Browsing by Subject "Adaptive expertise"
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Item An evaluation of the challenge model of professional development : developing the adaptive expert for the mathematics classroom(2012-05) Zúñiga, Robin Etter; Borich, Gary D.; Svinicki, MarillaRecent research on teachers’ achievement goals suggests that the teacher with a mastery goal is more likely to retain a high degree of interest in teaching, more willing to seek help with their teaching, and less likely to report professional ‘burnout.’ Section one of this study extends this line of research by testing the hypothesis that teachers with mastery goals toward teaching are more likely to display the traits of the adaptive expert. Achievement goals and adaptive expertise are measured for a sample of secondary school mathematics teachers who have attained National Board Teacher Certification. A multiple regression model is used with score on the adaptive expertise measure as the dependent variable and four independent variables. The second part of this study proposes the development and evaluation of a challenge-based model of professional development. The Legacy Cycle has been used extensively to teach transfer and adaptive expertise to college students. It has not been used, however, in the professional development of teachers. A professional development program using the Legacy Cycle for teaching high school Algebra teachers how to implement a new conceptually-based Algebra 1 curriculum is proposed. Its accompanying evaluation plan will enable further exploration of the role teacher goal orientation and school climate play in a teacher’s willingness and ability to innovate; and if having an adaptive expert in the classroom can improve student learning.Item An expert study in heat transfer(2010-05) Rivale, Stephanie Dawn; Martin, Taylor, 1970-This study compares engineering expert problem-solving on a highly constrained routine problem and an ill-defined complex problem. The participants (n=7) were recruited from two large public Research I institutions. Using a think aloud methodology, the experts solved both routine and non-routine problems. The protocols were transcribed and coded in Atlas ti. The first round of coding followed a grounded theory methodology, yielding interesting findings. Unprompted, the experts revealed a strong belief that the ill-defined problems are developmentally appropriate for PhD students while routine problems are more appropriate for undergraduate students. Additional rounds of coding were informed by previous problem solving studies in math and engineering. In general, this study confirmed the 5 Step Problem Solving Method used in previous challenged based instruction studies. There were observed differences based on problem type and background knowledge. The routine problem was more automatic and took significantly less time. The experts with higher amounts of background knowledge and experience were more likely to categorize the problems. The level of background knowledge was most apparent in the steps between conducting an overall energy balance and writing more problem specific relationships between the variables. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for improving undergraduate engineering education.Item What does it mean to be an expert teacher? : a study of adaptive expertise among mathematics teachers(2013-05) Zùñiga, Robin Etter; Svinicki, Marilla D., 1946-Hiring, retaining, and developing quality instructors is arguably one of the most important ways of ensuring a high quality education (Hagedorn, Perrakis & Maxwell, 2006; Sprouse, Ebbers & King, 2008). However, identifying what makes a teacher an expert (i.e., someone who excels at teaching) is difficult. Indeed, Berliner (2005) argued that quality teaching is almost indescribable. Good teaching, he suggested, starts with a combination of skills -- such as modeling, motivating, and mentoring -- and the ability to produce acceptable student performance. Beyond these basic characteristics, he continued, "... a highly qualified individual, always requires keen insight and good judgment" (p. 207). But Berliner saw no way for society to measure this latter aspect of quality teaching. Recent scholarship on expertise, however, is providing new means for understanding what expertise is and how it is acquired (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993; Ericsson, 2006; Hatano & Inagaki, 1984). This study applies the theory of adaptive expertise to an investigation of the factors that influence the acquisition of teaching expertise among mathematics instructors. The relations among the institutional environment and instructors goal and problem-solving orientations was measured for mathematics instructors who taught Algebra I, Algebra II/Intermediate Algebra or College Algebra during the past two academic years. Algebra instructors in secondary schools, community colleges, and four-year institutions were asked to participate. This study extends the work of Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993) by applying their theory of an expert career to teaching, an area in which much of the public discussion focuses on the need for more excellent performance. Structural Equation Modeling and Cluster Analyses were used to examine the effects of the reward structure of the institution, the extent to which a teacher identifies himself or herself as mastery goal oriented toward teaching and engaged in a conscious process to improve their teaching practice, and a teacher's acquisition of content and pedagogical knowledge, on a teacher's expert performance. Although the institutional reward structure and mastery goal orientation were found to have a positive effect on a teacher's engagement in continuous improvement behaviors, these behaviors were not found to have a significant impact on expert performance.