<p> This dissertation investigated if the implementation of six different female-oriented teaching strategies had an effect on the attitude of middle school female science students. Female-oriented teaching strategies included single-sex groupings, student-teacher interactions, introduction of female role models, guided-inquiry teaching pedagogy, demonstration of real world relevance of science, and the implementation of more technology into science lessons.</p><p> Quantitative data was collected by an initial and final administration of an attitude survey. The survey consisted of 48 Likert-type questions and was separated into six attitude domains (perception of the science teacher, anxiety, self-concept, value, enjoyment and motivation). Qualitative data was obtained through student journaling and interviews. A two-tailed, paired t-test was run on the qualitative data to gauge a degree of change in attitude, while deductive coding methods were used to gain female students&rsquo; viewpoints of the strategies implemented.</p><p> The implementation of four of the six female-oriented teaching strategies had a positive effect on the female students&rsquo; attitude toward science. These strategies included grouping students in single-sex pairings, using guided-inquiry lessons, showing students the relevancy of science, and introducing female students to historical and current women in science.</p><p>

<p> With the increasing human population, it is critical to develop informed citizens with ecological perspectives and motivation to make positive contributions to the biosphere. This study investigates the impact of a place-based science elective on the development of students&rsquo; ecological identities, motivation for environmental action, and ecojustice self-efficacy. Targeted curriculum was implemented, including a campus habitat design project. Pre and post tests for three instruments were used to assess 25 high school freshmen, half of whom are members of a STEM program. There was an increase in nature relatedness, motivation and self-efficacy for STEM students but not for non-STEM students. The research study demonstrated the effectivity of using place-based curriculum within classes to encourage student connection, empowerment and involvement. Support for teachers to develop targeted mentoring of students&rsquo; abilities and interests are needed and can help develop informed, involved global citizens. </p><p>

<p> This dissertation characterized trainings designed to prepare citizen scientists to collect ecological data in natural outdoor settings. Citizen scientists are volunteers who participate in scientific activities under the guidance of professional scientists and organizations. The work of citizen scientists greatly expands the data collection possibilities in natural resource management and increases science literacy among participants and their social communities. The general problem is that some scientists and land managers view the data collected by citizen scientists as unreliable. The specific problem is the absence of educational training measurement in citizen science program design and analysis with which to ascertain the learning gains of trained citizen scientists. </p><p> Through a sequenced methodology of data analysis, survey, and semi-structured interviews, deductive descriptors and codes guided a directed content analysis of data collected. The analysis indicated strong alignment between citizen science, andragogy, and social learning theory. The sample revealed a bimodal distribution related to the type of data collected and the subsequent training design. Little training existed when data collection involved photography only. Citizen scientists brought prior skills to the task but did not need to gain new procedural learning to complete their data collection task. When citizen scientists collected more complex measurements, classroom and field mentoring facilitated learning. </p><p> Citizen science leaders described their perception of the reliability of their citizen scientists&rsquo; data collection efforts. Computer technologies validated photo and water quality data. Therefore, quantitative data analysis supported the perception of data reliability. Terrestrial data had a range of reliability qualifications including video and paper quizzing, field observation of methods implemented, periodic data checks, and follow-up mentoring when data quality was poor. Managers of terrestrial citizen science programs were confident in the reliability of the data for the land management, policy, and research applications required.</p><p>

<p> This thesis project consists of the development of an eighth-grade lesson sequence written for students on Catalina Island in Southern California. It is written as part of a project developed by the Catalina Island Conservancy to promote the ecological awareness of students living on the island. It encompasses the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards, highlights an outdoor component, and uses a 5E lesson framework. The lesson was reviewed by the Catalina Island Conservancy and by teachers experienced with the Next Generation Science Standards. Revisions were made based on their feedback. The lesson sequence focuses on a local endemic subspecies of bird in order to explore natural selection. Students learn about the bird, investigate its local habitat, compete in a natural selection simulation, and then make predictions about the fate of the bird due to a climatic change, using evidence collected throughout the lesson.</p><p>

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-03-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:52:33Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rubim_j_me_bauru.pdf: 1183388 bytes, checksum: 99806fdc7b7f210939ee8b64ade6ec6c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho analisou um projeto desenvolvido por três professores do Ensino Médio, um de Física, um de Química e um de Biologia, que consistiu em preparar uma situação- problema a partir da complexidade de um caso de tratamento radioterápico de câncer de colo uterino, e desenvolvê-la em sala de aula, o que representou não somente trazer, para a sala de aula, fatos que estão mais próximos da realidade do aluno, mas também percorrer caminhos inversos àqueles do ensino institucionalizado, os quais normalmente partem dos conteúdos disciplinares e se desenvolvem no sentido da exemplificação. Nossa contribuição consistiu em construir um ponto de vista externo, a partir da análise das gravações de reuniões e de aulas, procurando evidenciar aspectos que se referem à formação dos professores envolvidos. Os dados foram analisados sob três pontos de vista: compromisso, autonomia e interdisciplinaridade. Enquanto as reuniões dos professores se sucederam sem que houvesse contato com alunos, eles não tiveram sucesso em “compor o quadro interdisciplinar”. No entanto, a situação armada no início do ano somente encontrou terreno para se desenvolver no segundo semestre, quando os professores tinham o desafio de responder aos alunos. Assim consideramos que as condições que garantiram a experiência como formação de professores foram: a potencialidade para a interdisciplinaridade devido à escolha de um caso real como ponto de partida; uma situação problema, representada pelo desejo dos professores de ampliar os conhecimentos dos adolescentes em torno da questão do câncer do colo do útero e HPV; uma situação de ensino, que impôs a necessidade de eles responderem a adolescente reais; o bom domínio do conteúdo disciplinar, por parte de cada um deles; e o comprometimento de todos com o trabalho coletivo e com a aprendizagem dos alunos. / This work analyses a Project developed by three high school teachers, one of Physics, one of Chemistry and one of Biology, that consisted of both preparing a situation-problem from the complexity of a case of radiotherapical treatment of uterine col cancer, and developing it in the classroom. This fact represented both to bring to the classroom students real world and to walk contrary to the institutionalized teaching ways, which normally start from a determined subject-matter and go toward exemplification. Our contribution consisted of constructing an external point of view, by analyzing transcriptions of meetings and lessons in order to look for aspects referring to the teachers’ education. The data had been analyzed under three points of view: commitment, autonomy and interdisciplinarity. While the teachers meetings occurred far from the interaction among teachers and students, they did not succeed in composing the “interdisciplinary picture”. However, the situation that was set at the beginning of the year only found room to develop later, when the teacher already had the challenge to respond to students. The conditions that established the experience as a teacher education one were: the potentiality for the interdisciplinarity to occur due to the choice of a real case as starting point; a situation problem, represented for teachers desire to enlarge adolescents knowledge around the issue of the uterine col cancer and HPV; an actual educational situation, that imposed the necessity for the teachers to respond to real adolescents; teachers’ mastering of their own disciplinary content; and the commitment of all with collaborative work and students learning.

<p> This dissertation was an explanatory sequential mixed methods study that sought to understand academic librarians&rsquo; involvement and experience in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Specifically, the researcher studied academic librarians&rsquo; teacher identity development through SoTL. Quantitative data were collected from a survey sent to the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy listserv. Semi-structured interviews with seven academic instruction librarians who took part in the survey provided qualitative data that complemented and built upon the survey results. The theoretical framework, Communities of Practice, guided and supported the research. Results from the study indicated that academic instruction librarians are involved in SoTL for a variety of reasons, but primarily because they believe participation in SoTL improves their teaching. Also, the null hypothesis of <i>if librarians engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, their identities will be the same as they were before</i> was rejected, and the research hypothesis was accepted. Engagement in SoTL does impact academic instruction librarians&rsquo; teacher identity. After involvement in SoTL most research participants reported that their view of themselves as a teacher grew. Participation in SoTL also impacted academic instruction librarians&rsquo; instructional practices. After participation in SoTL, study participants reported an increase in their attitude toward self-improvement and in their use of active learning strategies. These study findings have implications for Library and Information Science (LIS) graduate schools, academic library administrations, and professional development organizations. </p><p>

<p> Three learning cycle science lessons were developed for preschoolers in an early childhood children&rsquo;s center in Costa Mesa, California. The lessons were field tested by both novice and experienced teachers with children ranging from three to five years old. Teachers were then interviewed informally to collect feedback on the structure and flow the lessons. The feedback was encouraging remarks towards the use of learning cycle science lessons for early childhood educators. Adjustments were made to the lessons based on teacher feedback. The lessons and their implications for preschool education are discussed. </p><p>

<p> Increasing individual ecological literacy levels may help citizens make informed choices about the environmental challenges facing society. The purpose of this study was to explore the impacts of an arboretum curriculum incorporating mobile technology and an urban greenspace on the ecological knowledge, environmental attitudes and beliefs, and environmental behaviors of undergraduate biology students and pre-service K-8 teachers during a summer course.</p><p> Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, analyzed, and later merged to create an enhanced understanding of the impact of the curriculum on the environmental attitudes and beliefs of the participants. Quantitative results revealed a significant difference between pre- and post-survey scores for ecological knowledge, with no significant differences between pre- and post-scores for the other variables measured. However, no significant difference in scores was found between experimental and comparison groups for any of the three variables.</p><p> When the two data sets were compared, results from the quantitative and qualitative components were found to converge and diverge. Quantitative data indicated the environmental attitudes and beliefs of participants were unaffected by the arboretum curriculum. Similarly, qualitative data indicated participants&rsquo; perceived environmental attitudes and beliefs about the importance of nature remained unchanged throughout the course of the study. However, qualitative data supporting the theme <i>connecting with the curriculum</i> suggested experiences with the arboretum curriculum helped participants develop an appreciation for trees and nature and led them to believe they increased their knowledge about trees.</p><p>

<p> Secondary science teachers make many daily decisions in the enactment of curriculum. Although curriculum materials are widely available to address science content, practices, and skills, the consideration that goes into deciding how and whether to use such materials is complicated by teachers&rsquo; beliefs about science, their understandings of school-level accountability and testing measures, and their perspectives on the adolescent students they teach. This study addresses the need to understand how teachers consider multiple forces in their enactment of science curriculum.</p><p> The purpose of this study was to explore the ways that discourses around accountability, science, and science education emerge in the narratives around teachers' decision-making in secondary science classrooms. Using a case study approach, I worked at two school sites with two pairs of science teachers. We established criteria for critical incidents together, then teachers identified critical decision-making moments in their classrooms. We analyzed those incidents together using a consultancy protocol, allowing teachers to focus their thinking on reframing the incidents and imagining other possible outcomes.</p><p> Using post-structuralist rhizomatics, I assembled analyses of teachers&rsquo; discussions of the critical incidents in the form of dramatization&mdash;scenes and monologues. I then developed two major interpretive strands. First, I connected teachers&rsquo; sense of having &ldquo;no time&rdquo; to blocs of affect tied to larger discourses of national security, teacher accountability, and the joy of scientific discovery. Second, I demonstrated how teachers&rsquo; concern in following logical pathways and sequences in science relates to the imposition of accountability measures that echo the outcomes-driven logic of the learning sciences. Across both interpretations, I found accountability to be complex, multidirectional, and unpredictable in how it works on and through teachers as they make decisions.</p><p> Research in this area has important practical implications in the fields of professional development, curriculum development, and school change. As more states (including New York) adopt standards derived from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the importance of privileging teachers&rsquo; investment and critical decision-making in the process of new curriculum development is vital. I suggest that tools like video-based coaching and consultancy protocol discussions support this kind of thoughtful curricular change.</p><p>

<p> Teaching at an online school is so different from classroom teaching that traditional training includes few of the skills necessary to be a successful online teacher. New teachers to an online environment face a steep learning curve in how they&rsquo;ll use the instructional technology, prioritize their time, and establish relationships with their students. The literature has advice for these teachers about effective online practices, but there has been little research to establish which strategies are most effective in motivating students. This pre-experimental study, conducted at an online 6th-12th grade hybrid school, investigated the practices used more often by the most effective teachers. Teacher effectiveness was measured by the number of assignments their students had not completed on time. Recognizing that the effectiveness of different practices will vary from student to student, the research analysis included two covariates, measured by surveys: the academic identity and motivational resilience of the students, and the students&rsquo; self-reported preferences for motivational strategies. More effective teachers were found to make videos more frequently, both of the teacher for motivational purposes and recorded by the teacher to help students move through the curriculum. Quick grading turnaround and updating a blog were also more common with all effective teachers. Distinct differences between middle and high school students came out during data analysis, which then became a major point of study: according to the data, more effective middle school teachers emphasized individual contact with students, but the less effective high school teachers spent more time on individualized contact. The surveys used in this study could be modified and implemented at any online school to help teachers discover and then prioritize the most effective strategies for keeping students engaged.</p><p>