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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-04232008-144403 |
| Date | 23 April 2008 |
| Creators | Bloom, Mark Andrew |
| Contributors | Molly H. Weinburgh |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-04232008-144403/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds