This naturalistic inquiry explores the lived experience of five teachers through the first of a two-year professional development (PD) focused on environmental systems, outdoor education, pedagogical content knowledge, and building a community of practice. Qualitative data include participant interviews, participant journals, and researcher field notes. Thematic analysis of the data was conducted utilizing a variation of the constant comparative method (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) as modified by Lincoln & Guba (1985). Data are presented categorically and the relationships between themes are explored. Finally, the data are alternatively presented in the form of a creative dialogue, which summarizes the most salient aspects of the data. Implications for PD are discussed and include the suggestion that PD providers consider offering multiple opportunities for participants to re-enter the system, thus increasing the chances for positive outcomes associated with building a community of practice. These outcomes include networking, the application of newly acquired knowledge, and receiving continuous support from the professional community.

Over the next five years, schools will be expected to replace more than 60% of key leadership in independent schools. This is just one example of the growing evidence of shortages of persons filling key leadership positions. Based on this increasing concern, there is a need to develop a strategy to ensure the efficacy of prospective heads and their educational enterprises but also to ensure that the leaders of independent schools have the specific training, better understanding of issues critical to independent school leadership and opportunities to advance their careers. While the evidence exists on the effectiveness of some preparation programs for public school administrators, there is little literature and scholarly inquiry specifically focused on preparing independent school leaders. Educational leadership programs can be designed specifically and established for independent school leaders. The intent of this study is to present a framework for designing leadership development programs for independent schools and address the needs of the leaders within those schools.

In an effort to increase biological and general scientific literacy to meet the needs of an increasingly scientifically literate society, this study evaluated the attitudes and self-efficacy of 128 students in a non-majors college biology course in an urban private university in North Texas. The students used the Attitudes Toward Science Inventory (ATSI) for attitude and the Biology Self-Efficacy Scale (BSES) for self-efficacy at the beginning of the semester and again after ten weeks of instruction. Data from the ATSI and the BSES were analyzed to determine a relationship between attitude and self-efficacy and to evaluate changes due to instruction. Correlations were significant and t-tests reflected an increase in positive attitudes and a decrease in self-efficacy after instruction.

The Breakthrough Collaborative has its roots in a program started in 1978 at San Franciscos University High School. The program functioned on its own until 1990 when its educational model was replicated and was transported to multiple sites across the country. The program has a dual mission, point academically gifted, disadvantaged middle school students to enroll and thrive in top high school programs and ultimately to college as well as encouraging young people to pursue careers in education. The development of the model as well as an investigation into the core components of the model (academic rigor, students teaching students, and experience) are investigated to understand how they came to be and why they are important to the model.

This research focuses on inservice science teachers conceptions of nature of science (NOS) before and after a two-week intensive summer professional development program that included explicit NOS instruction. It combines this explicit approach to NOS instruction with reflective, dialogue about the interventions used throughout the professional development. It addresses the seven commonly-held tenets of NOS that are deemed significant to K-12 science teachers. Finally, it borrows qualitative methodologies for analyzing the Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire and associated interviews to gain a richer understanding of the teachers NOS understanding before and after the interventions. By using this approach to data analysis, this research better describes the ways in which teachers conceptions of NOS aspects align with and/or deviate from the desired understanding put forth in the professional development. This description of their understanding avoids reducing the participants diverse and complex conceptions of these tenets into simple informed or naïve categories. It is through this more detailed analysis of the participants data that this research examines inservice science teachers conceptions of nature of science before and after engaging in an explicit, long-term, professional development intervention.

This collective case study prompted teachers to reflect on their students' engagement in the outdoor setting, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of their experiences to identify how student engagement may be maximized in the outdoor setting to increase overall knowledge and understanding. Ten teachers were recruited from schools in partnership with REAL School Gardens non-profit organization. Data were collected through interviews using a semi-structured format and were audio recorded for analysis. Key terms and phrases that related to student engagement, as well as the outdoor settings were identified and used for creation of the word or phrase table. From here the author performed a cross-case analysis where common themes from the tables were detected as well as interpreted. Participating teachers found that overall their students seemed to be more engaged outdoors than indoors. This may have been because it was easier for teachers to identify outdoor engagement. While a positive view of the outdoors was consistent with all teachers, the reasons why were not the same.

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I have presented the results of a nine month study in a first grade classroom, whether an approach to science, based on Goethe's "delicate empiricism" leads to a better understanding of science for young students. The study was done at a Fort Worth, Texas elementary school.

ABSTRACT PRE-SERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDINGS OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS AND EFFICACY BELIEFS IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHING by Heather Marie Bjorum Peace, Ph.D., 2012 College of Education Texas Christian University Dissertation: Judith Groulx, Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology Sarah Quebec-Fuentes, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Mark Bloom, Assistant Professor of Science Education This research focuses on a cohort of pre-service elementary teachers and their perspectives with respect to the knowledge required for teaching science and mathematics at the beginning and end of their first academic year in a teacher preparation program. An activity, designed to emphasize the differences between factual/procedural knowledge and conceptual knowledge in elementary mathematics and science, was analyzed along with classroom discussions in order to gain deeper understandings of the perspectives of knowledge for teaching for the given cohort. Additionally, subject specific efficacy beliefs were compared to teaching confidence ratings related to specific science and mathematics topics. The pre-service teachers' expressed a variety of ideas regarding the role of content knowledge, and the different types of content knowledge (i.e., factual/procedural and conceptual), in teaching mathematics and science. Furthermore, their perceptions of the nature of mathematics and the nature of science were discussed. By utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, this project was able to not only note data trends, but also obtain depth and richness regarding conceptions of the knowledge required for teaching mathematics and science provided by the voices of the pre-service teachers.

This critical ethnography deconstructs how one participant researcher came to understand young adults' changing knowledge about water science and environmental issues in an after school program in Colombia. The program intended to empower self-identified young community leaders by teaching participants to engage community members in discourse related to how environmental factors impact one's level of health and quality of life. The data presented in this study illustrate how student participants responded to long-term teacher engagement and to particular curricular components that included hands-on science teaching and social justice coaching. I assessed how student interest in and knowledge of local water ecology and sanitation infrastructure changed throughout the program. Students' responses to the use of technology and digital media were also included in the analysis. The data demonstrates a dramatic change in student's attitudes and perceptions related to their environment and how they feel about their ability to make positive changes in their community.