There is an increasing number of International Baccalaureate programs in the United States that require instruction in an additional language to prepare culturally responsive global citizens, but there is little research on how the teaching of culture is addressed in elementary additional language programs. This study was guided by Vygotsky's and Dewey's social constructivism and investigated how the teaching of culture is integrated in additional foreign language classrooms in the State of Georgia's International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programs (IB PYP). It also investigated how personal, professional, or organizational factors such as values, beliefs, teacher training, or time constraints impact the integration of culture and language. This qualitative multiple-case comparative study examined the experiences of 3 teachers in Georgia who taught in K-5 additional language classrooms, using curriculum maps, student work samples, lesson plans, and semi-structured interviews as the data sources. Data were analyzed using Atlas.ti software and coded using constant comparative methods; the inductive qualitative content analysis included open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The study findings showed that a variety of factors impacted program goals including the attitudes of school community, teacher isolation, philosophy, Georgia Standards, and practices of the IB PYP. Findings are applicable to additional language teachers for further discussion on the current state of elementary language programs in Georgia's IB PYP and for informing choices on program design. This study contributes to social change by expanding the body of professional literature in the field of foreign language education and on the issues that affect teachers in additional language classrooms in the IB PYP.

The aim of this study was to describe, analyze and explore how five teachers work with reading comprehension in grade one and grade two, ages 7 and 8. My approach was ethnographically inspired and data was collected through observations, teachers´ diaries and interviews. The findings indicate that in the observed teachers´ classroom students' language skills were central. In order to teach the students how to use strategies in their own reading, teachers trained the students to use strategies while reading aloud to them. When reading aloud to the students, focus was on reading comprehension but sometimes texts were used by the teachers as tools to teach strategies.  The teachers seemed to think that students first have to learn to read (decode) before working with strategies for reading comprehension during individual reading. In the classrooms a substantial amount of time was spent on dialogue, both before as well as during reading texts aloud. When the teachers asked questions, vocabulary was often focused. The teachers also asked about spelling and punctuation in the text. The questions were mostly aimed at controlling or inferencing the children but the teachers also asked questions where factual knowledge was needed. Regardless of the type of questions the teacher poses, the students respond with comments or inferences. The types of questions that the teacher asked of a text tend to be dominant when the children were invited to ask questions themselves. The teachers in the study were pleased with the students' development and performance in reading comprehension and the students seemed interested to read themselves and to listening to the teachers reading aloud. Children used reading comprehension strategies when listening to teachers reading, but it is unclear to what extent they use it to their individual reading. / <p>I verket anges serien Studier i pedagogiskt arbete.</p>

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program [IB PYP] is a student-driven, inquiry-based elementary school level educational program that has grown rapidly in the United States since its creation in 1997. This study explores how IB PYP art teachers define and implement inquiry-based instructional methods in their art rooms through a nation-wide, online survey of art teachers, coordinators, and administrators. The Survey consists of 22 questions which ask respondents to describe their classroom practices and provide examples of how they make use of inquiry-based methods in the art room. The responses to this survey were then value coded for four different phases of inquiry and three degrees of student-centeredness to analyze understandings of these practices. This study concludes that conceptions of these instructional methods vary greatly in occasionally contradictory ways. There is need for more robust lesson plans examples and increased frequency and access to subject specific training, in both physical and online settings.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) standards recognize reflection as an integral part of the framework and the fabric of the Primary Years Programme school, as it is embedded in the foundational standards and practices of the inquiry-based IB teaching model. However, teachers in an IB Primary Years Programme school located in the southeast United States struggled with being reflective practitioners. Guided by John Dewey's reflective thought, the purpose of this bounded qualitative exploratory case study was to examine teacher perceptions of reflection practices in an IB Primary Years Programme school. Research questions were drafted to ask about teachers' perceptions of their reflective practices, how teachers' perceived reflective practices aligned with IB's teaching model, and beliefs about the school-based support and resources teachers needed to implement reflective practices. The selection criteria included teachers with at least 2 years of teaching experience who had been to at least 1 outside IB training. Ten teachers, chosen through purposeful sampling, completed a 2-week reflective journal and participated in a semistructured interview. Based on the open-coding and inductive analysis patterns emerged, leading to themes; including lesson reflections, planning, time, and training. Based on the findings, a project, a white paper, includes recommendations to address the teachers' perceptions of reflective practices that will be presented to the school as well as the district. This improved instructional change may provide positive social change in the culture of reflection for teachers and help them and to better differentiate instruction for students.

The purpose of this study is to examine teachers&rsquo / beliefs and perspectives about an applied transdisciplinary approach of integrated early childhood curriculum. While developing an integrated curriculum for early childhood education, one of the challenges for educators is delivering the themes into different disciplines. For this reason, researchers have developed different models to integrate disciplines in different ways. Transdisciplinary approach is one of the models developed for integrated curriculum. Transdisciplinary approach, in which activities are complementary, provides different disciplines to be connected through a real life context. That is, the themes or units do not arouse from disciplines, there is a globally significant theme for the thematic teaching units. Furthermore, collaborative planning is another crucial part of transdisciplinary approach for an effective curriculum teachers working together. International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program is the first and foremost a transdisciplinary curriculum developed for international primary education. To examine teachers&rsquo / beliefs and perspectives about transdisciplinary approach, collaborative planning, integration of disciplines in a transdisciplinary curriculum and benefits of this curriculum to children and parents in a private kindergarten which is implementing Primary Years Program is chosen. This study is conducted in a private kindergarten in Ankara with eighteen teachers who teach six-year-old children. In accordance with this thesis, the structure of a transdisciplinary approach of integrated early childhood education curriculum and teachers&rsquo / beliefs and perceptions about transdisciplinary curriculum are qualitatively determined by the case study approach. The results reveal that teachers have positive point of view towards transdisciplinary curriculum in early childhood education. They believe that there are positive effects of transdisciplinary curriculum on students and parents. Moreover they point out the importance of collaborative planning.

This study was an autoethnography about inquiry learning and teaching through extraction and construction of meaning from experience. Using a collaborative autoethnography methodology I explored experiences in my past with others in the field through a “critical friend” Blog, to unpack what may have enabled me to value inquiry-based teaching as a physical education teacher. I created narratives from my autoethographic data and again shared them with my Blog members, inviting critical responses. Over an eight month period I created a community of learners with purposefully selected colleagues working in an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme curriculum school in the Middle East. I shared my narratives with my colleagues in order to support, question, connect or contrast my personal findings. Through our dialogues we came together to unpack our understandings of learning, who we were as learners, teaching, who we were as teachers and inquiry. As a community of learners exploring our experiences and perceptions, our understanding of constructivism evolved. This study revealed the tensions that exist between what teachers know about learning for meaningful understanding and the disabling learning and teaching environments they are and have been a part of.

This study was an autoethnography about inquiry learning and teaching through extraction and construction of meaning from experience. Using a collaborative autoethnography methodology I explored experiences in my past with others in the field through a “critical friend” Blog, to unpack what may have enabled me to value inquiry-based teaching as a physical education teacher. I created narratives from my autoethographic data and again shared them with my Blog members, inviting critical responses. Over an eight month period I created a community of learners with purposefully selected colleagues working in an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme curriculum school in the Middle East. I shared my narratives with my colleagues in order to support, question, connect or contrast my personal findings. Through our dialogues we came together to unpack our understandings of learning, who we were as learners, teaching, who we were as teachers and inquiry. As a community of learners exploring our experiences and perceptions, our understanding of constructivism evolved. This study revealed the tensions that exist between what teachers know about learning for meaningful understanding and the disabling learning and teaching environments they are and have been a part of.

abstract: This research investigates teachers' understanding of and feelings about transdisciplinary education and the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme (PYP) as utilized by two remote schools in the province of Papua, Indonesia on the island of New Guinea. A goal of transdisciplinary education is to make learning through inquiry authentic, broad, student-centered, and relevant to the real world. In this study I examine educators’ perspectives of how transdisciplinary education is manifested in the two different and yet related elementary schools. Both schools are supported by a multinational mining company. One school is for expatriate students and the language of instruction is English. The second school, which is for Indonesian students, follows the Indonesian National Curriculum of 2013, with instruction delivered in the Indonesian language by Indonesian teachers. A single expatriate superintendent oversees both schools. Teacher experience, teacher PYP experience, implications of the PYP framework, cultural implications of the location, and demographics of the school stakeholders were considerations of this research. To acquire data, homeroom teachers, specialist teachers (music, art, physical education, and language), administrators, and PYP coordinators completed a survey and were interviewed. Additional data were collected through document examination and observation. A broad range of experience with transdisciplinary education existed in both schools, contributing to some confusion about how to implement the PYP framework and varying conceptions of what constitutes transdisciplinary education. Principles of the PYP were evident in curriculum documents and planning and discussed by the teachers in both schools. Educators at the expatriate school identified with the international-mindedness and approaches to learning in the PYP. Educators at the national school valued to character education elements of the PYP, which they viewed as consistent with Indonesian principles of pancasila. The mission and vision statements of the schools in this study aligned with the PYP in different ways. Challenges faced by educators in these schools are acquisition of professional development, experienced teachers and teaching materials due to the remote location of the schools. While transdisciplinary education was described, it was not necessarily implemented. The findings of this study suggest that transdisciplinary education is a mindset that takes time, experience, and commitment to implement. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2019

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The goal of improving student achievement is of paramount interest to all public schools. The focus of this research was to determine the difference between inquiry based teaching strategies and student achievement. Additionally, the researcher investigated the origin of inquiry based teaching knowledge and International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) affiliation. IBPYP affiliation was studied due to the nature of the IBPYP as an inquiry based philosophy of teaching. The McGill Strategic Demands of Inquiry Questionnaire (MSDIQ) was used to determine teacher beliefs of inquiry based teaching strategies. Student achievement was measured using Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test 2.0 (FCAT 2.0) levels. Results from the MSDIQ indicated strong beliefs among participants of inquiry based teaching indicators within three domains: planning, enactment, and reflection. The researcher recommended further research into the origin of inquiry based teaching strategies knowledge to determine accurate professional development from districts that require inquiry based teaching strategies in evaluation systems. In addition, further research was recommended to determine the relationship between IBPYP affiliation and student achievement.