data, in addition to information retrieved/inferred from reputable and freely-accessible online sources. We have incorporated the concept of “social trust” when making recommendations for advanced readers and suggested fiction books that match the reading ability of individual K-12 readers using our readability-analysis tool for books. Furthermore, we have emulated the readers' advisory service offered at school/public libraries in making recommendations for K-12 readers, which can be applied to advanced readers as well. A major contribution of our work is in the development of unsupervised recommendation strategies for advanced readers which suggest reading materials for both entertainment and learning acquisition purposes. Unlike their counterparts, these recommendation strategies are unaffected by the cold-start or long-tail problems, since they exploit user-defined data (if available) while taking advantage of alternative publicly-available metadata. Our readability-analysis tool is innovative, which can predict the readability-levels of books on-the-fly, even in the absence of excerpts from books, a task that cannot be accomplished by any of the well-known readability tools/strategies. Moreover, our multi-dimensional recommendation strategy is novel, since it simultaneously analyzes the reading abilities of K-12 readers, which books readers enjoy, why the books are appealing to them, and what subject matters the readers favor. Besides assisting K-12 readers, our recommender can be used by parents/teachers/librarians in locating reading materials to be suggested to their (K-12) children/students/patrons. We have validated the performance of each methodology presented in this dissertation using existing benchmark datasets or datasets we created for the evaluation purpose (which is another contribution we make to the research community). We have also compared the performance of our proposed methodologies with their corresponding baselines and state-of-the-art counterparts, which further verifies the correctness of the proposed methodologies.