My dissertation study is two-year interdisciplinary project that combined case study and oral history methods to craft the life history of West Middle School. The goal of this project is to gain knowledge of how a school's identity, image and culture are shaped by outside forces such as education policy and demographic shifts over time. To this end, I ask teacher participants to narrate the life history of West Middle School, while paying particular attention to shifts in educational policy, to a changing student population and to citizenship education. The aim of exploring these issues is to present a holistic view of schooling. My theoretical framework draws upon the theories of figured worlds, hidden curriculum and social reproduction as entry points for understanding the complex world of West Middle School. I use case study methods such as observation along with oral history interviews and archival data to construct West's life history. The data sources include teacher interviews, an extensive yearbook archive, district school board meeting minutes, and school district boundary maps. The findings of the study are presented in two chapters. Chapter five presents key themes from the teachers' interviews describing the cultural environment and public image of West Middle School. Teachers characterize the school's image and reputation in terms of exceptionalism and the school's identity in terms of family and guardianship. Chapter six discusses citizenship education at West. The main themes in this chapter draw attention to teachers' understanding of good citizenship in pointed terms of respect, responsibility and civic duty. Central conclusions include a nuanced understanding of contradictions within the West Middle School community, the ways in which diversity is simultaneously valued and assimilated, and the ways in which West's positive reputation acts as social and cultural capital. Implications for teacher education include creating spaces where pre-service teachers can engage in deeper learning about school communities and coming to see teaching as a political rather than passive act. Finally, implications for research call for expanding methodological frameworks to include bending and combining methods toward gaining a rich understanding of the complexities of schools. / text

The effects of coaching on teacher and student outcomes were compared to outcomes of classes randomized to professional development only and comparison conditions. Twenty-one teachers, trained to implement a Tier II reading intervention curriculum, were grouped by campus then randomized to one of three conditions: professional development plus coaching support (n=6), professional development only (n=7) and a comparison condition (n=8). Teachers in the coached and professional development only (un-coached) conditions were compared on measures of teacher knowledge and implementation fidelity as an indication of teacher practice. Student achievement scores on word attack, reading fluency and reading comprehension measures were compared for students in each of the three conditions. A multiple-gating procedure was used to help teachers identify the five lowest-performing readers in their first grade classrooms. Students completed a battery of seven reading ability assessments prior to and immediately following teacher-implementation of a seventeen-week reading intervention curriculum. Results of ANCOVA analyses indicated students in classes of teachers who received professional development and coaching support did not demonstrate significantly higher scores than teachers who only received professional development training on a battery of reading measures. Further analysis indicated students in the professional development plus coaching condition did have significantly higher scores than those in comparison conditions on five of the seven outcome measures. Teachers in coached and professional development only conditions completed a teacher knowledge survey to measure their knowledge of evidence-based reading practices. ANCOVA analysis revealed no significant differences between groups at posttest. Changes in teacher practice were measured as a function of intervention implementation fidelity. Intervention teachers were videotaped three times over the course of the intervention and taped classes were scored, rated and compared across conditions. Results of a Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance on fidelity scores revealed a statistically significant difference in favor of the teachers who received professional development plus coaching. / text

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This research proposes that the explicit incorporation of spatial thinking into teacher preparation programs is an effective and efficient way to foster and develop a spatially literate populace. The major objective of this study was to examine the effect of explicit instruction in spatial thinking on the development of preservice teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions toward teaching it. A one-day workshop - Teaching Spatial Thinking with Geography - for preservice geography teachers was developed as the intervention of this study. The primary focus of the workshop was to provide an explicit opportunity to learn about spatial thinking and to practice skills required to incorporate spatial thinking into participants' classrooms. Three assessments were used to examine changes in participants' knowledge, skills, and dispositions, before and after the workshop: the spatial concepts test, the teaching spatial thinking disposition survey, and participant-produced lesson plans. Individual interviews were conducted to obtain a deeper understanding of participants' learning experiences during the workshop. A mixed-method research design was adopted in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to offset the weaknesses inherent within one method with the strengths of the other. The major findings of this study include: 1) explicit instruction about spatial concepts is necessary to the development of preservice teachers' knowledge required for teaching spatial thinking through geography; 2) the skills development required to teach spatial thinking should be approached as the development of pedagogical content knowledge; 3) dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking should be differentiated from dispositions toward teaching general thinking skills; 4) although explicit instruction about teaching spatial thinking contributed substantially to the preservice teachers' acquisition of knowledge and skills and the development of positive dispositions toward teaching spatial, each of these components develops at a different rate but affect each other; and 5) a promising approach to the development of preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge would be to offer geography education courses, not general geography or methods courses, in which the focus is explicitly on teaching geography with an emphasis on spatial thinking.

It is no unknown fact that South African learners underachieve in mathematics. Due to the fact that the quality of mathematics teaching is one possible factor that has an influence on learners' mathematics achievement, there are valid reasons questioning the conceptual mathematical knowledge of mathematics teachers. In order to facilitate conceptual understanding teachers themselves must possess profound mathematical knowledge. Apart from the influence of a teacher's knowledge for teaching, teachers' attitudes and beliefs play a meaningful role in the way they teach mathematics. The deficient nature of prospective and practising teachers' knowledge of school mathematics, as well as their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics has serious implications for the training of prospective mathematics teachers. Literature reveals that a technologically enhanced environment can improve the conceptual learning of prospective mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a dynamic technologically enhanced environment on the attitudes and beliefs, as well as the conceptualisation of prospective mathematics teachers regarding the function concept. In this study, prospective teachers were exposed to Geometer's Sketchpad®, a dynamic software programme providing a powerful learning context that promotes the investigation of algebraic relationships. In order to answer the research question, an explanatory mixed method design was used. In the quantitative part of the study, the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics and a function test were administered to prospective teachers. In the latter, conceptualisation of the function concept was measured in terms of four competence components, namely interpretation, modelling, translation and reification. In the qualitative part of the investigation semi-structured and task-based interviews were held with a group of prospective teachers. Analysis of the results revealed that the dynamic technologically enhanced environment did not contribute to an improvement of the prospective teachers' attitudes and beliefs. In fact, these decreased visibly. Regarding their conceptualisation, only the reification component showed a practically significant improvement. It therefore appears as if prospective teachers are not being prepared to benefit from the dynamic technologically enhanced environment. A model is proposed for the effective use of such a learning environment. The model involves that diagnostic assessment be made of prospective teachers' basic knowledge of the function concept, their study habits, their attitudes and beliefs with respect to mathematics, as well as their mathematics anxiety. The second component comprises recommendations made to prospective teachers as a result of the diagnostic assessment, as well as continuous support being offered as an integrated part of the mathematics module. Support is offered with respect to cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, affective factors and the creation of an advantageous technologically enhanced learning environment. Despite the restricted value of generalisation of the findings from this study, I still recommend the expansion, refining and implementation of the model so that prospective mathematics teachers can effectively benefit from a technologically enhanced environment. Key words for indexing: mathematics education, mathematics teacher education, teacher knowledge, prospective mathematics teachers, function concept, conceptual learning, tertiary education. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

It is no unknown fact that South African learners underachieve in mathematics. Due to the fact that the quality of mathematics teaching is one possible factor that has an influence on learners' mathematics achievement, there are valid reasons questioning the conceptual mathematical knowledge of mathematics teachers. In order to facilitate conceptual understanding teachers themselves must possess profound mathematical knowledge. Apart from the influence of a teacher's knowledge for teaching, teachers' attitudes and beliefs play a meaningful role in the way they teach mathematics. The deficient nature of prospective and practising teachers' knowledge of school mathematics, as well as their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics has serious implications for the training of prospective mathematics teachers. Literature reveals that a technologically enhanced environment can improve the conceptual learning of prospective mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of a dynamic technologically enhanced environment on the attitudes and beliefs, as well as the conceptualisation of prospective mathematics teachers regarding the function concept. In this study, prospective teachers were exposed to Geometer's Sketchpad®, a dynamic software programme providing a powerful learning context that promotes the investigation of algebraic relationships. In order to answer the research question, an explanatory mixed method design was used. In the quantitative part of the study, the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics and a function test were administered to prospective teachers. In the latter, conceptualisation of the function concept was measured in terms of four competence components, namely interpretation, modelling, translation and reification. In the qualitative part of the investigation semi-structured and task-based interviews were held with a group of prospective teachers. Analysis of the results revealed that the dynamic technologically enhanced environment did not contribute to an improvement of the prospective teachers' attitudes and beliefs. In fact, these decreased visibly. Regarding their conceptualisation, only the reification component showed a practically significant improvement. It therefore appears as if prospective teachers are not being prepared to benefit from the dynamic technologically enhanced environment. A model is proposed for the effective use of such a learning environment. The model involves that diagnostic assessment be made of prospective teachers' basic knowledge of the function concept, their study habits, their attitudes and beliefs with respect to mathematics, as well as their mathematics anxiety. The second component comprises recommendations made to prospective teachers as a result of the diagnostic assessment, as well as continuous support being offered as an integrated part of the mathematics module. Support is offered with respect to cognitive and meta-cognitive skills, affective factors and the creation of an advantageous technologically enhanced learning environment. Despite the restricted value of generalisation of the findings from this study, I still recommend the expansion, refining and implementation of the model so that prospective mathematics teachers can effectively benefit from a technologically enhanced environment. Key words for indexing: mathematics education, mathematics teacher education, teacher knowledge, prospective mathematics teachers, function concept, conceptual learning, tertiary education. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

In this ethnographic case study I examine the meanings and manifestations of teacher knowledge by inquiring into the perceptions of learning for a group of primary school teachers in Toledo, Belize, Central America. As an outsider, I construct an insider’s view of teachers’ knowledge by representing what these teachers know about teaching and how they have come to know what they know. The lived experiences of the teachers are illuminated as I discuss opportunities and challenges for educators in this region of the world. The insider-outsider relationship is examined as I reflect on my role as a volunteer with a non-profit organization, as well as a researcher and a Canadian secondary school teacher. The following questions structure the study: (1) How does the development of teachers’ knowledge occur in rural communities of the majority world country of Belize? (2) What kind of impact has the Teachers for a Better Belize (TFABB) “Literacy Coaches Program” had on the development of teachers’ knowledge in Toledo, Belize? Results of the study are represented in three distinct ways. The creative ethnography highlights the lived reality of local teachers as I interpreted the typical journey they take in learning to teach. The realist tale, including several detailed participant quotes, illustrates a more explicit map of teacher learning as it connects with current research and literature. The confessional tale represents my highly personal reflections with regard to the research as well as my own learning. Toledo teachers identify many factors affecting their formal learning including economic constraints, geographic isolation and limited resources. Local teachers do, however, recognize and engage in the less formal learning opportunities available to them. They collaborate with peers, seek out mentors, engage in teacher workshops, and reflect on their own practice. An oppressive cloud, however, looms over the educational landscape in Toledo, as teachers describe tacit yet lingering effects of colonialism present in their educational culture. In this study I conclude that to realize improved opportunities for both teachers and students in Toledo, there must be genuine understanding and respect between all educational sectors. By raising the profile of the underrepresented primary teacher in Toledo, this study aims to promote meaningful dialogue between all those involved to nurture the professional knowledge development of teachers.

This thesis explores the knowledge needed for teaching statistics through investigations at the primary (elementary) school level. Statistics has a relatively short history in the primary school curriculum, compared with mathematics. Recent research in statistics education has prompted a worldwide move away from the teaching of statistical skills, towards a broader underpinning of statistical thinking and reasoning. New Zealand’s nationally mandated curriculum reflects this move. Consequently, little is known about the types of knowledge needed to teach statistics effectively. Ideas from two contemporary areas of research, namely teacher content knowledge in relation to mathematics, and statistical thinking, are incorporated into a new framework, for exploring knowledge for teaching statistics. The study’s methodological approach is based on Popper’s philosophy of realism, and the associated logic of learning approach for classroom research. Four primary teachers (in their second year of teaching) planned and taught a sequence of four or five lessons, which were videotaped. Following each lesson, a stimulated recall interview, using an edited video of the lesson, was conducted with the teacher. The video and interview recordings were analysed in relation to the teacher knowledge and statistical thinking framework. The results provide detailed descriptions of the components of teacher knowledge in relation to statistical thinking that are needed and used in the classroom. Included in the results are profiles of each teacher’s knowledge. These profiles describe ‘missed opportunities’, which were defined as classroom incidents in which teacher knowledge was needed but not used, and consequently resulted in the teachers not taking advantage of chances to enhance students’ learning. A number of significant themes were revealed, linked to knowledge for teaching statistics. The themes include: problems associated with teacher listening; the need for the teacher to be familiar with the data; students’ difficulties with various components of the statistical investigation cycle; and understanding variation and the development of inference. The study concludes that for effective teaching of statistics through investigations, it is necessary for teachers to have knowledge in each of four categories as related to each component of statistical thinking. If any aspect of knowledge is not available or not used, teachers will not enhance, and could disadvantage, students’ learning. Implications from the findings are considered for initial and on-going teacher education.

This thesis explores the knowledge needed for teaching statistics through investigations at the primary (elementary) school level. Statistics has a relatively short history in the primary school curriculum, compared with mathematics. Recent research in statistics education has prompted a worldwide move away from the teaching of statistical skills, towards a broader underpinning of statistical thinking and reasoning. New Zealand’s nationally mandated curriculum reflects this move. Consequently, little is known about the types of knowledge needed to teach statistics effectively. Ideas from two contemporary areas of research, namely teacher content knowledge in relation to mathematics, and statistical thinking, are incorporated into a new framework, for exploring knowledge for teaching statistics. The study’s methodological approach is based on Popper’s philosophy of realism, and the associated logic of learning approach for classroom research. Four primary teachers (in their second year of teaching) planned and taught a sequence of four or five lessons, which were videotaped. Following each lesson, a stimulated recall interview, using an edited video of the lesson, was conducted with the teacher. The video and interview recordings were analysed in relation to the teacher knowledge and statistical thinking framework. The results provide detailed descriptions of the components of teacher knowledge in relation to statistical thinking that are needed and used in the classroom. Included in the results are profiles of each teacher’s knowledge. These profiles describe ‘missed opportunities’, which were defined as classroom incidents in which teacher knowledge was needed but not used, and consequently resulted in the teachers not taking advantage of chances to enhance students’ learning. A number of significant themes were revealed, linked to knowledge for teaching statistics. The themes include: problems associated with teacher listening; the need for the teacher to be familiar with the data; students’ difficulties with various components of the statistical investigation cycle; and understanding variation and the development of inference. The study concludes that for effective teaching of statistics through investigations, it is necessary for teachers to have knowledge in each of four categories as related to each component of statistical thinking. If any aspect of knowledge is not available or not used, teachers will not enhance, and could disadvantage, students’ learning. Implications from the findings are considered for initial and on-going teacher education.

Mathematical knowledge is often a prerequisite for students at Swedish upper secondary vocational programs to be able to study vocational courses, for example electricity courses in the Electricity Program. Electricity Program students study mathematics in their electricity courses as well as in their mathematics course. The mathematics in those two settings has a different character. A goal of this thesis is to investigate what constitutes that character. In this study three mathematics and five electricity teachers have been interviewed about how they would explain three mathematical electricity tasks to students on the Electricity Program. Teacher knowledge in both electricity and mathematics has been used in the analyses and has been compared between the different teacher groups. In addition to providing an overview analysis of all the teachers’ explanations, detailed analyses have been carried out, comparing pairs of teachers’ explanations. The teachers’ choices of explanations and their use of specific and general mathematical knowledge have been studied. Mathematics contains a wide range of subject areas but also a wide range of representations and methods that highlight different aspects of mathematics. This study shows that different teachers emphasize different aspects of mathematics in their explanations of the same tasks, even though intended to the same students, both in the their choices of explanation and in their use of mathematics. The electricity teachers drew upon their practical electrical knowledge when they connected their explanations of mathematics to vocational work. The electrical knowledge they used not only grounded the tasks in a, for them, well-known real-world environment. The electrical knowledge actually helped them to solve the tasks, albeit in a more concrete/specific way than the mathematics teachers. The electricity teachers drew upon more specific mathematical knowledge in their explanations of the interview tasks, whereas the mathematics teachers drew upon more general mathematical knowledge in their explanations.  The different explanations of mathematics from the two kinds of teachers are markedly different, depending on whether they have a more practical/vocational or a more general/algebraic approach. The solutions to the interview tasks turned out to be the same but the character of the solutions paths are substantially different. This raises questions regarding the students’ abilities to reconcile the different approaches. / Kunskap i matematik är ofta en förutsättning för att studenter på gymnasiets yrkesprogram ska klara av sina yrkeskurser, till exempel i ellärakurser på elprogrammet. Studenterna på elprogrammet möter matematik i både sina ellärakurser och i sin matematikkurs. Matematiken i de här två sammanhangen har olika karaktär. Ett mål med den här licentiatavhandlingen är att undersöka hur dessa karaktärer ser ut. I denna studie har tre matematik- och fem el-lärare intervjuats om hur de skulle förklara tre matematiska eluppgifter för studenter på elprogrammet. Lärarkunskaper i både matematik och ellära har använts i analyserna och jämförts mellan de båda lärargrupperna. Utöver översiktliga analyser av alla lärarnas förklaringar av varje uppgift, har dessutom detaljanalyser gjorts, med jämförelser av par av lärares förklaringar av matematik. Lärarnas val av förklaringar och användande av specifik och generell kunskap i matematik har studerats. Matematik innehåller ett flertal delområden och dessutom ett flertal representationer och metoder som belyser olika aspekter av matematiken. Denna studie visar att olika lärare betonar olika aspekter av matematik i sina förklaringar av samma slags uppgifter, trots att de är ämnade för samma slags elever. Lärarnas val av förklaringar och lärarnas användande av matematik visade sig vara olika. Ellärarna använde sig av praktisk elkunskap när de kopplade sina förklaringar av matematik till yrkeskunskaper inom elområdet. Den elkunskap de använde inte bara situerade uppgiften i för dem, en välkänd, verklig miljö. Dessutom hjälpte elkunskapen dem att lösa uppgifterna, om än på ett mer konkret/specifik sätt än matematiklärarna. Ellärarna använde mera specifika matematik-kunskaper i sina förklaringar av dessa intervjuuppgifter, medan matematiklärarna använde sig av generella matematikkunskaper i sina förklaringar av generell matematik. Matematiken i de två olika lärargruppernas förklaringar visade sig vara markant olika, beroende på om de har en mer praktisk/yrkesmässig eller en mer generell/algebraisk ansats. Lösningarna av intervjuuppgifterna var desamma, men karaktären av lösningarnas var markant olika. Detta leder till frågor om det är rimligt att förvänta sig att studenter ska förstå likheten i de olika ansatserna. / <p>This licentiate thesis is included in the serie: Studies in Science and Technology Education (FontD<em>) </em>The Swedish National Graduate School in Science and Technology Education, FontD, http://www.isv.liu.se/fontd, is hosted by the Department of Social and Welfare Studies and the Faculty of Educational Sciences (OSU) at Linköping University in collaboration with the Universities of Umeå, Stockholm, Karlstad, Mälardalen, Linköping (host), the Linneus University, and the University of Colleges of Malmö and Kristianstad. In addition, there are three associated Universities and University Colleges in the FontD network: the University Colleges of Halmstad and Gävle and the Mid Sweden University. FontD publishes the series Studies in Science and Technology Education.</p>