Effective teacher development is significant for any educational system to remain competitive in the global arena (Bayar, 2014). However, science teachers’ professional development activities have often been found to be ineffective (Opfer & Pedder, 2011). Science teachers also minimally participate in such activities due to their ineffective experiences (Chval, Abell, Pareja, Musikul & Ritzka, 2007). Understanding how science teachers’ experiences are constructed is also crucial to create programs to meet their needs (Schneider & Plasman, 2011). It is essential in the construction of professional development experiences to recognize who is being served in professional development (Saka, 2013). But rigorous methods are required to understand the outcomes of professional development (Koomen, Blair, Young-Isebrand & Oberhauser, 2014). The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to study how secondary school science teachers describe their lived experiences of professional development in Punjab (Pakistan). How do these teachers understand, make sense, and use of those intended goals of professional development opportunities and change their practices through the implementation of learned knowledge of professional development? This study used purposive sampling to collect the qualitative data from fifteen secondary school science teachers of Punjab (Pakistan). The data collection was done through conducting semi-structured in-depth phenomenological interviews with these science teachers (Seidman, 2013). The data were analyzed using three-stage coding methods, and thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged from the analysis of data. The first theme of sense making is about their understanding and description of intended meaning of professional development activities. The second theme of meaningful experiences captured the participants perceived benefits from the PD activities. The third theme of contextual and cultural factors is focused on the understanding the impact of these factors in imparting of professional development experiences. The findings of the study communicate the significance of science teachers’ role in professional development activities. Science teachers’ voices, needs and active involvement must be taken into consideration in the designing and implementation of such activities.

The problem of this study is to determine the relationships between (1) growth in interest and achievement of high school science students and (2) attitudes, preparation, and experience of science teachers. The study encompasses grades nine through twelve, inclusive, in a sample of Texas accredited public high schools.

The purpose of the research reported in this thesis was exploratory: to identify prominent features beyond, but related to the processes of science teaching; defined as the context of science teaching. A preliminary study indicated a lack of consensus among teachers in reporting aspects of their context. After further consideration of theoretical issue, case studies using participant observation were carries out on science teachers in three Scottish secondary schools. Nearly five hundred hours were spent observing and interviewing science personnel. General descriptions of the three schools and their proximal environments indicated salient issues for teachers resulting from actions of senior school staff, pupil grouping, limited contact with non-science teachers, and inputs from outside the schools. An analysis of ways that science teachers worked together and the activities of technicians and promoted science teachers provided insights into the nature of science departments. They were used as part of the communicative and administrative framework in the schools, but science teaching itself was sub-contracted. Although there was some mutual support there was little collaboration on teaching tasks except where this was imposed. An important function of departments was to provide a supportive framework for logistic purposes. A description of day-to-day activities of science teachers revealed contextual features that impinged on lessons and lesson preparation. Two themes were posited as a way of generalizing about contextual effects: 'control' and 'uncertainty'. It was proposed that these phenomena pervaded all facets of the context and that they provided useful concepts for understanding teachers' patterns of thinking and action. Three orientations of the teachers in the case study schools were described: 'doing-a-basic-job', 'individualism' and 'presentism' and relationships were suggested between these orientations and experienced controls and uncertainties.

This qualitative study examines middle school teachers and their thoughts and attitudes when working with gender roles and equality – both in social studies, but also as a part of schools´ core values.    The purpose of the study is to show how this work is done, both through different examples and also through understanding how these teachers look at their responsibility as teachers regarding gender roles and equality. The empiric material of the study consists of five semi-structured interviews with middle school teachers. The participants of the study had various experiences of working as teachers, which contributed to making the results and analysis interesting since they work in such a similar way with gender equality in their classrooms.    The results show that all the participants work actively with gender roles and equality in different ways. The participants say that they can use current events and ongoing discussions in society as a foundation for this work. They all see the connection between the core content in the social studies syllabus and the school’s basic values.    However, the participants have different views on their responsibilities as social studies’ teachers in relation to other teachers. On one hand, three of the participants claim that their responsibility is bigger as they are meant to teach the conceptions and their meaning within their subject. On the other hand, two of the participants say that the most important part of working with equality and gender roles lies within the school’s basic principles, and that it is the responsibility of everyone working in school to follow them.                           Keywords: gender rules, gender equality, middle school teachers and science teachers / Den här kvalitativa studien undersöker mellanstadielärares syn på och tankar kring arbetet med könsroller och jämställhet i både samhällskunskap och skolans värdegrundsuppdrag. Syftet med studien är dels att belysa hur arbetet går till genom olika exempel och dels genom att förstå hur samhällskunskapslärare ser på sitt uppdrag. Fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med behöriga mellanstadielärare har gjort den här studien möjlig. Lärarna har olika antal verksamma år, vilket har gjort resultatet och analysen intressant då de arbetar på så pass liknade sätt med könsroller och jämställdhet i sina klassrum.    I resultatet framkommer att alla lärarna jobbar mycket med könsroller och jämställdhet, på olika sätt. De menar att de allmänna diskussionerna och aktuella händelserna är bra som underlag. Alla ser kopplingen mellan det centrala innehållet i samhällskunskap och skolans allmänna värdegrundsuppdrag. Lärarna ser något olika på sitt uppdrags omfattning i förhållande till alla som arbetar i skolan. Tre av respondenterna menar att deras uppdrag som samhällskunskapslärare är något större då de i sitt arbete även ska undervisa om begreppen könsroller och jämställdhet och dess innebörd. Två av respondenterna menar att det är de som lärare som visar eleverna hur vi är mot varandra som är det viktigaste, alltså det uppdraget som finns i värdegrundsuppdraget som alla som arbetar i skolan har.                                   Nyckelord: könsroller, genus, jämställdhet, mellanstadielärare och samhällskunskapslärare

A research report in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the School of Science Education of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, 1995. / This project is concerned with a multimedia package which incorporates comics, video and pupil workbooks. The intention as to determine the effectiveness of the package on the conceptual change of pre-service teachers, using an empirical research method and decriptive analysis of results. Logistical constraints experienced at colleges of education and schools led to an alternative evaluation of the packaqe with D.E.T. college lecturers at RADMASTE workshop. Results indicated that, if properly administered, the multimedia package can assist users in identifying and changing tneir interfering preconceptions and misconceptions while they are enjoying the story. / MT2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, South Africa June, 2015 / This doctoral thesis investigates highly emotive and topical aspects of student learning in higher education namely, assessment and feedback. The study deals with the complexities and barriers to using learning-oriented assessment approaches to equip students with skills needed to thrive within the uncertainty, demands and challenges of rapidly changing societies. In the current research literature, views about assessment, and in particular formative assessment, are diverse and in some instances contradictory. The argument I make in this thesis is that assessment is situated within a local context, comprised of students and their teachers, which is regulated by disciplinary, professional and institutional traditions, expectations and needs. This research study was impelled by the realisation that most research into pedagogical views held by teachers and their students in higher education has examined them in isolation of each other. In recognition of this disparity in the literature, a more comprehensive study on teachers' and students’ views, expectations, and experiences of assessment was undertaken in the South African context. The study was conducted at a research-intensive university and investigated the aforementioned assessment aspects in students and teachers involved in second year compulsory bioscience courses. Using an exploratory, interpretative, mixed method research approach, data were collected through a combination of interviews, questionnaires and document analysis. An in-depth examination of documents from the selected courses, including students’ marked work, provided evidence of assessment and feedback practices experienced by the students registered in the courses. Teachers were interviewed about their assessment practices and their rationale for using these practices. Students' views and their reactions to assessment and feedback were ascertained through questionnaires and interviews. Interpretations that emerged from using a socio-cultural-historical theoretical lens were helpful in understanding the factors that present challenges to the implementation of learning-oriented assessment approaches. From the characterisation of assessment environments based on learning-oriented assessment principles it was apparent that there was limited active involvement of students in the process. The data highlighted a complex array of factors influencing teachers’ conceptions of assessment and subsequently their practices. Significant about the study was the identification of the effects of existing course level assessment cultures and histories on teachers’ assessment practices. Program and course factors had more influence on teachers’ practice than their subject expertise, pedagogical beliefs and values. The main highlights emerging from the study were the multiplicity of students’ and teachers’ views of assessment and feedback with a number of convergent and divergent perspectives. Notably, the cause of dissonance between academics and students stems from the tension between the competing needs of facilitating students’ independence and the desire to give them detailed corrective feedback. This dissonance translated into varied emotional responses to feedback from students. Although the focus of the study was on the comparison between students’ and teachers’ understanding of assessment, the preponderance of students’ emotional reactions to assessment feedback that emerged offered an important insight into an unpredicted social-relational dimension of assessment. My original contribution to research knowledge is the generation of the Assessment-Systems-for-Practice (ASP) framework, a reflection and methodological tool for investigating and analysing assessment practices. This framework provides a holistic way of dealing with the complex nature of assessment in higher education. The framework thus has implications for assessment design that would take into consideration cognitive, structural and social-relational dimensions, and its use could have a positive impact on teachers’ individual assessment practices.

The problem of this study was to investigate the relationship between the degree of authoritarianism expressed by pre-service secondary science teachers and the ways in which they spent their instructional time. This study was conducted on all students enrolled in the secondary science instructional methods course at a large North Texas area university for the fall semester of 1972 and the spring semester of 1973. The total population for the study was 55 students. To aid in resolution of the problem three purposes were formulated. The first purpose was to determine whether authoritarianism expressed by prospective science teachers was related to the ways they spent their instructional time. The second purpose was to determine if the authoritarianism expressed by prospective science teachers was related to their use of an indirect teaching style. The third purpose was to provide feedback to the prospective science teachers on the ways they spent their instructional time. It was concluded that teachers who were very authoritarian asked fewer questions and a different type of question than someone of lesser authoritarianism. The authoritarian asked questions that could be answered with a short answer such as yes or no, while the lesser authoritarian asked questions that allow the student to have more freedom in his response. Further studies of this type should focus on the teaching of questioning techniques to extreme authoritarians to establish whether they might learn to use divergent questions to teach science indirectly.

O estudo da argumentação e da construção de argumentos vem ganhando cada vez mais espaço na área de pesquisa de Ensino de Ciências. A mudança no foco de estudo do sujeito epistêmico, de uma perspectiva individual para a ideia de uma comunidade de conhecedores, nos permite analisar como se dá o processo de produção, comunicação e avaliação do conhecimento científico escolar por meio das interações discursivas. O presente trabalho se insere no contexto da necessidade de produzir conhecimentos acerca dos aspectos epistêmicos no processo de construção de argumentos tendo como foco professores e formador. Objetivamos investigar a mobilização de Práticas Epistêmicas dos professores para a construção de argumentos e suas relações com o Movimento Epistêmico do formador, analisando como as ações do formador favorecem a adoção de tais práticas e promove a construção de argumentos durante a aplicação de uma Sequência Didática em Ecologia em uma oficina de formação continuada de professores de ciências. Mediante a relação entre os Movimentos Epistêmicos do formador e a mobilização de Práticas Epistêmicas pelos professores, analisamos os aspectos epistêmicos na construção de argumentos, tendo como base os argumentos de referência que a Sequência Didática traz em seu escopo. Nossos resultados apontam dois aspectos relevantes desse processo: o direcionamento e a avaliação. O aspecto de direcionamento do formador se constitui na interação entre os objetivos da Sequência Didática e a comunidade de aprendizes. O aspecto de avaliação para a construção de argumentos se caracterizou nos momentos em que o direcionamento se relacionava com as crenças, valores e saberes dessa comunidade. Ressaltamos a importância de desenvolvimento de maiores estudos que se aprofundem sobre os aspectos relacionados ao que conta como conhecimento relevante e os meios para adquiri-lo no contexto de formação de professores. / The study of argumentation and the construction of arguments has been more discussed in the field of research in science teaching. Changing the focus of study of the epistemic subject, from an individual perspective to an idea of a community of experts, allow us to analyze hoe the process of knowledge production, process of communication and process of evaluation of the scientific knowledge through epistemic aspect in the argument-construction process focusing on teacher and trainers. It aims to investigate the mobilization of teacher\'s Epistemic Practices when constructing arguments and its relation to the educator\'s Epistemic Moves, analyzing how the educator\'s actions favor the adoption of such practices and promotes the construction of arguments when using a didactic sequence application in Ecology in a continuing education workshop for science teachers. Through the relationship between the educator\'s Epistemic Moves and the mobilization of teacher\'s Epistemic Practices, it was possible to analyze the epistemic aspects in the construction arguments, based on the reference arguments that are within the scope of Didactic Sequence. Our results show two relevant aspects of this process: targeting and evaluation. The trainer\'s targeting aspect is based on the interaction between the goals of the Didactic Sequence and the community of learners. The evaluation aspect focusing on the construction of arguments, based on situations in which the orientation was related to the beliefs, values and knowledge in the present community. We highlighted the importance of developing more efforts to go deeper on the aspects related to relevant knowledge and the ways to acquire in the context of teacher training.

The purpose of this study was to determine if middle school student scientific understanding could be predicted by the variables: standardized 5th grade score in science, standardized 5th grade score in mathematics, standardized 5th grade score in reading, student attitude towards science, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. The areas of the comprehensive literature review were trends in science learning and teaching, research in the K-12 science education arena, what factors have influenced K-12 science education, scientific understanding, what research has been done on K-12 scientific understanding, and what factors have influenced science understanding in the K-12 arenas. Based on the results of the literature review, the researcher of this study examined a sample of middle school 8th grade students. An Attitude Towards Science Survey (SATS) Simpson & Oliver (1990) and a Survey of Scientific Understandings (Klapper, DeLucia, & Trent, 1993) were administered to these 116 middle school 8th grade students drawn from a total population of 1109 who attend this middle school in a typical county in Florida during the 2010- 2011 school year. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test each sub-hypothesis and to provide a model that attempted to predict student scientific understanding. Seven null sub-hypotheses were formed to determine if there were significant relationships between student scientific understanding and the abovementioned variables. The results of the tests of the seven null sub-hypotheses showed that the sub-hypothesis that involved socioeconomic status was rejected, which indicated that the socioeconomic status of a family does influence the level of scientific understanding of a student. / Low SES students performed lower on the scientific understanding survey, on average, than high SES students. This study can be a source of information for teachers in low-income schools by recognizing potential areas of concern for low-income students in their science classrooms. The study is also a guide for administrators in developing science curriculum that is designed to remediate critical science content. Recommendations, further research, and implications for stakeholders in the science education process are then identified in order to focus on the concerns that these stakeholders need to address through a needs assessment. / by Joshua Matthew Strate. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Este estudo de caso buscou identificar e descrever os elementos do ensino de ciências por investigação (EnCI) utilizados por um grupo de sete licenciandos participantes de um programa de formação que possibilitava a aproximação ao EnCI, a vivência de práticas semelhantes às realizadas por docentes em serviço e a inserção em comunidades de professores. Para isso, nove aulas planejadas e ministradas pelos licenciandos em uma turma de 9º ano do ensino fundamental foram gravadas, transcritas e analisadas através da ferramenta Diagnóstica de Elementos do Ensino de Ciências por Investigação (DEEnCI). A análise revelou que os elementos relacionados ao estímulo ao interesse dos alunos na investigação e ao seu engajamento na coleta, registro e análise dos dados; na emissão, justificação e comunicação de conclusões; e no trabalho em grupo estiveram presentes na maioria dos blocos de aulas. Por outro lado, esteve pouco presente ou completamente ausente o envolvimento direto dos alunos com a elaboração de problemas e/ou questões, de hipóteses e/ou previsões e de procedimentos de investigação, bem como com o processo de reflexão a cerca da investigação como um todo ou de etapas específicas. A maioria das investigações foi realizada sem que uma questão fosse a sua norteadora e sem que houvesse uma continuidade do processo investigativo. Na prática da maioria dos elementos presentes, os licenciandos ofereceram espaço para a participação ativa dos estudantes, embora, por vezes, poucos estudantes tenham participado da elaboração de conclusões e explicações e os licenciandos tenham desenvolvido o raciocínio no lugar dos estudantes. A identificação e descrição de elementos do EnCI ajuda revelar possíveis facilidades e problemas que os licenciandos encontram durante a implantação do EnCI. Isso pode auxiliar no desenvolvimento de estratégias de formação de professores mais efetivas na aproximação dos professores em formação inicial ao EnCI. / This case study sought to identify and describe elements of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) used by a group of seven pre-service teachers participating in a training program that enabled approaching to IBSE, experiencing practices similar to those carried out by in-service teachers and inserting into teacher communities. In order to this, nine classes planned and taught by pre-service teachers in elementary school 9th year were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through Inquiry-based Science Education Elements\' Diagnostic (DEEnCI)1 tool. Analysis revealed that the elements related to students\' interest in inquiry and their engagement in data collection, recording and analysis; conclusion utterance, justification and communication; and group work were present in most of classes\' blocks. On the other hand, the direct involvement of students in the elaboration of problems and/or questions, hypotheses and/or predictions and investigation procedures, as well as the process of inquiry reflection as a whole or on specific steps, were rare or completely absent. Most of the inquiries were carried out without a guide question and a continuity of the inquiry process. In the practice of most of the elements, preservice teachers offered space for the students\' active participation, although sometimes few students participated in conclusions and explanations elaboration and pre-service teachers have developed the reasoning in the place of the students. The identification and description of IBSE elements helps to reveal possible facilities and problems that pre-service encounter during IBSE implementation. This may help the development of more effective teacher training strategies in approaching pre-service teachers to IBSE.