Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) represent a significant shift in the goals of U.S. science education. Instead of a focus solely on content acquisition, the NGSS aim to engage students in the practices of science. Teachers will require substantial support, in large part from science leaders at the district level, to change their instruction to accomplish this vision. However, little is known about how these leaders conceptualize the NGSS. Therefore, this dissertation utilizes a sensemaking theoretical framework to explore the beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of district science leaders about one of the NGSS science practices, scientific argumentation. Greater understandings of these constructs can aid in designing appropriate supports for district leaders and meeting the challenges of implementing the NGSS. Fifty-three district leaders from states that have adopted the NGSS participated in a survey focused on their beliefs and PCK for argumentation. After the administration of the survey, 10 district leaders who represented a range of states and beliefs were selected for follow-up interviews. These interviews were semi-structured and focused on the same areas of belief as in the survey. The findings from the surveys and interviews indicate that most district science leaders are supporters of the NGSS and believe that scientific argumentation offers important benefits for students. Many leaders referenced one or more of the NGSS science practices in their descriptions of effective science education and asserted that they believe that the NGSS will require teachers in their districts to make substantial changes in their current instruction. However, some leaders also maintained their beliefs in the effectiveness of traditional instructional methods that are not compatible with the NGSS, and few leaders mentioned critique as an essential component of argumentation. In addition, many leaders demonstrated challenges in their PCK for argumentation, specifically related to evidence and reasoning in scientific arguments and the role of critique in dialogical interactions. Therefore, supporting leaders to develop more accurate conceptions and knowledge of the NGSS and argumentation should be a priority for districts nationwide. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_106720 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Katsh-Singer, Rebecca |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). |
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