Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

<p> Despite the robust literature surrounding the benefits of blended learning including improved student learning and positive student perceptions of learning (Bishop &amp; Verleger, 2013; O&rsquo;Flaherty &amp; Phillips, 2015), simply rearranging the structure of activities or incorporating technology does not ensure a more meaningful learning experience (Duffy &amp; McDonald, 2008; Gopal et al., 2010; Lim &amp; Morris, 2009; Mitchell &amp; Honore, 2007; Okojie, Olinzock, &amp; Boulder, 2006). There exists a danger of educators attempting the transition to blended learning without thoroughly understanding how it works (Ash, 2012). Considering the definition of blended learning as &ldquo;the organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary F2F and online approaches and technologies&rdquo; (Garrison &amp; Vaughan, 2008, p. 148), achieving meaningful learning in the blended classroom requires intentional design, mindful collaboration, and complete integration between the F2F experience and asynchronous online technology. Therefore, this study aimed to understand how anatomy faculty create meaningful learning spaces within their blended anatomy course. By conducting formal research that is focused on understanding the experiences of anatomy faculty in their blended learning course through the theoretical framework of community of inquiry, collaborative learning, and discovery learning, this study informs current and future undergraduate anatomy education by providing insight into how learning happens within this space.</p><p>

<p> With only 11% of the current Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) workforce being Black and Latino men and women, there is a crisis of underrepresented individuals in STEM fields. The construction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the mantra &ldquo;all standards, all students,&rdquo; represents an attempt to increase access to science for more students, and increase their self-efficacy about STEM subjects, as low self-efficacy is cited as one of the main causes of disinterest in STEM subjects. This study examined the relationship between students&rsquo; self-efficacy in STEM fields and their career interests, specifically in a population of Black and Latino youth. The study further analyzed self-efficacy and STEM interest between two groups of middle school students, those engaged with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and those with traditional instruction. The Student Attitudes Towards STEM survey was distributed to 580 students to collect quantitative data on student self-efficacy in STEM and their attitudes towards varied STEM careers. Statistical analysis (correlation) determined a significant (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) moderate correlation between students&rsquo; self-efficacy and STEM career interest. Statistical analysis (independent samples t-test) also determined there was no statistical difference between the two student groups. This study offers insights into the implementation of the standards, suggestions for future research around science programs in schools, and a call to action for all schools to offer science courses to all students from kindergarten to 12th grade to increase interest in STEM fields for future careers and life outside the classroom.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to identify misconceptions and perceptions of best teaching practices to better bring about conceptual change in thermodynamics, a core idea within the high school physical science Next Generation Science Standards. This study identified student misconceptions related to a thermodynamics unit, focusing on misconceptions related to temperature and energy, temperature and perceptions of hot/cold, and heat capacity. I also sought to identify factors that students and I, separately, identified as affecting their thinking. Data includes a pre-test and a post-test given to high school chemistry students. The instruments included multiple-choice and free-response questions. I also kept a teacher journal of my thoughts throughout the unit. The unit was somewhat successful in addressing heat energy and temperature misconceptions as more students answered post-test questions correctly when compared to the pre-test responses. Students identified labs and out of class experiences as affecting their thinking, which I agree with and would also include activities that make students more aware of their own thinking along with group discussion and modeling.</p><p>

Traditionally, education in Saudi Arabia has tended to lay considerable emphasis on the correct recall of memorised information. In the early years of the 21st century, education policy in Saudi Arabia began to consider the introduction of the concept of critical thinking into the curriculum. At the same time, the role and place of the sciences in the curriculum have increasingly been emphasized, the aim being to equip future generations with the skills thought important in taking the country forward. This study is, therefore, set in Saudi Arabia and focuses on the nature and development of critical thinking in the context of the current curriculum in the sciences. After describing the educational scene in Saudi Arabia, the thesis focuses on what is known about thinking in general and critical thinking in particular. The aim here is to move towards the development of a model of critical thinking and some kind of operational description against which test material can be developed. At that stage, it was recognised that, while critical thinking might be conceptualized as a set of cognitive skills, there is a strong attitudinal element. In simple terms, the learner needs to know how to think critically but also be willing to use these skills. There is a very brief review of some key research in the area of attitudes, including the principles of measurement which underpin the way the perceptions and attitudes of the learners are considered in this study. The cognitive nature of critical thinking is then related to two key research contributions of the 20th century: the work of Jean Piaget and David Ausubel. Critical thinking takes place in the working memory and the insights from information processing are discussed, looking at the ways information moves around the brain and the implications for the development of critical thinking are discussed. This study aims to explore how to measure critical thinking and to determine whether critical thinking skills can be developed in science subjects in school pupils. To achieve this aim, a model of critical thinking was first developed representing that thinking critically basically involves asking the questions how, what and why of new sources of information, the information itself and the linking processes involved in understanding. A test of critical thinking was developed based on this model. The data from this test were related to several other educational measures: student perceptions, working memory capacity, understanding science, school marks in science. Interviews with teachers and school inspectors were also conducted to explore their perceptions. The researcher is confident that the model and test make a contribution to the literature, as well as being of benefit to Saudi Arabia and to other countries. Critical thinking was measured with a total of 240 pupils, 120 girls and 120 boys, aged between 13 and 15, in classes 1, 2 and 3, in six Intermediate Schools in Saudi Arabia in the academic year 2009-2010. The questions in the test were designed so that success in the test relied on one or more of the aspects of critical thinking. The outcomes were related to working memory capacity and school science performance while student perceptions were measured. Principal Components analysis using Varimax rotation showed that the test designed to measure critical thinking was not measuring either science knowledge or understanding nor was it a measure of working memory capacity, but the school marks were highly correlated with working memory capacity. It was found that the measured critical thinking grew from year 1 to year 3; possible reasons are suggested. While the validity of the critical thinking test is not certain, it is not simply a measure of knowledge and understanding or of working memory capacity although any critical thinking would take place in the working memory. The survey offered many insights but, in particular, it revealed that most pupils had a negative attitude to science and showed broadly negative perceptions of science. The following experiment aimed to determine whether critical thinking skills could be developed in science subjects in school pupils. A fresh sample for the second experiment consisted of 1,600 pupils, from 12 schools, 800 girls and 800 boys, 400 of each in grade 1 (aged 13) and 400 in grade 3 (aged 15). Of these 400, 200 were in control groups and 200 in experimental groups. The pupils in the experimental groups were taught critical thinking skills using teaching material specifically developed for this research (which took 9 weeks to complete) and with a method proposed for it, while those in the control groups were taught in the normal way. The following were measured: student perceptions, working memory capacity, critical thinking, and understanding. The first two tests were identical to those used in experiment 1 and the critical thinking test was only slightly modified. In addition, their school marks were taken to make a fifth data set. Analysis of the data showed that critical thinking skills grew significantly after use of the new materials, with year 3 showing greater growth. Despite attempts to make the material gender neutral, boys were found to be better at critical thinking skills, although this may simply reflect gender-separated education. Principal components analysis again showed that critical thinking test data is unrelated to measured working memory capacity, measures of recall, and measures of understanding. The student survey was carried out with the purpose of examining pupils’ attitudes towards various aspects of thinking and critical thinking in the context of science teaching and some unexpected gender differences were observed. In the test of critical thinking skills, girls and boys in the experimental groups both performed better than did the control groups but the girls did not appear to be convinced that this is the case.A total of 98 science teachers and science inspectors were interviewed in order to explore their perceptions of critical thinking in science education. A range of themes was explored and there were some differences in their views which, in turn, did not seem to match the views of the students. Implications are discussed. The overall conclusions are that critical thinking can be measured and that it can be enhanced with school learners aged in the range 13 to 15. However, it is vital that educational policies, resources, national assessment and teacher training be adjusted if the development of critical thinking is to make much progress in Saudi Arabia. The limitations and implications of the study are outlined.

Over the past two decades, constructivism has become an increasingly influential referent for the learning and teaching of science in schools. In the role of teacher-researcher, I conducted an intensive participant observational study in an innovative Australian middle school, where both the initial planning of the school program and the principal's vision for the school took constructivism as a key referent. The research activity involved team teaching for a total of two days per week for one school year (1996) with a group of five teachers who were attempting to implement constructivist-referenced innovations such as portfolio assessment, integrated curriculum and teacher collaborative planning in their teaching practice. I chose a narrative methodology including impressionist tales to both conduct and represent this research into my own and others' teaching practices and values - a 'novel' woven from those narratives forms Section Two of this thesis. In addition, five conjectures for further investigation emerged from the research: (1) one significant constraint to constructivist-referenced innovation is 'conceptual inertia' on the part of teachers, (2) students' epistemologies and expectations must be explicitly addressed where innovation is attempted, (3) the complexity of educational contexts extends beyond the mechanical details of schooling to the webs of expectations stakeholders bring to schools, (4) it is difficult for teachers with limited backgrounds in science to use constructivism as a referent in their science teaching, and (5) the narrative methodology chosen has value in providing a rich, complex account of schools, teachers and curricular innovations.

Research in science education over the past 20 years has emphasized the importance of active cognition in conceptual development. Students formulate knowledge within language constructions constrained by culture and social construction and relate to their own purposes using speech and writing. Many students in high school do not recognize the use of analogy in the development of science theory and concepts. By focusing on the constructed nature of science and analogy this thesis aimed to determine the capacity of high ability students to engage their own thinking and so have a powerful tool with which to deconstruct and reconstruct their scientific understandings. This thesis focused on the use of analogy in a Year 7 electricity unit and a Year 9 geology unit and used examination questions, quizzes, diary entries and interviews to determine the role of analogies in learning. The specific research questions asked were: Can high ability students create their own analogies?, What role do analogies play in learning?, and How do analogies help students in concept development? The thesis found that analogies are powerful tools in supporting student conceptual development. They allow students to link from their existing framework to new understandings and visual analogs were the most effective in supporting learning. The students move to new understandings may not happen within the teaching time but could occur several months after the introduction of the analogy. / High ability students are able to recognize and construct their own analogies; however, many students have difficulty deconstructing analogies on their own. The content of the student created analogies seemed to be associated with activities involving reflection and reflection time emerged as a critical component of the learning process. The role of analogies in providing a focus for discussion with peers, teachers and parents so that ideas could be thought about, tested and clarified was found to be one of their important functions in supporting learning.

In response to the growing interests in K-12 economic education among politicians and educators, this study was designed to fill in the gaps created by limited research in preservice teachers’ attitudes and intentions regarding the teaching of economics at the elementary and middle-school levels. Specifically, the purposes of this study were to identify significant predictors of PK-8 preservice teachers’ intentions to teach economics and to examine the effects of an educational intervention on preservice teachers’ intentions and attitudes pertaining to the teaching of economics. Fishbein and Ajzen’s theory of reasoned action (TRA) and Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) served as the theoretical bases of this research. Quantitative data collected through a self-designed survey instrument and qualitative data collected through four focus group interviews were obtained from 234 preservice teacher participants enrolled in the social studies methods courses during the fall semester of 2006. Additional training in teaching economics, which included three one-hour sessions embedded in the social studies methods courses, was provided for the experimental group teachers. The results show that preservice teachers’ intentions to teach economics were affected primarily by their perceived support from school administration and their self-efficacy. No statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and the control preservice teachers. The findings of this study indicate that whether preservice teachers decide to teach economics mainly depends on whether economics is tested on state-mandated examinations, and to some extent, the preservice teachers’ own abilities to teach economics. The findings of this study also point to the need for more research in effective training for teaching elementary and middle-school level economics that can be incorporated into social studies methods courses.

In response to the growing interests in K-12 economic education among politicians and educators, this study was designed to fill in the gaps created by limited research in preservice teachers’ attitudes and intentions regarding the teaching of economics at the elementary and middle-school levels. Specifically, the purposes of this study were to identify significant predictors of PK-8 preservice teachers’ intentions to teach economics and to examine the effects of an educational intervention on preservice teachers’ intentions and attitudes pertaining to the teaching of economics. Fishbein and Ajzen’s theory of reasoned action (TRA) and Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) served as the theoretical bases of this research. Quantitative data collected through a self-designed survey instrument and qualitative data collected through four focus group interviews were obtained from 234 preservice teacher participants enrolled in the social studies methods courses during the fall semester of 2006. Additional training in teaching economics, which included three one-hour sessions embedded in the social studies methods courses, was provided for the experimental group teachers. The results show that preservice teachers’ intentions to teach economics were affected primarily by their perceived support from school administration and their self-efficacy. No statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and the control preservice teachers. The findings of this study indicate that whether preservice teachers decide to teach economics mainly depends on whether economics is tested on state-mandated examinations, and to some extent, the preservice teachers’ own abilities to teach economics. The findings of this study also point to the need for more research in effective training for teaching elementary and middle-school level economics that can be incorporated into social studies methods courses.

In this dissertation the relationships among teachers' classroom contexts, teaching practices, personal practice theories and their learning from reform-based professional development were examined. This study is based on the cases of three high school science teachers whose participation in the Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center's professional development experience (PDE) resulted in different perceptions and interpretations. Qualitative and quantitative data, including classroom observations, in-depth interviews, teacher-generated written work from the PDE, and student classroom perceptions were analyzed and compared. The within-case analyses revealed that each teacher's thoughts, actions and perceptions were highly congruent. The cross-case analysis illuminated variations among the cases. Bandura's (1999) model of triadic reciprocal causation was applied as an interpretive frame. This frame was used to connect five indicators used in the study to coherently compare and evaluate the alignment of each teacher's thoughts, actions, and perceptions with the vision of reformbased teaching promoted by the ITS Center's PDE. Results of this interpretation show that the differences among the cases stemmed from the different problems the teachers believed reform-based teaching methods addressed. Recommendations for the design of PDEs include the importance of (a) focusing on flexible learning goals that can be meaningful and appropriate for all teachers, (b) understanding and engaging teachers' prior knowledge, (c) making changes in teachers' thinking visible and (d) keeping in mind the challenges involved in changing practice to reflect the recommendations of reform. Recommendations for future research include the development of learning trajectories for teachers with different orientations toward reform and deepening our current understandings of teacher educator expertise.